And down.
His mouth trailed fire along her neck to the hollow of her shoulder, and then—
Oh, dear God.
His hand was cupping her breast, making it round and plump, and his mouth found the tip.
She jerked beneath him.
He chuckled, and his other hand found her shoulder, holding her immobile while he continued his torture, pausing only to move to the other side.
“Gregory,” Lucy whimpered, because she did not know what else to say. She was lost to the sensation, completely helpless against his sensual onslaught. She couldn’t explain, she couldn’t fix or rationalize. She could only feel, and it was the most terrifying, thrilling thing imaginable.
With one last nip, he released her breast and brought his face back up to hers. His breathing was ragged, his muscles tense.
“Touch me,” he said hoarsely.
Her lips parted, and her eyes found his.
“Anywhere,” he begged.
It was only then that Lucy realized that her hands were at her sides, gripping the sheets as if they could keep her sane. “I’m sorry,” she said, and then, amazingly, she began to laugh.
One side of his mouth curved up. “We’re going to have to break you of that habit,” he murmured.
She brought her hands to his back, lightly exploring his skin. “You don’t want me to apologize?” she asked. When he joked, when he teased—it made her comfortable. It made her bold.
“Not for this,” he groaned.
She rubbed her feet against his calves. “Ever?”
And then his hands started doing unspeakable things. “Do you want me to apologize?”
“No,” she gasped. He was touching her intimately, in ways she didn’t know she could be touched. It should have been the most awful thing in the world, but it wasn’t. It made her stretch, arch, squirm. She had no idea what it was she was feeling—she couldn’t have described it with Shakespeare himself at her disposal.
But she wanted more. It was her only thought, the only thing she knew.
Gregory was leading her somewhere. She felt pulled, taken, transported.
And she wanted it all.
“Please,” she begged, the word slipping unbidden from her lips. “Please…”
But Gregory, too, was beyond words. He said her name. Over and over he said it
, as if his lips had lost the memory of anything else.
“Lucy,” he whispered, his mouth moving to the hollow between her breasts.
“Lucy,” he moaned, slipping one finger inside of her.
And then he gasped it. “Lucy!”
She had touched him. Softly, tentatively.
But it was she. It was her hand, her caress, and it felt as if he’d been set on fire.
“I’m sorry,” she said, yanking her hand away.