Page 54 of Love and Other Disasters

Sophie deserved to be married only because she was loved by her future husband.

Jasper paced the chamber, struggling to rid himself of his agitation at the very idea of Sophie as someone’s bride. He’d never wanted to protect a woman as much as he did Sophie Regina Radcliffe.

He thought he’d almost mastered himself when a light step outside his door caught his attention. He spun toward the sound, yanked the door open to bark at whoever it was for the disturbance.

But it was Sophie.

He gasped as her body brushed his when she slipped into the room.

He shut the door. “What are you doing here?”

“I had to come.”

“Why?”

She faced him. “I had to come—and so do you.”

He blinked. Confused. Surely, she could not mean that the way it had come out of her mouth. He prowled toward her. She’d chosen not to encourage his seduction just ten minutes ago. “What did you say?”

“Everything,” she whispered. “I want everything you offer and to hell with the consequences. I want my rake.”

He was being propositioned. His Sophie wanted him. To…

He caught her head in his hand and hauled her close enough to kiss. He stared into her eyes and saw passion there again. “I promise you’ll get all the education you asked for with me.”

“Prove it.”

He took her mouth in a brutal kiss. Hard and unrelenting, as Sophie wound herself into his embrace, her legs twining around his. He backed her up to his desk, deposited her on the edge and pushed her cloak back, then lifted her red silken skirts above her knees. She hadn’t changed since they’d returned to the palace and he was glad there was so little between them. The skin of her thighs was so soft and distracting, but her mouth…oh, there was another world awaiting him in her kisses. He feasted upon her lips and delved his tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers.

He became aware of her tug on his clothing and opened his eyes to see what she was doing.

Sophie had her bottom lip between her teeth as she unbuttoned his waistcoat to slip her fingers across his chest, and damn if that didn’t excite him unbearably. He shoved her skirts higher as she loosened his breeches and started to push them down his legs with impatient hands.

Jasper eased her backward, purely to see her sex better. A thatch of dark curls protected a place he very much wanted to devour with his mouth. He parted her with his fingers, catching the scent of her arousal in the air. She was glistening wet, and he met her gaze with a knowing smile. “What have we here, my dear?”

“What you need, I hope.”

“Yes,” he promised. “I want this and more.” Jasper let his fingers explore, stroke, and penetrate her body. Sophie whimpered her excitement to be touched, and he fingered her with all the skill he could muster, though he could barely contain his excitement. He turned his hand a little, so his thumb rested over her clitoris. As he stroked her with his fingers, he pressed gently down, working to heighten her pleasure.

Sophie fell back fully across his desk, back arching, legs spread as she bore down on his hand. She was glorious in her passion, and Jasper couldn’t get enough.

He bent down to kiss her sex to heighten her pleasure.

Sophie stiffened at the first brush of his lips and tongue, but her whimpers soon turned to urgent moans of “yes” and “oh, God” and “please, please come into me.”

Jasper obeyed and was at her entrance in a moment. He slowly worked himself into her body, leaving his fingers dancing on her clit. She took him easily, bucked, urging him to take his pleasure in her. He was more than happy to oblige her request, but a woman’s pleasure must always come before his own.

He caught her by her thighs, repositioned her, and threw her feet high in the air over his shoulders. Then he drove into her again and again, brushing over her clit from time to time. He bit his tongue to silence himself when he realized he was grunting with each and every stroke. Matching Sophie moan for moan in a way he’d never noticed he’d done with other lovers.

And then she bucked and cried out as she found her release unexpectedly soon.

He gritted his teeth as her sex tightened unbearably around him and held still until she softened, and he could move freely again.

Eventually, she lifted her head, gaze locking on his. There was a dazed look in her eyes, gratitude and relief as their stares met and held. Jasper lowered her feet to the edge of the desk and touched her clit again, expecting her to be sensitive, but another tremor rushed over her as she cried out a second time, shocking him completely.

He had yet to come, and wanted to, so he made the desk beneath them rock and bounce to every thrust as he sought his own pleasure. He broke free of her embrace to spill his seed into his hand. Sophie lay there on his desk, panting, legs open, undone and smiling up at him.

She reached up to touch his face with a tenderness that made his breath catch. Making love was different with Sophie. It meant something to her.