Page 32 of Is This Real or Just Pretend?

“Would you like me to show you?” As he held her gaze, his eyes warmed with something that went beyond mere desire.

It was a kind of knowing, like she was being seen, truly seen, for the very first time.

She forgot that this had started as something of a challenge for her. Lucien was completely serious.

“Just say the word, Alex. Yes or no. This is entirely your choice.”

She had no doubt that he would stop if she asked. At any point. And that knowledge made the last of her nerves fade away.

“Yes,” she gasped, suddenly breathless. “Yes.”

Oh, the things he would do to make her say yes again.

And again and again.

Lucien straightened while keeping his gaze firmly on her face. He had learned that Alex’s expressions were subtle and fleeting, but they were there all the same. One only had to watch. And lately Lucien had been watching her a great deal.

The duke’s advice echoed in his head:

The most important thing to do is pay attention. As closely as you can.

He would make up for his lack of experience with consideration.

His hands encircled her waist and she inhaled a sharp breath as he drew her to her feet.

Alex dressed for the office like a particularly dowdy schoolmarm, yet it fanned his desire far higher than the scantily dressed dancers in the most notorious corners of Paris ever had.

He flexed his fingers against the fine fabric of her skirt.

She began to take off her spectacles, but Lucien caught her wrist.

“No. Leave them on.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve been imagining those as well,” she said archly.

Lucien grinned. “Is that so unbelievable?”

“Only as much as the rest of it.” She stuttered a little as he pressed his lips to the delicate flesh of her inner wrist.

“Surely I don’t need to explain that you are a desirable woman.”

He did not add that her romance with Chisolm proved as much.

Her eyes flashed with uncertainty. “But you want—” Then she clamped her mouth shut.

Freddie.

Her sister hovered like a ghostly specter over them. And though Lucien longed to deny it, that would be disingenuous given that his long-held affection was the very reason he stood here in the first place. And no doubt Alex would be insulted by such a bald-faced lie.

So instead he settled for the simple truth: “I want you .” Then he pressed his mouth to hers with an urgency that was all too real.

Alex gasped against his lips and drove her fingers through his hair, bringing him even closer.

Lucien had to grip the edge of the desk with one hand to keep his balance.

He couldn’t believe he had ever thought her cold and unfeeling. The woman was a whirlwind. Or a summer storm that rolled in without warning. But Lucien had come prepared.

Their kisses turned deeper as Alex opened her lips to welcome his tongue.

Though he might not have much experience with the rest of it, Lucien was a man who dearly loved kissing and Alex matched his enthusiasm.

She caressed his shoulders before palming his upper arms. Lucien instinctively flexed under her touch and she let out a purr of approval.

Lucien dragged his lips along the smooth column of her neck. “Tell me what you want,” he said hoarsely by her ear.

Alex met his eyes. “I rather liked what you were doing.”

Lucien immediately continued. He nibbled the flesh just below her ear and Alex arched against him. “Oh God,” she whispered.

He nearly melted at her words. Then he did it again. Harder. This time her response wasn’t intelligible but she gripped the nape of his neck and held him there. Lucien smiled against her skin and obliged. Then he deeply inhaled.

“I love the way you smell,” he growled. “Like fresh ink and paper.”

Alex rasped a laugh. “So, like an office?”

Lucien shoved the chair out of the way and set her on top of the desk, then pressed the tip of his nose to hers. “A very appealing office.”

She gave him a coy smile and smoothed her palm down his chest. “Take off your jacket.”

He had never removed an article of clothing so quickly.

Her eyes glinted with humor as her hands continued to stroke his front.

One began to wander a little lower, but Lucien halted its progress.

“Another time,” he said as he dragged his hand down the length of her thigh. “I have something to prove today.”

Alex tilted her head. “You’re so certain there will be another time?”

Oh, but he loved when she teased him.

Lucien licked his lips and leaned in close once more.

“I intend to convince you I deserve the opportunity,” he murmured by her ear and heartily enjoyed her responding shiver.

He scattered broken kisses across her neck and jaw while he found the hem of her skirt.

She then shifted in place and together they hiked up the swathes of dark fabric.

His breath caught at the sight of her black silk stockings.

A length of fine embroidery wound up the side of each leg.

Lucien squinted and looked closer. Then he smiled.

They were tiny pink rosettes set on a green vine.

He never would have expected such whimsy from her.

Lucien looked up and found Alex watching him closely.

He ran a finger along the length of one thigh.

Even softer than he imagined. “How adorable.”

Her cheeks turned nearly the same color as the rosettes. “Years ago my sisters started giving me embroidered stockings for my birthday as a joke. But I’ve fully embraced the novelty on my own now,” she said with a smirk.

Lucien wondered what other delightful objects he would find on her stockings.

If you get the chance.

He silenced the thought and kissed her. Hard. Time to prove himself.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and let out a soft moan. Lucien slid a hand up her thigh and stopped to caress the band of skin where her stockings ended. Alex moaned a little more and gripped him tighter.

“Show me,” he rasped. “Show me how to please you.”

“Higher.”

He immediately obeyed and cupped her through the soft cotton lawn of her drawers. She was so impossibly hot.

Alex canted her hips against his hand. “More, Lucien.”

He found the slit in her drawers and pressed two fingers inside. Then let out a guttural curse as he grazed her flesh. She was so wet. For him . He began to stroke and pulled back to watch her face. Alex had closed her eyes but then he felt her fingers on his wrist.

“Like this,” she murmured, directing him higher, and began making slow circles with his fingertips.

As he followed her lead, the change was immediate. Her eyelashes fluttered and her breath quickened. He pressed a little harder and she let out a very rewarding gasp.

Her head fell back and she tilted her hips a little higher. He wrapped his free arm around her waist and guided her down onto the desk until she could comfortably lean on her elbows.

Suddenly she gripped his wrist and looked him directly in the eye. “Don’t stop.”

As if he even could.

Lucien moved his fingers a little faster and her eyes fluttered shut again as she began moving her hips against his hand.

Faster and faster until she cried out and her whole body tensed.

She was absolutely mesmerizing. Lucien had barely recovered from this display when her trembling hand covered his own and guided him toward her entrance. She shot him a desperate look.

“I need more.”

He nodded and pressed a finger inside her channel, then another. She was even hotter and wetter than he could have ever imagined. “Oh God, Alex,” he groaned as she tightened around him. He began to pleasure her with his fingers and she let out another sob.

Her hands gripped the front of his shirt. “Lucien.”

He pressed a hand against the front of his trousers. The urge to fuck her was nearly overwhelming. He had never felt this tempted before.

Alex let out another gasp and shuddered. He could feel the orgasm rippling through her wet heat. Then her eyes flew open and she gave him a look of such raw intensity that he felt impossibly exposed.

“Please,” she begged, reaching for him. “Please let me.”

Her gaze softened and Lucien was completely at her mercy.

In that moment she could have asked anything of him and he would have crossed the fiery pits of hell to give it to her.

He gave a breathless nod and she practically tore his trousers open.

His aching cock sprung free from his smallclothes and Alex gripped his length.

She began to pump him, gently at first until he urged her to go harder.

“I won’t last,” he gasped.

“I don’t care,” she said, working him even faster.

Within another moment he let out a guttural roar and bent over Alex as he let out the strongest release of his life.

His hands pressed onto the desktop and he shoved against her hand, mindless with a pleasure that went on and on.

He hadn’t even had the wherewithal to avoid spending on her, but Alex didn’t seem to mind.

She only drew him closer and stroked his back in slow circles.

I’m not sure which one of you is in more trouble.

The duke’s ominous words echoed through his addled mind, and Lucien let out a weak laugh he hoped didn’t sound as desperate as it felt.

Him. It was definitely him.

Alex wiped off her glasses and held them up to the light. They had gotten rather foggy during their intimacies. She cast a glance at Lucien as he pulled on his jacket. He had been avoiding her gaze ever since they finished, and she was trying very hard not to be disappointed.

“May I ask you a question?”

He finally looked at her and for a moment wariness flashed in his eyes. “Certainly,” he replied as he straightened the lapels of his coat.

“ Why are you a virgin?”

He let out a surprised laugh. Alex knew she was being forward, but it seemed within her rights to at least ask.

“I was busy running a business,” he said with a shrug.

Alex blinked. “But you must have had opportunities.”