Page 19 of A Kiss Gone Wylde
“What else do you like?” Her voice did not sound at all like her own. It sounded flirtatious and seductive andknowing,which clearly was not the case. Who was this wanton, wicked creature who had taken over her body?
“I like this,” he touched the tip of his finger to the slight cleft in her chin. “It’s such a strong feature on such a delicate face… That’s what you are, Benny. A series of alternately maddening and entrancing contradictions.”
She’d never been called that. Maddening, yes. Many times. Entrancing? Not once. Not ever. Most people in her life, outside of her sister and cousins, had either ignored or been irritated by her. And while she certainly piqued his temper from time to time, he didn’t seem to mind that. Or her.
“Do you wish I were taller?” she asked. Even as she asked the question, she was nuzzling her face into the palm of his hand.
“No.” He caressed her cheek tenderly.
“More voluptuous?” She stepped just a bit closer. There were only inches between them now. She could feel the heat of his skin radiating off him.
He shook his head. “No.”
“More fashionably beautiful as opposed to ‘handsome’ or ‘pretty enough in my own way’?”
His gaze on her felt tangible somehow, almost like touch—with weight and heat, she felt it traveling over her. “You are perfect. Just as you are… except that you are still fully clothed.That. That I would change,” he insisted.
So would she. More boldly than she could have ever imagined, Benny simply reached up, released the buttons at the front of her gown and shrugged it off her shoulders. The lace edged chemise was topped with her favorite stays, the only ones that had ever given her even the hint of an adequate bosom.“Is this better?”
His eyes were glittering with something more than amusement. “It’s certainly an excellent start. Lovely as it, perhaps we could dispense with your gown entirely. It is only fair that we should be in a comparable states of nudity.”
It took only a small amount of adjustment, and then she allowed the gown to drop. Given that her frame was so devoid of curves, there was nothing to stop if from sinking straight to the floor. When he reached for the tapes of her petticoat, she didn’t protest. It too slipped down to the floor, leaving her standing in a puddle of fabric. Then he simply plucked her from it, lifting her up with little effort.
“I’m not a child to be carted to and fro,” she protested.
“You are most assuredly not a child… But I think I will enjoy being able to cart you to and fro, Benny. The possibilities are endless.”
He made it sound wicked. He also made it sound as if it were a joke she didn’t quite understand yet, but would soon.
There was no more time to talk. No more time for teasing. He carried her to the bed and placed her upon it before stretching out beside her. He kissed her soundly, his mouth moving over hers with a gentle hunger that had her responding in kind. All the while, his hands moved over her, tracing the line of her leg, over her hip, to the slight dip of her waist. Then they traveled up to her breasts, cupping them, caressing them. Not every touch was gentle. Some were insistent and needy, while others were almost reverent. Each elicited a different response from her, but the overall experience was one of… worship. She felt as if he were worshipping her body, like she were some sort of ancient goddess and he her devoted high priest. It was fanciful nonsense, but the notion remained firm even as her body melted with pleasure and her mind ceased to function beyond simple instinct.
* * *
He had thought to introduce her slowly to the ways of desire. But no. Benny, despite her innocence, was no shy and timid virgin. She was passionate and eager, welcoming his touch while seeking out his own flesh with her small, delicate hands. She might bemoan her lack of curves, but to his eyes, she was perfect. Petite, yes. Delicate, but only in appearance. Her femininity was not evident in exaggerated curves but in the innate grace with which she moved—slow languid stretches, the perfect arch of her back, the way her head fell back baring the slender column of her throat to him. Oh, yes. Benny was a seductress, no matter how unworthy she deemed herself of the title.
Regardless of how tempting he found her, Payne managed to adhere to his planned strategy. It was a simple one really. Blind her with pleasure until nothing else could intrude, even the inevitable pain that was inherent to the process.
Layer by layer, he stripped the rest of her clothing from her. She didn’t protest, but just gave herself up into his hands. Tasting one furled peak, he drew her breast into his mouth, savoring not only the feel of it but her uninhibited response. The unfettered sounds of pleasure she made were enough to drive a man wild.
Sliding one hand along the silken skin of her inner thigh, he teased the dark curls at that tempting juncture. A startled gasp escaped her but then she relaxed against him once more, not just allowing but welcoming his exploration. And he did explore. He touched her intimately, stroking soft, heated flesh slick with desire. With every touch, she opened to him more, her thighs parting to give him greater access. And he took it greedily. Because he would not seek his own pleasure until he’d seen to hers.
11
Benny felt as if she were suspended, hovering on the brink of something—what that was she could not say. Regardless, tension and heat suffused her body, her muscles drawn taut and her hips arching off the bed into his questing hands. Under any other circumstance, she would have been mortified by her behavior. But in that moment, it was all need and desperation. He was the anchor holding her onto the earth or she would have floated away entirely.
“Just let go,” he urged her.
“Let go of what?” she asked breathlessly.
“You’re resisting,” he whispered the words against her ear, punctuating them with a soft, open mouthed kiss to her neck. He followed that with the nip of his teeth. “You are hovering on the brink of pleasure and all you have to do is trust me.”
She did, actually. Not implicitly and not in every circumstance. After all, they didn’t know one another that well. But in this particular arena, she trusted him. How could she not? Every time he touched her, heat flooded her and she was suffused with a kind of longing she hadn’t even known was possible. Clearly she was out of her depth and these were waters he had navigated before.
As his mouth traveled from her neck, down to her breasts, Benny could’t remain still. Her hands clutched at his shoulders, sliding over the firm muscles of his back. Then he was trailing his lips along her ribs, her belly. Gentle nips of his teeth were followed with the soft strokes of his tongue to soothe in their wake.When his breath teased the curls at the at the juncture of her thighs, she stiffened. “What are you doing?”
“You said you trusted me,” he countered. “Now, you have to prove it.”
Benny was still trying to think of a response to that when he dipped his head just a bit lower. The first stroke of his tongue was beyond shocking. The second was a revelation. He’d demanded her trust. In that moment, she would have given him anything so long as he didn’t stop what he was doing. And when he slid one finger inside her even as his mouth teased that sensitive bud until she was half mad with it, she understood what he’d meant when he had told her to let go. She simply broke apart. The tension that coiled inside her, drawing tighter and tighter, simply shattered. Her body quaked with the force of it, leaving her trembling and breathless.
