“Now a sip of wine,” he said, holding the glass to her lips.
She moaned softly. “My, that’s absolutely sublime.”
Daniel kissed her again, swirling his tongue around hers and capturing the lingering richness of the chocolate and the crisp, dry fruitiness of the wine. “Oh yes. Sublime.”
Lily leaned into him and whispered in his ear. “Are you actually going to eat or drink anything, or are you just going to taste it all on me?”
“I had planned to partake with you, but I like your idea better.” He kissed her again, deliberately and sensually, his cock hardening beneath her. Slowly he unfastened the back of her gown.
She giggled, but her body tensed against him. “Not so fast. Now that you’ve introduced me to this divine confection, do you really think I’m going to be satisfied with just one little bite?” She reached for another truffle.
“My love, you’ll find that the more you experience of the finer things in life, the more you’ll want.” He eased her gown over her shoulders. He took a truffle, rubbed it between her breasts, which were bulging out of her corset, and licked the chocolate from her warm body. Her skin was like silk under his tongue.
Lily held a glass of wine to his mouth, smiling down at him. He sipped slowly, his gaze never straying from hers.
“Lily, you are the most amazing woman I know.”
“Thank you.” She put the wine down. “And you, Daniel, are…” She took a truffle, rubbed a thick coating of chocolate on his lips, and kissed it off. “The only man I know.” She burst into a fit of giggles. “In the biblical sense that is. You make me do such wicked things.”
“I don’t think you’re completely under my influence.” He unpinned her hair and let the dark waves cascade down her back. “I don’t recall having anything to do with you swimming naked in the hot pool this afternoon.” He fondled her bare shoulders—Lord, such soft skin. “Whose idea was that, pray tell?”
“Actually, it was Ally’s. Although I didn’t exactly resist. I told you we would find some fun, didn’t I?”
He erupted in laughter. “And I told you I didn’t doubt that you would. Although it didn’t occur to me that your fun would entail you frolicking about naked. If it had, I never would have let you out of my sight. I should have known you would find the pool.”
“Rose thought it might be an offshoot from the waters in Bath.” Lily reached for her wine to take another sip.
“It is. It’s very relaxing and pleasant, as I’m sure you found out.”
“We weren’t relaxing. We were playing. Then we were hiding from you. The girls were mortified when you showed up. I knew you wouldn’t divulge our secret, but I had no way of letting them know that.”
“If you had been alone, I would have stripped and been in there with you in about three seconds.” His cock surged under her. God, he wanted to bed her. Now. He took another sip of wine when she held the glass for him.
Lily rolled her head back and giggled. “That would have been wicked.”
“But fun, yes?”
“I suppose so.”
She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek. A simple, innocent kiss that plummeted straight to his groin.
“I’m almost sorry I wasn’t alone, although Ally and I had a marvelous time.” She reached for another chocolate and took a small bite. “I dare say we won’t be able to visit the pool again unless there’s another day like today, when most of the guests are otherwise occupied.”
“You can visit the pool anytime you want,” he said, “with one condition.”
“And that would be?” She gave him another sip of wine.
“You have to take me with you.” He grinned and squeezed her breast.
“Well, all right.” She grabbed a cluster of grapes from the platter and fed one to him. “Mmm. You know, the last time I was at Laurel Ridge it was September, I believe. I took a walk through the vineyards and couldn’t resist the lovely bunches of grapes. They were so tiny. So I picked one and ate it, but it was completely full of seeds. These are wonderful, though.” She popped another into her mouth.
“The grapes in our vineyards are for making wine, Lily. They’re not meant to be eaten.”
“How interesting. How do you get all the seeds out?”
“I don’t actually know. I’m sure it requires sophisticated equipment.”
“You don’t make wine here?”