Page 31 of The Gilded Heiress

Josie

Never had Leo been so quiet.

As we sat in the sleigh together, he remained still and stiff. There was no life in him, his usual vibrant and charismatic

personality buried under his shock. Not far away, horses snorted and stamped at the ground, the grooms shouting as they tried

to calm the animals, but Leo was unmoving, a statue staring at the front of the sleigh.

I nibbled my lip and tried to think of what to say. I couldn’t stomach his pain. I hated it. Could I bring Leo out of wherever

he’d gone to in his head?

When I couldn’t take the tension any longer, I said, “Leo, I’m sure he wasn’t involved.”

“Of course he wasn’t involved.” He let out a bitter chuckle. “Though I suppose this explains why he was sacked without notice

and refused a reference.”

“At least you know. It’s unfair and horrible, but you have answers as to why he was let go.”

“Except I don’t.” He rubbed his eyes with his fingers. “What did that Pinkerton uncover to point the finger in my father’s

direction?”

“Who knows? But it cannot be credible. Otherwise, he would’ve been arrested.

It’s probably just a rumor among gossip-loving servants.

” Leo still wouldn’t look at me, the haunted glaze of his eyes trained downward.

He appeared so lost, so hurt, and my heart squeezed.

“I learned a long time ago that you can’t rewrite the past. And you know he had nothing to do with the kidnapping. ”

His throat worked as he swallowed, then his voice turned rough. “After we moved to Boston, he just gave up. He was never the

same, and it nearly destroyed our family. He drank himself to death, Josie.”

Oh, no. For once, I had nothing to say.

The outcome was too terrible for platitudes, and I wasn’t one for lies. “I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks.”

I’ve been jealous of people with families my entire life, envious of their relationships and shared history, wishing I had

the same. But Leo proved this could also be a source of immense pain, something I hadn’t truly considered before. Apparently,

families were also complicated, tangled with heartbreak and tragedy.

My upbringing hadn’t been perfect, but perhaps it wasn’t all bad, either.

Seconds ticked by in awful silence. Leo was usually the one calming me down, helping me to focus when I was about to faint.

Could I make him feel better?

What should I do? Hug him? Pippa was the only person I’d ever hugged, except Leo in the alley after we left Melvin’s office.

Would he even want a hug?

Indecision gripped me, and I nibbled on my lip.

He sighed and angled toward me. “What is it? You’re wringing your hands like an elderly aunt.”

“I want to make you feel better, but I’m unsure how to do so.”

His hands lifted to gently cup my face and his thumbs swept over my jaw. We stared at each other for a long moment. The room

disappeared, and even in the dim light his eyes were captivating, burning with intensity. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking,

but at least he was here, focused on me instead of his father.

“You are making me feel better, merely by being here with me.”

I could feel the surface of my skin heat at his compliment. “I can’t see how. I hardly know what to say.”

“There’s no need to say anything. I like hearing you breathe next to me, the shift of your legs under your skirts. Feeling

the warmth of your skin against me. You’re so bright and beautiful, Josie, so alive . It’s what comes through when you sing, this joy that you bring to the world around you.”

This was what he thought of me? My bones turned to jelly, the fluttering in my chest like a swarm of bees. I couldn’t comprehend

it. No one had ever said such nice things to me before.

I had no words.

His thumbs continued to work their magic on my skin, sending tingles along my spine and down to my toes. “I want to kiss you

right now,” he murmured. “I want to kiss you and never stop.”

My hopeful heart skipped in my chest. Yes, yes, yes. God, I wanted that, too. “What happened to keeping our relationship professional?”

The edge of his mouth curled wickedly. “I think that went out the window a long time ago, certainly before I almost devoured

you at the opera.”

“Yes, but I had to push you to devour me.”

“Merely because I’ve been trying to do the right thing by you. But it’s a lost cause. I want you too damn badly.”

“You do?”

“Are you fucking kidding?” Hints of Boston crept into his deep voice, and it caused more fluttering in my chest. I liked knowing

that I affected him, that I could uncover the real man underneath the polish. “I’m dying to touch you and make you come.”

I appreciated this approach. Direct, no sugarcoating. It meant more somehow, especially coming from him. His honesty turned

me reckless, and my desire clouded any sound judgment.

I began lifting my skirts.

With a tiny growl, Leo closed the distance between us and pressed his lips to mine.

Instantly, this kiss was different, with less exploration and far more hunger.

Desperation exploded between us. It was like we picked up exactly where we left off at the opera, with deep, thorough kisses and his tongue wrapped around mine, flicking and rubbing.

I moaned into his mouth, and he gave a groan of satisfaction deep in his chest, like he’d found something precious.

Suddenly, I needed to hear him make that noise again every day for the rest of my life.

He broke off and his lips and teeth set to work on my neck. I sucked in deep breaths as sparks radiated through my core and

settled between my legs, pulsing behind my clitoris. He bit me and I gasped, my hand yanking my skirts up past my knees. “Hurry,”

I whispered.

“Shh,” he crooned, resting his forehead against my cheek as blunt fingers swept along my inner thigh. “I’m going to take such

good care of you, sweetheart.”

He found the part in my drawers and the rough pads of his fingers brushed my folds. I closed my eyes as a burst of pleasure

coasted under my skin. “Goddamn,” he said. “You are so wet for me. Just soaking. My poor girl.”

His touch was frustratingly light at first as he explored. I worried for a moment that he was similar to the other men with

whom I’d dallied—tentative and incapable of improving upon my own ministrations. But then... Oh, thank god . Leo’s fingers grew more certain, firmer, concentrating on precisely where I needed him most. Dipping to my center, he spread

my slickness up to my clitoris, where his fingers circled over the swollen nub. I swear, I saw stars.

How had I ever doubted him?

I closed my eyes and held on to his shoulders, and he bit my earlobe between his front teeth. “Do you ache inside? Want to

feel my fingers there?”

I did feel empty, like I was craving his thickness and strength. Incapable of speech, I nodded, so he circled my entrance with a fingertip, then slowly pushed in. My back bowed at the delicious fullness. “Leo,” I whined.

“I’m here. I’ve got you. Ride my hand, beautiful.”

“I don’t know what that means. I’m dying. Please, help me.”

The scoundrel had the nerve to chuckle. “Rock your hips against my palm.”

I tried it—and my eyes nearly rolled back in my head. Pleasure arrowed through my lower half, the friction exactly what I

needed. “Oh god, Leo. Why does that feel so good?”

“Keep going. Don’t stop until you finish.”

I did it again, and the resulting wave of pleasure was the best reward, so I kept moving, churning my hips, surrounded by

Leo’s scent as he kissed me. The hard knot of flesh between my legs brushed across his palm, each scrape sending me higher

and higher. I didn’t want this to end. My body was chasing, climbing toward something monumental. A race I had no choice but

to win.

He withdrew his finger and I gripped his shirtfront. “What are you doing?” I panted.

Easing away from me, he slid off the bench and knelt between my thighs. “Tasting you.”

Now I was well and truly lost. “What does that mean?”

His eyes flicked to me as he angled my body slightly sideways. “No one has licked your pussy before?”

Licked my...? “That’s something you wish to do?”

“Yes.” Opening my thighs as wide as they would go, he moved in and inhaled deeply right above my mound. Was he smelling me?

He groaned, saying, “Trust me, sweetheart. I definitely wish to do this—and you do too. You just don’t know it yet.”

Without any other warning, before I could ask for more clarity, he pressed his mouth to my center and dragged his tongue through

my folds. “Fuck, yes,” he breathed.

It was like being jolted with an electric wire.

Then he did it again. And again. Oh my god .

I stared at the dark ceiling, awestruck, as his lips and tongue went to work on my intimate flesh with hot, open-mouth kisses.

My mind couldn’t comprehend it. All I could do was feel , my senses overwhelmed, sparks coursing through me.

His tongue was divine, laving and swirling, and his lips ate at me like

I was a delicacy. He knew precisely the spot I liked, and very quickly I was trembling, shaking as lust compounded inside

me.

“Do you hate it?” he whispered, his voice seductive and raspy, like smoke. “Shall I stop?”

Chest heaving, I sucked in breath, and my fingers slid into his hair. I needed to hold on to something. “It’s too good. I’m

burning alive.”

With a deep rumble in his chest, he doubled his efforts, using more pressure, and I squeezed my eyelids tight. My muscles

coiled, readying, the only thoughts in my head a string of curse words and blasphemy the nuns would’ve scolded me for.

Oh shit.

Oh god.

Christ almighty.

Then Leo sucked on the little bud atop my sex—and I was thrown to the heavens, shot to the stars. Broken apart into a million

pieces. My body convulsed, inner muscles clenching, as the orgasm went on and on, stronger than I’d ever dreamed possible.

Leo didn’t let up, his attentions continuing until I pushed him away, too sensitive to bear more.

“Holy smokes,” I wheezed as the little aftershocks rolled through my loose limbs.