Chapter Twenty-Four

N ick kissed her navel and carefully grabbed her narrow waist. Her hip bones protruded because she was slender but well-built, her muscles twitching when he placed a row of butterfly kisses on her abdomen.

"Such perfect anatomy," he mumbled, kissing a path down from her navel as he pulled the garter belt off and gave her bottom a squeeze.

She exhaled with a half laugh and cupped his face. He'd loved her hands in his hair, but he looked up when she held his cheeks. "You are so gorgeous, Pippa. I love your wit, your intelligent eyes, the curl of hair that always falls around your ear, and the way you speak. But Pippa, I want to show you how beautiful your body is, absolute human perfection as I have never known it to exist."

She drew her eyes wide.

"With your permission—" He kissed the spot just above her hairline.

"Yes. Anything, anything with you and from you."

Nick brought his hand to her middle and gently pressed against her private area. She was so pleasingly warm. She twitched and folded over as a gasp escaped her.

Nick straightened, one hand still there, and took the back of her head in his hand again. She gave him access to show her what her body could do. It was an honor he didn't underestimate. A pleasure he could only imagine, and he steadied himself to make it as perfect as he could for her.

Nick kissed her willing mouth with all the vigor the moment had promised. Pouring his feelings and the raw emotion into his exploration of her mouth, he didn't realize when she'd walked backward to the bed, and he'd followed. He'd follow her over a cliff, and it would all be worth it for a kiss from her.

She stopped she touched the bed and Nick pressed a bit more with his hand in her middle. She understood and sat on the bed, leaning back.

Reluctantly, Nick's lips left hers, but she was pink and swollen. She'd asked for this and even though Nick had never quite done what she'd described, there was no time like the moment to try. He brushed the hair out of her face with his free hand and then pushed some more. She slid backward until she lay before him. Again, with his free hand, Nick trailed over her stays but decided to reserve that for later. Her turn first.

He kissed his way down to her navel again. And lower.

Even lower.

She clenched her muscles and crossed her legs. He withdrew from her center.

"Why?" Nick said, holding her waist with both hands now. "Is this what Violet talked about?" he asked, lowering his face.

She nodded.

As if she had to consider the matter for a moment, Pippa paused.

Then she relaxed her legs and Nick spread her thighs.

He quickly oriented himself and found her cleft. Unsure where to start, he worshipped every delicious fold and every little hill and valley of her middle.

She inhaled sharply when he flicked his tongue over the bottom wall of her opening. He did it again along the seam and she let out a moan.

So, he brought a finger there and touched the sleekest spot.

She collapsed backward in the soft bed and let her legs fall wide apart.

Oh good, she liked it.

Nick gently inserted the tip of his left index finger. She was so precious in his hands. Entrusting him with her sexual awakening. And he was absolutely going to make sure she'd wake up to a bright experience.

In no time, his entire index finger slid in, then his middle finger. Her ring muscles on the inside welcomed him with near peristaltic convulsions and she wriggled on the bed.

With the other hand, Nick found the little bean. It was pink and shiny.

Nick leaned in and gave it a lick.

Pippa let out a scream and wriggled more.

Nick continued and Pippa propped herself up on her elbows. "I can't breathe." She sat up and with quick motions shrugged out of her stays.

Nick felt his eyes grow wide from his perch in a most erotic position when her perky breasts popped out, bigger than in his dream and yet looking so fresh and cheeky that he wanted to— needed to—taste her nipples.

He left his fingers where they made progress in the slick warmth of her center and came up with his upper body to kiss her breasts.

Oh, they were gloriously cool, soft and yet the nipples were hard, and he couldn't stop his onslaught. His fingers continued and the slender blonde beneath him wriggled, moaned, and then she arched her back so much, Nick wanted to take her breasts in his mouth completely, but he felt her trembling on the inside. In response to his fingers, she tensed around him, and he knew she was close.

Her mouth was wide open, and Nick plunged his tongue in, feeling the sharp edges of her immaculate white teeth. She pressed her middle onto his hand and her breathing grew heavy. She sucked his mouth in, and then she did what he'd dreamed of and didn't even dare think could happen.

Pippa wrapped her long slender legs around Nick and clung onto him as she peaked. He knew she did when she clenched her muscles and shuddered. Nick wrapped his arms around Pippa's thighs and enclosed her with as much skin as he could. Her hand came to his and he stopped what his fingers had done, slowly removing them.

There was too much fabric between them, and he wanted to squeeze out the air between them. She was in his arms and still too far away.

Her mouth was hot on his, deliciously moist and eager. All of their kisses had been spectacular. And yet, this felt different. She was taking possession of him as if she'd shrugged off her timid restraint. She'd brought him to her mother's estate and had an air of the mistress of the manor here. This was her territory and Nick had a feeling she'd brought him there because of this.

Oh, and how he wanted her to. She was an innocent and an aristocrat and so many reasons spoke against this. She had all the allure of a forbidden goddess combined with the power of a siren who'd enchanted him.

She let out a moan and tilted her head back, granting him access to kiss her neck. And he did, for how could a man of blood and flesh resist such a beauty?

She was out of breath and yet yearning for more. Her middle pressed against his, she was inviting him, and Nick felt his restraint ripping like an overstretched rope.

"Will you marry me?"

She held his neck and furrowed her forehead. "Yes."

"Even though I have nothing to offer you?"

"Yes." She frowned. "No. I mean, yes I'll marry you if you'll have me."

"I never wanted anything and anyone as much as I want you, Pippa. But it's not too late now to stop. I cannot offer you much, I work for my money and there are people who even want the practice. If we go too far, if you become pregnant—"

She jerked her head back. "With a baby?"

"Yes. Don't you want children?"

Her eyes narrowed to slits and color left her face. "I only know how to care for plants. I don't even a mother who can teach me—"

"If you take me, you'd have Wendy as a sister."

"And you think she'd be there? For a baby?"

Could she get her father's permission to wed a commoner? Father would think Nick was only after the money and never grant Pippa permission to marry Nick, not for all the love in her life.

"My entire life, I had riches, luxury, elegant balls, and jewels. I have been to St. James Palace so many times, it's boring, but you can offer me so much more than anyone else ever has."

"And what is that?" He couldn't hide the sadness in his voice. He wished to be more for the gorgeous lady in his arms.

"Your heart. Love. Happiness. I don't want to be so alone anymore. Plants never talk back. Neither does Sir Hoppington."

Nick laughed at that. "Oh Pippa," he beamed at her. "I promise you all that with my whole heart."

"Then please continue. Never worry about money, I have enough for both of us." I just don't know how to access it.

And with these words, she reached for his laces and unpacked what he'd longed to let out of his breeches.