Then he went to work on his belt while he watched her slide off her heels. He dropped his pants while she wriggled out of her dress. He was left wearing only his boxers at the same time she wore nothing but turquoise-colored satin panties.
"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," she dared him, hooking a finger in the lace waistband about as substantial as a shoelace.
He slid off the boxers.
"I'm going to see yours, all right," he warned her, edging a knee onto the bed and stretching out over her. "Up close and personal."
She let go of the panties, her hand moving to his chest as he shifted closer.
"Oh?" Her breathless question told him exactly how much she liked that idea. "Well, I'm going to revisit on you all the same pleasure that you give me." She arched an eyebrow at the sensual promise.
Laying a hand on her hip, he slipped the satin down her thighs and off.
"Not a chance. This isn't like a favor where you can keep an accounting. In this bed, I get to give and give and give all that I want." He stroked the soft curls just above her sex, sliding touches lower and lower while she drew in a breath between her teeth.
"Dempsey." She arched her hips toward him, a silent plea.
One he was powerless to resist.
Parting her thighs, he made room for himself there. She watched him with wide eyes, biting the soft fullness of her lower lip while he found a condom and opened the packet. She stole it away from him, rolling it into place herself and positioning him where she wanted.
Where they both wanted.
When he entered her, she tightened her grip on him. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders. Legs tightened around his waist. And her inner muscles squeezed him with sensual pulls that had him gritting his teeth against the sweetly erotic feel of one hundred percent Adelaide.
For a long moment, he held himself still, breathing in the scent of her hair and giving her time to adjust to him. When he thought he could move again without unmanning himself, he levered up on his arms and began a slow, steady rhythm. Addy held herself still for a moment, and then, as if she'd just been waiting for the right time to join him, she swiveled her hips in a way that rocked him.
Heat blazed up his spine as she undulated beneath him, meeting his thrusts and making him see stars. She locked her ankles behind him, her heat, her softness and her scent surrounding him. He wanted to draw this out, to make the pleasure go on and on, to explore every facet of what she liked. But not this time. Not now when just being inside her was enough to send him hurtling over the edge.
Next time, he'd find some self-control. Some way to make the pleasure last. Right now the need to come inside her was the most primal urge he'd ever felt. He closed his eyes, cued in on her breathing and synced his movements, causing her to gasp and arch. He moved faster, needing to focus solely on her. On pleasuring her.
He wouldn't let himself go until then.
She called his name with a hoarse cry as her whole body went taut. Her release pulsated through her and freed his. He kissed her to silence, the shout poised in his throat as wave after wave of pleasure pounded through him. The moment went on and on until they were both spent and lying side by side, their breathing erratic and heartbeats pounding crazy rhythms. He knew because one of his hands rested on her throat, where he could feel her pulse hammer.
She must know, too, because her hand lay on his chest, where his heart thrummed so hard it felt as though it wanted out.
Long minutes passed before their skin began to cool and Dempsey thought he could move again. He drew her into his arms and stroked her hair, smoothing tangles and skimming it to one side of her beautiful body.
"I'm speechless," she murmured, her breath a soft huff on his chest.
"We could make talking optional for the next few hours," he suggested, already wanting her again.
She peered up at him through long lashes. "Save all our energy for the important things?"
"Exactly." He cupped her cheek and tilted her face to kiss her. "You can practically read my mind anyhow. You can probably guess what I'd like to do next."
She sidled closer, her hips stirring him to life with a speed he hadn't experienced since his teens.
"I have an excellent idea. But I stopped being your dutiful assistant when you gave me the day off. So I won't be fulfilling your every need tonight." She ran a lazy hand up his biceps and onto his chest. Then trailed her nails lightly down the center of his sternum.
"No?" His voice rasped on a dry note.
"I might give a few orders of my own," she teased.
"Is that what I do? Order you around?" He found a ticklish spot on her side and made her laugh.
"Definitely." She gripped his wrists and pinned them to the bed. Climbing on top of him, she let all that glorious hair fall around him. "Now it's my turn."
* * *
Adelaide couldn't resist teasing him. She stared down into Dempsey's impossibly handsome face and wondered how long he would let her play this game.
Judging from the impressive erection resting on his abs, he was liking it well enough so far.
"I can't imagine what you'd ask me to do when I've already put so much thought into pleasing you, Ms. Thibodeaux." His dark eyes wandered over her in the most flattering way.
"I already like your deferential tone." She kissed his cheek and brushed her breasts against it. "Why don't you tell me about this effort you say you've put into pleasing me? I'd love to hear all about that."
Kissing her way down his chest, she paused now and again to look up at him. Make sure he was still watching. Still liking what she was doing. Because honestly, she had little enough experience with men, and none with a man like Dempsey. She could only trust her instincts to guide her and have fun with him in this rare moment to play and tease.
And enjoy his sinfully delicious body.
"I've taken all my cues from you tonight," he informed her, his muscles flexing under her as she slid down him to kiss his abs.
"How do you mean?" She peered up to find him shoving a pillow under his head.
Making himself comfortable? Or getting ready to watch the show? Nerves danced along her skin, mingling with anticipation. When he put his hands behind his head, it was a devastating look for a man with his build, emphasizing the way his upper body tapered to narrow hips.
"You get a sexy look in your eyes when you're thinking wicked thoughts, Addy. I know that's when to make my move."
"A sexy look?" She stroked a light touch up the hard length of him.
He hissed a breath between his teeth. "Definitely." He shifted under her, his whole body tensing.
She climbed back up him to whisper in his ear, "I've never done this before. Feel free to offer instruction." She paused to kiss his lips and wander her way down his body again, taking his incoherent groan as a good sign that he was on board with her plan.
She listened to every intake of his breath, repeating the things he liked best. When she traced the indents between his abs with her tongue, he almost came off the bed.
That was when she experimented with how she touched him, discovering it was easy to know what he liked. Tasting him received wholehearted approval. In fact, the more of him that she took into her mouth, the more encouraging his reaction.
"Addy." His tone warned her more than his words. And he would have hauled her up to kiss him if she hadn't paused to remind him who was in charge.
"Let go," she commanded, meeting his gaze one last time before she returned to the kisses he liked so well.
When his release came, she savored it, loving that rare moment of seeing him lose control. Of knowing she'd given him that pleasure.
But when the hot pulses halted and a final groan ripped from his throat, Dempsey reached for her and dragged her back up his body. His golden-brown gaze seared her. As if he'd taken her game as a personal challenge, he settled between her thighs and kissed her.
The sharp jolt of sensual pleasure was like an electric shock, rippling through every part of her. He dipped one shoulder beneath her thigh and then the other, finding just the right angle to slowly drive her to the edge of madness. Each stroke of his tongue sent quivery ribbons of pleasure to her belly. Fingers twisting in the sheets, she held on as he nipped and licked, making her fly apart in hard spasms that went on and on.
She wanted to say something about that, the intensity of the orgasm unlike anything she'd ever felt. But the hungry look still lurked in his eyes as he stretched out over her, kissing her mouth while he found another condom and seated himself deep inside her.