“I think you also like that,” he teased.
She nodded again, her breathing growing more frantic. Thankfully, he wrapped his other arm around her to hold her in place, as her legs might give out from beneath her. He kneaded her breast with the hand that held her against him, and she swallowed hard.
“You seem to have lost your words.” He inserted another finger into her core, moving them in and out of her body. He kissed along her neck and shoulder, using his wicked tongue. Continuing his delicious ministrations with his fingers, he used his thumb to apply just the right amount of pressure to her pearl as he began to circle it.
“Evan!”
“Much better.” He nipped at her ear, his hot breath driving her to distraction. She found herself longing to kiss him and pushed such a notion aside.
He increased speed with his fingers. As he dipped his tongue in her ear and sucked on her lobe, her steady whispered moans filled the air.
“You are just as tight and wet as I remembered,” he whispered.
She gripped his thigh and extended her other hand behind her head, her fingers intertwining with his silky hair. Undulating against his hand, and in turn moving herself against the hard ridge of his cock.
He pulled her tighter against him and moved his hips with hers, helping her take her pleasure from his hand.
Her body trembled and convulsed, breaking apart in a matter of moments as waves of pure bliss washed over her. When her legs gave out after his delightful touch, he held her tight, preventing her from falling to the floor. For a brief moment, she kept her head back on his shoulder, cherishing the intimate connection they shared. She held onto his head and ran her fingers through his silky hair.
When she realized what she was doing, she untangled herself from his embrace. Releasing her skirts and brushing them down, she frantically righted her appearance.
“Marina—”
She held up her hand to cut him off. “This changes nothing.” Marina refused to meet his eye. “Leave now. My father will look for me, and we have been gone too long.”
Her thoughts jumbled and her world no longer made sense. She wouldn’t be able to think or breathe until he departed.
Evan hesitated, opening and closing his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
Marina huffed. She couldn’t take it anymore. “Evan. Go. Go now. I will follow in a few moments.”
He turned, and she heard him mumble something before he exited the room. When she reached the door to plan her own exit, she heard him speaking to someone in the hallway.
Listening at the door, she waited for the voices to move from the doorway. She opened the door and poked her head out to see that the path was clear. Slipping out of the room and closing the door behind her, she forced herself to move with a slow pace to rejoin her friends while her mind warred with itself over what had just occurred.
Evan would only bring her heartbreak. She’d said nothing had changed, and that was true. But she was terrified to admit to herself that she still longed for his touch. And she feared that what she had just experienced with him wouldn’t be enough.
It might never be enough.
Chapter Seven
Evan
Visions and dreamsof Marina haunted him, making sleep impossible. The feel of her body, her moans, the vanilla scent of her soap. It all plagued him and stoked the desire that lurked beneath the surface for the maddening woman. That desire drove him to distraction, hardened his cock, and had him aching for release. When she’d rubbed her bottom against him, he’d imagined what it would feel like to have her.
He took the matter into his own hands, in a manner of speaking, to at least take the edge off. But it hardly did much to stave off the need. The sky was turning light outside, and the more he laid there staring at the canopy, the more he knew that continuing to attempt sleep was useless.
This changes nothing.Marina’s words echoed in his mind. How right she was. He hadn’t changed. He still wanted her. Ached to be with her. The challenge was that he could barely provide for her, and worse…she didn’t want him. He’d hurt her all those months ago, and she would never forgive him for that. What a fool he has been.
Unable to stand the torment any longer, Evan pulled on his breeches and shirt and made his way to his study. If he couldn’t sleep, at least he could be productive. The ledgers still made no sense, and perhaps a sleepless mind might see what a rational one couldn’t.
He lit several candles and spread the books across his desk. Hisfather’s handwriting stared back at him. The lines were neat columns of numbers that should have added up but didn’t. And those strange notations in the margins. He’d dismissed them as his father’s idle scribbling, but something about them still seemed deliberate.
-C3-1810
-Agricultural supplies
-Cottesmore