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He didn’t heed her request. Instead, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her foot, then the other, his open mouth

burning a path along the inside of her calf. “After.”

“After what?”

“After I’ve tasted you,” he said. “ All of you.”

His hands drifted along the underside of her knees, the light stroke of his fingertips sending a jolt of sensation between

her thighs. But it wasn’t until he urged her legs wider and his kisses roved ever higher that the previously absent modesty

rushed in all at once.

Surely, he wasn’t intending to...

She covered her sex with both hands. Then she gasped as he tugged her lower on the bed, draping her knees over his shoulders in one motion.

He looked up at her, his eyes forest-dark, his wicked intentions clear as he began to kiss the top of her hand, every knuckle,

even the delicate webbing in between. Taking a finger into his mouth, he gently tugged that hand out of the way. He offered

the same ministrations to the other hand, his gaze on hers all the while.

Thea knew that it would only take one word to stop him. Just one. And yet, when she opened her mouth, not a single objection

rushed forth.

Jasper pressed another kiss to her inner thigh as if in reward.

Hands cupping her bottom, he drew her closer, nuzzling into the dark thatch of curls. He breathed in deeply, nostrils flaring.

Then his mouth—his entire mouth—opened over her, his hot breath steaming her fevered flesh.

A choked gasp left her throat, her hands flying to his head. Surely, she should push him away. Surely, this wasn’t part of

it. She’d seen the play, after all!

Then he licked her in a hot... slow... wet slide.

He exhaled a deep hum of pleasure, the vibration so lovely that it made her toes curl. And that was when she wondered if stopping

him was a tad shortsighted. This would make excellent research... just in case she’d ever want to write a very, very naughty play.

“So sweet,” he murmured, his eyes drifting closed, and added as if to himself, “ all mine .”

Lifting her bottom off the bed, he ate into her flesh with the determination of a man licking melting ices on the hottest

day of the year and refusing to let even a single drop go to waste.

He tasted her from bottom to top, his tongue spearing into her honied center, circling the taut bundle of nerves. He left no part of her unsampled or unstirred.

With eager growls of satisfaction, he seemed to revel in his feast and her responses. When he found a place that elicited

a gasp, he lingered. Each time her hips hitched, he explored, drawing out garbled sounds from her throat.

Molten heat pulsed through her, quickening deep, driving her to madness. Her fingers were tangled in his hair, her body arching

to push against his mouth. She was lost in the enthralling flicks of his tongue, her head thrashing from side to side.

This, she thought. This was how she was going to die. From too much pleasure.

“Not yet,” he rasped as if he’d deciphered the incoherent ramblings between her supplicant chants of yes and please . “Let me... a bit longer. I’ve thought about this... so many times and I just need... more...”

He urged her knees wider, higher, opening her as the blunt tip of his finger teased inside the swollen cleft. As he edged

inside, her body clenched around him and she squeezed her eyes shut. He cursed and withdrew, his finger nectar-slick. Then

he dipped in again and again until the heat and tingling were all-consuming. Nothing else mattered. And when he opened his

mouth over her, suckling the thrumming bud, she felt as if lightning lanced through her body.

Her back bowed off the bed, mouth opening on a soundless cry as her world exploded in a cataclysm of sparks.

He ate at her greedily, chasing every spasm and quake until she was left boneless and panting and unsure of her own name.

By the time she was able to see anything other than stars, she was gathered in Jasper’s arms, lying beside him on the bed.

He held her limp body and kissed her slowly, deeply, feeding her the taste of her own pleasure.

This seemed even more wicked than what he’d actually done. And yet, as his mouth ardently moved over hers, his hands caressing, massaging and kneading her body until her pulse was simmering again, her opinions regarding a possible overabundance of wickedness swung wildly in favor of it.

As her senses stirred, she became more aware of him, the feel of his crisp hair and hard muscles against her soft skin. Tingles!

So many tingles! Greedy, her hands explored his shoulders and chest. She followed the line of hair farther down, past his

navel and then...

He covered her hand, stalling her examination.

“I need to touch you,” she said, her body clenching on the emptiness where his finger had been.

He pressed his forehead to hers, the warmth of his breath teasing into her mouth. “I think that’s enough for tonight.”

“Don’t you”—she swallowed down a sudden rise of fragility—“want me?”

“More than I can bear. But I don’t want to hurt you.”

If it wasn’t for the tremor in his hand as he tucked a stray curl behind her ear and the intense desire burning in his eyes

as he looked down at her, she might have assumed he was trying to placate her. “I understand that a degree of discomfort is

expected the first time. But I know you’ll be gentle.”

“I haven’t done this... in a long while. And I want it to be good for you. I just don’t know if I—”

A choked sound left him as her fingers slipped beneath the waist of his trousers.

“Let me?” she asked when his hand shot down to encircle her wrist.

He sucked in a breath, his nod almost imperceptible. She brushed a kiss to his jaw in reward. And then she explored, grasping

him tentatively.

His hard flesh branded her palm. He was so intriguingly hot and thick, but marble smooth with a jagged vein running down the length. It came as a tremendous surprise that she wanted to explore Lord Turgid for hours.

Through the fabric, Jasper’s hand curled over hers, urging her to grip him tighter as he drew her up then down the considerable

length, his teeth gritted all the while. He looked to be in pain.

“Am I doing something wrong?”

“No,” he groaned.

She wasn’t convinced. “Because if I am, perhaps I could use my mouth like you—”

He bolted off the bed. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. And she feared he’d reached his limit.

Then he surprised her by shucking out of his trousers. But she was barely able to catch a glimpse of formidable flesh before

he returned to her.

Then the world seemed to grow quiet as he moved over her. So quiet that she could hear the bed ropes creak beneath his weight,

the soft crunch of the horsehair mattress as he braced his hands on either side of her, and the combined shudder of their

breaths as skin connected with skin.

“Am I too heavy?” he asked as he lowered down to his elbows, his fingertips gingerly smoothing away a sable curl from her

scarlet cheek.

Thea could hardly respond. Her senses became almost painfully acute. A heady scent of musk and spice filled her nostrils,

making her lightheaded. Every place they touched sparked to flame as if she had a layer of gunpowder directly beneath her

skin. She was overwhelmed by the heat of him, by the feel of the crisp furring on his chest that rasped against her breasts,

drawing her nipples to aching peaks. He had coarse hair on his legs, too, tickling along the insides of her calves and thighs.

And between them was the heavy, searing weight of his flesh.

A small degree of trepidation dropped into the pit of her stomach, a tremor shivering down her legs.

She licked her dry lips. “No. I... like the weight of you.”

A boyish grin lifted his cheeks, his eyes glowing with unabashed pleasure at her answer. There was an excited eagerness to

his kiss, as if suddenly free of the shackles that had been holding him back. Loving him as she did, she couldn’t help but

become caught up in his enthusiasm.

But then his kiss slowed as she wrapped her arms around him. She felt as if he wanted to savor every moment, his hips rocking

languidly against hers, coaxing heavy liquid pulses from her body.

His mouth never left hers as he shifted to reach down between them. A series of sparks ignited inside her as he glided the

thick mushroomed head along her slick folds, his thighs urging hers wider so that she needed to bend her knees and brace her

feet on the mattress.

“Are you certain?” he asked, a flush of color across the crests of his cheeks.

Her chin jerked in a nod. Then she felt him nudge her entrance.

But he didn’t push inside. It was just a test, it seemed, something of a brief handshake between body parts.

How good it is to meet you, sir.

The pleasure is all mine.

At the thought, a bubble of nervous laughter nearly escaped before she pressed her lips together.

His gaze darkened. “You’re smiling again. And you know what that does to me.”

Unfortunately, knowing what it did to him only made her smile in earnest. He growled, taking her lips again, the intensity

of the kiss leaving her breathless and her flesh pleasure-stung.

As his open mouth coasted down her throat to claim her breast, his body bowed over hers and she felt the handshake come again. This time it was a rap , rap on the door before he nudged inside. Her flesh burned from the stretch. Then he withdrew, but nudged back inside at once,

like someone who’d forgotten their umbrella. Then he was gone again.

These short visits had them both panting as if they’d endured a trial of sorts. And yet, every time he nudged, she received

a lovely tug to that bundle of nerves, a jolt of promise spearing through her.

When her legs started to quiver, he guided them to his waist. The position pulled more of his weight down on top of her, anchoring

her to the bed. It was unexpectedly perfect. And when he nudged again, he lingered, hips flexing in a series of shallow thrusts