“Tonight will be an introduction to lust,” he murmured, his eyes glowing with heat.
“I already feel that each time you kiss me,” she whispered achingly when he nudged her knees open wide, baring her core to his greedy gaze. An unbearable heat was twisting through her, and he hadn’t done this mysterious ‘taste’ as yet.
“Wrong,” he said, “you’ve barely sampled desire. You’ve not twisted beneath it or begged for mercy from its sweet agony.”
Cressida smiled. “And that is what I am about to do in a few minutes, beg?”
His lips curved into a devilish smile. “Ah, yes.”
She laughed. “It sounds positively intriguing. However, I must warn you…Ido not beg, much less to do it in mere minutes.Tsk.”
She swore Nicholas purred at that challenge. For a wild moment, Cressida wondered at herself, and who she was with this gentleman. He widened her legs, staring between her thighs with hungry intent. Her entire body blushed. Then to her shock, he dipped his head and lightly kissed the curls that protected her sex.
Oh, God.
Using his fingers, he parted the folds of her sex. “I am going to kiss you.”
“Yes.”
“It will not be a proper kiss at all.” His eyes collided with hers, and he held her gaze for a long, timeless moment.
“I daresay we have already established I am not the perfect picture of propriety,” she said softly, a shiver of anticipation going through her.
He leaned forward, and her skin burned with mortification when he inhaled her deeply. The purr of pleasure that came from him reached down low into her belly and tugged. Cressida grew slick without a touch, and she swallowed tightly.
The feel of his tongue as it glided over her nub was a caress of pure pleasure. An incoherent sound of denial and thrill whispered from her and settled into the room. He did it again, licked her, dragging his tongue over her folds and up to that pearl that ached.
“Nicholas! I…” her words broke away on a moan when he did it again.
The pleasure was truly exquisite.
He licked and sucked gently, then with too much passion. Far too soon, Cressida was helpless against the sobs of need that escaped her throat. She arched against his mouth, buried her fingers in his hair, closed her eyes, and let the pleasure consume her.
“More?”
“Yes,” she gasped, trembling under the lash of his tongue, not certain what she asked for but knowing she needed more of it. “Do know this is not me begging.”
His soft laugh feathered over her mons, and she restlessly moaned.
“It is not?”
“Oh, no, this is ademand.”
He gripped her buttocks and lasciviously licked and sucked at her sex. The sweetest sensations tore through her, and Cressida came apart, her thighs trembling and a wild cry tearing from her.
Nicholas released her from his tormenting tongue, came up beside her and tugged her into his arms. Cressida was still shaking, and he stroked a hand down her back in calming motions until her heart slowed. She dazedly realized her fingers were still tightly clutched on the robe.
“That was…I am not certain I have the words.”
Her heart stirred with tenderness when he pressed a kiss to her temple. “I will only need one more session with you, then I will finish the painting.”
“I…I see.”
A small silence fell between them, and she did not protest when he shifted on the chaise so that he lay back and she on top of him. While Cressida was aware that she was naked atop Nicholas and he was fully clothed, she was not uncomfortable. She never knew nakedness could be this freeing, when for so many years, she had believed that even revealing a bit of her ankles was scandalous.
“Do you wish for me to still take the painting to the marquess?”
She curled her fingers into his jacket. A tremor of uncertainty quivered through her but recalling her earlier conviction for why she did all of this, Cressida replied, “Yes.”