Page 78 of A Relentless Rake

But wasn’t that what trusting meant—taking a leap of faith?

Yet she couldn’t jump. She had to start with small steps, and each one she took brought her slowly across the room to him. She stopped just out of his reach.

He lowered his arm, seeming to intuit that each move she made was a test of the fragile trust between them.

With her eyes fixed on his, she reached behind to the row of buttons on her back. She paused to inhale a steadying breath between each button, yet she slowly slipped each one free until her bodice sagged loose and her capped sleeves slipped from her shoulders. The choice remained hers to stop whenever she wanted, every heartbeat’s hesitation a chance for her to change her mind. But she had no intention of stopping.

The dress slid through her fingers and landed in a puddle at her feet.

Alec sat perfectly still as he watched her, except to swallow so hard that she heard it from four feet away.

Her fingers shook as they untied her petticoat, then tangled in the front tie of her short corset. With each layer of clothing she removed, the need to be able to trust him intensified. Yet her heart urged her on, and she pulled loose the tie until she could shrug out of her stays and let them fall away to join the dress on the floor. Leaving her shoes behind, she stepped out of the pile of clothes encircling her feet.

She reached beneath the hem of her shift to roll off her stockings. When a low groan emerged from the back of his throat, her fingers hesitated. Yet she paused only a moment before letting the stockings slip to the floor.

Finally, she stood in front of him in only her shift. If she were going to stop, it would have to be now. To reveal any more of herself…

With a ragged breath of courage, she lifted the hem of her shift over her head and off, baring herself completely.

For a long while, she didn’t move. She remained statue-still as she silently returned his heated stare, daring him to notice that she was more than simply naked—she’d revealed everything to him, body and soul. She kept no more secrets from him.

She removed the pins from her hair and tossed them onto her dressing table, then ran her hands through her curls and shook them loose.

His eyes flared, and he shifted awkwardly on the bed. When she finally stepped forward between his knees and into his embrace, he sucked in a hard breath through clenched teeth that left him shuddering.

She silently wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed herself against him, the cool silk of his waistcoat caressing against her bare breasts.

“I’m so sorry, Olivia,” he murmured against her bare shoulder.

Her heart knew that he didn’t mean her failed elopement, and she clung even more tightly to him, never wanting to let go.

“Forgive me.” He placed a tender kiss to her neck and rasped out, “Please forgive me.”

“Yes.” She shifted back only far enough to cup his face between her hands and lift his head toward hers. She whispered his name against his lips in sweet absolution. “Yes.”

He arched up to meet her lips, and the kisses that plundered her mouth gave promise of what more would come between them tonight if she’d let it. In silent permission, she climbed onto his lap and straddled him. His hands smoothed over her back and across her bottom.

But when he stroked up her inner thighs and his thumbs grazed the folds between her legs, she took his hands and stopped him.

He instantly stilled. Only the sounds of their breaths broke the silence, until he murmured, “Trust me, Olivia.” He entwined his fingers with hers. “I would never intentionally hurt you. I only want to make you happy.”

Her eyes stung. If those words had come from any other man, she would have laughed. But this was Alec, and the sincerity in his gaze overwhelmed her.

With a jerking nod, she released his hands and lowered her mouth to his in a consenting kiss.

Once more, his hands moved up her thighs, and once more, his thumbs caressed her core. This time, she didn’t stop him. The sensation was little more than a light tickle against her intimate folds, and her body softened against his.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered against her mouth. When she smiled at the compliment, he outlined her lips with the tip of his tongue and flamed the growing heat in her belly. “So soft and warm.” He gave a long caress of his thumbs into the valley between her legs and groaned. “So silky smooth.”

Then his caresses changed. They grew bolder, harder, deeper. His fingers slipped inside her tight warmth—

“Alec!”

He stroked her in tantalizing plunges and retreats, and her body clenched shamelessly around him. With a whimper of desire, she arched herself against him to bring him deeper, and he rewarded her with a flick of his fingertip across the little nub buried in her folds.

Her hips pulsed against his hand as pleasure sparked through her, and she clung to him as if he were her anchor in a storm-tossed sea.

He rubbed her again. A soft cry broke from her lips, and his mouth covered hers to drink up the sound.