Livie nodded and cleared her throat slightly, touched he’d considered such a thing. “It is, thank you.”
A smile twisted across his face and, being this close to him, Livie felt completely trapped in his gaze. Her hand reached up to cup his cheek and she felt the scar on his face underneath her palm. She pulled her hand slowly away and then did what she’d been wanting to since she met him—she began to trace her fingers across the length of his scar.
Seb flinched slightly but made no move to push her hand away, so she continued exploring the length of it, her touch as light as a feather. His scar felt rough under her skin and had to be a good four inches long. Livie ached at the thought of how it must have truly hurt him when he’d received it. It was lucky it hadn’t blinded him, ending as it did just under the corner of his eye.
“Did it hurt?” she asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Like the bloody devil. But I was only ten when it happened, and things tend to seem more exaggerated as a child.”
Reaching her head up to his cheek, her lips replaced her fingers, and then slowly and delicately, she started to kiss along the jagged edge of the line, all the way from the corner of his eye down the angled planes of his cheekbone to his chin.
“It doesn’t bother you?” he whispered roughly against her cheek.
“How could it bother me?” She pulled her head back and looked him straight in the eyes. “It’s part of who you are. And I lo—like everything about you.” Oh goodness, for a minute she’d almost had a slip of the tongue and said love instead. How embarrassing that would have been. Not that she loved him. Obviously, passion was clouding her mind and she wasn’t thinking properly.
“Really?” His voice was rife with skepticism, and he arched his eyebrow at her, in just such a way that had her sigh. “Even my obstinate ways?”
“Even those…mostly.”
Seb laughed before his lips found hers again and kissed the very breath from her. She reached behind his neck and pulled him even closer to her, wanting more of him, all of him. Then his mouth began to explore, trailing hot kisses along her jaw, across the lobe of her ear, and down her neck.
His fingers joined his mouth along the neckline of her silk nightgown, gently unbuttoning the little buttons at her throat and pushing aside the material. With each inch of her décolletage being exposed, he brushed his lips against her heated flesh as his hands deftly continued to unfasten the rest of the garment until it slipped from her shoulders and she was left sitting there on his lap in nothing but her chemise and drawers.
For a moment Livie felt like covering her arms across her body, for even though she was still mostly covered, she felt completely exposed and vulnerable, never before having been seen in her undergarments by anyone apart from her maid.
But when she looked into Sebastian’s eyes and saw the absolute desire in his expression as he stared hungrily at her, she felt emboldened like never before. Emboldened enough to take hold of the bottom of her chemise and pull it off over her head. She sat there proudly before him, her upper body bared to his gaze, her nipples tightening.
He groaned, and his eyes looked heavy. His head slowly began lowering toward her chest but then he paused. “I don’t know if we should do this—”
“Shh,” she interrupted, wrapping her arms around the back of his head and drawing him down to her waiting breast. “Let’s not think of anything apart from enjoying this moment.”
Seb took in a shaky breath, almost as if he were fighting himself, but then he jerked his head in a nod, and his hand reach down and cupped her breast.
Livie had never felt anything more deliciously scandalous. She arched her back and moaned deeply.
He squeezed and kneaded her flesh in his palm, his fingers deftly caressing her nipple. Seb lifted his hand from her breast, and she was about to protest until he lowered his head and flicked his tongue across her nipple. Ecstasy rippled through her as he teased the nub until it was as hard as a pebble.
She whimpered and twined her hands in his hair, urging his mouth closer to her flesh. He obliged and took her nipple into his mouth, sucking and kissing her breast until she thought she might pass out from the pleasure.
Livie couldn’t help but moan again. His touch made her feel so intensely alive and was sending the most delightful sensations of longing through her. She was panting by the time he straightened and raised his head. Then his eyes found hers, staring at her with such intensity that she began to think something was amiss.
“We’ve got to stop,” he said, his voice husky but his hands staying firmly upon her waist, supporting her from tumbling from his lap, dazed as she felt from the intense sensations.
“Why?” Her heart dropped. Stopping was the last thing she wanted, but perhaps he wasn’t enjoying it as she was? “Do you not want to keep going?”
He groaned and gently bent down to rest his chin on the top of her head. “Of course I want to keep going. I want you, more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. That’s the problem.”
Hearing that he wanted her gave Livie a sense of euphoria. He wanted her. She’d never had a man want her before, and it was entirely intoxicating. And though she was scared for him to see her leg, she realized quite desperately how much she wanted to experience what it felt like to be a woman. What it felt like to be Sebastian’s woman, at least for a night. Especially when she knew she was never
