Lucas adjusted the sun lounger so it reclined a little further, then pushed her legs apart and kneeled between them. He stroked the seam of her body through her bikini bottoms, the light caress sending shivers cascading down her spine and tightening every nerve in her pelvis in anticipation. Then he nudged the fabric aside and placed his mouth on her most intimate flesh. He tasted her, teased her, tantalised her. Until she was sobbing with pleasure, her whole body shaking, as the rippling, rolling, crashing waves smashed through her.
Ruby finally managed to sit upright, her senses still reeling, her body experiencing delicious little aftershocks. ‘I can’t let you get away with rendering me senseless without some sort of payback...’ She sprang off the sun lounger and commanded him, ‘Lie down.’
Lucas lay in the space she had just vacated. ‘Should I be nervous?’
‘Very.’
He gave a whole-body shudder and sucked in a breath. ‘I can hardly wait.’
Ruby worked her way down his body from his mouth to his bellybutton and back again, in teasing kisses and caresses that made his breathing rate escalate. Then, on her next journey down his body, she went a little lower, stopping just above the jut of his erection.
‘You’re torturing me...’ he groaned, and gripped the edges of the sun lounger as if to anchor himself.
‘That’s the plan...’ She echoed his own words and then, kneeling down beside him, licked along his skin from the shallow cave of his bellybutton to the hem of his swimming trunks. Then slowly, ever so slowly, she peeled his trunks down, her gaze drinking in the potent length of him. ‘Mmm...now, where will I start?’ she mused, trailing a lazy finger from the head to the base of his erection and then back again.
He gave another shudder and muttered a curse-word, his body twitching in anticipation. Ruby placed her mouth on him, licking and stroking him with the tip of her tongue, delighting in the guttural groans he was making, delighting in the thrill of pleasuring him in a way she had not done with anyone before. It had always seemed too raw and intimate, and yet with Lucas she relished the texture of his skin and the taste of his essence.
She worked on him until he was close to the edge, his groans increasing with each silky movement of her mouth against his rigid flesh. And then he finally let go, his body racked with a series of violent shudders. She watched the flickering emotions on his face—the agony, the ecstasy, the exhilaration, and then finally the relaxation.
Lucas opened his eyes and turned his head towards her. One of his hands came up and touched her lightly on the face, her nose, her lips her chin. ‘That was...amazing.Youare amazing.’
Ruby shrugged. ‘Not bad for a beginner, I suppose.’
He frowned. ‘You mean you haven’t ever—?’
‘No. You’re the first partner I’ve wanted to do that to. It never felt right for me before.’
He finger-combed her hair back from her face, his expression thoughtful. ‘It’s not an experience I’m going to forget in a hurry.’ He let out a shuddery breath and added, ‘But then, there’s a lot about this week I’m not going to forget.’
Ruby sat on the edge of the sun lounger next to him and tiptoed her fingers down his forearm. ‘It’s going so quickly...’
‘Yes...’
A silence fell.
‘Ruby?’
‘Yes?’
He stroked his hand up and down the length of her arm from shoulder to wrist. ‘Thank you for being with me this week. It’s been what I needed—some time out to think about my situation going forward.’ He gave a rueful smile and added, ‘If it hadn’t been for you coming that day to Rothwell Park and asking about Delphine’s wedding, I would probably still be sitting brooding on my own in the library.’
‘Why did you ask me to come with you?’
He moved his head in a side-to-side motion, as if trying to think of an appropriate answer. ‘The builder’s checklist had to be done... But truly I didn’t intend for anything like this to happen between us.’ He ran a lazy finger over the slope of her left breast. ‘Or at least that’s what I told myself. But I found it hard not to kiss you, to want you... And when you seemed to want me just as much—well, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to indulge in a fling.’
‘Is that what we’re calling it now? A “fling”? I thought it was an “arrangement”.’ Ruby kept her tone light and teasing.
His mouth twisted again. ‘I’m not sure what to call it any more.’ He brushed his finger over her lower lip, his expression cast in contemplative lines. ‘You’re not like any other lover I’ve had in the past.’
‘Yes, well, that’s because I’ve never gone near a catwalk in my life and nor am I ever likely to.’
Lucas took one of her hands and gave it a gentle squeeze. ‘I wish you wouldn’t be so negative about yourself. I’ve met stunning women who have bored me within seconds. You’re both beautifulandinteresting.’ His other hand came up to cup her cheek. ‘And so sexy I can barely keep my hands off you.’
But how beautiful would he think her if he got his sight back?
She was not in the same class of attractiveness as his usual partners by any stretch of the imagination. And her insecurities were hard-wired into her personality—drummed into her by the cruel comments of her mother and many of her unsavoury boyfriends. And if Lucas thought her so irresistible, why had he placed such a strict time limit on their relationship?
A soft little sigh escaped from Ruby’s lips. ‘You’re great for my ego. I don’t think I’ve ever had so many nice things said to me in my entire life.’