She helped him pull his shirt over his head. He tossed the garment on the floor before he turned toward her again and slowly pushed her back onto the bed. He was naked from the waist up, with only his breeches on. He kissed her again, deeply, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Soon, he pulled away from her and she let her eyes wander over his broad chest with its smattering of dark hair, and his muscled abdomen.
“What do you think?” he asked, nuzzling her collarbone.
“I think you’re magnificent,” she breathed.
His hands had traveled behind her back and were steadily undoing the long row of buttons on her gown. When they finally were free, she sat up and helped him pull the gown over her head. It, too, met the floor with haste and she was clad only in her stockings and shift.
“I’ve never done this before so I’m not entirely certain how to proceed,” she admitted, her cheeks burning. She felt it best to be honest even if it made her feel like a ninny.
“Don’t worry,” he said, biting his bottom lip in a way that made her want to kiss him again. “I have and I do.”
“Good then,” she said, nodding like a complete fool.
But when he kissed her again, lowering her onto her back once more before moving down her body to caress her breast through her shift with first his fingers, then his tongue, she was mindless. She moved against him, her hips rocking of their own accord.
“What would you have me do next, my lady?” he asked in a husky tone.
She lifted her head and looked down at him through lust-fogged eyes. “Is that Lucas, the footman, talking?”
He gave her a roguish smile that made her squirm. “Your wish is my command.”
A hundred thoughts raced through her mind, each one more tantalizing than the last one. He was at her service…in bed? What could possibly be better? She searched for the perfect response and finally breathed, “Pleasure me.”
His eyes flared and he inclined his head toward her, the roguish smile still on his lips. “As you wish.”
Frances sucked in her breath. Truthfully, she had little idea what she’d meant by ‘pleasure me.’ She’d once read something along those lines in a book she probably shouldn’t have been reading. It seemed like the appropriate thing to say to one’s lover while in bed. She only hoped he knew what it meant. Fortunately, he hadn’t hesitated or given her a strange look or anything, so she was fairly certain he knew what to do next.
Moments later, Lucas shifted his weight farther down her body. She had scant idea what he was planning to do until she felt her shift moving up along her thighs. His handsome face was hovering just above the juncture between her legs. He couldn’t possibly mean to—
Oh, God. His strong warm hands pushed up her shift until she was completely exposed to him. Then he lowered his head and Frances forgot to breathe. She was resting on her elbows watching him with wide eyes until the first hot lick pushed through her folds. An involuntary moan escaped her lips and her head fell back, her hair spilling onto the pillows behind her. The second lick made her thighs tense. The third made her knees fall apart. The fourth made her groan his name. In her entire life she’d never imagined anything like this. Pleasure me, she’d said. She’d had no idea.
Lucas’s tongue found a spot at the apex of her thighs. He rubbed it, once, twice. She cried out. He rubbed it again and her hips jerked. Then he sucked the tiny nub into his mouth and she nearly came off the bed. His large hands held her hips tight and pressed them back onto the mattress, pinning her in place as his mouth tormented her. He licked her again, giving her just a moment to catch her breath, before his tongue circled the sensitive spot again and again. His tempo increased and her fingers grabbed at his dark hair. She wanted to pull him away because the feeling building between her legs frightened her, but at the same time she wanted him never to stop. She grabbed at his broad shoulders, trying to tug him up to her.
“Let me love you more, Frances,” he breathed against her, just before his tongue descended into her wetness again.
“Lucas!” she called, panting so heavily she thought her lungs might burst. “Lucas.”
His tongue continued its gentle assault and he slid one finger into her wet warmth. She shuddered, contracting around his finger. His tongue brushed roughly again and again over the nub while his finger worked its way inside of her until he found a spot so sensitive that when he pressed it, she cried out and clasped his head hard with both thighs. His tongue kept up its rough lapping, while his finger returned to the spot and pressed again. She lifted off the bed, crying out. She bit the back of her hand to keep from being too loud as her body shuddered with wave after wave of rippling pleasure.
Good God, what had this man just done to her?
In the aftermath, she fell back against the pillow, her entire body feeling as if she’d gone boneless. Her breathing wasn’t right, and she wasn’t entirely certain it ever would be again. Leaving her shift bundled at her waist, Lucas moved up to pull her into his arms against his hard chest. “Well?” he asked, kissing her ear. “Did I pleasure you?”
“Did you pl—?” she breathed. “Lucas, I can honestly say I’ve never felt such pleasure before.”
He kissed her earlobe and nuzzled her neck. “I cannot tell you how pleased I am to hear that, my lady.”
The words ‘my lady’ gave her a devilish idea. She plastered an equally devilish grin on her face and turned her head slightly to look at him. “Is my wish still your command?” she asked, arching a brow at him.
“Yes, my lady,” he said. He pulled her fingers to his lips and kissed them one by one. “I’ll do whatever you want me to.” The look in his eyes was positively roguish.
“Good then.” She pulled away from him and sat up, pulling her shift back over her thighs.
He frowned when she covered herself.
“Would you rather I be naked?” she asked.
“What would you prefer, my lady?”
“At the moment,” she replied. “I want to pleasure you.”
His eyes flared.
She let her fingers trail down his flat abdomen. “Which means, I demand that you tell me what you want me to do to pleasure you the way you just pleasured me.”
“No.” The word shot out of Lucas’s mouth. He grabbed her hand to stop it from going any lower.
She lifted both brows. “Did you just say no? Is that any way for a footman to treat a lady?”
He shook his head. “No, but, Frances—”
“Ah, ah, ah.” She waggled one finger at him. “I believe you said my wish was your command. Do you still mean that?”
“I do,” he replied, bowing his head.
A thrill shot through her. He was going to do this with her. He was going to let her be in control of him, let her tell him what to do. Only she needed his help. Well, she would just have to ask for it.
“First,” she said, warming quickly to her topic. “We’re both going to get naked, you and I.”
His eyes flared again, and he expelled a deep breath.
“You first,” she demanded, only because she didn’t think she could stand to be the first one naked. She might be enjoying this, but at the moment she was still too shy.
“Take off your breeches,” she demanded, quite enjoying her ability to get him to do whatever she said.