She opened her mouth, and even though she wasn’t a total novice—she had kissed boys a long time ago before her life had been reduced to staying in the shadows—she wasn’t prepared for Gabriel’s expertise.
His mouth and tongue demanded a response she wasn’t sure how to give. She could only react instinctively. Tasting, exploring. Mimicking his movements. She felt rather than heard a growl deep in his throat as he pulled her even closer, delved deeper.
She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, but she knew she never wanted this moment to end. She’d never experienced anything so thrilling. Transporting.
When Gabriel took his mouth off hers she moved with him, loath to let the contact end. Her heart was pounding. It was a struggle to open her eyes. When she did, it took her a second to focus. Both her hands were clinging to his shirt. She was pressed so close against him that she could feel his desire, long and thick, against her belly.
It should have shocked her. But she pressed closer in an instinctive move, emboldened by a feminine rush of confidence she’d never known before. By the evidence of this man wanting her.
He smiled, but it wasn’t a gentle smile. It was hard. Knowing.
Not even that could dent Leonora’s desire. She wanted this man to be her first lover, so that whatever happened next she’d always have this experience locked inside her. That was why she’d said yes. Because she’d realised how close she’d come to never experiencing this.
‘Make love to me, Gabriel.’
He picked up one of her hands and interlocked his fingers with hers. A pulse throbbed between her legs.
His mouth quirked on one side. ‘Your wish is my command.’
Even through the haze of arousal and desire making her feel drunk, Leonora doubted that this man was anyone’s to command.
He kept their hands linked and led her from the living area, down a hall and to a door. He opened it and Leonora took in a vast bedroom. In contrast to what she’d seen of the apartment so far, this room was almost ascetic. Nothing but bare white walls and a few pieces of modern furniture.
Gabriel let her hand go to switch on a light. It sent out a warm golden glow, softening the hard edges in the room. She wondered about that. About its starkness. And yet it soothed her, coming from a castle stuffed to the gills with oversized furniture and dark décor more suited to the Middle Ages.
Her eyes fell on the bed—the most decadent thing in the room. Massive, and luxuriously dressed with sumptuous dark grey sheets and pillows. Unashamedly masculine. And modern.
‘Come here, Leonora.’
She took her gaze off the bed and looked at Gabriel. She sucked in a breath. He filled the space. She pushed down her trepidation and walked the couple of feet over to where he stood. He was taking his cufflinks out of his shirt and placing them on top of a chest of drawers. She stood before him.
‘Take off your jewellery.’
She didn’t think. She obeyed. Giving herself up to this night and this man with total commitment. She took out her earrings and placed them down next to his cufflinks. Then she removed the matching bracelet. He’d probably already guessed they weren’t real, but she didn’t care any more.
‘Take off my shirt.’
Leonora stepped closer, some of her bravado faltering as she reached for his buttons and started undoing them, revealing his impressive chest. She hoped he wouldn’t notice the faint tremor in her hands. When it was open, she pushed it back and looked. Her mouth went dry. He was more like a warrior than a civilised businessman. Hard muscles. Hair curling over his pectorals and descending in a dark line at the centre of a six-pack to disappear under the waistband of his trousers.
He tugged his shirt off completely, letting it drop to the floor. ‘Now you. I want to see you.’
No one had ever seen Leonora naked. Not since she was a child. When she was a teenager, fooling around with boys at after-school parties, it had always been an awkward fumbling in the dark, under clothes. Not this stark ‘I want to see you’ while standing in the golden glow of a lamp in front of the most intimidating man in the world. A connoisseur of women, by all accounts.
Before Leonora could overthink it she turned around, presenting Gabriel with her back and the zip to her dress. She pulled her hair over one shoulder and steeled herself for the moment she would feel his hands at her zip. But instead of going there first, his hands landed on her shoulders, and then she felt his breath at the back of her neck, before he pressed his mouth there, the moist tip of his tongue flicking out to taste her skin.
Her legs nearly gave way completely.
She was dealing with a consummate seducer—not an over-eager boy.
His hands trailed over her skin as if he had all the time in the world to learn her shape. Goosebumps popped up even though she was warm. Hot. Melting…
Then his hands moved to the top of her dress and he started to pull her zip down, all the way, until it stopped just above the curve of her buttocks. His knuckles brushed her skin there and it felt as intimate as if he’d kissed her.
The dress was loosened around her chest but she brought her arms up, stopping it from falling down.
‘Turn around.’
Her heart pounding, Leonora turned. After a moment she looked up and saw Gabriel’s face. It was…stark. Hungry. She shivered.
He put his hands on her arms and slowly pulled them apart. The dress stayed up for a moment and then, under its own weight, fell down to her waist. She wore a matching strapless bra. Red lace.
Gabriel let her arms go and reached behind her to undo her bra. It fell away to the floor before she could worry about him noticing how frayed and worn it was.
He looked at her for a long moment. Saying nothing. And then, ‘You are more beautiful than anything I’ve ever imagined.’
Gabriel reached out and reverently cupped her breasts. Leonora had always felt self-conscious about their size, but they fitted Gabriel’s palms perfectly. He rubbed his thumbs across her nipples and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from moaning out loud as they stiffened under his touch, almost to the point of pain.
He stopped for a moment, bringing his hands up to cup her face before seeking her mouth again and drawing her deep into a drugging kiss. Her hand clasped his wrist, needing something, anything, to root herself in this dream.
The friction of her bare breasts against his chest was sensory overload. But that was nothing… He stopped kissing her and trailed his mouth across her jaw and down the side of her neck to her shoulder, and then down to her breast. He cupped the plump flesh again and lifted it to his mouth, teasing her stiffened flesh with his tongue and teeth.
She couldn’t stop the moan this time. It came out like a guttural plea to stop…never to stop…to keep going. Her hands were on his head, her fingers in his thick hair as he lavished the same torture on her other breast until they were both tingling and wet from his mouth.
When he stopped and lifted his head Leonora could barely keep standing. Gabriel pushed her dress down the rest of the way, over her hips. It fell to the floor with a barely audible swish of silk.
Now she wore only panties and stockings. Her shoes. She kicked them off, dropping a few inches in height. It made Gabriel seem even taller, more impressive.
Then, before she could worry about how to stay standing on her wobbly legs, she was lifted into the air against his chest and carried over to the bed, where he lay her down as reverently as if she was made of spun glass…