Overcome by curiosity, Victoria sat up, tucking her legs underneath her. She saw the question in Robert's eyes, smiled, and murmured a soft “Shhh.”
She let her fingers slide down to the taut skin of his abdomen, mesmerized by the way his muscles leaped at her touch. She sensed that he was exerting incredible control. It was an awesomely powerful feeling to know that she could make him like this, his breathing hard and ragged, his every muscle straining and tense.
Victoria felt daring. She felt wild and reckless. She wanted the whole world, and she wanted it that afternoon. She swayed forward, teasing him with her nearness, then pulled back, feeling giddy and off-balance. Her hand dipped lower until it brushed against the waistband of his breeches.
Robert gasped, and his hand flew to cover hers. “Not yet,” he said hoarsely. “I can't control— Not yet.”
Victoria lifted her hand. “Tell me what to do,” she said. “Whatever you want.”
He stared at her, quite unable to utter a word.
She swayed toward him. “Anything you want,” she whispered. “Anything.”
“I want to feel your hands on me again,” he finally managed to say. “Both of them.”
She reached out, but then stopped when her hand was an inch away from his shoulder. “Here?”
He nodded, sucking in his breath when her hand slid from his shoulder to his upper arm. She wrapped her hand around his biceps. “You're very strong.”
“You make me strong,” he said. “Everything in me that is good—you make me that way. With you, I become more than I am.” He shrugged helplessly. “I'm not making sense. I don't how to explain it. I don't know the words.”
Tears filled Victoria's eyes, and emotions she didn't want to feel pressed against her heart. She moved her hand to the back of his neck. “Kiss me.”
He did. Oh, how he did! He was soft at first, teasing her mercilessly, leaving her body straining for more. And then, just when Victoria was certain she couldn't withstand another second of his sensual torture, his arms snaked around her back and bound her to him in a steely grip.
He grew wild, his movements uncontrolled. He pushed the silk of her gown up until it was bunched around her midriff. He separated her legs with one of his powerful thighs, and Victoria could feel the fabric of his breeches rubbing against her womanhood. It was so overwhelming that she was certain she would have fallen over if he hadn't been holding her so close to his body.
“I want you,” he groaned. “Lord, how I want you.”
“Please,” she begged.
He continued to push the silky gown up until it slid over her head and landed in a forgotten heap on the floor next to the bed. Victoria was struck by a sudden shyness, and she looked away, unable to watch him watching her. She felt his fingers touch her chin, and with gentle pressure he turned her head until she faced him again.
“I love you,” he said, his voice low but fervent.
She didn't say anything.
“You'll tell me soon enough,” he said, drawing her into his arms and lowering her down. “I'm not worried. I can wait. For you I can wait forever.”
Victoria wasn't sure how he did it, but within seconds she no longer felt his breeches between them. It was just skin against skin, and she felt so exquisitely close to him.
“God, you're beautiful,” Robert said, lifting himself up on his arms to gaze down at her.
She touched his cheek. “So are you.”
“Beautiful?” he said, his voice tinged with a smile.
She nodded. “I used to dream about you, you know. All those years.”
“You did?”
Victoria inhaled sharply as his hand closed around her breast and gave it a loving squeeze. “I couldn't stop,” she admitted. “And then I realized I didn't want to stop.”
Robert made a ragged sound in the bottom of his throat. “I dreamed about you, too. But it was never like this, never this good.” He lowered his head until his lips were scant inches from her breast. “I couldn't taste you in my dreams.”
Her hips bucked off the bed as his mouth closed around her nipple, loving her with tantalizing thoroughness. Without realizing what she was about, her fingers sank themselves into his thick hair. “Oh, Robert,” she moaned.
He whispered something against her breast. She couldn't make out the words, then realized it didn't matter. His tongue traced patterns on her skin, his breath devilishly ticklish and seductive. He dragged his mouth along her neck, murmuring, “I want more, Torie. I want it all.”
He nudged her legs apart, and she could feel him settling against her. He was hard and hot, intimidating and oddly comforting at the same time. His hands were underneath her, squeezing her backside, pulling her closer to him.
“I want to go slowly,” he whispered. “I want it to be perfect.”
Victoria heard the ragged emotion in his voice and knew instantly what it had cost him to utter those words. She reached up and smoothed her thumbs along his eyebrows. “It can't help but be perfect,” she whispered. “No matter what you do.”
Robert stared down at her, his body shaking with need and near to bursting with love. He couldn't believe how unreservedly she was accepting him into her embrace. She was honest and open and everything he had ever wanted, not just in a woman but out of life.
Hell, she was his life. And he didn't care who knew it. He felt like shouting it to the rafters, right then, right before he finally made her his own. I love this woman, he wanted to yell. I love her!
He positioned himself at the edge of her womanhood. “This may hurt a little,” he said.