Lucas couldn’t hold himself back any longer. He reached her and pulled her into his arms.
Finally.
#
Dorothy knew she was doing something very bold, and things could go wrong if someone else caught her. It was something of a relief when Lucas came in, and he looked very pleased to see her.
His kiss certainly said he was happy to see her, as did the hardness prodding into her belly. If it had been before, Dorothy would have been shocked and pushed him away. Now she wanted to practically climb all over him, just to get as close as she could.
Being close to him and unable to touch him was surprisingly very difficult.
When they came up for air, both of them were breathing heavily. Lucas managed a smile.
“That’s a nice way to greet me. I approve.”
“I’m glad you do.”
“Always.” His hands ran up and down her back. “But why would you do it? What brought this on?”
“Because …”Go on. Say it.“I miss you. And I wanted to do this.”
“How much did you miss me?”
He was teasing her, surely. Dorothy rose up on tiptoe and kissed his neck.
“Enough that I want to do more than kiss,” she whispered against his throat.
Lucas groaned, and his whole body shuddered. Then he was crushing her to him to the point Dorothy didn’t think she could breathe. Not that she wanted to, anyway. After a month of not touching him and sneaking around, she was almost desperate to have even more of him.
This past month had meant to be her way of seeing for herself that Lucas was not the man for her, and that hadn’t worked. She couldn’t even think of him as Dashwood, the stranger she had been formally matched with.
He was Lucas, the man who was one step away from worshipping the ground she walked on. Not quite what Dorothy wanted in a man, but when it was coming from him, she wasn’t about to argue.
Especially when he kissed her like that.
Lucas’ hands were moving down, and then he was squeezing her backside through her gown. The feel of his fingers on a part of her he had never touched before left Dorothy breaking the kiss with a gasp, shockwaves rippling through her. Lucas froze.
“Dorothy?”
“I … you surprised me there.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
From his expression, Lucas was trying to keep himself restrained, and Dorothy kissed him softly.
“Not really, but maybe we should. My parents are going to come looking for me soon.” Dorothy knew she should move back, but she didn’t want to stop touching him. It was like madness had taken over. “We can’t be seen like this, not now.”
Lucas sighed.
“I really hate social rules.” Slowly, he let her go. “You have no idea how hard it has been for me to keep away from you like this. Every time we were together, I wanted to do this and more.”
“More?”
“Yes.”
Hearing that made Dorothy’s pulse skip. A month ago, she had thought it was just a passing whim due to a handsome gentleman paying her attention. But it was still there, and it was just as strong. This was no passing emotion; it was here to stay.
That didn’t scare her as much as it should have, even with her misgivings.