Page 13 of The Viscount’s Second Chance (The Lovers’ Arch: Later in Life)

T homas tasted of shortbread and sugared tea as Nora took the lead in their kiss. Her tongue teased the seam of his lips only once before he allowed her in. At the same moment, his arms wound around her and fisted in her gown, hauling her against him in a forceful, needy embrace. The banked heat of their earlier meeting flared to life once more and Nora felt every one of the flames as they licked her skin and set off a torrent of molten desire in her core—especially when she felt the press of his long, thick member rapidly hardening against her.

She couldn’t help the small yelp of laughter that escaped her throat when Thomas swept her into his arms with one arm behind her back and the other hooked beneath her knees. Nora relaxed into his hold and slung her arms around his neck, peppering kisses along his jaw as her heartbeat increased with every passing second.

She hadn’t realized they’d left the kitchens until she felt the slow bobbing of his body as he climbed one flight of stairs after the other.

“Which bedchamber is yours?” he demanded tautly.

“Second on the left,” she replied with a nip to his earlobe, her fingers tightening in the short hair at the nape of his neck.

He swept her down the hallway and used his boot to nudge open the door. The room was cold without a fire blazing in the hearth and Nora shivered—both from the chill and thrumming anticipation.

She was set on the edge of the bed and Thomas chuckled.

“What was that for?”

“I just realized, all the times we’ve done this, not once has it been in a bed.”

Nora looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “Then it will be something to remember.”

Thomas held her back flush to his front, the heat of his skin searing every curve from her neck to the swell of her bottom. His hard length was nestled there in the valley of her buttocks, so tantalizingly close. His arm was banded tightly around her ribs while the other palmed and kneaded her right breast. Teeth and lips feasted on the spot where her neck melted into her shoulder and Nora’s head fell to the side with a moan of pleasure.

She sucked a breath between her teeth when he caught the needy bud of her nipple between his fingers. Her thighs twitched and trembled with the zing of awareness darting from that point to her dripping core.

“I like that,” she said on an exhale.

“Do you…?” She could feel Thomas’s smile against her skin. He repeated the motion before cupping her other breast. He proceeded to caress and pinch, circle and pluck until her hips were bucking back into his groin.

Her hand slid down her body to part the folds of her sex. She needed more pressure; her body begged for it.

“You want to touch yourself, Princess? You want to ease the ache in your gorgeous cunny?”

She nodded vigorously, her eyes screwed closed in desperation.

“On one condition…” The dangerous note in his voice gave her pause and then he pressed his mouth to her ear. “I get to taste you.”

With a whimper, Nora’s fingers delved through her slit, swirling and teasing just as she liked. She circled her needy entrance and dragged her moisture through the glistening petals, flicking and pressing on her aching, sensitive nub. She worked herself until she was breathless and writhing, certain that Thomas’s firm grip on her was the only reason she hadn’t collapsed face-first to the bed. She arched back into the hard wall of his body. She felt full to bursting with tension, seconds away from an explosive orgasm when Thomas grabbed her hand and wrenched it from her sex. Her cry of frustration quickly died when he brought her hand to his lips and sucked her nectar from every one of her fingers. Dropping her hand, he grasped her jaw and tilted her head back to meet his kiss, allowing her to taste her own sweet, musky flavor on his tongue.

“So delicious,” he growled.

Nora was somehow both taut and boneless as Thomas pressed her forward until her cheek rested on her arms. Her rear was in the air and he ran his palms slowly, appreciatively along the soft skin of the globes. Spreading them, pressing them together, running his fingers along her entire cleft from front to back and rubbing through her wetness.

“Fucking hell…” Thomas swore, gripping her hard enough that it bordered a delicious sort of pain. “What you do to me, Nora.” He bent forward and pressed an unexpectedly tender kiss between her shoulder blades. As he did so, the broad, blunt head of his cock slid between her legs to glide through her swollen, dripping petals. She mewled in delight when it rubbed her throbbing clitorus; just a few more strokes and she’d tumble over the edge of her orgasm.

But Thomas knew that, damn him.

He nudged her knees wider with his own, the coarse hair of his legs tickling her sensitive inner thighs, making her arch back into him more. Thomas’s deep, rumbling moan washed over her senses just as he notched himself into place and gripped her hips, firmly holding her steady when she would have rocked back and impaled herself on his staff.

“Please, Thomas!” she cried, clawing at the bedsheets. She felt so empty without him inside of her—her sensitive inner muscles clenching greedily around nothing.

“Please, what, Princess?” he growled.

“Please fill me,” Nora sobbed. “I need you inside me. I want it.”

He began pressing forward, a quavering exhalation ripped from his chest. He didn’t stop until he was seated to the hilt and his thighs were melded firmly to her rear. Nora gasped and wriggled, loving the burning ache of her body moulding to his, accommodating him as it hadn’t for any other man—as it would never. She didn’t desire this with anyone other than he—didn’t ever long for that intimacy. He knew her—her mind, her body, her heart, her soul—and she didn’t believe there could be anything more satisfying than that.

“Is that what you wanted?” Thomas gritted out through clenched teeth. “My cock inside your tight, wet heat?”

“Yes…” she moaned, her hips held all but suspended by Thomas’s strong arms when she would have melted into a puddle of flesh and liquid bones. He was so hot, so hard, filled every corner of her so well. “So…good…”

“How about now?” Thomas rocked his pelvis backward, withdrawing from her inch by torturous inch until she was nearly crying uncontrollably from the loss. Just as the head was about to leave her, he slid home once more in a thrust that stole her breath from her lungs.

“Yes! Like that! More—harder!”

Unable to maintain his restraint, Thomas began thrusting in earnest. What started as measured movements, steadily paced and rhythmed, devolved into frantic digs and deep penetration until each pounding movement rubbed the lips of her womb. He slammed into her again and again, the pendulous weight below his member striking her exposed and sensitized pearl in just the right way. Each guttural grunt urged Nora higher. Every stroke of him inside her drove her closer to insensibility. Her entire body tingled and flared; her ears rung and white flashes of light popped behind her tightly closed eyes. She leaned into his powerful thrusts, meeting him blow for blow. She clenched around him, trying to hold him deep within her slick channel and relishing the way his pained groan devolved into filthy and nonsensical words of praise.

“You feel so good,” Thomas panted heavily. “Even better when you come when I’m inside you.” Instantly, Thomas slid his hand around her hip, parted her folds with his long fingers, and began stroking her in time with his powerful thrusts. Nora writhed and whimpered, her entire body trembling as the pleasure fought to take over. “That’s it, Princess. Come apart for me. Let go.” The wet squelch of their thrusting bodies, his skillful ministrations, the heat and strength of him, the scent of their mingling sweat and arousal, his heavy breaths, all worked in tandem to launch Nora into the most powerful orgasm of her life.

She screamed as wave after wave of bliss pulsated through her limbs, dragged out by Thomas’s persistent ministrations. Her muscles vibrated and she clenched around him, her body trying to draw him deep and never let him go again. She sobbed his name over and over like the fervent benediction of a desperate woman.

Thomas released a barking gasp. “That feels—oh, Christ, I’m going to—” His hips stuttered and he sank deep, roaring out his own orgasm as rope after rope of his hot seed filled her.

Nora moaned with regret when Thomas finally slid from her body. The rasp of their shaky breaths filled the air. She would have laid down, but he held her steady. She could feel the searing heat of his gaze as he watched his seed slowly drip from her body, a low, primal sound of satisfaction rumbling from his chest. She might have been mistaken, but she thought she heard him murmur, “Mine…” She shivered and flushed in pleasure.

She was utterly boneless when Thomas pulled her into his arms and, together, they collapsed to the mattress, the bed’s ropes creaking slightly with Thomas’s not-insubstantial weight. She was entirely content allowing him to wrap his body around hers while his large hands roamed and gooseflesh rippled across every inch of her skin.

They fit so well like that, the two of them lying together, sweat-slicked skin meeting inch by inch, Thomas’s face buried in her ruined coiffeur. He couldn’t stop breathing in Nora’s scent, as if it were as integral to him as the air. He felt better, more whole, with her in his lungs. A part of him had been missing all these years, and now he could breathe.

His chest swelled with emotion; this sensation of contentment threatened to swallow him whole and never release him. He’d be a slave to it forever…and he found he didn’t mind the thought.

“I love you, Nora.” His words were slightly muffled by the thick waves of her chestnut hair.

“Mmm?” The sound was sleepy and sated—exactly the satisfied sound he wanted to hear from the woman with whom he shared a bed.

Thomas propped his head up on his palm and gazed down at her beautiful face. She had one eye cracked open and her lips were pink and puffy from his fervent kisses. “I said, I love you, Nora,” he repeated himself, his mouth tilting into a gentle smile, confident in his truth.

Both her eyes opened at that. He used his free hand to brush unruly locks of hair from her face and then traced the curve of her cheek with the back of his hand.

“I never stopped.” He watched her throat tighten as she swallowed. “And I know I never will.”

Nora rolled into him and wrapped him in her arms. Her plush breasts pressed against his chest as she squeezed him, sending ripples of fresh awareness through his body.

“Oh, Thomas,” she whispered, what sounded like tears constricting her voice. He closed his eyes and savored the way she stroked the back of his head, how neatly their bodies connected, her soft breath in his jaw as she pressed a lingering kiss there with parted lips.

“You needn’t say anything just now,” Thomas murmured, his own heart threatening to burst through his chest.

“You cannot be insinuating that your affections toward me have prevented you from marrying elsewhere?” Awe colored her words and his smile broadened.

“Absolutely.” The word was said with a little scoff, as if to consider otherwise were laughable.

“All this time?”

“Yes.”

“Truly?”

“It is the truth, Princess,” he chuffed and gave her an affectionate squeeze with his entire body until she giggled like a girl. “When I say no other woman has tempted me, I am utterly sincere. You are the only woman I desire. There have been no others.” He watched with amusement when Nora’s brows rose nearly to her hairline.

“Meaning—”

“Meaning you are the only woman I have ever lain with, that I will ever lay with. As far as I am convinced, you have had every part of me since the day we met and I simply refuse to belong to anyone else.”

Nora’s eyes began to glitter suspiciously.

Time had changed them both, but she had loved him at one time. Perhaps she might fall in love with him again. He was determined to stay by her side until she made her decision. For his part, Thomas knew he’d never want another.

He reached over her and pulled the coverlet over them both, snuggling in with her held securely in the crook of his body. “Sleep now. We will rest and return to search the library at Ivy House in the morning.”

“You will stay?” she asked, a hopeful note to her voice.

“Princess, nothing in this world could entice me from your bed or your arms.” He placed a tender kiss upon her forehead and they held each other as they drifted off to sleep, Nora’s nails trailing gently up and down along the length of his back.

Thomas woke with a start in Nora’s darkened bedchamber. The curtains had yet to be drawn, so he could see the inky night and hazy golden glow of street lamps below. Waking in Nora’s bed, surrounded by her sweet, intoxicating scent was a luxury beyond imagining. He’d easily have given his right arm in exchange for the privilege to do this for the rest of his days. An insistent throb immediately heated his groin. God, this woman had him addled by her mere scent.

Stretching from head to toe, he slid an arm out only to discover he was alone. The spot beside him where Nora had been was still slightly warm, so she hadn’t been gone long. He sat up, coverlet falling from his naked body, but she was nowhere to be seen.

He frowned and slipped from the bed to discover that her small dressing room was empty. He slipped on his breeches and fastened them loosely around his hips before punching his arms through the sleeves of his white linen shirt. He didn’t bother to tuck it in as he exited the room and began his search for Nora.

He learned one of the benefits to having a home devoid of staff was it was much easier to locate one’s wayward lover by sound alone. He discovered Nora back in the kitchens, humming to herself as she prepared a plate of bread, cheese, and fat red grapes. Propping his shoulder against the doorway, he crossed his arms and silently watched her as she flitted back and forth. She’d donned a dressing gown of cream silk and her bare toes peeked out from beneath the hem with every step. He found that last bit unbearably charming. His lips lifted in the most wistful of smiles, his heart swelling with contentment.

“Where do you get off abandoning me like that?”

“Good Lord!” Nora jumped and pressed a hand to her breast. “You startled me!”

“Serves you right for leaving me alone in your bed,” Thomas murmured and closed the space between them in two long strides before cupping her cheeks in his hands and pressing his lips to hers.

Her eyes possessed a dreamy haze when he pulled away. “I was hungry,” she explained in an airy voice. “And I thought you might be as well.” She inclined her head toward the plate. “I was going to bring it back upstairs and feed you.”

Thomas’s heart lurched—both at her tenderness and the thought of her feeding him from her fingers as they reclined together naked in bed. The lust that blossomed in his loins began to rage into an inferno that, left unchecked, would devour them both.

“I appreciate that sentiment,” he murmured against her ear, savoring her shudder when he caught the lobe between his teeth and gave it a gentle tug. “But I have another meal in mind.” His low voice still vibrated in the air as he lifted her to the table and pressed her to lie back. The length of her dressing gown was pushed up and she was completely exposed before her mouth could form a protest. Hands positioned behind her knees, he bent them toward her ribs until she nearly folded in two and was utterly helpless and exposed to him.

He fell upon her, ravenous and feral, licking her from front to back, and back again with long sweeps of his tongue. She was musky, sweet, and salty—the perfectly heady blend of both their orgasms. She was delicious.

He used his tongue and lips to bring her to the brink of a climax, her fingers tearing at his hair and his name on her lips. Her legs fought him and twitched against his grip, but he was relentless in his onslaught, spearing his tongue deep inside her slick channel before teasing her clitorus with relentless determination.

Just when she was about to lose control, Thomas straightened, flipped up the hem of his loose shirt, tore open the remaining fastenings of his breeches to allow them to fall to the floor, and shoved his turgid, aching cock deep inside her, throwing his head back and reveling in Nora’s cry of ecstasy.

Immediately, he began pumping into her body, filling her over and over again, the angle allowing the head of his cock to rub her in just the right way. The sight of him penetrating her glistening pink body, his member coated in her nectar, the flush on her creamy skin, was nearly his undoing. Telltale tingling began at the base of his spine and he gritted his teeth against it. He wasn’t ready for this to end just yet.

Leaning forward, he wrapped his arms around her torso and instructed a nearly-delirious Nora to wrap her arms and legs around him. “I want to try something,” he gritted out.

As soon as she did as he instructed, Thomas leaned back and took Nora with him, suspending her in the air as she clung to him.

“Christ,” he groaned as she sank lower on him. Together, they were eventually able to find a rhythm where she rocked and he thrust up with his hips, impaling her deeply. Panting and sweat-slicked, they kissed, tongues vying for supremacy as their bodies fought for any shred of control to be found. Ragged breathing and slick collisions of flesh rapidly devolved into something more primal and less controlled. Just as Thomas’s orgasm began, he felt Nora’s entire body clench and she screamed through the blinding passion. His own vision blackened around the edges as he thrust up into her once more, allowing her body to wring him dry until he felt as if his legs might give out.

Heaven.

Every moment spent in Nora’s arms was Heaven, and he’d be damned before he lost her again.