Page 22 of The Tantalizing of a Scandalous Rake

It might have only been the slightest movement but he could no more resist the silent invite than hold back the tides. Adam took a step forward.

∞∞∞

Rosie knew full well what she had done. Or to be more accurate, what shewasdoing. When she stepped back into the room, the door still ajar, she saw Adam’s jaw work.

“You should return to bed,” he muttered. “And shut the door.”

She shook her head. Since their kiss, they’d been tiptoeing around this sensation that tangled about them like a web and drew them back to one another regardless of what they did. Despite her busy life, her gaze never failed to stray to him or if he was in his room, she would think of him, recall moments spent together. Adam made her laugh like no other.

He made her desire like no other.

Drawing in a thick breath, she lifted her shoulders and stepped a little further back, out of reach of the door.

He mirrored her movements and followed her, pausing briefly to run a hand up the surface of the door. “You should have shut it,” he murmured.

She lifted one shoulder. Perhaps. But now that he stood a pace away from her in only his shirt and an open robe with his hair tousled from sleep, she could not bring herself to regret the decision.

This was foolish to be sure. He would be gone before long—maybe even tomorrow. A man like Adam did not stay for a woman like her, regardless of her current fame. Even if it went further, she could not offer him all the things a man of his station would need—like children.

However, having him in front of her, effectively hers for the taking left her with little choice. If she regretted her actions tomorrow, she regretted them. For tonight, she wanted a moment for herself.

He kicked the door shut behind him and it closed with a gentle thud and click as the latch slipped into place. Her heart pounded so fiercely she could scarcely hear anything else over the roar. She swallowed hard and a few thundering beats passed while he eyed her.

She wasn’t certain if he moved first or she did, only that they met in the middle with a crash. He fisted his hands in her hair, and she latched hers around his neck. His lips were on hers in an instant, demanding and cajoling. Not that she needed any persuasion. She opened her mouth to him and kissed him back fiercely, taking all he could give.

He moved his hands down and cupped her rear, leaving her in no doubt as to the aroused state of him. When he trailed his lips down her neck to her collar bone, she tilted her head and offered herself to him, shivering in delight at the sensations coursing through her.

“I hate seeing men fawn over you,” he said against her skin.

“It is part of the job.”

“It makes me want to—”

“What?” she asked, panting.

“Claim you as mine. Over and over. They may get to look but I want to be the one to touch, to taste.”

“Oh yes.”

She arched her neck as he kissed farther down, shoving the shoulder of her slip down as he went. He cupped a breast and finally laid his mouth over one aching nipple then sucked it through the fabric.

Here she was, an independent woman, a person who needed no man, yet the words unraveled her. How wonderful it was to be so desired—properly—for all she was rather than a likeness drawn in a book or a brief description. There was no denying Adam knew her far better than any man who frequented her inn.

She pushed a hand between their bodies and curved her palm over the length of him. The hard heat of his arousal made her body flutter and pulse.

He released a noise she would have mistaken for pleasure, had it not been for the tensing of his shoulders beneath her other hand. She broke away. “You really are hurt?”

“Only a little.” He reached for her.

Rosie dodged his grasp and took another step back. “Adam, you fool, you are scarcely recovered. There is no way you should be participating in such an act.”

He blew out a long breath and pushed a hand through his hair. “You cannot expect me to simply return to bed.”

“I certainly can.”

Adam took several strides toward her until she ended up pressed against her vanity table. She curled her hands around the edge of it and peered up at him. “What would the doctor say?”

“That I might not be able to participate in the act but I can certainly do other things.”

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