Page 54 of Her Beautiful Bastard
She came up onto her knees as he climbed onto the bed, and they knelt facing one another. His every muscle seemed to tense when she reached out toward him, a tentative hand aimed toward his chest. He held his breath while waiting for the first touch of her hand against his bare skin, something else he had not been nearly prepared for. Her fingertips scorched him, producing a sharp gasp as she traced the outline of one pectoral muscle before flattening her palm against it.
Placing a hand over hers, he kept it there, gazing up and into her eyes. He hid nothing from her, needing her to see what this meant to him, that he took not a moment of what she was giving him for granted. Taking her other hand, he placed it upon his chest, as well, closing his eyes and reveling in the feel of her palms upon him.
Taking the lead, she began moving those hands of her own accord, smoothing them up to his shoulders, where she kneaded and explored before moving back downward, tickling the springy dark hair sprinkled over his chest and down his abdomen toward his cock.
“Sinclair,” she whispered, her breath teasing his neck as she leaned close—so close that his cock brushed against the downy blonde curls between her legs. “Sin …”
He groaned, letting his head fall back as she began kissing his neck, her hands tracing over his ribs and onto his back, holding him as she tasted of his flesh. She had never called him by the shortened version of his name before, and he liked it. Sin. It made him feel wicked, liked some dark, dirty creature sullying this innocent angel with his kiss and his touch. Instinct seemed to drive her as she kissed him, her tongue finding the sensitive places on his neck, his shoulder, his chest. She seemed to know what he wanted without being told, and while he would have been delighted to tutor her, the experience was made all the better by simply being allowed to feel, to exult in her attention and lust.
His gut clenched when she reached his stomach, nuzzling and kissing her way down toward his groin. He let out a hoarse groan when she gripped his cock, her fist a gentle squeeze around hard, throbbing flesh.
“Lydia,” he panted, chest heaving as he fought not to spend in her hand. “Yes, love. Touch me … just like that.”
She grew bolder with his encouragement, crouching before him, her golden head bowed as she watched herself pump him, her hand now a tight fist around his shaft. He leaned back, bracing himself on his elbows as she worked him, kissing the ridges of his stomach, then flicking her hot tongue at one nipple, then the other.
He bit his lip, hips thrusting into her strokes with a wildness he could not control. It had been too long since he’d been touched or kissed, and that it was his angel, his beautiful Lydia, made it all the harder to keep from spewing his seed within seconds like some untried lad.
“Lydia … God … that feels …”
His mindless mutterings choked off on a ragged gasp when she enveloped the tip of him into her mouth. The wet, warm slide of her tongue against his slit was his undoing, and he could no longer fight back a release that had been four years coming. Keeping himself braced with one hand, he gripped her hair with the other, bucking into her mouth as she took up a steady rhythm, sucking him to the finish. He threw his head back and let go, his bollocks drawing up tight against his body as his seed shot from him in hot spurts.
She made a little sound of surprise, but didn’t release him, her lips tugging at him with gentle pulls, her throat convulsing as she swallowed down every drop. He shuddered and panted as she drained him dry, the tension in his body easing a bit.
Lydia released him from her mouth, then sat up on her haunches, staring at him with eyes gone heavy-lidded. Her breasts heaved with every breath, and the insides of her spread thighs showed the evidence of her need, wet and glistening. Reaching for her, he drew her flush against his body, his cock already stirring again at the feel of her against him, warm and lush and his.
“Just when I think you could not be more intriguing, more magnetic, you find some way to prove me wrong,” he murmured, nuzzling her crown and kissing her hair. “I want to know how you are so knowledgeable in carnal matters … but at the same time worry that the answer will make me want to murder someone.”
She giggled, wrapping her arms and legs around him, and he lifted her, turning to deposit her against the pillows.
“It isn’t what you think. A family member was very frank in explaining intercourse to me. Perhaps, too frank.”
He chuckled, lying down atop her, his cock lengthening even more as his hips fit into the cradle of hers, pressing him up against wet, warm flesh. “Ah. The sister-in-law, I presume. The one who wears breeches and shoots rifles.”
“The very one,” she replied. “But you will be the only man I’ve ever … I mean, I haven’t …”
He kissed her, softly, swiftly, tangling his hands in her hair to begin unpinning it, spreading the golden strands over the pillow. “You are still a virgin. How, Lydia? I know that you had a difficult time on the Marriage Mart, but a woman as beautiful and passionate as you … I just cannot imagine you going untouched for so long.”
She stilled beneath him, closing her eyes with a heavy sigh. He frowned, plucking the last pin free, leaving it scattered over the bed sheet amongst the others. Stroking her hair, he kissed her forehead, then the bridge of her nose.
“What is it, Lydia?” he urged. “What’s wrong?”
Shaking her head, she opened her eyes and met his gaze reluctantly. “The truth is, I have had several opportunities to dispense with my maidenhead. I’ve had my share of salacious offers, and … well, I was not quite honest with you about the marriage issue. While it was difficult for me to make a match, there were certain men who did not seem to mind my eccentricities. I could have had them if I’d wanted. But I didn’t want to.”
He smiled, smoothing his thumb over the arch of one eyebrow. “Why not?”
Biting her lower lip, she averted her gaze again, her face flushing. “Because you ruined me with a kiss. After that night in the garden, I spent weeks looking for you, searching for your face in the crowd everywhere I went. When I began to realize I would never see you again, it hurt … perhaps more than it should have. From there, any man to cross my path held no allure for me. I have felt attraction and wondered if I should not simply force myself to go through with it with someone—anyone. But, I never did, and after a while, my status as a spinster governess did the job of keeping any such prospects at bay.”
Sinclair kissed one lowered eyelid, then the other, then nuzzled her nose with his own. “Look at me, angel.”
She hesitated only a moment before raising her eyes and looking into his. He smiled at her, absently toying with a lock of hair.
“It makes me sad to think of you alone and yearning, especially when I spent just as much time pining after you,” he murmured. “And I wish I could say that you should have found pleasure wherever you could, with whomever you could. However, I find it difficult to say or think any of that, when I can’t help feeling so damned proud that you did not. I have no right to assume that you were waiting for me—”
“But I was,” she interjected, reaching up to caress his face. “I did not realize it, of course, but lying here with you, tonight, I understand that my heart knew something my mind did not. I have waited all this time for you, Sin. I could not have had this with anyone but you.”
Her words sent a surge of sudden tenderness through him, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her closer, tighter, pressing little kisses against her temple, her cheek, her lips, her chin.
“It is a gift I do not deserve,” he whispered.
