What did one do with one’s hands at a time like this? Caroline trembled, as much from excitement as anything else. “All right.”
“Good.” Again, his lips glanced over the side of her neck. She turned her head and he kissed her, softly brushed those two wonderous pieces of flesh to hers. Just as the customary fuzziness seeped into her head as it always did when they kissed, he cupped those big hands to her breasts.
“Oh!” She bolted upright and smacked the top of her head on his chin. “Ow!”
“Shh! It’s foreplay, not torture.” But immediately, he removed his hands from her person. A chuckle followed that rippled over her skin. “Well, I suppose it is akin to torture. It just depends on the perspective.”
Caroline rubbed the top of her head. She twisted around to look into his face. “You surprised me.”
“I apologize. I assumed you knew what would inevitably occur when I lowered your bodice, for women don’t go around with clothing agape.” When she huffed, he laughed, and she reveled in the uplifting sound. “Shall we try again?”
“Yes.” Once more, she settled her back to the hard wall of his chest. “Will it hurt?”
“Not that I’m aware.” When he cupped her breasts again, Caroline flinched but she told herself to relax. He would never harm her, and she had asked him for more intimacy. Instead, she concentrated on what he did to her, how it made her feel.
“I knew you’d be just as gorgeous as your smile.” The steady, comforting buzz of his whisper in her ear worked to set her at ease.
“I… I…” She didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t bother with talking. Perhaps it wasn’t needed. “Oh!”
With baby fine caresses, John drew ever widening circles around each breast. His touch was as delicate as an angel’s wing, yet it left her with longing and an ache she couldn’t explain. Then he switched directions and made the circles smaller, moving toward her tightening nipples.
“Still with me?”
“Yes.” How was it possible that his touch on that part of her could energize her so much? Then he brushed his fingertips over the tip of her nipples, and she gasped. Wild sensation streaked through her body. When he strummed those fingers on the sensitized buds, she couldn’t help but gasp her approval. The feelings were like music—crashing, breaking, dancing over her, threatening to suck her under. “John, I… I…”
“Do you enjoy that?” Amusement wove through his voice.
She squirmed from his attentions, unable to summon words even if she’d tried. Not knowing what to expect, Caroline put a hand over one of his, guiding him to where she needed him to be, and when he continued to rub his fingers up and down over her nipples, a moan escaped her. Her back arched and she pressed his hands more firmly to her breasts.
Her husband took the hint, only this time he changed his approached slightly. When next he cupped her breasts, he caught both tips between his fingers and gave them a tender squeeze. Electric fire jumped from her bosoms to between her thighs. Then he eased off, soothing the puckered buds with sweet caresses before rolling them between his thumbs and forefingers.
Foreign pressure built low in her belly. What it meant, she didn’t know, but John was the only one who had the key. “You make me feel like painting, like music, like magic.”
“Then I’m doing it right.” He shifted positions, and instead of her being between his legs, he settled her onto her back while he lay on his side pressed against her. Caroline’s head rested on one of his arms. “Shall I explore further?”
“There’s more?” What she wouldn’t give to kiss his jawline where that shadow of stubble clung so heroically. Would it feel rough or thrilling against her lips?
“My dear girl, there is so much more.” While he maintained eye contact with her, he slid his free hand down her torso, smoothing it over her belly and then gathered a handful of her skirting. “Do you want me to show you?”
The glide of her dress along her legs heightened the sensations he’d already given her. “Yes.” Need propelled the word. What else could there possibly be? Never once had her mother or sister talked candidly about relations between men and women, and she was grossly inexperienced. Except when Isobel referred to him being large… somewhere.
“If it’s too intense—”
“John.” She huffed in exasperation. “Continue.” The waft of cool air on her bared legs caught her off guard.
He kissed her, drank from her as if he couldn’t have enough, and while he sent her senses reeling, he caressed her inner thigh. Warmth washed over her; the callouses on his hands brought a sharp poignancy to his work. All too soon, those talented fingers drifted through the curls between her thighs. Immediately, she clamped them closed, but the man chuckled and lifted his head. “I won’t hurt you, Caroline. In fact, this will bring you pleasure.”
More than he’d already given? Both curiosity and fright played her spine, but she slowly opened her legs. “What will you—”
He eased his fingers along her private flesh. A gasp left her throat, followed by a groan, for with each pass of those digits, moisture gathered on those folds. Did he find that off-putting? Why was it happening at all? Then her thoughts scattered for his fingers edged upward, found the hidden part of herself she wasn’t aware existed. Hot sensation coursed through her body. Tiny fires lit in her blood. Once more her back arched but she didn’t know why.
The need and longing he’d evoked when he’d played at her breasts intensified. She trembled, gasped, and as he bedeviled the tiny button, she would swear she was drowning, but not in the water. In him, from him. His presence surrounded her, crashed over her, caught her up in it like a swelling wave.
“John!” She pulled his hand away as fright crept through the cracks where pleasure didn’t flow.
“What scares you?” he asked in a soft voice. “Your feelings or what I’m doing to you?”
“I know don’t.” Trembles racked her body.