“And?”
“One cannot skulk in their own house.” His voice was exasperated.
“If you are hiding in the closet, and not partaking in a tryst, you are indeed skulking.”
She narrowed her eyes at the soft amused laugh that puffed from him. First she had horrified him and now she was the butt of his amusement? “Unhand me, Lord Blade.”
“You cannot leave, there are guests in the corridor.”
“And I suppose the worst thing that could happen would be for you to be caught with me?” she enquired scathingly.
“Hell’s teeth, most assuredly.”
The icy disdain in his tone made her want to lash out and kick his shin. The insufferable man. It was not as if she were ill formed. Many had remarked upon her pleasing features, especially her light green eyes. She would not remain inside with him a moment longer. “I am sure they are gone by now.”
A loud laughter pulsed, mocking her assertions, and they both froze.
“Be damned quiet,” he snapped.
The soft growl that slipped from her throat surprised her with its ferocity. “You, my lord, have no gentlemanly qualities.”
“Are you scolding me for bad behavior?” he clipped quite icily.
It seemed as if the tentative peace they’d formed in the ballroom had dissolved. “Yes!”
“You wouldn’t know refined sensibilities if they bit you in the posterior.”
“Oh! You…you…”
“Christ, will you lower your voice?”
She gritted her teeth until her jaw ached.
“What are you doing here?”
She ignored him.
“I will not ask again,” he said in a dangerously soft tone.
Livvie swallowed, heat burning her cheeks. “I saw you, and I only meant to enquire whether you were well. Very silly of me and now I am exceedingly embarrassed I acted on the thought.”
“Ah…once again you were acting recklessly.”
“Of course not. I had no notion you would drag me in here.” She took a calming breath. “Why are you here?”
“That is none of your business,” he said cuttingly.
“I take it back,” she whispered. “I do not want to be forgiven, you are an—”
“Good God, have we reverted to the insufferable buffoon? And here I thought I had detected some growth.”
Before she could whisper a furious rebuttal, warm lips pressed on her, silencing her and alarming her, sending a shock of desire to her system, and stripping her of her defenses. She went absolutely still, her heart a pounding roar in her ears. Tobias was kissing her! Livvie dimly realized he was just as frozen, and she could feel the thud of his heart. She raised her hand and pressed it against his chest.
Thud.
He shuddered. Then he parted his lips and rimmed his tongue against the seam of her mouth. Her knees buckled and his arms came around her and hauled her even closer to him. His hand moved in a slow soothing stroke over her back. A soft moan slipped from her, and she parted her lips to him, curious as to what would happen. Pleasure. What happened was a shock of undiluted delight, pulsing through her veins as he thrust his tongue into her mouth and conquered.
He squeezed her body tightly to his, moving his lips over hers with sensual force.
She pulled from him, breathless. “Tobias.”
“Good God, you taste even better than I imagined,” he said gruffly.
Livvie was speechless, never in her wildest fancy could she have imagined such pleasure or the soft sensual tones he used. He disliked her, didn’t he? “You’ve…thought of kissing me?”
“Every night since I’ve met you, utter madness.”
“That was my very first kiss,” she admitted shyly. What were they doing? Confusion clouded her mind and a protest welled against her lips, which was smothered by another kiss. He drowned all her thoughts under the sweetest bliss she had ever felt.
He dragged his lips along the curve of her throat. “I cannot stop tasting you.” He sounded half strangled.
He excited her and made her nervous in the same breath. Tobias took another step forward, crowding her back against the linen shelves. He lowered his head to recapture her mouth. It was incredibly wonderful. In between hot kisses, he whispered sensual promises and praise, and kept up his tender assault on her senses. There was a tug on her dress and then her breasts filled his palms. Her nipples puckered painfully as pleasure sharp and sweet stirred in her blood. One of his hands left her aching breast, and she trembled as he slid his palm up to her knee, past her garter, up to where she was aching and damp.
Shock echoed along her body and she went completely rigid on him.
“You are so damn sweet and perfect. How I’ve craved you, Olivia, day and night. Open for me.” His soothing, sensual tone was irresistible.
Her legs parted under his mastery and his decadent touch became even more wicked. Her body was filled with sudden exquisite tension and she desperately wanted a firmer touch. “Tobias,” she moaned, shivering. “I need…”
“What do you need?”
“I do not know…but I crave.”
The heavy length of his arousal pressed against her stomach, shocking and rousing her senses. He touched her with exquisite gentleness as the tip of his fingers parted her womanly flesh. She jerked in shock as arousal jolted through her body. Then his wicked, sinful fingers stroked inside.
It was indecent, the way he was holding her, touching her, kissing her…and Livvie never wanted him to stop.
…
Olivia’s passion perfumed the air as slick, wet heat greeted his fingers.
She was beguiling, infuriating, and he couldn’t help kissing her, tasting her, inhaling her moans and desire that flowed over his fingers. Tobias had told himself his curiosity would be appeased with a kiss. He’d been sure he knew what she would taste like, and it would be ordinary and normal. How wrong he had been. The scent of her had already soaked into his lungs, deep where he knew he’d never eradicate her. What a fool he was.
She is…incredible.
He could feel the wild tempo of her heartbeat underneath his thumb pressed into the curve of her throat. Tobias’s discipline deserted him and he felt powerless against the attraction he felt for Olivia. He badly wanted to ruck her dress up to her waist, open his fly, and thrust his cock into what he knew would be the tightest clasp. Without releasing her lips, he withdrew his finger and glided it over the folds of her sex until he found the knot of her pleasure and pressed. She gave a tiny moan, of protest or pleasure, he wasn’t sure which. But when he made to pull away, her hands tightened on his nape and her lips clung even more sweetly to his.
Thank Christ.
For he did not have the willpower to let her go. He lifted her and placed her on a small table. She widened her legs without his encouragement and more of his control slipped from him. A distant warning bell rang somewhere in his fevered brain, but he was too far gone to pay it any heed. He worked her clitoris until she trembled in his arms, then he slid two fingers down and thrust them deep.
She whimpered and he froze, then he groaned when she shivered. Olivia wrenched her lips from his, panting. “Tobias…”
“Yes?”
Then silence. The dark pressed in on them, cocooning them in intimacy and secrecy to just be. It shocked Tobias to acknowledge how alive she made him feel in this moment. His cock ached…painfully, a state he had never felt in all his years of life on earth. A whisper of a kiss feathered over his jaw and he closed his eyes against the sensations.