Page 76 of Nothing Compares to the Duke
She bucked up against him, drawing him inside and gasped when he settled against her.
“We’ll go slow,” he said, and then took her mouth. He kissed her deeply, taking his time as he built a rhythm between them.
But when she moaned against his mouth and angled her hips, his control slipped. He bent his head and kissed her neck, nipping at her skin with his teeth. Then she arched against him, raking her fingernails along his shoulder.
“More,” she whispered against his cheek.
He quickened his pace, reaching down to shift her body so that he could thrust deeper. She lifted her head to kiss him and he groaned against her lips. He rasped out her name and he lost any semblance of control.
This was Bella. Never had it felt like this. Right. Necessary. He couldn’t get close enough to her and he hated the thought of never being this close to her again.
“Please,” she rasped.
Her body told him she was as close to falling over the edge as he was.
“What do you want, love? Tell me.”
“Just you.”
Rhys looked down at her and the look she returned tore something inside of him free and mended it all at once.
He bent his head, took her nipple into his mouth, and thrust deep until he felt her body tense and then melt beneath him.
His own release drew him under and pleasure washed over him. When he could breathe again, she was kissing him. Stroking his face with her fingers.
Rhys rolled onto his back and drew her with him, holding her near and trying not to think of the moment when he’d have to let her go. He’d felt satedbefore, but never like this. The satisfaction wasn’t just a physical release. Something else had changed inside of him.
After they lay together, warm, quiet, catching their breaths, Bella lifted her head. “You asked what I wanted. It’s always been you.”
“Bella—” Protests filled his mind. He didn’t deserve her desire, but, mercy, how he wanted it. So much.
As if she sensed his conflict, she laid a finger across his lips and then replaced it with a kiss. “We’ll always have this moment.”
“Yes.” He didn’t want to think about what that meant. That she might regret this later. That they might never make love again. He didn’t want to ask any questions, because he feared all the answers.
So he kissed her again.
Rhys’s eyes flickered open and Bella’s scent tickled his nose. He studied the ceiling above his head and realized where he was. Not his own bed back in London, nor the one he’d begun sleeping in since returning to Essex.
The seaside. The cottage. Bella.
He reached for her and his hand closed around warm sheets and an empty space. She couldn’t have been gone long.
Sitting up, he noticed the light filtering through the curtains was still bright. Not too many hours could have passed since he’d dozed off.
After donning his shirt and trousers, he explored thecottage, but he could sense immediately that she wasn’t there. The vibrant energy she exuded was missing.
He slipped his boots on and ventured outside.
She stood near the beach, not at the water’s edge, but further back, where she could remain dry but look out onto the sea. Her hair was down. He’d removed every single pin. The breeze whipped her skirt around her legs and swept long red-gold waves of her hair off her shoulders.
“I woke and you were gone,” he said gently as he approached, wary of disturbing her reverie despite how much he wanted to coax her back into the cottage. Back into his arms.
She glanced back at him and offered him a soft smile. “Not gone. Just here, looking at the sea.”
It wasn’t any sort of invitation, but Rhys stepped beside her, close enough that his arm brushed hers. He needed to be connected to her again. It took control not to simply haul her into his arms, but he sensed she’d stepped away somehow. Not just from the cottage, but from the intimacy they’d shared.
“Regrets?” He was terrified of her answer, but he had to know.
