A sudden thought tore a gasp from her throat. “He nestled down into the sweet valley and drank God’s dew. You weren’t referring to the countryside when you wrote that line. After your expert attentions this evening, the words take on an entirely new meaning.”
Noah stood. He ran his tongue over the seam of his lips and sighed. “Tasting you was beyond heavenly.”
Her sex pulsed in response. This man knew how to say all the right things. “Then remove your clothes and let’s skip to the end of the poem.”
With a look that made her core muscles clench, he tugged off his boots. “I have no intention of rushing. I intend to thrust slow and deep into your welcoming body.”
Eva’s breath caught in her throat.
He held her in his emerald gaze as he unbuttoned his breeches. “I should warn you, I’m so hard it might come as a shock.”
It came as a huge shock.
A highly aroused shock.
Noah Ashwood stood naked, bathed in a candlelit glow. Shadows danced over every chiselled contour. His muscular thighs looked as strong and as powerful as a gladiatorial champion. The lean planes of his abdomen drew the eye to the tantalising trail of hair leading down to his jutting manhood—smooth and as hard as marble.
“You’re not afraid?” he said with a teasing glint in his eyes as he stroked the length of his impressive erection.
“Afraid and excited.”
“We don’t have to do this now.” He glanced at the door. “We don’t have to do this at all.”
A fierce panic surged to her chest at the thought of him leaving. Her heart ached to join with him. Complicated emotions were at play. Too complicated to understand while her body thrummed with need. She doubted she would feel this way about any man again, and she was hardly a girl in her first bloom.
“You cannot tease me with mouth-watering confectionary and then close the box.”
He laughed. “You have the look of a woman who wants to devour every last one.”
“With such delights on offer, a lady is bound to be greedy.”
He climbed onto the bed, crawling over her with panther-like grace, stopping to kiss her breasts, to take her nipples into his warm mouth, to suck, to tease, to drive her insane.
“Open your legs, love.”
She opened for him and took him between her thighs.
“You’re certain you want this, Eva?” He came down on top of her, his manhood pressing against her intimately.
“I’ve never wanted anything more.” Every inch of her body burned.
He rocked his hips, breaching her entrance. “Do you think you can handle my intrusion, Miss Dunn?” he said, reminding her of the words spoken at their first meeting.
“I welcome your intrusion with bated breath, sir.” She ached for it, yearned for it.
The mischievous twinkle in his eyes became something more profound as he eased himself into her body. “Then know that I shall treasure this gift always.”
His endearing words caused an intense flurry of emotion. The sensation of being stretched, of their bodies joining, fed a need so deep it almost brought her to tears.
“You can touch me, Eva.”
“Yes,” she whispered, releasing the coverlet. She knew what would happen the moment she set her hands to his bare skin.
He was so hot, so hard. Her fingers throbbed as she stroked his back, grabbed hold of his hips.
“I’ll try not to hurt you.”
“I trust you,” she breathed, relishing the weight of him pressing her into the mattress.
He kissed her as he rocked slowly in and out of her body, made love to her mouth in the same cautious way, bridling his lust, curbing his passion.
“Is this the first time you’ve made love to a virgin?” she said, tearing her mouth from his.
“I don’t want to cause you pain.”
Eva cupped his cheek. “I doubt you ever could. Do what you need to so we may move past the awkward part. Do it now. Do it quickly.” She gripped his hips, urged him to take the final plunge. “I need you inside me, inside me fully.”
Noah sucked in a sharp breath and thrust hard. “Hell and the devil!” he cursed as he buried himself to the hilt.
Merciful heaven!
She was suddenly full, full with him. Noah Ashwood. It took a second to remember how to breathe. Yes, it was a little uncomfortable, but nowhere near as painful as she’d feared. A rush of raw emotion mingled with a wave of divine pleasure. The need to hold him there and never let go proved as powerful as the need to feel those delicious tingles.
“God, Eva, you make me so hard.” He withdrew slowly, then eased into her body in one long searing thrust, branding her, claiming a right she could never give to another man.
“Tell me what you want, Noah.” She wanted to hear his deepest desires. “Trust me. Tell me what you want to do.”
“I want you. I want to ride you hard, love, until we’re sweating and panting.”
“Do it then.”
He needed no further inducement to kiss her in the wild, rampant way that had them writhing on the bed in an erotic dance. He was everywhere—consuming every part of her body. His potent essence swirled in her head. His masterful tongue plundered her mouth. He angled his hips, rubbing against her sex as his rigid shaft slipped into her, into her again and again with such skill.
The pleasurable waves gathered momentum with each undulation, taking her closer to that idyllic shore. Paradise was but a few thrusts away. The lapping sounds of their lovemaking, the slapping of their sweat-coated bodies only heightened her arousal.
She bit into his shoulder to muffle her cry, inhaling the earthy scent of his skin, and came apart with a violent shudder.
And while he found his release on the soft swell of her abdomen and his guttural groan punctuated the air, while he kept his promise and washed every inch of her skin with damp linen, only one thought came to mind.
She was in love with Noah Ashwood.
