Free Forbidden Pleasures by Bertrice Small

her that made him want to be gentle. “Emily?” he repeated. “Yes or no?”
    “Yes.” She half whispered the word. This wasn’t at all what she had expected, she thought as he led her upstairs and into his bedroom. Where were the candles flickering in the soft evening breezes? The roses to perfume the air? This wasn’t romantic at all. It was raw and primal, but to her own surprise she knew it was what she wanted from him. They weren’t in love. She needed a man to take her virginity, and then show her everything she needed to know if she was going to write that explicitly sexy novel Stratford wanted out of her. This was research. Research to ensure authenticity. Research so she could save her career. Hell! An editor was supposed to help a writer. The sound of the bedroom door closing snapped her back to reality.
    “You aren’t afraid of me, are you?” he asked her gently. “We both want this, don’t we, Emily?” He was giving her an opportunity to stop this madness.
    She nodded. She knew what was to come, because she had read enough in this past week about the sexual situation, but she was shaking inside, and afraid that if she spoke her voice would give her away. Then he might not do it. She had been wearing a yellow cotton tee. He pulled it up over her head and arms, laying it aside on the chair.
    “I like your taste in scanties,” he said with a small smile, fingering the top of the lacy little bra she was wearing. “Now let’s see how this opens. Ah, the front.” He unhooked the garment and slid it off over her shoulders, tossing it to where the tee lay. “Oh, Emily,” he said softly, staring at her breasts. “How lovely these are.” Reaching out he cupped a single breast in his palm. She had small, pointed pink nipples.
    What was she supposed to do? Emily wondered frantically. Well, she was certainly beginning to understand the necessity of practical experience. Her books did not cover anything like this. It would seem she should begin undressing him. Her fingers fumbled with the small buttons on his sports shirt. Getting them all open, she pushed the shirt from his broad shoulders, letting it fall to the ground. Her fingers splayed out over his broad chest. His skin was soft, but he was hard beneath. In one of her books she had seen the woman kiss the man’s nipples. Bending her head, she did so now.
    His hands were now undoing her jeans, and he lifted her from the pile of denim. “For a proper miss you wear very sensuous panties,” he told her, eyeing the silk bikini bottom, amused.
    “They match the bra,” she said low. “Pretty undergarments are my one vice,” Emily told him. Her hands imitated his, and she undid his jeans, thrusting them down over his lean hips. “Oh!” she gasped, surprised. “You don’t wear...” Her voice died.
    “No, I don’t,” he said. “And from now on I don’t want you to either. No bra. No panties when you are with me. I want you ready whenever I want you, Emily. And you will be a very good girl and do what I tell you, won’t you?” He tipped her face up to his even as he ripped the lace-and-silk bikini from her body. Then his hand slipped quickly between her legs to cup her mons.
    Emily caught her breath, surprised. “No underwear?” she managed to say.
    “When I want to fuck you, angel face, I don’t want to have to waste the time pulling off your clothes that I could spend making us both happy,” he told her.
    “Do you treat all your women this way, Devlin?” She could not lose control of this situation. Oh, God, his hand was so warm. He fingered the curls of her pubic area and she couldn’t contain the shiver that ran up her spine.
    “Are you a good girl or a bad girl?” he asked her. His tongue began to harry her small ear. “I think you might be a bad girl under all that propriety.”
    “I don’t know what I am, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me afterward,” she said spiritedly. “I already know you’re a bad boy,