He placed a gentle finger over her lips. ‘I can wait. You’ve gone to a lot of trouble with dinner. We can finish this later. In bed.’
He could wait...
Somehow his words had her self-doubts popping up their heads again like meerkats. Ofcoursehe could wait. He wasn’t as attracted to her as she was to him. She was a convenient lover—someone he would not have looked at twice if the circumstances had been different. He normally slept with stunning model-types who hadn’t a dimple of fat anywhere on their person—filter or no filter.
Ruby slipped down off the counter, hastily putting her clothes back in place, her emotions see-sawing. ‘Dinner won’t be long. I’m just going to...to freshen up...’
Lucas suddenly caught her by the arm as she went to go past, his fingers a steel bracelet around the slender bones of her wrist. ‘You’re upset.’ It was a statement, not a question.
Ruby pulled her wrist out of his hold. ‘Of course I’m upset. I thought you were as hot for me as I was for you, but clearly I was wrong. I’m sorry you had to suffer the indignity of...ofservicingme.’ She almost gagged on the word, but carried on regardless. ‘I can assure you I won’t bother you again.’
He let out a long, ragged breath. ‘Sweetheart, I want you as much as you want me—even more so. But—’
‘Here comes the “but”,’ Ruby cut in before he could finish. ‘Here come the reasons why any encounter between us is inadvisable. I’m the housekeeper’s granddaughter...the girl who embarrassed you all those years ago by throwing herself at you. I’m from the wrong side of the tracks. No one in your elevated circles would ever accept me as your partner. I could go on and on.’
‘Please don’t,’ he said in a curt tone.
Ruby blinked away the sudden sting of tears, feeling her throat tighten as if something was stuck halfway down. ‘I’m not beautiful. I’m ordinary. And everyone knows you don’t do ordinary.’
Lucas took her by the shoulders in a gentle hold. ‘Do you know how hard it’s been for me to keep my hands off you from the moment you walked into the library yesterday at Rothwell Park? I couldn’t see you, but I could sense you in a way I have never done with anyone else.’ He gave her shoulders a light squeeze, his expression softening. ‘Just because I can control my desire, it doesn’t mean it’s any less fervent.’
Ruby sent the tip of her tongue over her dry lips, suddenly embarrassed by her outburst. But experiencing such mind-blowing intimacy with him had made her feel incredibly vulnerable—especially since he hadn’t taken his own pleasure. How could shenotthink he didn’t really want her?
‘I’m not used to a man taking his time with me. I haven’t had a lot of lovers, and most of the ones I’ve had have been in a tearing rush to get their rocks off. I’ve mostly faked an orgasm to get it over with—especially if I could tell my enjoyment wasn’t going to be a priority for them.’
Lucas framed her face in his broad hands, his features cast in lines of gravitas. ‘Your enjoyment is my top priority. Otherwise there would be no point in continuing our...arrangement.’
His slight hesitation over the word he eventually used to describe their relationship made her wonder if he was regretting inviting her to his island. Everything had changed between them—especially now.Shehad changed. Her body was alive and throbbing with new energy. A sensual energy that sent her blood singing through her veins.
Ruby linked her arms around his neck. ‘Doyouwant to continue?’
He lowered his mouth to just above hers. ‘You bet I do.’
And then he covered her mouth with his in a kiss that left her in no doubt of it.
Lucas stood beside his bed with Ruby. His hands stroked down the length of her bare arms. Her skin was as soft as the finest quality silk. His nostrils flared to take in more of her flowery scent and he raised one of her hands to his mouth, planting a kiss on each of her fingertips in turn.
He longed to see every nuance of her expression, but he had to be content with reading her with his other senses: hearing the soft gasp of her breath as he brought her closer to his aroused body, feeling the way she moved against him, signalling her growing need, smelling the sweet musk of her arousal. Then there was the thunder of her pulse when he pressed his lips to her neck. Her sounds of encouragement...the breathless sighs and whimpers of female desire that made him want her all the more.
He placed his hands on her hips, holding her against the pounding ache of his male flesh, relishing the feminine contours of her body, delighting in the fiery chemistry that flared between them.
Lucas kissed her slowly, deeply, drinking in the milk-and-honey taste of her as if it was a drug he had never known he wanted until now. He couldn’t get enough of her softness, the sweet suppleness of her lips, the shy playfulness of her tongue as it tangled with his.
He kept his mouth on hers as he helped her out of her dress, the fabric falling from her like a sloughed skin. His hands caressed the small but perfect globes of her breasts, and he lowered his head to take each tight nipple into his mouth, subjecting it to warm, moist caresses that made her whimper in pleasure.
‘I love it when you do that...’ she sighed.
‘I love the taste of your skin,’ Lucas said, trailing his lips over the upper curve of her breast. She shivered under his touch, and his body hardened even further.
‘I want to taste yours.’
Ruby tugged his shirt out of his chinos and then set to work on undoing the buttons. He shrugged it off himself, impatient to have her soft little hands on his naked skin. She smoothed her hands over his pectoral muscles then, stepping on tiptoe, placed her mouth to his neck in a softly nibbling little bite that sent an arrow of lust to his groin.
‘You’re killing me...’ He sucked in much-needed air, his body so hot, so tight, so full of thundering blood that it was part pain, part pleasure.
‘That’s good to know.’ There was a smile in her voice...a sultry smile that made her impossible to resist even if he had wanted to.
But he didn’t want to.