Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

Charlotte swallowed nervously, her pulse drumming in her ears. How she ever managed to remain so calm as she undressed for Ian, she would never know.

But she had.

His eyes nearly burned her now as her hands rested at his falls. The night of their wedding, he had left her naked, but tonight that wouldn't happen again. She would be sure of it.

Her hand trembled as she undid the buttons and freed his erection. She wrapped her hand around him, so hard yet soft to touch, and slowly moved her hand up and down the length of him once.

Desire shot in her belly as Ian tilted his head up at the ceiling and moaned. The very sound of it made her breath catch. It made her feel a little heady, a little in control.

She gripped him in her palm and began to slowly stroke him, leaning forward to press her lips against his chest, desperate for his touch as much as he was for her.

He bent down and whispered against her ear, “Do you feel what you do to me, love?”

She sighed, everything within her aching and needing more. “Tell me.” She licked her lips, meeting his heated stare. “Do you think of me when you…” She faltered, the words lingering on her tongue, but she wouldn’t allow fear to govern her words any longer. “When you take yourself in hand, Ian, do you wish it was me?”

“Bloody hell, Lottie.”

A satisfied grin floated to her lips, and suddenly, she was a woman possessed. She had never heard him utter anything so filthy, and she liked it.

“I’ll spend right here. No, stop.” He groaned, reaching out to still her hand. “Not yet, love.”

Apparently, he also appreciated her voicing such thoughts. But she wasn’t ready to stop. She dropped to her knees and peered up at him.

“Lottie, love,” he cautioned. “I am going out of my mind.”

She leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his erection, licking up his length. He jerked in her hand, moaning.

“Lottie.”

Half warning, half praise. She took him in her mouth and gently sucked, feeling his body shudder and hearing him curse on his breath, and she smiled to herself.

“Later.” He groaned. “After. Dear God and Heaven.” He framed her face in his hands and shook his head, his eyes heavy with desire. “Get on the chair, Lottie.”

She scrambled backward, sitting on the chair. She moved to untie her stocking finally, but Ian shook his head.

“I’ll do it.”

He fell to his knees and looked up, her hair falling around them both. She felt so incredibly on display, so…

Her eyes caught the reflection in the mirror opposite them. The hard line of his back, the taut muscles in his arms as he braced the side of the chair and ducked down to untie the pink ribbon round her stockings with his teeth.

He nudged her knees apart, spreading her. Then slowly, so incredibly slowly, he rolled each silk stocking down her leg, kissing the inside of her knees, then her thighs, until she was completely naked.

Waiting .

She closed her eyes and gripped the side of the chair in anticipation.

“I know what you can see. Open your eyes, Honeybee. Watch me.”

She peeked down at him, certain her cheeks were burning.

“Do you remember how good it felt to have my mouth here?” His fingers ghosted over the curls between her legs, and she wiggled her hips, needing his touch. Wanting more.

He stilled, one hand on her thigh. “Yes?”

She swallowed and nodded.

“You loved it. I want to do the same again tonight. To taste you, to lick you until you fall apart, and I can feel you shake around my fingers. Don’t?—”

Charlotte opened her eyes.

“Watch me, love. Watch how good we are together.”

He bent down and pressed a light kiss to her mound before skirting his fingers slowly up her thighs and drawing her legs farther apart. He reached behind, pressing his fingers into the top of her bottom and drew her closer to the edge of the chair until he licked her folds, parting her. With a firm stroke of his tongue, she felt fire race through her veins.

They had been no stranger to bedsport before their marriage. It had been near impossible to resist him, and after his proposal, they had excelled at finding time to sneak away. It was those moments that had fueled her thoughts of him in the years since. But tonight, she gathered, Ian wanted to start again.

One, slow, reckoning touch at a time.

“That sweet, pretty sigh,” he whispered against her, pressing his thumb against the small bundle of nerves between her legs. “Let me hear it, Lottie.”

Her breasts were heavy and ached, and she already felt herself climbing to pleasure before he inserted two fingers inside of her and slowly drew them out as she panted.

“Are you watching?”

“Yes.”

“Can you see me on my knees for you, Lottie? Me kissing your sweet quim?” He bent down again and did just that as she climbed higher still. “That’s it.”

She clutched the chair, forcing herself to watch as she felt the final thread snap, and suddenly, her body flooded with warmth, and she shook around him, under him, his tongue still stroking her until she panted, riding out the waves of pleasure that washed over her.

He sat up, his hair messed, his eyes burning. “More?”

She laughed, nodding. He stood and scooped her up, walking her back to the bed.

“I won’t spend in you unless you tell me to. Do you understand? We can stop here?—”

“No, Ian.” She reached up and pulled him closer, peppering kisses on his chest, needing to feel his body against hers, wanting more than anything in that moment to feel him inside of her. “I don’t want to stop.”

He made a sound at the back of his throat and settled over her, nudging her legs apart with his knee. She felt him press against her entrance and tilted her hips, then slowly, he seated himself within her, filling her up.

She sighed at the delicious fullness of it. To feel him move inside of her, her body nearly bowed off the bed.

“Watch me,” he said. “Let me see your eyes. I want to watch you as I move in you.” He thrust again, and she cried out. He bent down and drew her nipple in his mouth, tracing it with his tongue until it was the sweetest sort of pain. “Do you trust me, Lottie?”

She raked her hands over his back, certain she was leaving marks but no longer caring. Let her kiss them in the morning and know that he was hers. “Yes.”

“Good girl. Hold on to the bedpost then.”

Before she could question why, he drove into her again.

“I can’t be gentle, love. Tell me if it’s too much.”

But it wasn’t. Charlotte discovered she loved her husband a little untethered, his mouth full of filthy words for her, his body eager to bring about her pleasure. She only wished to do the same for him.

He quickened his pace until that familiar heat returned, and she felt herself spinning apart into pieces and screaming before he gripped her hips and tilted, thrusting against her as she rode out her pleasure, yelling his name.

The bed began to wobble, the post squeaking before the corner of the bed collapsed.

She would have laughed if it wasn’t for what Ian was doing to her body. He continued, never slowing his pace as he gently moved her across the mattress to the other side of the bed.

“That’s a good girl, Lottie. Can you feel how hard you have me? I’m going to spend any minute now. Where do you want it?”

She glanced up at him, holding on to the bedpost, and arched her back. “On my stomach, Ian.” He growled, thrusting his hips until he withdrew and pumped his hand over his length. She watched, struck at how gorgeous he was when he tilted his head up at the ceiling, his body tightening over hers, and his warm seed spilled out onto her stomach. His body was all lean power, taut as it chased its own desire.

For a moment, she only heard the sound of her heart drumming in her ears and their heavy breathing. But quiet settled, and finally, he gazed down at her, his eyes full of something much softer, much more earnest than desire.

Love.

“I will be right back.”

She heard him move across his room before he returned with a cloth and cleaned her up. He bent down and kissed her, soft and lingering as she remained still, her body satiated for the moment.

“Yours,” he whispered when they broke apart. “Always.”

It felt most natural to tell him how she felt at that moment. To spill the truth that had been warring between her brain and her heart, but she thought it best to keep it quiet a little longer. Instead, she reached his hip and pulled, drawing him near.

“Next time, let’s stick to the floor.”

“We’ll need to. We broke the bed, Honeybee,” he said with a small laugh. “Christ. What you do to me.”

“There are advantages to being Duke.”

“Oh? ”

“More beds.”

“That sounds like a challenge.”

Charlotte only ran her hand through his hair and pulled him closer. “One I think I would like to partake in.”

When he drew back, there was a silly, lovestruck grin on that handsome face of his. “You are so damn perfect, Charlotte. Don’t ever change.”