Page 582 of From Rakes to Riches

But she hadn’t yet arrived athow.

She tugged his shirt from the waistband and lifted it over his head. He planted his palms on the bed behind him and leaned back, curiosity and challenge in his eyes. Her gaze feasted on him—his broad shoulders, muscled chest, ridged stomach, dark hair that narrowed and pulled her eye down…

A shiver of anticipation traced through her. His manhood looked as if it were about to burst through his trousers, and an idea abouthowshe wanted him came to her.

“I’ve never been had quite like this,” rumbled from his chest.

And it hit her.

Just as she’d never been allowed this sort of control, he’d never ceded it. They were each venturing into a new sort of place.

A place of freedom for both of them.

“I know,” she said.

She placed a hand on each of his thick, muscled thighs and pushed them wide enough to step between. This man was hers to take.

Exactlyhowshe wanted.

She took one boot in hand, then the other, removing them with a few efficient tugs. Socks quickly followed.

With slow intention, she sank to her knees between his muscled thighs. Down the length of his half-clad body, hewatched her, his eyes gone impenetrably dark. His pulse throbbed visibly in the column of his throat.

Her fingers traced up his thighs, squeezing those dense muscles, making their way deliberately up…up…up… They found the hard ridge of his manhood and her touch went light, feathering along his length, grazing her fingernails across fabric. He sucked in a sharp breath. She increased the pressure of her hand, rubbing him through gray superfine.

“I’m not sure how much of this I can take.”

She’d begun to wonder the same about herself.

Fingers gone trembly, she slipped one button free, then another, and another, until she hadhimbared to her gaze.

A word returned to her.

Feast.

The man splayed before her was a feast.

And, oh, how she wanted a taste.

Her fingers wrapped around his hard, velvet length and stroked. A long groan escaped him. She shifted forward, enveloped in his musky, masculine scent, before her tongue reached out and tasted him.Salt.Her hand wrapped around his base as her tongue slid up his long shaft.

But she wanted more than a taste.

She took him into her mouth, inch by thick inch, her hand still gripping him, stroking him, as he and she found a rhythm.

“Oh, Gemma,” poured from him.

Deeper, she took him in yet another inch, and his dark gaze met hers across his body. Gemma had never experienced the intimacy she was feeling in this moment. That this man was making himself vulnerable to her was a gift.

One she didn’t deserve.

But that thought was for later.

For now…

With her mouth, she took him…savored him…drove him wild.

If this was power, she wanted more of it.

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