Page 83 of A Duke Changes Everything
Instead, she reached back and unhooked her gown, pulling her arms from the bodice and pushing the fabric down to her waist. Goose bumps danced along her skin. She wore only her practical, unappealing corset and chemise under the beautiful gown.
Nick didn’t seem to mind. He stood watching breathlessly, eyes squinting in the dim light to take in every detail.
“There’s a problem with turning the lights so low.” Mina lowered the gown over her hips, arching up to free the fabric under her bottom before letting the red velvet pool at her feet. “If I can’t see you...” Scooting onto the bed, she positioned herself in the enormous shadow he cast with the fire’s glow at his back. “How can you see me?”
Leaning forward, she touched his chest. So warm and firm. She loved the way his muscles jumped under her touch. Sliding her hand down, she found the single fastened button of his shirt and slipped it free. Then she went farther, tugging at the opening of his trousers, her fingers colliding with the hot, hard length of him.
“Mina.”He released her name on a sound that was both a gasp and a growl. She reveled in how she affected him.
“Please, Nick. You said I could have whatever I wanted.” She worked the hooks of his trousers until they fell open, slid her fingers inside, and savored his heat. “I want to see you.”
He toed off his boots, helped her remove his trousers and drawers, and stood before her bare, his body outlined in firelight. Mina unhooked her corset, loosened the ribbon tie of her chemise, and pulled at the generous neckline until it slid off her shoulders.
Moving to the edge of the bed, she got to her feet, testing her ankle gingerly.
“Careful,” he said, immediately reaching for her. She caught his hand and then pressed her wrist to his palm. Her pulse raced and she wanted him to feel what he did to her.
The last piece of clothing fell to the floor. She’d let go of the final shreds of hesitation. More than anything, this was what she wanted.
Nick stroked his fingers along the edge of her breast, drawing his thumb gently across her taut, aching nipple. Then he bent to kiss her. First her mouth, then her chin, then the sensitive hollow at the base of her throat. He flicked out his tongue to taste her skin, and Mina licked her lips, eager to do the same to him.
His lips closed over her nipple and she felt the gentle stroke of his tongue all the way to the center of her thighs.
“Please.” It was the only word that made any sense, and she wasn’t sure what she was pleading for, except for more. To get closer, to see him more clearly. “Come into the light.”
He lifted his head, searching her face. Mina stepped out of his arms and inched past him. She reached for his hand and urged him forward. He let her lead him and stepped a bit closer to the fireplace.
Mina held her breath to keep from gasping when she got a good view of his body. She willed the burning in her eyes not to turn to tears.
Faded scars crisscrossed his back, buttocks, and upper thighs. Below the stripes, he was an astonishing man. He possessed the broadest shoulders she’d ever seen, made more so by layers of muscles that bunched and tensed as she studied him.
“Enough,” he said roughly. “Let me see you now.”
Mina didn’t give him what he asked. Not yet. She stepped closer, pressing her body against his back. She traced one scar gently, and he shivered in response. Then she pressed her mouth to the spot, trailing kisses along the healed-over wound she’d traced.
He turned and pulled her in roughly, kissing her hard on the mouth, then gentling. He drew his fingers along her neck as if she was fragile and delicate. “Is this what you want, Mina?”
She cupped his scarred cheek, nudged his face down so they were eye to eye. “I will never pretend with you. This is me, doing exactly as I wish.”
“Tell me what you wish.”
“To love every part of you.” Sliding her hand down to explore, she felt the galloping thuds of his heartbeat. It was strong and thrashing for her and this moment. That’s the part she truly wished to get to, to burrow in and soothe every torn and tattered piece.
Most of all, she hoped he’d let her.
Chapter Twenty
Love.
The single word jolted through him, every nerve fizzing. His knees felt unsteady. His heart knocked against his ribs.
Nick prided himself on being strong.
He bested men at Gentleman Jackson’s boxing club every week. For years, he’d worked to whip the anemic, pigeon-toed boy he’d once been into a man that no one could get the better of in a brawl.
Now this petite, gorgeous stubborn woman had stripped away all his bravado.
Mina didn’t make him feel weak. She made him want to surrender. To give her everything and hold nothing back. Even if it meant she’d see the truth of who he was—the ugliness, inside and out. Somehow, she’d unearthed goodness in him, a vein of decency he’d doubted he still possessed.
