ard, her insides hot and fluttery at the thought of touching and kissing this powerful male body. She couldn't keep from running her hands up and over his chest, exploring the warm slabs beneath her palms and the firm shape of his broad shoulders.
Grady tugged her close, and she stepped between his thighs as he set to unbuttoning the rest of her blouse. She looked down, watching his nimble fingers, golden brown against the soft pink silk, pulling it away to reveal her white undergarment. The blouse wafted to the floor, but before he attended to the corset, he readjusted and shifted so she was sitting on him, straddling his thighs with her skirt and knickers hiked up nearly to her hips.
"Much better. " His voice was a dusky murmur as he slid his hands up her bare arms and along her shoulders. He paused when his fingers reached the marks at the junction of her throat and looked at her. "Does it hurt?"
She shook her head and leaned into him, her confined breasts brushing his t-shirt. He seemed to understand and rained gentle kisses along the sensitive skin of her unmarked shoulder, his tongue making hot, sensual strokes over the ridge of her neck and throat. Macey shivered, delicious, liquid heat rolling through her body. He nibbled more, gently sucking and licking the delicate spot beneath her earlobe. A dart of pleasure stabbed her in the belly, and down to the hot center between her legs. She shifted insistently in his lap.
Grady made a soft sound, then eased away and began to tug on the side lacings of her corset. It loosened easily, and he had the complicated garment undone and was soon pulling it away with surprising efficiency.
"I can never be understanding," he murmured, tugging the bust-to-hip side-lacer up over her head, "why you women are about binding yourselves flat nowadays. " The Simington's landed with a splat on the floor. "Especially when you look like this. " His voice was rough and unsteady, and he looked down at her bare torso. . . then stilled. savior who carries the deepest taintre along
It wasn't until that moment Macey realized what she'd done. Grady's darker hand moved, not to touch her tight, apple-sized breasts, nor her upthrust nipples. . . but over her pearl-white skin, along the faint red line down the center of her sternum. . . to the tiny silver cross dangling from her navel.
He looked up at her.
She met his gaze, heart thudding harshly, the moment of arousal slipping away.
With gentle fingers, he touched the vis bulla, lifting and sifting it between two of them so it glinted in the sunshine. The light brush of his hand against her belly was sensual and sure, in such contrast to Iscariot's horrific fondling last night. Little bursts of warmth spread over her skin where he brushed against it.
"I've never seen anything so incredibly erotic in my life. " Grady let the cross fall back into her navel, then turned his eyes to hers again. "And yet it's for much more than sex appeal. Isn't it?"
Macey swallowed and nodded. She couldn't quite read the emotion in his eyes, but there was no sense in equivocating. And maybe. . . maybe it would be all right after all. At least, for today.
"Is it truly a strength amulet? It makes you stronger, faster-and that's why your bites are nearly healed. " There was wonder, curiosity, and awe in his tones. To her surprise, his lips moved into a half-grin. "How strong?"
She shifted on his lap, suddenly relieved. Her secret had been revealed; he seemed to be accepting it in stride. She gave her bobbed hair a little toss. "I could throw you across the room if I wanted. Flip you onto your back. "
"Is that so? A delicate woman like you?" His attention was on her torso again as his fingers slid up her ribcage, raising little prickles of skin along the way.
"Want to try me?" A delicious shiver caught her by surprise as he caressed her.
His palms settled beneath her breasts, thumbs curving beneath each one. "Not at the moment. I've other things on my mind, Macey, lass. You're damned beautiful, and even your secrets don't matter too much to me right about now. " He covered her nipples with his hands, brushing gently against their taut, sensitive tips as he circled his palms lightly over them, round and round and round. Pinpricks of pleasure tingled through her like tiny licks of electric shock, and Macey arched closer, wanting more than just a delicate tease.
He obliged, grasping her hips to pull her sharply up against him. Her legs were bent, calves on the bed, and he ducked to kiss one of her breasts. Macey gasped at the unexpected sensation of his hot mouth over the tight bud of her nipple, the slick stroke of his tongue as he sucked and licked and circled around her until she was shifting and moaning on his lap.
She pressed into him, the hard length of his erection evident behind the fastening of his trousers, separated from her own hot, throbbing quim by a few layers of fabric. Grady groaned against her throat, then collap unmistakable slysed back onto the bed, dragging her with him.
She sprawled on top of his hard, warm body. Before she could pull away, he dragged her mouth back for another kiss while loosening her skirt from behind. Then his hands covered her bare back, sliding up the curve of her spine, burying in the short curls at her neck.
Macey pulled away, hoisting herself on her elbows to look down at him. His eyes were heavy-lidded and hot with desire. "Take off your shirt," she told him.
"With pleasure. " He shifted and suddenly she was on her back on the bed, Grady next to her. He eased back and stripped off his undershirt.
Macey sucked in her breath at the sight of his bare torso-golden, muscled, and sprinkled with dark hair that narrowed into a trail over his ridged belly.
But before she could touch him, slide her hands over the warm, firm skin, he eased away and off the bed. His expression could only be described as resolute. "I'll be right back. "
Macey hauled herself up onto her elbows and stared after him as he left the bedroom. She heard him go quickly down the hall, then what sounded like a cabinet opening and closing. When he returned, he held a small, flat packet and wore a sheepish smile.
That smile, however, gave way into a more sober, intense expression as he looked down at her bare breasts and adorned belly. "You are beautiful. "
He slid back onto the bed next to her and bent to kiss her breasts, one after the other, teasing and fondling them as she shivered and sighed. The burn of pleasure grew, filling and swelling the tiny nub between her legs.
Grady shifted, trailing kisses along the slender red scar over the sensitive, quivering skin of her belly, to her navel. Slowing, almost reverent, he paused there to gently nuzzle and tease the delicate amulet. The soft click of it against his teeth and the warmth of his lips made her arch up in demand. She wanted more. . . and she wanted no more of this teasing.
As if he received the message, he moved on, sliding her skirt and knickers down over her hips, thighs, knees. . . and then he climbed off the bed to strip her last bits of clothing away. Macey realized she was fully nude, sprawled on the dark bedcovers, and a wave of shyness had her biting her lip, turning away to avoid his eyes. She'd thrown herself at him, insisted on this. . . But there was that little niggle of doubt worming its way into her mind.
"Lovely. You're lovelier than I was even imagining. " The lilting rhythm in his voice was heavy and thick, like a sensual caress. Before she could respond, he gently parted her legs and began to kiss a hot, moist trail up the inside of her thigh.