‘I want you so bad...’ His bald statement came out like a groan of desperation.
‘I want you too—just in case you hadn’t noticed.’
He gave a slow smile against her lips. ‘It hadn’t escaped my attention.’
He kissed her deeply again, in a long, drugging kiss that ramped up her need to an unbearable level. Never had she felt such intense desire. It pounded in her body like a tribal drum.
Lucas left her mouth to kiss his way down to the top of her shoulder, his hand skilfully sliding the fabric of her shoestring-strapped sundress partway down to reveal the naked upper curve of her breast. He moved his lips across the top of her shoulder, sending shockwaves of heat through her body. She hadn’t even realised her shoulder was so sensitive, but under the expert ministrations of his lips and tongue her nerves twirled and twitched and tingled.
His mouth was so close to her breast...so achingly close that her skin tightened in anticipation of his touch. He brought his hand to the globe of her breast, his touch gentle and yet no less spine-tingling. His thumb rolled back and forth over her tightly budded nipple, and a riot of sensations rippled through her.
‘You’re perfect...so soft and natural.’
Ruby had never seen herself as model material—in fact, she had suffered from body issues since her teens. She had more than her fair share of acne scars and cellulite, which had always made making love with someone tricky in her attempts to hide her imperfections. She knew she had never truly enjoyed sex the way it was meant to be enjoyed. She always worried that she was being assessed by her partner, compared to other far more beautiful women and found lacking. She often cut such casual encounters short by pretending to orgasm just so she could cover herself up again.
But with Lucas all those insecurities melted away. He couldn’t see the tiny pockmark scars on her forehead and left cheek...he couldn’t see her dimpled thighs. He could only feel his way around her body. And the way he was feeling his way around her now was thrilling beyond all measure.
‘I want to touch you.’
Ruby set to work on the buttons of his shirt, desperate to place her mouth on his salty skin. She uncovered his taut and tanned chest and lowered her mouth to his sternum, licking him like a cat with slow sensual licks that evoked another guttural groan from him and a whole-body shudder.
Lucas picked her up by the waist and sat her on the counter, bunching her dress up and nudging her thighs apart so he could stand between them. He put one of his hands behind her and pushed her hard up against his body. His mouth came back down on hers, harder this time, as if his self-control was hanging by a thread. It delighted her to witness his level of arousal—to know it wasshewho was exciting him.
His mouth moved down to her uncovered breast, his lips and tongue caressing her until she was arching her back in pleasure. He stroked his hands over both her breasts, then cradled them. The gentle warmth of his touch sent a frisson of delight through her entire body. Had anyone ever paid such exquisite attention to her breasts? It was like discovering all the pleasure points of her body for the first time.
‘I can tell how beautiful you are just by touching you,’ Lucas said in a husky tone.
‘I would normally be trying to cover myself up at this point,’ Ruby confessed. ‘I’m hardly supermodel material.’
He frowned. ‘You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. Even most supermodels don’t look like supermodels without filters and full make-up.’
Ruby stroked her hand down the length of his lean jaw, then ran her fingertip over his lower lip. ‘Did you want to have dinner, or...?’
He smiled a lopsided smile and brought his mouth back down to within a centimetre of hers. ‘Dinner can wait. This can’t.’
And his lips covered hers in a searing kiss that set her pulses racing all over again.
There was no mistaking his intention as the breathless moments ticked on. He lifted his mouth off hers at last, and worked his way down her body with hot kisses that made her skin tingle and tighten in pleasure. He helped her wriggle out of her knickers, and then he parted her thighs and brought his mouth to the damp centre of her womanhood.
A part of her was shocked at the raw intimacy of his caresses. She had never wanted anyone to pleasure her in such a way before, but with Lucas it seemed as natural as breathing. His lips and tongue parted her swollen flesh and she shivered and shuddered in reaction. She arched her spine, resting her weight on her hands, opening her body to him in a way she wouldn’t have thought possible a day ago. The sensations rippled through her in increasing waves, and then she was swept into a whirlpool of explosive feeling that sent tremors through every part of her body. Earth-shattering, mind-blowing tremors, that made her gasp and pant with wild cries of pleasure.
Lucas held her as the last of the shockwaves rolled through her. ‘That was just an appetiser...’
The sexy timbre of his voice almost made her come again and Ruby gave another little shiver, her body still trying to rebalance after such a heady rush of sensations. ‘I can only imagine what’s for the main course, let alone dessert.’
He brushed his bent knuckles down the curve of her cheek, a lazy smile tilting his mouth. ‘You sound a little undone.’
Ruby leaned her forehead on his, her breathing still ragged. ‘No one has ever done that to me before...you know...like that. I’ve always shied away from being so...so exposed.’
He eased back to study her, and even though she knew he could only see the vague outline of her face she sensed he was reading her all the same. Her tone, her breathing, her touch—all would be clues to her emotional state.
‘Every part of you is beautiful, Ruby. Beautiful and so responsive. Do you know how much it pleases a man to have his partner receive and welcome his touch with such enthusiasm?’
‘I guess I’ve been hooking up with the wrong men. No one has ever made me feel like that. I thought I was going to pass out with pleasure.’
Lucas smiled and placed his hands on her shoulders, bringing her closer again. ‘I found it quite unforgettable too.’ His voice had that sexy rough edge again.
Ruby frowned in confusion. ‘But you haven’t finished... I mean, I had an orgasm but you didn’t—’