Page 71 of Indecently Employed
He was looking down at her hand in his, as the fingers of his other hand worked at the small of her back. He flexed hisjaw, and for a moment Susanna worried she might have said something odd or untoward.
But then the moment broke. He crushed her against him, his mouth catching hers with a punishing intensity. Her hands gripped at his shoulders, desperate to hold tight and not be knocked aside by the force of his affection. It was a rough, urgent kiss, quite unlike any of the others they’d shared. And he’d been so gentle and tender since appearing in the doorway of the parsonage’s kitchen. His tongue forced its way into her mouth, and she yielded, the heat building in her center with every passing second.
Her legs nearly gave in; she stayed upright by pressing herself harder against him. He slid a hand beneath her and lifted her up, only breaking the kiss to deposit her on the bed before him.
“You wore your new dress,” he said, his breath uneven as he wrenched off his neckcloth and threw it over his shoulder.
“I did,” she whispered, feeling at her swollen lips with one finger. Every inch of her felt alive, crackling with an electric energy. She sat up and reached for her hair. “Shall I let it down?” she murmured, feeling entirely unlike herself and yet somehow more truly herself than she’d ever been.
“God, yes,” he moaned, shucking his shirtsleeves off.
She complied, holding her shoulders back and her eyes in a coquettish, half-lidded gaze as she worked, throwing the pins to the ground along with his clothing.
He stripped his vest and trousers as he watched her. Her breath caught when she saw the outline of his erection against his drawers.
“I missed you,” she said, running her fingers through her braids, loosening the locks and releasing the wild curls to fall about her shoulders. Somewhere in the last two weeks her shyness had fled. The fact that this might never have been, that she might easily have never been able to be near him like thisagain, emboldened her, galvanizing her desire and yearning for this intimacy.
He chuckled, coming to his knees before her, his fingers flying down the buttons of her bodice. “Youmissedme?” He removed the garment gently, then set it aside. He nestled his face against her neck, taking in a deep breath. “You cannot imagine the hell I’ve lived these past days.” His words were hot against her skin, his voice rough, and she arched into him with a gasp. “And I didn’t even have the blessed distraction of washing the floors to keep me going.” He reached around behind her, fiddling with her skirts as he dragged kisses across her shoulder.
Finally her skirts and petticoats were discarded as well; they both now donned only their scantest underthings, enabling them to move more freely. He climbed atop her, his kisses returning to her neck.
“No banking fires, no polishing the brass, no starching collars. No, I’ve been stuck shooting, playing chess, riding, and above all else, being lectured. All day. And all night.” He made an impatient sort of growl into the nape of her neck before kissing her earlobe. He cupped one of her breasts with an eager hand as he whispered, “And all I could think about the whole time were your gorgeous tits.”
He squeezed, and she gasped, her body tightening all over.
And then his mouth was on the thin cotton of her chemise, turning it cold and wet against her skin. She drew in a breath, stilling her hands on his back as he continued kissing and biting at her, the tension between her legs twisting ever tighter. Susanna moaned, wanting so much more of this but not knowing how much more she could bear before she had to have him, truly and fully. His hair smelled heavenly—clean and fresh, but also in a way more difficult to explain. It was just exactly like him. Like Ajax, and no other. Male and alive, atop herand worshiping her tits through her chemise with unparalleled devotion.
The sound of fabric rending apart snapped her out of her pleasure-induced haze.
“Ajax!” she exclaimed, lifting herself up enough to gawk at what remained of her best chemise, although she supposed that meant little now that she would no longer need to stretch every shilling.
“What?” he murmured, pushing the ruined garment from her shoulders. “I’m sure the shops will be open in the morning.”
Before she could object, he’d pushed her back down, his mouth now on her bare skin, which was prickled with gooseflesh. With a little purr of satisfaction, she loosened her limbs once more, settling into the slick, cold satin of the counterpane beneath her, desperate to feel him on top of her. She gasped his name as she pushed her hips up against his hardness, and suddenly his drawers seemed the most hateful thing in world. She lifted her feet and pushed at the waist of them, digging in with her toes as her fingers raked at his back, shocks of pleasure rippling through her as he took her into his mouth. When she failed at undressing him completely, she settled for removing her own stockings, rolling each one down with the opposite foot until she could kick them off and onto the floor.
“Please,” she said in between breathy sighs. “Come to me.”
Ajax lifted his head, that dark hair streaked with gray falling into his eyes, which were fixed on hers as he yanked her drawers down her legs before diving back into her body, running his tongue along her slit without warning. Susanna bucked against him, calling out in surprise, her hands clutching at his head as he tasted her again and again.
“No, no…” she moaned, her voice trailing off as he moved his attention to the center of her pleasure, circling it quickly at first, then slowing into a delicious, metered pace.
Then she sat up, pushing him away before she lost her head and succumbed to his ministrations before she meant to.
His face softened, and he lifted himself up from between her knees, trailing kisses up her stomach, between her breasts, along her neck.
“What’s wrong, darling?”
Oh, his voice!A shiver ran down her spine at the sound, so deep and purring as his lips tickled her ear. It was almost too much to bear, and she released a frustrated yelp. With her eyes shut, she steeled herself and said the most immodest, filthy, and improper thing she’d ever uttered.
“I want you. I need you. Inside me. Please.”
He chuckled, and she turned into herself at the surge of pleasure it brought, her knees bending upward toward her stomach. She hadn’t even realized her hands had come to cover her burning red face until he gently removed them. She opened her eyes to find him grinning mischievously at her, his eyes lit from within.
“Is that what you want, then? To be fucked?”
The curse sent a shock through her, but she took a deep breath and nodded.
He leaned forward, placing a hot kiss on her temple. “Are you certain?”
