Lucas moved his hand from her breast to the slim flank of her thigh, his expression rueful. ‘It’s a new experience to rely only on touch and hearing and taste and smell. I can only imagine how you look.’
‘I’m kind of glad you can’t see me. You might be disappointed. In fact, I’m sure you would be.’
Lucas frowned and cupped her chin in his hand. ‘Stop being so negative about yourself. You are an accomplished and beautiful young woman. I’ve always thought so.’
‘I have cellulite.’
‘So? Don’t most women?’
‘And I have acne scars.’
‘I’ve never noticed them.’
It was true. He hadn’t. But hehadnoticed and was increasingly noticing more her emotional scars.
‘Only because you’ve done your best to ignore me since the night of that wretched party.’
‘Sweetheart, listen to me.’ Lucas used his no-nonsense tone. ‘If I ignored you or avoided you it was only so you could get over your embarrassment. I didn’t want to make you feel any more uncomfortable than I already had by dressing you down the way I did. Besides, I hated being at Rockwell Park—especially when my parents were there together in one of their honeymoon phases. I was always looking for excuses not to be there.’
Ruby let out a serrated sigh. ‘So it’s not my fault you’re selling it?’
He frowned. ‘How could you think it’s your fault?’
He heard the movement of her shoulder against the sheet as if she had shrugged. ‘I just wondered...’
He stroked his hand down her cheek. ‘Stop wondering. It’s strictly a business decision. I want to offload it so I can concentrate on other things. It’s a white elephant to me. I’ll be glad to drive out through those gates for the last time.’ He leaned down to kiss her lightly on the lips. ‘And speaking of concentrating on other things...’ He circled the erect bud of her left nipple with his finger. ‘I’m going to make love to you like you’ve never been made love to before.’
She gave a little shudder and nestled closer. ‘That sounds exciting.’
‘It will be.’
Lucas brought his mouth back down to hers, losing himself in the sweet taste of her. Her lips were soft and yet insistent, opening to him with whimper of delight that made goosebumps prickle over his skin. He positioned himself at her entrance, stroking her first with his fingers. She gasped and moved against him, urging him on with breathless sounds that jeopardised his plan to take things slowly. Her moist, fragrant heat was irresistible, and he drove forward with a deep, guttural groan of pleasure.
Her body wrapped around him, enclosing him in the tight cave of her womanhood. Shivers coursed over his flesh and his heart raced, his senses reeled and his mind whirled as he thrust and thrust and thrust in the most primal and pleasurable of dances. Ruby picked up his rhythm, moving her body with his as if they had made love together in a past life. He could hear her every breath, every gasp and whimper and cry of pleasure. He could feel the way she responded to him, and it heightened his enjoyment in a way he had not been expecting.
Lucas read the signals of Ruby’s body and stroked her intimately to help her go over the edge. He held her shuddering body in his arms as her orgasm rippled through her. Her pleasure triggered his own release, and he thrust himself into oblivion with a hoarse cry. The aftershocks went on and on, until he finally collapsed, spent, satiated, stunned.
He’d been having sex for years, and yet this time it had felt...different. So different it was as if he had slipped into a parallel universe where all the rules had changed. Sex was not just about physical pleasure, but was a complex, layered experience in which body and mind were inextricably involved.
Ruby’s hands moved in sensual strokes over the still-twitching muscles of his back and shoulders. ‘It must’ve been good for you. You’ve got goosebumps.’
Lucas propped himself up on one elbow and used his other hand to finger-comb her silky hair. The apple scent of her shampoo teased his nostrils. ‘Itwasgood. Better than good.’ He smiled and leaned down to kiss her soft lips.
She sighed and wound her arms around his neck, her legs still sexily entwined with his. He realised with a jolt that he didn’t want to be the first to move away. He wasalwaysthe first to move away. Always. So why wasn’t he moving? Why was he holding her as if he never wanted to let her go? He would have to let her go once this week was up. That was the deal.
‘It was good for me too. The best ever, in fact.’
She nestled against him and he held her close, listening to the soft and rhythmic sound of her breathing.
Lucas wasn’t old-fashioned enough to be concerned about how many lovers she’d had before him. Although it was concerning that she hadn’t always enjoyed sex the way it was meant to be enjoyed.
But then, wasn’t that true for him too?
CHAPTER SEVEN
DINNERHADBEENserved a little later than Ruby had planned, but she was hardly going to complain. She sat with Lucas in the dining room an hour or so later, her body still tingling from his lovemaking.
Every time she thought of him possessing her, a tiny frisson of pleasure coursed through her most intimate feminine muscles. She glanced at his hand, where it was holding his wine glass, and recalled with another delicate shiver how it had felt to have those clever fingers caress her.