Free Taken by the Duke by Jess Michaels Page B

almost instantly grows ripe with it. A man with any experience knows these things. And by the time I am finished with you, you will recognize your desire as keenly as I do. You will welcome it, welcome me , even though it goes against any and every impulse in your mind.”
    She shivered at the thought of being so wantonly out of control. “And that , I suppose, will be my final punishment?”
    He slid a finger beneath her chin. “Only if you view it that way.”
    She might have retorted, but the closeness of his body to hers made her pause. He took advantage of that hesitation and covered her mouth so swiftly that she had no time to raise any defenses to the feelings he inspired. Just as had happened in the office a short time before, his kiss pushed her body to a precipice of neediness she didn’t recognize. In fact, she feared it, and yet she lifted up to be close to him, she found her fingers wrapping around his upper arms for support.
    He chuckled against her lips and then slid a free hand into her hair. Angling her head, he drove his tongue between her lips and stroked hers, coaxing her, tasting her. Hesitantly, she darted it out to meet his and found their tongues dancing against each other. He tasted of mint and tea and something sharp and masculine that made her needy and weak.
    He pulled away. “You see, Ava, that is the desire I was talking about earlier. That pull to touch me, that need to taste me, that heavy ache that fills you from head to toe but makes you feel alive… that is desire. And it will only get better the further we go in our association.”
    She stared at him, unable to reply, but he seemed to require no answer. Without breaking his stare from hers, he set his cane aside and reached for the buttons along the front of her dress. The same ones she had tried to loosen for him earlier in his office. Now he swept them open with what seemed like no effort at all.
    She flushed as her gown parted, revealing inches of flesh, then more than inches. He stared at her bare collarbones, the curve of her breasts that disappeared into the thin fabric of her chemise, and let out a shuddering sigh of his own.
    “Very pretty, Ava,” he murmured, then tugged the dress from her arms and down to her waist. “Very pretty indeed.”
    She lifted her hands instinctively, covering her nearly naked chest as heat flooded her cheeks.
    “You shouldn’t—” she began, but stopped because it was so foolish.
    He arched a brow. “This is what we bargained for. Are you reneging?”
    “No,” she managed. “But I…I’ve never…”
    He nodded. “I realize that.”
    He said nothing more, but stroked his hand over her breast. In the office, she had been protected at least a little by the layer of fabric of her gown plus the chemise beneath. Now there was nothing but a thin scrap of silk that kept him from touching her intimately and shockingly.
    She felt the roughness of his palms through that scrap, the heat of his thumb as it strummed her. She felt the way her nipple responded by hardening to a tight, aching bud that seemed to betray all she had been taught as a lady.
    “God,” she whispered and reached back to find some balance on the edge of the bed.
    “Don’t fight that feeling,” he murmured, placing the opposite hand on the strap of her chemise. “Let it happen. Let yourself feel every pleasure. Let yourself ache.”
    She shook her head, and her voice barely carried as she murmured, “I don’t know how.”
    “I’m teaching you,” he said, lifting his gaze to snare her with blue, steely heat. “Now surrender.”
    Such a dangerous word, and an even more dangerous concept. Surrender? To this man? To do so was madness, given their history. And yet her eyes fluttered shut of their own accord. She did not fight him as the chemise strap slipped down her shoulder and one breast was bared to him. She did not pull away.
    “Yes,” he breathed and his head moved, lowered. Her eyes flew open just as he gently