Page 116 of A Duke in the Rough

Needing no more encouragement, she tested it.

Hmm. A little wiry, but not distastefully so.

He moaned into her mouth.

Emboldened, she flattened her hand on the hard muscles of his chest. His heart pounded against her palm. Apparently, she affected him as strongly as he did her, and she smiled. His nipples—small but firm—peaked when she ran a fingertip over one, and his chest muscle twitched.

“You’re good at this.” Trailing little kisses across her cheek, he paused at her earlobe and nibbled it.

“Oh!” Effervescent bubbles tingled from the top of her spine down to her toes.

“Like or don’t like?”

“Like. Very much like.”

His chuckle, deep and raspy, vibrated across her skin, igniting gooseflesh.

“Are you cold?”

“No.” She was veritably on fire.

“What about this spot?” He moved down a bit to where her neck met her shoulder.

“Yes,” she answered, her voice breathy. “Will you touch me, too?”

His gaze locked on hers. “I thought you’d never ask.” One hand slid to her waist, the heat from it searing through the cotton of her nightrail and spreading through her like warm honey.

“I think more kissing,” he whispered against her mouth before sealing it with his. More urgent than his previous kisses, his tongue traced along the seam of her lips, urging them to open.

When his tongue probed inside, she tentatively brushed hers against his, sending those tingles racing once more. A warm ache pooled low in her belly, and she squirmed against him, seeking relief.

She wanted him to touch her. But how to ask? The heat low inside her rose to her neck and face as she plucked up her courage. “I like when you touch me.”

“Like this?” His hand moved from her waist. Up, up, up, resting on the underside of her breast.

She sucked in a breath. “Don’t stop.”

Complying, he gently cupped her breast, then slowly flicked her nipple with his thumb. “Yes or no?”

“Yes. Oh, yes, yes.”

He toyed with the shoulder of her nightrail. “This is in the way. May I remove it?”

An odd utterance came from her mouth. It sounded likeyug. He’d turned both her brain and speech into mush.

Drake’s eyes sparkled, the corners crinkling. “I’m going to presumethat’s a yes.” With the sheet still wrapped around his waist, he rose, resting on his knees before her, and held out his hand. “Let me help you sit up.”

The erratic thudding of her heart beat against her sternum like a thousand racing horses. Yet, as she placed her shaking hand into his, it settled. Still rapid, but even and steady.

Inch-by-inch, he tugged the garment down her shoulders in agonizing slowness, his eyes never leaving hers. When it slipped down, pooling around her waist and exposing her breasts, his gaze dropped, and he sucked in a gasp.

Her racing heart slowed, freezing. “Am I not . . . do you not find me pleasing?”

“No . . . yes. I mean, you’re more beautiful than I ever imagined.” He reached out, his hand hovering a breath away from her skin as if he were afraid to touch her.

She placed her hand on his and completed the trajectory. “You imagined me? Specifically me?”

His shadowed face darkened slightly. “I said I was inexperienced. That doesn’t mean I didn’t fantasize. I’m not so perfect as that.” He lifted his gaze back to hers. “And it was always only you.”

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