“My God,” he said. “You are powerful.”
“I am?” she breathed, stunned by his summation of her speech.
He placed his strong hand over hers on his chest, the feel of his heart beating against her palm.
His lids half shuttered as he took her in, “How could I possibly deny you when you make an entreaty like that? I cannot put out gentlemanly protestations of virtue, because if I do, it sounds as if I’m telling you that your will, your wish means nothing. That I can protect you from yourself. I have no desire to protect you from yourself, Elizabeth, just so that you are aware.”
He took her hands in his. “I wish to make you, as you say, a fortress against society. But more importantly, I wish you to be able to live without having to have that fortress one day. And if me kissing you helps, there is nothing that will stop me from doing it.”
Without waiting another moment, he slid a hand to her waist, pulled her against him, and asked “How do you wish this? Soft and gentle? Or do you wish me to hold nothing back?”
Her breath caught in her throat and for an instant, all she could hear was the thrum of her heartbeat. At last, she returned, “I don’t want you to hold anything back, Mr. Courtney. I don’t want myself or you to hold back anything ever again. I am done with being perfect. I choose passion instead.”
“Tom,” he declared at her words. “You must call me Tom if we are to begin this venture.”
“Tom,” she breathed.
And with that, he lowered his mouth to hers.
She waited for the assault.
It did not come.
She was confused.
She had expected raging passion. Instead, this was a different sort of thing altogether. This was hot whispered temptation, the sort of temptation that could convert the dearest most virtuous person to sin. It was slow and slick and sweet as his mouth worked over hers, teasing the lines of her lips.
Her head tilted back as she gave in and surrendered to the feel of it. His arms circled her, supporting her. One came to the back of her head and the kiss began to deepen.
He held tightly to her then, seizing her body to his, his hands roaming. She gasped with amazement and in that moment, he slipped his tongue inside her mouth.
Astonished, she allowed him to continue to kiss her in this revelatory fashion.
Heavens, she’d not known such a thing was possible! That such feelings coursing through her had even existed. But they were flooding her now. Transforming her body into one vibrating chord of hunger.
Hunger for him. His body. His touch. His mouth.
Suddenly she felt her mind, her thoughts slipping away. Unlike all her life where she was constantly self-aware of her behavior, she did not need to judge, or criticize, or make comments on the kiss at all.
She could simply give in.
Her own hands went to his shoulders, winding into his thick silvery hair. She surrendered over to the kiss, her body melting against his as heat whispered through her insides, tracing through her veins. Need racing through her.
Need for him and whatever unknowable pleasure he could offer her.
As he held her with a strength and confidence she’d never experienced, she had the most startling realization.
She’d been cold forsolong.
She had denied herself any sort of heat, terrified it would be seized from her. But now she was the one who was commanding the flame and he was letting her feel it.
The fire raged between them and before she knew what was happening, he picked her up off the ground, carried her to his desk, sat her down upon it, and stepped between her thighs. Her skirts barely allowed it.
He gazed down at her and growled. “You are not perfection,” he said. “You are so much more, and I am glad that I am the one that gets to discover every bit of you. What fools all those others have been, Elizabeth.”
She blinked up at him. “I have been the fool,” she said, “to deny myself for so long.”
“Never say it,” he whispered as he pressed soft, open-mouth kisses to the line of her throat. “You are remarkable. You are one of the only people I know who would be willing to break the mold of society and choose themselves.”