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Luck Is No Lady(83)

By:Amy Sandas


And now she stood here with a man who, simply by his presence, reminded her she existed for herself as well. She did not want to be a martyr. She wanted excitement. Happiness. Love.

She would never have known it if she hadn’t met him, but a part of her feared going the rest of her life never having those things. And she wanted to know—right now, tonight—if she could have them with him.

She licked her lips, searching for words to aid her in that moment. All she managed was his name in a breathy whisper.

He looked over his shoulder, and she was startled to see anger there.

“Why are you still here, Emma? Go home.”

His anger helped to dispel some of her fear. She was better at working for what she wanted than begging for it.

“Why should I?” she challenged. “Do I not deserve to experience what other women feel?”

He pushed his hand through his hair and looked back out the window as if he wished he could use it to escape. “Of course you do. Just not with me.”

Emma lifted her chin. “I feel far more during five minutes with you than I have in my entire life before meeting you. And I do not want it to stop.”

She walked toward him then, noticing how much effort he exuded in keeping his back to her.

“Roderick.” His name came out softer than she intended. She tried again, inserting as much command into her voice as she could manage. “Roderick, won’t you look at me?”

He turned around then. His gaze slid hotly down her body, then lifted to her face again. The torture she saw in his eyes emboldened her.

“Dammit, Emma. What do you think you are doing?”

She tipped her chin. “Exactly what I want to be doing. What are you doing?” The challenge was evident in her tone.

His jaw tightened. “You cannot push me like this and expect me not to react.”

She spread her hands in offering. “I want you to react, Roderick. I need you to.” A sort of choked laugh escaped her throat. “I have never thrown myself at a man before, but if you do not yet see how desperate I am for you to do something, then clearly, I am not doing it right.”

He closed his eyes and a sound similar to a growl and a groan combined rumbled from his throat. Then he opened his eyes again, and she noted the stark gleam of desire that had taken over his gaze. The sight of it twisted her insides.

“You do everything right, Emma,” he answered in a tortured whisper.

A thrill ran through her as she stepped toward him. Two steps brought her directly in front of him. One more brought her so close she had to tip her head back to look into his face. Though his gaze revealed a craving as deep as her own, resistance still resided in the tension claiming his entire frame.

But she was determined.

“Do not tell me to leave again, Roderick. I won’t go.”

He seemed to struggle to find words. His hands fisted and flexed at his sides.

His eyes, as they looked into hers, were dark and shadowed with emotions she couldn’t fully identify. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I am tired of playing it safe. All my life I have been a dutiful daughter and sister and failed to see how I neglected myself.” She laid her hand on his chest. He inhaled sharply at her touch, but otherwise did not move. “I cannot pretend anymore that I don’t feel what I feel when I am with you.”

Her last words drifted on a whisper filled with all the longing in her soul.

He did not reply, and she stood waiting, listening to the shift in his breath.

Then he reached for her.

He gripped her shoulders in his large hands and drew her to him, until her breasts came flush with his chest and her legs bumped against his muscled thighs. Her head fell back as she readied for his kiss.

He held her there a moment, looking into her eyes. Their breathing grew heavier. Her gaze dropped to the masculine lines of his lips. An intense craving for the touch of his mouth claimed her as she waited for him to take what she offered.

His voice when he spoke was laden with raw sensuality. “You want to give yourself to me, then you give it all. If we do this…I will not hold back. It is all or nothing, sweetheart.”

Emma’s mouth went dry and her legs trembled beneath her.

She drew a slow breath and put everything she was feeling into her gaze as she replied. “For tonight, all or nothing.”

His eyes flashed with an unholy light, and her stomach flipped.

He slid his hands up the sides of her neck and drove his fingers into her hair to brace the base of her skull as the wide pad of his thumb brushed over her lips. Lightly at first, then more insistently he pressed against her bottom lip, until her lips parted on a light puff of breath.

Then he claimed her mouth in a kiss instantly possessive and darkly passionate. His tongue swept past her teeth to twine with hers. The velvet texture and rich taste of him made her insides clench with longing. She pressed against him, trying to get closer, needing to feel more of him somehow.