He hauled her against his chest and stole the words and air from her mouth. Edmond cupped her cheeks and sipped from her lips as if she provided him with an elixir to life. She moaned and curved her body against his, returning his passionate embrace.
“I needed to do that,” he groaned against her mouth. “I damn well missed you.”
She shuddered before faltering into stillness. “I can tell that is a first for you,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“Good. It is a first for me too.”
Edmond kissed her again, unable to halt the desire coursing through his veins for this woman. He ravished her mouth with sweet, yet deep glides of his tongue against hers. He’d never kissed a lady with such a desperate, burning hunger before, and he did not constrain himself with Ester. Unexpected yearning made him dizzy and greedy. He walked her backward to his desk, and when she bumped against it, he lifted her and placed her atop it without releasing her from his drugging kisses.
Thank heavens her day dress was simply fashioned. He pushed it up to her waist, baring her belly and sex to his gaze. He dropped to his knees and kissed the quivering softness of her belly. Then he went even lower. He opened her sex to him, groaning at the wetness already found.
“Edmond,” she moaned, leaning back on the desk and arching her hips.
He licked her, and she sobbed. Sense said he should stop, but he could not. He craved the woman in his arms more than the damn air itself. It sounded fanciful to his thoughts, but it was the truth he could not escape. Edmond would not stop even if it killed him. Not until she had attained her pleasure. Not until she screamed under the lash of his tongue.
“Edmond, please!” she cried, arching wildly into him when he raked his tongue over her clitoris.
He wanted her wet so that she would take him easily. Edmond knew tenderness was beyond him, given the desperate need twisting him up inside. Thankfully, she was a woman who met his passion, for Ester arched wildly against his mouth, clawed at his shoulders, and threatened him if he did not soon join their bodies. Edmond stood, grabbed her lush arse, and dragged her to the edge of his desk and onto his cock.
“Edmond!”
He stilled, shocked at the acute pleasure that rippled through him and sent heat cascading through his balls. He gently kissed the corner of her mouth. His lover’s face was a study in awe, pleasure, and sensuality and…something that looked so tender, a place he had known existed inside him softened and this time when his heart tumbled over, a feeling of wonder followed. “Ester…” he said, unable to say more.
What was this?
He kissed her and started to move inside her. She hooked her legs at his hips and held onto him as he rode her. Her body seemed to have been fashioned to meld with his as they hurtled toward ecstasy. When she unraveled, Ester screamed into his kiss, and he swallowed it down, snapping his hips deeper and harder as he chased his own pleasure. Edmond pulled from her and, with a groan, found his release outside her body.
Once again, she laughed, her eyes sparkling with delight, her cheeks rosy and flushed. He chuckled as he cleaned them up with his handkerchief and made her presentable.
“I must return to my sisters before suspicions arise.”
He did not want to let her go. Edmond was not yet ready to return to work, nor could he leave and head back to town. “Would you…would you like to go fishing on the lake?”
Her eyes widened. “Fishing?”
“Yes.”
“I have never fished before.”
He felt like a bumbling fool. She was a lady, of course, she had never fished. They stood there staring at each other, her toes nervously clenching on the carpet. She was nervous? That thought centered him against his own nerves, though he would be damned if he ever told anyone this lady made him nervous. “I could show you,” he said softly.
Pleasure flushed her cheeks apple red. “I would like that.”
Edmond reached for her, and with a smile she slipped her hand in his and allowed him to lead her away.
CHAPTER12
Edmond’s shoulders moved powerfully as he clawed on the oars, taking their boat out further onto the lake. Ester lifted her face to the warm rays of the sun, her heart aching with the joy and pleasure of being in his company. She was falling for this gentleman and was not afraid to admit it to herself.
“I received a letter today from the gentleman I’ve formed a partnership with in New York,” Edmond said unexpectedly.
She snapped her gaze to his. “All is well?”
“Yes. The building for the casino has been secured, and my presence is needed.”
A painful hitch went through her chest. “I see.”