Page 19 of My Lady Rake
“And are you? Attached to me? Do you think you could bear to spend another day with me? A night?” He paused. “A lifetime?”
As he said it he realized he was all hers. Heart, body and soul, he belonged to Verity. With Verity. He liked who she made him want to be. Lowering his arm, he ran his fingers down her side. “So, what are your plans now?”
“This minute? I think something like this.” She jerked the sheet off them and threw a leg across him, coming to rest astride his hips. Like a cat, she arched and stretched, flaunting the beauty of her lithe curves.
“Interesting. Anything else on your mind?”
She leaned forward and walked her arms up the mattress beside him, dipping to drag her nipples through his chest hair. Even in the faint moonlight through the window, the visual sent a current to his cock. Continuing forward, she dangled a breast over his mouth.
He lifted his head, pursed his lips to capture the bud but she darted just out of reach. His tongue reached out and she came in closer so he could flick her nipple. He wanted more than just a taste, he wanted to suckle and knead her. To please her, no matter what it took.
The higher he lifted his head, the further she pulled back. Like a game of cat and mouse, her teasing went on. Her laughter buoyed him. “You know once I get my mouth on you, I’m not letting go.”
“Yeah, but you haven’t caught me yet.” She offered up her other breast, stroking her nipple across his lower lip, but pulled away when his tongue came out. When she changed the game and licked his jaw line, he moaned and reached for her shoulders.
Passion and need had built to a level that threatened to break him. Hungry, he sucked in her lower lip before exploring her mouth with his tongue. He kissed the corner of her mouth, made a slow trail to her earlobe where he nibbled until she squirmed in his arms.
“That gives me chills,” she said. She took control again, sliding her hips down his body. Her breath on his nipples made them tighten, her tongue dragging over them sent electric shocks downward.
God, this was delicious torture. Verity licked and suckled her way down his body, following the line of hair to his navel. There she paused and flicked her tongue inside. He groaned, rocking his hips.
Knowing he couldn’t last much longer, he fought against his rising need, hoping to prolong the pleasure. Just when he thought he couldn’t survive another second, Verity mounted him. He grabbed her hips and lifted her slightly before driving into her, harder, faster. When she tightened around him, he roared as the dam burst. He collapsed into the mattress, totally drained, completely and wholly sated.
As they lay snuggled together, he listened to her slowing breaths. “Now, as I was saying, what are your plans?”
She was silent for a few moments, then said, “I hope to continue as we’ve been going.”
What did that mean? Was she refusing to marry him? “You don’t wish to become my wife?”
She rolled over to face him, her features clear now that the moonlight hit the bed. “I thought we went over that.”
“I recall what you said initially. But I’d hoped your feelings have changed.”
She sighed as her smile grew. “You mean a lot to me, St. Ervan.”
“I don’t want to push for more than you want to give. But I want you in more than just my bed.”
She stroked her hand down the center of his chest. “I think we’ve got something special. My feelings for you overwhelm me sometimes, but I promised Levi...”
“Marrying me doesn’t mean you didn’t love him.” As soon as he said it, he regretted the words. “I won’t tell you he’d want you to be happy, because you know that. Perhaps you need to love yourself as much as you did him. Allow yourself to have a full life.”
She kissed him, tenderly at first, then deepening the contact before pulling back.
He should table the discussion for another time, but he couldn’t let it go. Part of him feared if she didn’t say yes now, she never would. This had nothing to do with their phony wager. He stood to lose everything he’d ever wanted in his life if she said no. “The first time I saw you was at Almack’s. I believe it was your first Season. I was enthralled by your beauty, captivated by your laughter. Many of the other young ladies were nervous, as if they feared no one would ask them to dance, but not you. You greeted every offer to dance as if you expected it.”
She tipped her head to one side and he knew she didn’t remember him. “Did we dance?”
“No. I wasn’t ready to court anyone, had no desire to enter the marriage mart.” He grimaced. “Fool that I was, I decided then and there you were the woman I wanted to marry, but not right away.”
“Levi didn’t propose until my third Season. Did you assume I was waiting for you all that time?”
He chuckled. “Perhaps I did. By then I thought your standards for a husband must be too high for a man like me. I was a younger son, pretending I wasn’t destined for the church. I had nothing to offer you.”
“Except your heart. And you didn’t think enough of me to entrust me with your heart.”
Oliver shook his head. “You had my heart. You just didn’t know it. I almost had the courage to speak to you at the Duchess of Wyndham’s masquerade, but couldn’t find the words. The next thing I knew, I read the announcement of your engagement in the morning paper.”
Verity’s smile grew. “That was you who kissed me.”