A Proper Scandal (Ravensdale Family Book 2) (22 page)

“I need Peprin to pay, Min. There’s a lot riding on it back in London.”

“Fine, you can leave.” She swung her feet to the floor and stood. “But you owe me a dance first.”

“I thought you were going to dance for me.”

“You cannot dance, Alex Marwick,” she said, waving a teasing finger in his direction.

He scoffed. “I can dance.”

Minnie waved him off.

“I can.” I’ll dance with you another night if…so help me God, if you keep looking at me like that I’ll…”

“What?”

“I’ll stay,” he answered with a dangerous grin. “I’ll stay a bit longer.” Alex stood, his shirt undone, his pants wrinkled, stalking closer. “Always a bit longer,” he whispered, pulling her tight into his arms.

Minnie kissed the hollow of his throat before he spun her out of his arms. Her robe curled around them. He snapped her back against his body.

“The tango. Very scandalous.” She didn’t want to imagine who he had learned this dance with.

“The waltz doesn’t suit you,” he said, guiding her body up against his. When their eyes met, he said, “You’re a terrible friend, Minnie.”

Her fingers played at his hair. “Is that so?”

With a quick step to his left, then his right, he moved her across the floor as if it was a ballroom. Even in the more liberated audiences of Paris ballrooms, their touch would be scandalous. With each turn, more flesh was revealed, more secrets unearthed.

“Yes,” he agreed, kissing her neck. Just as she struggled to catch her breath, falling over herself from his lips on her skin, he dipped her and the world turned upside down. He paused there, with her folded in half, resting in the strength of his hand.

“Mr. Marwick,” she chided.

His other hand traced her breastbone. Alex smiled, brushing back the fabric to expose her breast, and bent lower still, flicking his tongue over her nipple. Her body tightened, longing for his lips to continue their exploration. He trailed soft kisses up her throat, slowly drawing Minnie up to her feet. She pulled back, placing her fingers over his lips, their scandalous tango all but forgotten as they stood toe to toe. He drew her fingertips into his mouth, running his tongue over them in a dizzying swirl.

Minnie rested her hands upon his bare shoulders and paused, before slipping his shirt down his arms to hang at his wrists.

He tugged at the knotted band of her robe until she was close and kissed her forehead. “Tell me what we’re playing at.”

Bringing Alex into her life complicated everything when she was finally beginning to sort it all out. But she wanted him. The only answer she had were her lips and her tongue, her flesh pressed against his. That much made sense.

“Why do you make everything so complicated?” he whispered into her ear. He shrugged out of his shirt.

She licked the underside of his throat and nipped at his chin in response.

“You’ll be the death of me, Min.”

She raked her fingers over his back.

His muscles tightened in response. With a swift motion, he swept her off her feet and laid her down onto the bed as if she were an object he coveted. Minnie licked her lips, tasting him, wanting more. She arched upward, trying to erase the distance he put between them. She twirled a chocolate lock of hair around her finger, rocking her hips across the mattress as she did so.

With the slow slip of her fingers, she traced her hand down the edge of her dressing gown, holding his attention as she tugged the knotted tassel. Her gown fell open. The soft whisper of satin and velvet pooling around her naked body filled the silence until his stilted breath cut through the air in a hungry hiss.

Minnie tossed her head back to the ceiling as she drew her fingers over the swell of her hips, the plane of her stomach, until she met the peak of her breast. “Touch me,” she invited him.

Alex’s eyes flared, betraying what he had so far neglected to say: that he desired her, too. The tension in his body melted as he levered over her, pressing her into the mattress. The warmth of his skin made her shiver and burn, his need settled between her naked thighs.

She rolled her hips to feel him against her. “Yes.”

“Here?” he asked, brushing the lightest touch over the underside of her breast.

Minnie closed her eyes tight as he mirrored his touch over her other breast, sending an icy shiver down her spine. Her toes curled into the sheets. She edged up the mattress, welcoming his advance as he trailed his lips lower to her stomach.

“And here?”

“Yes.” Her breath hitched as his tongue moved over her in delicious, slow circles. And his
teeth
. Good heaven, his teeth nibbled at her skin, bringing forward a sweet pain that wakened her, bringing her to life as if she had been half-asleep for twenty-one years.

“Here?” he asked again, this time running his fingers over the sharp line of her hip. Before she could answer, his fingers slipped over the delicate skin of her inner thigh, and she sighed, opening her legs to him. His fingers moved lower until he slipped a finger inside of her, taking in her surprised gasp with his mouth. He moved his fingers in slow strokes that made her heart trip and race. His palm rested against her before his thumb started to circle her core, drawing out another throaty sigh from her.

“And here, Min?” he whispered into her hair.

His touch was causing the strangest sensation in her limbs. She was dizzy and ticklish and hot, all at once. All too much. She writhed under him, moving her body to answer his touch. She moaned as he slipped in another finger, his lips traveling down from her lips, to her neck, to her breasts. Minnie was being pulled every which way. “Your trousers,” she said, the frustration mounting within. The rest of her sentence fell away when his lips closed around her nipple and tugged.

“I’m not in any rush, darling, are you?” He spoke as if he were calm and unaffected, but she felt his excitement against her leg, she heard his breath hitch with each soft moan.

“I want you to come,” he whispered into her ear. “Show me how to make you feel good.”

“I thought you were leaving.” She pulled at the buttons of his trousers.

He grinned down at her, his eyes heavy with want. He helped her shaking hand undo his buttons. “I can stay a while longer,” he said, nipping at her neck. “If you’d like.”

He stood, stripping off his trousers and smalls. The man was beautiful, impossibly so. That lanky boy in London was like a stranger compared to the body in front of her now. This was another secret that Alex kept hidden from her all these years—the other markings on his body. She wanted to trace her hand over the small swallow tattoo etched over the sharp edge of his hip, up over his flat stomach, to the stars on his chest. The marks she had seen before on his hands, climbed up his arms—the same strange markings that weren’t illustrations, but symbols. The small clover just below the ridge of his collarbone made her lips ache to kiss it until he confessed his secrets.

Minnie pushed up onto her elbows and crooked her finger, beckoning him on. Instead of following suit, Alex grabbed her foot and ran his hands up her calf. She melted back into the mattress with another moan. His lips replaced his fingers, his fingers were replaced with the ghost of his body until, at last, he covered her. His warmth seeped into her skin, but he didn’t move closer. Minnie rocked upward and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him to her, impatient to feel him against her once more.

Her hands trembled, her breath faltered, as his cock pressed against her. She rushed forward and pulled his lips to hers, needing that small comfort as his weight pushed against her, then inside her, stretching her with a wonderful fullness. But she could not stop the pain. Minnie whimpered, pulling away from his lips slightly, even as she tried to take him in stride. To make no fuss over the matter.

“Minnie?” His frustration was hot on her neck, his exhale long and slow. Alex dropped his head to rest on her shoulder.

She stared up at the ceiling, feeling a sudden sense of loss when he stilled inside of her.

“Look at me.” His velvet timbre faded to something more dangerous, threatening. He was cross with her, and rightfully so. It was a rotten trick to play on someone as honest as Alex.

She puffed out a wary breath, relieved his eyes softened toward her. His hand cupped her face.

“Don’t stop,” she said, reeling from the sensation of him inside her. “Please.”

“I didn’t know…You’ve never lain with a man?”

The simple truth was they desired each other and she didn’t want to deny herself that pleasure because of rules dictated by society. The world would not end because of their coupling before commitment.

“Alex, it doesn’t matter.”

The matter of her virginity was solely her concern, not something to bid upon, contrary to Monsieur Peprin’s thinking, or that of any other man, Alex included. She despised being mooned after because she was pure and virginal. She never felt innocent, especially with Alex around.

“It matters to me,” he said, his voice firm.

Minnie closed her eyes and pressed her body tighter against his, hoping to erase his misguided chivalry.

“Christ, I just—”

“Shut up and kiss me, Alex.”

“I hurt you.” He pushed up onto his hands and stared down at her. “Min, for the love of all that’s holy, look at me.”

Seduction was a tricky business, and apparently an art at which she didn’t excel. If only they could return to a few minutes earlier and forget this uncomfortable discussion. If only she could bring herself to look at him and be rid of the guilt twisting inside of her, chilling the pleasure that was raging within her minutes earlier.

His fingers curled around her chin tenderly, drawing her eyes to his finally. “Have I hurt you?”

There were tears in her eyes, but not because he had hurt her. The pain wasn’t awfully bad, not as bad as what the other girls had warned her about. “Please. Kiss me.”

“Fuck, Min,” he said, the pain of her betrayal so heartbreakingly clear. “I could have been gentler, I could have…”

“I’m sorry. I—”

She didn’t enjoy seeing Alex hurt at her expense. There was no need for complications. They had been playing at this for some time and she wanted him.

“I want this. You didn’t do a thing wrong. I’m not hurt,” she whispered into his ear. “I want you, Alex.” His hips pressed against hers, moving inside, inciting that wild fire within her again. “No one needs to know. This can remain between us.” Alex pushed against her, filling her until she felt complete. “I want to share myself with you. I—”

“Shh,” he flicked his tongue along her jaw. “I want this too.” He nipped her earlobe. “I promise it won’t…we can take our time. I can—” He rocked against her. Then again. Her heart fluttered, pounding against her chest at the mere possibility that she could fall apart and fly away. When he did it a third time, she rolled her hips to meet him.

Her hands fluttered over him as she tried to relax or concentrate or breathe, but it was too much. “I don’t know what to do.” Her words left her in a hurried exhale, the heat of embarrassment climbing to her cheeks.

Her body had never felt as if it were on fire before. She had never felt as if she would burst and melt and scream all at the same time. Minnie wanted for Alex to enjoy himself and she wanted to learn from him. She wanted everything in that moment.

“Tell me what feels good,” he said. “Tell me, and I’ll make you happy.”

“You.” Minnie meant it as a question, but it came out more as a statement. She wanted him too, so all was well. As for what she wanted…well, everything was a start.

He stilled again, staring down at her. “We can stop. Minnie, this doesn’t have to happen. I never—”

“—but I do want this. I do, Alex.”

“I only came to apologize.” His brows furrowed and she worried that this would be the end—a disastrous attempt at seducing the only man she ever wanted. “There—”

“—you’re doing a splendid job.”

“—are no expectations,” he said over her.

Perhaps not on his behalf, but Minnie had been garnering expectations of their paring since she saw him at the dinner party. She dreamt about it the night of the opera, the way he had pressed her against the wall, hidden away, and taken her body for his.

It was the memory of him telling her she was beautiful that brought her lips to his shoulder, her arms around his neck. Minnie shut her eyes and rocked against him, feeling the panic dissolve to pleasure. She wanted pleasure, and she had faith they could find it together.

And with patience, a virtue she never possessed, their bodies worked together and she was no longer afraid. Slow and long strokes drew the wickedest of noises from her throat. Her lips moved over his as he swallowed her moans, keeping the secret they now shared between them.

What started out slow became desperate and hungry for an end she had never experienced before with a man. Minnie moved with him as their rhythm quickened.

His eyes widened as her hand cupped her breast. “God, you’re beautiful.”

“You’ve become a religious man tonight,” she said, raking her fingers over the curve of his arse. He liked that too; his paced quickened, even as he let out a throaty laugh. “I think you—”

He pushed into her hard and drew out a scream as pleasure coursed through her body. She looked up to that smile on his face, so proud, even as she threw her hand over her mouth, blushing.

“Now you’re prudish?”

She felt nothing close to prudish. In fact, she felt a lot like the woman others believed Evangeline to be as her body tightened and it felt as if she had been thrown into a fire. “Alex.” His lips were the only answer she needed, guiding her as her body tightened and tightened. His hand pulled her hand between them, urging her to touch herself. She did, his hand still resting on hers as if he wanted to learn and study her. The pressure within suddenly uncoiled in a violent snap, pulsing through her body. As she fell apart around him, his pace quickened and his hands held hers over her head as she whispered his name.

Alex tensed above her, throwing his head back, his Adam’s apple moving with each gasp. He pulled out of her, spilling himself over her stomach, slowly crumbling down around her, caging her in against the mattress.