Perhaps he sensed it because he took her hand and placed it on his chest. ‘Undress me.’
His soft command made her pulse sprint.
She felt the steady thud of his heart under her palm and then her shaking, useless fingers fumbled with first one button and then another. But the speed of her fingers wouldn’t match the desperation building in her and she gave a murmur of frustration and tugged at his shirt, sending buttons flying.
Layla froze. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘For what?’ His eyes glittered down at her. ‘For wanting me as badly as I want you? That isn’t something to apologise for.’
Releasing her briefly, he wrenched off his torn shirt, leaving her face to face with his muscular male chest. She stared at the dark hair that shadowed the centre of his chest and then narrowed down and disappeared below the waistband of his trousers.
She wondered if he was going to make the next move. Felt his eyes on her as he waited.
Face hot, Layla reached for the fastening of his trousers. She heard the sharp intake of his breath, felt his board-flat abdomen tense against her fingers, and paused.
‘Do it.’ His tone was raw. ‘Do what you want to do.’
She was too self-conscious to do exactly what she wanted to do, but she undid the button and slid down the zip, freeing him. The only sound in the room was the harsh rasp of his breathing and she heard the sound change as she took him in her hand and stroked him.
He felt hot and hard, and the thickness of him in her palm made her own body heat. It was the first time she’d touched him like this and for a moment she stood still, unsure of herself, and then he covered her hand with his and showed her, guiding her movements, teaching her what no man had taught her before. And she learned fast what pleased him, discovered the instant high that came from hearing the sudden intake of his breath or feeling the bite of his fingers in her flesh as he struggled for control.
Her palm cradling the most intimate part of him, she lifted her face to his. ‘I’m sorry you have to teach me.’
‘That proves how little you know about men, because I’m not sorry.’ His tone was rough and his features were as tense as his shoulders. ‘I am traditional enough to be pleased that everything my wife has learned in bed she learned from me.’
Layla hid a smile. ‘That’s not very progressive, Your Highness.’
‘In some areas progress is overrated.’
‘It’s your own fault. If you’d let me keep the book—’
‘You will not need a book.’
His tone thickened, he pulled her into him, taking her mouth in a hard, burning kiss before he tumbled her back onto the bed. Dispensing with the rest of his clothes, he came down on top of her, his weight pressing her into the soft mattress.
‘Tell me if I’m too heavy for you.’
‘You’re not. I like it. I like the feel of you. All of you.’
His gaze darkened and he shifted slightly so that she felt the roughness of his thigh against the smoothness of hers. ‘I promised myself I’d be patient.’
‘You don’t have to be patient.’ Layla gazed into his handsome face, so hungry for him she ached in every part of her body. She slid her palm over the smooth skin of his powerful shoulder and felt the tension there, felt his own struggle to hold back. ‘I don’t need you to be patient.’
‘If anything I do makes you uncomfortable—’
‘It won’t.’
She was about to say that nothing he did could make her uncomfortable but he was kissing her again, the slide of his tongue against hers driving all rational thought from her head. He kissed her with slow, deliberate expertise, and although he’d kissed her like this before she discovered that the light changed everything because now she could see. She kept her eyes open and so did he, and she could see the fire in his eyes, the flare of heat as he looked at her, the raw hunger that she knew was mirrored in her own gaze.
She needed to see him.
Needed him to see her.
And if she’d been worried he couldn’t look at her she wasn’t any more, because it was soon obvious he couldn’t not look at her as he slid down her body, exploring every shivering, trembling inch while the lamps threw golden shadows over her skin.
Layla watched as his fingertips grazed her nipples and then felt the skilled flick of his tongue. And then he took her in his mouth and the delicious heat of it intensified the ache in her pelvis until she was only able to stay still because the weight of his body was holding her down.