Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

T he knock startled Gemma. She hadn’t been expecting it. Though, admittedly, after that kiss in the coach, she didn’t know what she had been expecting. In fact, she didn’t know much about anything after that kiss.

It was as if she’d been struck dumb by it. She’d somehow managed to make it out of the coach, up the stairs, into the town house, and into her bedchamber without remembering how she got there. Thank heavens, Anna had been there to help. She had a brief memory of her maid removing her gown, her shift, and then her stockings. A few words had been exchanged about the ripped sleeve, and then a new silky night rail had been slipped over her head, and somehow she was in bed and Anna was gone.

Gemma had been sitting there for several moments staring at the wall in awe. What in the world had happened in that coach? A kiss? She knew it was a kiss. It had all the indications of a kiss and yet…it had been something so much more. Something that had swept over her and made her entire body hot and achy and restless. One moment she’d been wanting to jump from the coach to escape that vile man. The next moment, she’d been melting in his arms, her fingers threaded through his soft hair as his mouth owned hers. It made no sense.

The knock made her heart jump into her throat.

“Come in.” Her voice was barely a whisper. She cleared her throat and was about to repeat herself when the door opened, and Lucian came striding inside.

She lifted her gaze and once again was confronted with the man’s bare chest. God save innocents from such a sight. Earlier she’d told him he was carved from stone. Marble was more like it, and at the hands of a master. Michelangelo himself could not have done more admirable work.

Lucian began pacing in front of the bed. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, mussing it in a way that made her want to touch it again. “I was wondering what you thought of that kiss?”

She blinked. She might as well be honest. “I… I have no words.”

He nodded. “I feel the same.”

“Is it normally like that?” Her brows knitted together. “I have nothing to compare it to.”

He continued his pacing. “No. It’s not normally like that.”

Gemma gulped. “It had to be a mistake. Right?”

“It didn’t feel like a mistake.” He stopped pacing and strode over to her side. “In fact, I was wondering if we might…try it again.”

Her throat went dry. He wanted to kiss her again? “I suppose there is no harm in trying again.” She swallowed hard. “Just to confirm.”

“Yes, to confirm. Quite logical.”

He lowered himself to sit on the edge of the mattress facing her. His nearness made her suck in her breath. He reached out and wrapped a warm hand behind her neck. Their eyes met. An undeniable spark leaped between them. Gemma felt a shudder work its way through her body. His blue eyes were mesmerizing her.

He leaned forward, closer, closer.

His lips touched hers like a whisper, barely felt. Barely there. A hum moved through her body. When the tip of his tongue licked across the seam of her lips, coaxing them to open, the hum became louder. And when his tongue plunged into the heat of her mouth, possessing her, it turned into a full roar. She couldn’t hear anything anymore… She could only feel. The pressure of his mouth against hers, the heat of his hand behind her neck, the rasp of his skin against the softness of her chin.

Her hands went up to his hair again, just as they’d done in the coach. It was a mindless response. She’d longed to feel the soft thickness between her fingers, but this time she soon let her fingers move down along his rough cheeks, gliding down the thick muscles in his neck. She let them splay across his rock-hard bare shoulders and stay there. Her fingertips curved around his shoulders, and she pulled him toward her. He moved, down, down until he was atop her, the bedclothes between them inconvenient until she felt him fling them away. And then his weight settled atop her, and she clung to him, reveling in the welcome weight pressing into her, never wanting him to leave.

When his mouth moved to her ear and dipped inside the delicate shell, Gemma’s body bucked. She moaned. Then his mouth moved to nip at the lobe, then down the side of her neck, where he lightly sucked the skin there as if he were tasting it. She arched her neck to give him more access.

Her eyes rolled back in her head. How in the world did that feel as good as it did? She’d never imagined anything like it. He was nipping at her skin, licking her, lightly sucking. She let her hands venture from his shoulders to his chest, reveling in the feel of the muscles that jumped beneath his hot skin at her touch. She splayed her hands wide to feel as much as she could, and a tremor stole through her body. The man’s muscles had muscles. She pushed her hands back up to his shoulders and then down his thick arms. The barely restrained power there made her shiver with delight.

His mouth moved down to the bodice of her night rail. “How much do you like this garment?” he asked in a husky voice that sent another shiver through her.

“Not much,” she breathed against his ear.

The sound of the night rail ripping in two followed, and she was bared to him.

“Gemma,” he breathed as he took in her body.

“I know I’m not very…” She bit her lip. “The women in my family blossom later.” She felt like a fool trying to explain herself, but it seemed like the right time.

“You’re perfect,” he whispered.

He pushed himself away and stood to discard his trousers. Gemma gasped when she saw his nude body. He was the perfect one. But she wasn’t about to quibble. His manhood stood out large and thick between his strong thighs and his legs were as masterfully sculpted as the rest of him.

Standing next to the bed, he gently pulled the pieces of her night rail away and tossed them on the floor. Then he moved back onto the bed atop her, bracing his strong arms on either side of her head.

She felt him hot and thick against her thigh.

Gemma held her breath. Meredith had explained the act to her. She knew what would happen next. But would it hurt? Meredith hadn’t mentioned that, but Gemma didn’t see how it couldn’t hurt given the sheer size of the thing.

One of his hands moved down between her thighs. His fingers parted her and when he touched a spot so delicate, so perfect, she cried out, “Oh.” She grasped his shoulders tight and closed her eyes.

“You like that?” he rasped against her throat.

All she could do was gulp and nod, and then his finger was pressing against the spot in tiny little circles, and Gemma forgot the entire world and everything in it.

The pressure between her legs built. It grew and grew until she was mindless, wanting something, more, more.

When one of his fingers dipped inside her, she gasped against his rough cheek.

“Do you want me, Gemma?” he asked.

“Yes,” she breathed, nodding. Her eyes closed. She did. She so did. She hadn’t expected it to feel like this . Any of it.

“I want you,” he whispered into her ear. “Come for me,” he said, intently watching her face just before stars burst behind her eyes and a feeling unlike any she’d ever known exploded between her legs. Her body jerked and a shudder ran the full length of her. Her breathing hitched with tiny gasps and she clung to him until the tremors eased slowly away.

He kissed her again as her body settled. And then his thick heat was there, probing between her legs. The first slide of him inside her made her gasp again. She’d thought she couldn’t feel anymore, but when he slid in farther, farther, inch by inch, she adjusted her hips to meet him and wrapped her arms fiercely around his neck. She clenched her teeth together.

He kissed her cheek. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

“No.” She shook her head. It didn’t hurt. It was more like…fullness. Complete fullness.

When he shifted his hips to go all the way in, there was a tiny pinch, but Gemma quickly forgot about it. Because she had opened her eyes and watching his face had become her new obsession. His eyes were closed, and he wore a nearly pained expression. His features stood out in the shadows in stark relief. His lashes, so dark and full, feathered along his cheeks and his jaw was clenched. But the best part, the very best part, was how he was shaking ever so slightly. As if he couldn’t control himself.

“Oh, God,” he moaned. “Gemma. You feel so good.”

She felt so good ?

Truly?

The power of those words was heady. She had this beautiful man at her mercy. He was completely lost. She’d made him feel this way.

When he began to move, Gemma realized what Meredith had been talking about. Quite enjoyable indeed. His hips pulled back and thrust, eliciting an “Oh” from her. The next thrust garnered an “Oh my.” And so it went. He pumped into her, again and again, sliding in and out, clearly reveling in the feel, his eyes still tightly clenched shut as she gasped with pleasure beneath him.

He was strong and sure and seemingly indefatigable as he thrust into her. The groans coming from the back of his throat captivated her. She lifted her hips to meet him thrust for thrust, crying out each time he drove inside her.

When she felt a tremor shoot through him and his arms, still braced on either side of her head, trembled, she truly felt powerful. She was heady with it. He pressed his forehead to hers hard and his mouth captured hers as he pumped into her again and again before groaning, “Gemma,” against her lips and collapsing atop her with one final deep pump.

Gemma lay there in a sweaty heap. The gorgeous man on top of her was breathing heavily. Dear heavens, that had been surprising. Surprising and exhilarating and satisfying and…intimate. So very intimate. Grovemont…Lucian…was a completely different person in bed. How was it possible that this was the same man who walked around in life with a clenched jaw and an unaffected look on his face? How could a man who could be so passionate and unreserved in bed be so controlled and dominating outside of it?

He rolled to the side and gathered her in his arms, snuggling her head under his chin. Gemma pressed her nose to his neck and breathed him in. Surely, what they’d just shared had changed things between them. He couldn’t send her away after that. This had to mean he’d changed his mind.

Gemma fell asleep with a smile on her face. Perhaps marriage wouldn’t be so bad, after all.