Read Out Of Her League, An Erotic Romance for Free Online Page B

sensation, not the least bit thrown off-balance. She wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss with reckless abandon, losing herself in the lusty rhythm of their embrace.
    Then, just as Kate was certain she couldn’t take anymore, when her response to their kiss veered from pleasure to driving, aching need, James tore his lips from hers. He nibbled the lobe of her ear and licked the sensitive column of her throat. Shivers of delight rang down her spine like a peel of tiny silver bells. He reached for the topmost button of her gown and unfastened it.
    Kate’s hands flew up to cover his. “What are you doing?” Her voice sounded breathless even to her own ears.
    “Do you want me to stop?”
    A beat. “No,” she confessed.
    James let out a sigh that could only be interpreted as intense relief. He worked another button free. “Excellent. Because I don’t think I could stand another day not knowing if that one brief glimpse I had of you in that corset was as stunning as I remember.”
    “I’ve never worn it before,” she admitted softly. “Never worn any of it.”
    “Oh?” His focus momentarily shifted from the buttons of her gown to a single curl that had escaped from its bun at the nape of her neck. He toyed with it, absently twisting the soft golden tendril around his finger. “A gift from a lover,” he surmised.
    “Certainly not.” Kate could feel the heat flame her cheeks. “I’ve never, that is...I don’t...I’m not...” Her voice trailed off as she chewed her bottom lip.
    “Oh?” He studied her with open curiosity, his deep blue eyes intense and searching.
    “I saw them shop and I wanted them.” For Paris. They were a highly improper undergarments, but she hadn’t purchased them for anyone else to see. That hadn’t been her intention. She had simply wanted, for once, to feel beautiful. Desirable. And then, when her trip abroad had been taken away, she’d somehow worked up the courage to don the garments anyway. Her words tumbled over themselves as she tried to explain.
    He shook his head, studying her in bewilderment. “You’ve forgone a holiday in Paris to be here instead? Why?”
    “Would you rather I wasn’t?” she challenged.
    A slow, sinful smile curved his lips. “No, definitely not.” He leaned closer, his words fanning her cheek. “I am very, very glad you’re here.”
    The warmth of his body and the rich, masculine scent of his skin swirled around her, making her senses swim. She fought to clear her thoughts. What she was doing was wrong, entirely improper. There was no excuse for her behavior. Yet longing coursed through her, carrying with it a need so deep she couldn’t keep her curiosity buried another second. He kissed her neck and worked another button free.
    “My brothers wouldn’t approve,” she said.
    “No, I suspect they wouldn’t. Brothers tend to be notoriously difficult when it comes to this sort of thing.”
    Kate shook her head, wanting to correct him. Bertie and George wouldn’t object to the scandalousness of her undergarments—well, actually, they might—but their true objection would be to the fact that she’d dared spend her wages on herself. The thought brought a giggle to her lips.
    Misunderstanding the direction of her thoughts, James smiled and whispered in her ear, “Are you wearing it now?”
    “The scarlet corset?”
    “Yes.”
    “No.”
    “Pity.”
    “The one I’m wearing is black, so sheer it should be indecent, but I couldn’t resist it, as it’s edged with the loveliest bit of emerald lace...”
    She hadn’t finished her sentence before his fingers moved to the front of her gown and edged it open ever-so-slightly. Her corset lifted the soft, creamy swell of her breasts and thrust them upward, the emerald lace exposing the barest hint of the deep pink areoles surrounding her nipples.
    “Ah.” He clenched his jaw, then exhaled slowly. “Do you have any idea how exquisite you are?”
    He brought his head down,