Page 53 of The Secret of the Dashing Detective
“Why not?” she whispered.
“Because you are for someone else. Not for me, an investigator who could never give you the life that you deserve.”
She gripped his cheeks between her hands and stared up into his eyes.
“Do you not understand? I. Do. Not. Care. You are Matthew and that is all that matters to me.Youare the man that I am falling in love with.”
Her words both took him higher than he had ever been before in his life and also brought him to his knees as he tried to imagine himself as ever worthy of her. He was not a man who had issues in seeing himself in a good light, but she was also Lady Juliana Remington, sister of a duke. He was a detective. It would be a scandal of the highest level if she were to ever sully herself with him.
“I—” He wanted to tell her he loved her, yet he knew that would only further her resolve to be with him, here and now, and he could not have that. He needed her to have some hesitation, for he wasn’t sure that he held enough for the both of them. “I can bring you pleasure. That I can do.”
Her smile widened, her lips stretching wide on her face, and he resolved that he would make her happier than she had ever been before – even if it was just for this one night. He bent and scooped her up in her arms, to which she gave a small “oomph!” of surprise before he carried her through the room and into his bedroom down the hall. He hadn’t shown her the room when she had visited the other day, and his sisters hadn’t done anything to make it comfortable like the rest of the home. It was still the neat but sparse bed in the neat but sparse room with nary anything on the walls.
But she didn’t seem to care, so at the moment, neither did he.
He placed her reverently down upon the bed, shucking his jacket before he leaned over her, but he didn’t touch her – instead he reached behind her and began to loosen her hair, pulling out one pin after the other. He had yearned to see her with her hair spread out around her, the thought of it, especially upon his bedsheets, erotic. He continued with her watching him until he was finished and her hair waved around the front and back of her shoulders. As he gazed down on her, he knew that this image of her would forever hold a space in his mind – the soft cream of her dress upon his dark blue blankets, her cheeks rosy and her green eyes filled with desire – for him.
If only he could have her. If it wasn’t for the great differences spread between them, he was ready to give her all of him and to take whatever she had to offer in return. The only problem was that she wastoogiving, and he knew she would likely give more than she should.
He crawled over the bed toward her, stopping when he reached her waist. He knelt overtop of her, tugging the bottom of her bodice down, one inch at a time, until her perfect, creamy, pert breasts were bared to him. He took first one and then the other into his mouth as she gasped above him and dug her fingers into his shoulders.
He lightly scraped his teeth over her nipples as his hands began to explore her body through the confines of her dress. Finally, he had enough, and he reached behind her and began to undo the buttons, pausing halfway down.
“I am so sorry – do you mind? Say the word and I will stop, I promise—”
“Do. Not. Stop.”
She was forceful when she wanted something – that was for certain.
And he liked it.
He tugged her dress off her body but left her chemise where it was, although it didn’t leave much to his imagination. At least it was one last barrier between them, to keep him from going further to discover what was underneath.
He ran his hand up one smooth calf, over her thigh, until he reached the center between her legs, finding the nub of pleasure, which he began to stroke as he returned his tongue to one of her nipples.
“Matthew,” she gasped again. “Oh, Matthew, this is… this is…”
She didn’t have to describe it, however, for he could see the words written on her face. She had been amused before, yes, but now she was enthralled. And he was the one making her feel this way.
“Can I continue?” he asked, and she nodded.
“Please,” she said with a moan, and he slipped a finger inside of her, causing her entire body to tremble.
He kept going, in and out, as his own thoughts became hazy, his desire matching hers while his mouth travelled over her body, kissing her through the bunched fabric of her chemise as he went lower and lower still.
He had never wanted a woman with such intensity, and he was having a difficult time remembering that there would be no finish for him, that this was about her, and so he branded her with everything he could give her.
His mouth reached the bottom of her chemise, and he moved his hand to make room for his tongue.
“Matthew, what are you—oh!” she exclaimed as he found her, seemingly barely able to contain herself as he held her against him and tasted the very essence of her. He looked up so that he could continue to enjoy her while seeing what she looked like – and she looked like the goddess that she was, her cheeks flushed, her back arching into the air. His hands wrapped around her buttocks, holding her close even as she writhed against him, looking for more though likely uncertain of just what that more was. His tongue continued to move, tasting, exploring, and she was trembling around him again.
“Come for me,” he said, even though he wasn’t entirely sure that she knew exactly what he meant by that.
“I—I just—what you are doing, it’s too good, it’s—it’ssorcery.”
He couldn’t help but laugh at that, which must have felt good against her for she reached down and gripped his hair as he returned to the center of all her feeling and moved hard and fast. She cried out, and he hoped that his neighbours couldn’t hear her through the walls.
When she finally went lax against him, he stared up at her, unable to stop the words that poured from his lips.
