Page 85 of A Fearless Heart
Surprise stilled him. “You do?”
“Of course. Botany is hundreds of years old, and women have practiced with plants forever. It just used to be called something else. In fact—”
“Lecture later,” he told her with a low laugh. “Now I’ve got other plans.”
His next kiss was as deep as the first was light. He cupped his hand around the back of her neck as he plundered her mouth, his tongue doing wicked things that made Cady whimper with need. She accepted everything he offered and still wanted more. Her hands curled around his shoulders, and she felt the rippling of his muscles under her fingers, the heat of his flesh beneath his clothing.
“Take your shirt off,” she whispered. “I’ve haven’t seen all of you yet.”
He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then said in a warning tone, “It’s not all very nice to look at.”
“I will decide that for myself,” she retorted.
“Then you take the shirt off,” he said.
Cady tugged the fabric up and over his head. At first, she couldn’t see anything wrong with him at all. He was pure muscle and broad shoulders and long, powerful arms, and a flat stomach with just a trail of tightly curled hair to interrupt the expanse of skin. Then she noticed that what she’d first taken for shadows were actually bluish marks all over his left side. She touched him and felt the unevenness of the skin, like pockmarks.
“What did this?” she asked.
“Lead shot from a shell. My back is worse. Some of the metal is still in there. There are nights I can’t sleep.”
“Pain?” she asked softly, retracting her hand.
“Comes and goes.”
“You should have told me. I could give you something for it.”
“No thank you. I’ve seen other men who were ‘given something’ for it. Now they’re like ghosts of themselves, addicted to laudanum, and when they don’t get it, there’s just more pain on top of pain they had already.”
“Oh, Gabe, it doesn’t have to be like that,” she murmured. “I wish you could trust me. I’d find what you needed.”
“What I need is you,” he said in a rough tone. He kissed her hard. Then his mouth was on her breast, and he was sucking at her nipples, his tongue curling and pressing. Cady let out a desperate plea for more.
“I remember how sensitive you are there,” he growled.
“Yes.” She felt faint with need.
“But not just there.” He slid one hand between her legs, and let it rest just at the top of her thigh. She realized he was waiting for her approval.
“Gabe, please,” she moaned.
With a sigh of relief, he moved his hand to cover her sex, and slipped one finger inside her, stroking gently, even as he kept his mouth at her breast.
How was she supposed to keep thinking straight when so many sensations were surging through her body? Cady thought she might fly apart.
She peaked before she could warn him that it was too much, too fast. She clung to him, wishing she were better at this. “Oh, I wanted it to last longer,” she whispered. “It was so nice and now it’s over.”
“Blossom, we have hours. Tell me how many times you want to feel like that, and that’s how many times you will.”
She loved how he cut through the many layers of her that were so familiar that she forgot they were there—the enforced propriety, the protective shield, the uncertainty.Of courseshe shouldn’t be alone with a man.Of courseshe shouldn’t let pleasure decide her actions.Of courseshe shouldn’t choose to live for the moment.
He sliced through all that, leaving Cady with nothing but her raw self to respond to him. And because there were no more rules, she could be honest about what she wanted and what made her excited and pleased and interested. It was like discovering a new continent…except that she didn’t go anywhere. She just discovered it in herself.
Climbing off him and then kneeling down in front of the chair, she reached forward unbuttoned his falls, releasing his erection from the confines of the fabric. He let out a groan of relief, which turned into a very different sound when she circled her hand around him.
Inspired by his reaction, Cady slithered forward until her chest was even with his cock. It slid perfectly into the valley between her breasts, and the sound Gabe made confirmed her guess that he’d like the feeling of the hard flesh surrounded by her softness.
He put his hands on her shoulders and pressed her closer, his breathing gone harsh and desperate. A string of phrases passed his lips—all profane, all graphic, all utterly inappropriate for a lady’s ears and all yet all wildly exciting to her. Cady looked up and smiled to see the raw ecstasy on his face.Shewas doing this to him, she who never did anything to anyone.
