Page 57 of The Earl Takes All
“I want you so badly. I have for the longest.”
Holding her face between his hands, he looked deeply into her blue eyes. He had to tell her the truth. Now. Before they went any further. Before she despised him fully and completely. Before he despised himself. He had to confess his sins, his duplicity. He had to be honest with her.
He had to lose her forever.
Or he could hold his tongue. Continue on with this role for the remainder of his life. Be Albert until he drew his final breath. Keep his promise to her that he would never again leave her. It was the only way to keep that promise.
To never hear his name on her lips, crying out with passion.
To never be the man to whom she was actually married.
To never be the man she truly loved.
To live the remainder of his life with his brother’s leavings.
But in the end he would have her. He would always have her.
Whatever sacrifices he endured would be worth it to keep her happy, to keep from breaking her heart.
He knew his motives weren’t purely unselfish, but then he’d never claimed not to be selfish. Because in the end, his silence would keep her with him, and he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life.
He claimed her mouth. And he was lost.
Theferociousness of his kiss didn’t frighten her. It merely ignited every ounce of passion she possessed. He’d been right. Holding back, merely teasing each other with what was to come, was making every touch, every sigh, every moan all the sweeter.
Clothing came off in a frenzy of popped buttons and ripped seams. Never before had things between them been so wild, so untamed. It was as though Africa had changed him, stripped him of his civilized veneer.
Her hair tumbled down around her shoulders, and only then did they take a moment to appreciate what they had unveiled.
“My God, but you’re beautiful,” he rasped, his eyes smoldering with hunger, glinting with need.
He was all lean sinew and corded muscle. Strength and purpose. Familiar and yet not. There was a rigid scar that angled down from his hip. She trailed her finger over it. “Africa was not kind to you.” Leaning down, she pressed a kiss to it.
With a low groan, he had her back up in his arms and was striding toward the bed. Once there, he set her on the mattress and followed her down, covering half her body with his, running his hands over her as though she were unchartered territory. Then he was flicking his tongue over her skin, tasting, tantalizing. She scraped her fingers over his scalp, along his broad shoulders. He fondled her breasts, her nipples puckered, and he closed his mouth over one, tugging gently, and she very nearly came up off the bed.
“Oh, God,” she breathed shakily as pleasure skidded through her.
He kissed the underside of one breast, then the other, before giving the same attention to each of her ribs, climbing down her body inch by marvelous inch. He circled his tongue around her navel, pushed himself down farther until her thighs were resting on his shoulders, his hands cupping her backside.
“What are you—”
“Shh.” He lifted his heated gaze to hers. “I want to worship all of you.”
He lowered his head, his mouth. His tongue licked the very essence of her, velvet to silk, sultry heat to sultry heat. Clutching his hair, she arched up, offering him more. And he took.
With slow strokes and tiny nibbles and teasing flicks. Slow journeys up and slower ones down. Her body strained against him, begging for release. He increased the pressure, and just when she was on the cusp—
He retreated, went gentle and tender. She cried out in frustration. He merely laughed, low and dark, and with promise. She would make him pay. When it was her turn, she would make him pay.
Again he brought her to the cusp. Again he retreated.
She was quivering with need. “No more,” she begged. “No more.”
“Once more.” He raised her hips slightly as though she were an offering to the gods of decadence and desire. His mouth worked its magic, suckling and nipping, swirling until her world fell away, until there was nothing except sensation, nothing beyond raw nerve endings and need. Pleasure erupting with such force that her shoulders came up off the bed, she dug her fingers into his shoulders, looked down to see him watching her with quiet satisfaction and a burning need of his own.
With a gasp, her body trembling, she dropped back down, swallowed hard, fighting for control. He glided his body up hers until he burrowed his face in the hollow between her neck and shoulder. She loved the sensation of his slick skin sliding over hers.
“I can’t wait to have your cock buried deeply inside me,” she whispered in his bad ear.
