She met his gaze, and time stood still. Her body shivered with need, alive with want of him. His eyes burned with a hunger that ought to scare her away, but it did not. Victoria took a calming breath, steadying herself as much as she could as Albert watched her with a longing she'd never seen before.
"Even after your denial of me, I still want you. I am selfish enough to want to have you, even if I must let you go upon daybreak," he said, a deep gravelly plea. He reached out and traced her jaw with his finger, sliding his thumb over her bottom lip. She kissed his digit before he pulled his hand away, forcing it at his side.
The words, an appeal, called at a part of her no longer willing to adhere to rules. She wanted the man before her but without the constraints of marriage. What was wrong with that?
Nothing.
Victoria closed the space between them and kissed Albert. She sighed as their lips touched, meshed into a conflagration of emotions. His raw need matched hers and she clasped his shoulders, working to sit on his lap. His manhood jutted against her core. She undulated against him—teasing them until they were both gasping for breath.
He groaned, one hand gripping her bottom, grinding her against him. The feeling was exquisite, and she wanted more.
Cool air kissed the tops of her legs, and she didn't try to stop Albert when he fumbled with her dress, moving it out of the way. His strong, large hand slid up her leg, flexing against her muscle, tickling her inner thigh. She held her breath as his fingers came achingly close to her sex.
"Touch me," she pleaded, needing him there. Not just his hands, but all of him. "I want you, Albert." And she did want him, in her own strange way. She may not wish to marry, to have children, but she did want him. Who would not? He was everything a woman such as herself hoped for in a husband, a partner in life. He was nothing like Paul.
He grazed the curls at her apex before slipping deeper, teasing her aching flesh. She sucked in a hiss of breath, working herself against his hand. The feeling, too delicious to stop.
Victoria sat back, fumbling with the front falls of his breeches, needing him closer, wanting him inside her.
"Victoria," Albert gasped. He stilled her hand working him, he was harder than she'd ever felt him before. His penis jutted and thrust against her palm even as he tried to pull them back from the brink.
"We do not need to do this. There are risks. If you're so certain that you're not marrying me, you should not do this."
Victoria considered his words. Thoughts that had been racing around in her mind these past minutes. But she could no sooner hold back the sun on a new morning than stop what they were doing. "I want to give this to you. To us both."
His eyes flared at her words, but he reached up, clasping her hair at her nape, pulling her down for a kiss. "Just remember that I offered to stop."
She grinned, lifting herself a little and placing him at her core. "I'll remember everything," she said, coming down on him in one swift movement, taking his virginity. And if Victoria were honest with herself, her heart.
Chapter 35
Albert could not catch his breath. He held still, struck a little dumb as Victoria took him into her. He could do nothing but watch her. Her eyes closed, her long lashes fanning over her flushed cheeks. Her plump lips opened on a sigh of satisfaction that went directly to his soul. He shivered, fighting the urge to dominate, to take all that he could after the gift she had bestowed on him.
For so long, he had wanted her in this way, to do everything in the sketchbook they studied. The past weeks, the positions, the pleasure they had wrought on each other had led them here. To trust and give to each other fully. How was he ever to let her walk away now? The idea of years without the woman in his arms, of warming his bed, stretched endlessly and left him panicked.
How was it that she had remained immune to his love? He could not hate Armstrong more for the damage he wrought.
"Are you well?" he managed to ask.
She clasped his jaw and kissed him. “I am more than well.” Their tongues entwined, teeth clunked, and all thoughts vanished when she started to move. With the patience he did not have himself, she rose and fell on him, torturous, slow strokes that drove him insane.
Her breathy sighs puffed against his lips through their kiss as she fell into an agonizing rhythm. Demanding more from him with every minute.
"Albert," she panted between kisses, working him with her body. It was too much. Too good, and he wanted more. He wrenched the bodice of her gown down, taking her breast into his mouth as she fucked him. Took her pleasure atop his cock.
Albert moaned, he was close, but he did not want this to end. He clasped her close, flipping her onto her back, and thrusting hard into her sweet body atop the settee.
"Take me." She bit her lip, her eyes hooded with desire, gazed up at him. "Harder," she urged him on. She clasped the end of the lounge, pushing against him as he thrust into her, working him to a fever pitch.
He could not breathe.
She felt too good. So damn tight and willing. A little wanton in his arms. He could not have asked for more the first time he gave himself up to pleasure.
"I need to taste you." She clasped his shoulders, mewling her acquiescence as he kissed his way down her chest, seizing his opportunity to lathe her wet, glistening cunny. She tasted just as
