Bending, he swept her high into his arms and carried her to the bed.
Emma let him peel the clothes from her body, then lay naked against the sheets, her long hair flowing in a cascade over the pillows. Nick had pulled the pins free, tossing them haphazardly after her dress, stays, and petticoats.
With an appreciative gaze, she watched him strip off his own clothing. His dexterous hands worked quickly, untying his neckcloth and unbuttoning his waistcoat before he yanked his shirt unceremoniously over his head to expose the glorious breadth of his powerful shoulders, muscular chest, and long, sinewy arms. He kicked off his shoes and rolled his stockings free. His fingers went to his evening breeches where his heavy erection pushed so forcefully against his black silk falls it was a wonder the buttons hadn’t already popped loose. In a few efficient movements, he was as naked as she, although nothing like her in form at all.
She shivered, but not with the nervous uncertainty she had experienced during their first time together. She knew what awaited her, her inner muscles clenching as her body grew slick with anticipation for the pleasure to come.
She saw his shaft jerk when he caught her looking, his arousal thrusting eagerly forward as if begging for her touch. Without thinking, she reached up and curled her fingers around him. His flesh pulsed inside her grasp, his hips arching as if to demonstrate what he wanted.
Instinctively, she complied, stroking the length of his thick, heavy erection, his shaft hard yet velvety smooth and warm. So warm it seemed as if he might have a fever.
And perhaps she did as well. Her skin was overheated, her cheeks burning, as blood surged through her veins in swift, almost wild beats.
Nick’s eyes closed and he groaned, his hand closing gently over hers to guide her in a more expert rhythm. She stroked him, enjoying the undisguised pleasure on his face.
Then, quite without warning, he pulled her hand away and came down beside her in the bed. Dragging her into his arms, he took her mouth, his kisses deep, hungry, and unapologetically rapacious.
Weaving her fingers into his clean, soft hair, she yielded to the power and beauty of his touch, every kiss, each caress, more wonderful than the last.
Enslaved was the only way to describe how she felt as his hands moved over her in long, tantalizing sweeps—from nape to breast, stomach to thigh, and all the way down to her feet. Each new circuit built her need a little higher, her legs restless, body aching as he played his palms over her in blazing circles that drove her half mad with longing. Breath hitched in her lungs and her thoughts spun away, her mind fuzzy and sure of nothing but following Nick’s command.
His kisses grew slower and more intense before his lips left hers to repeat the path set by his hands. He wandered from pleasure point to pleasure point, pausing to pay special homage to her breasts in a way that made keening cries erupt from her throat.
He smiled against the smooth, flat plane of her stomach, then moved on, showering her with tormenting little licks and nips and kisses as he went. Continuing his exploration, he moved lower, over her hips and thighs, then on to her feet.
Sliding his wide palm over one of her quivering calves, he caught her leg in his hand and bent it at the knee, then to one side to expose her to more of his touch.
Full-body shudders racked her frame as he slid a finger inside her, her exquisitely sensitive inner flesh tightening wetly around him. He added another finger and began to stroke.
Her hips arched off the mattress in a way that pushed him in past his knuckles. Taking hold of her other thigh with his free hand, he opened her wide so that she lay at his complete and total mercy.
Then his mouth found her, but not where she expected. Her eyes flew wide as he suckled intently her tender, throbbing flesh. As for his fingers, they remained lodged inside her, stroking her with devastating purpose.
Her mind went curiously blank, her senses barely able to take in the shock of the act, or the waves of stunning pleasure that assailed her body. Somehow she found the strength to throw her arm over her mouth to muffle the cries that issued from her throat. The world spun around her in a crazy tempest that threatened to shake her apart from the inside out.
And suddenly she did come apart, shattering in deep, convulsive spasms that left her floating on a cloud of pure, profound delight.
But Nick didn’t leave her time to savor a gentle glide back down to earth as he rose above her and thrust himself inside.
Last time there had been an initial stab of pain when he’d taken her virginity. But now there was only a sense of delicious fullness and pleasurable need. For, in spite of the satisfaction still humming through her veins as effervescent as sparkling wine, she wanted him again. She desired him with an urgency that went beyond the physical into the realm of the soul.