Page 61 of Isabel and the Rogue

Sirius swiped his thumb across her bottom lip. “I doubt that, but then most people are fools.”

And he leaned down to kiss her.

Their first kisses had been fueled by all the wild emotions combusting between them and the threat—the thrill—of being discovered. But this kiss was different. There was no fear of discovery, no one to find them wrapped up in each other. Here, within the walls of his townhome, Sirius could take his time with her…and a woman like Isabel deserved to be worshipped.

Cupping the smooth curve of her cheek, Sirius trailed his other hand down her back until his fingers snagged on the simple eye closures that held her dress together.

“May I?” he murmured in between kisses.

Isabel nodded, her hands curling about his shoulders.

While he trailed kisses along her jaw, down her throat, to the sensitive valley between her neck and shoulders, Sirius plucked free every clasp, biting back moans with each patch of warm skin he felt under his fingertips. Eventually her bodice sagged, and Sirius paused, his lungs laboring with every breath.

“Sunshine, come with me,” he said gently, pulling her by the hand toward the settee.

Her red-tinged lips quirked. “I love that you call me sunshine.”

“It’s the perfect name for you.” Sirius encouraged her to straddle his lap, for he knew she would appreciate the level of control the position gave her. If she was uncomfortable, he wanted her to be able to halt their interaction as soon as possible. “You blaze brighter than anything else in my life.”

“Ridículo,” she whispered, leaning forward to kiss him.

While he allowed Isabel to dictate the kiss, Sirius put his restless hands to work pulling the pins from her hair. When her inky curls tumbled about her shoulders, he leaned back to study her. “Christ, you’re stunning.”

Isabel surprised him by laughing. “I’m really not…but you make me feel beautiful. You’re the only person who ever has.”

“Darling, that’s an unforgivable sin,” Sirius hissed between his teeth as his hands hooked around the edge of her bodice and dragged it down her arms, revealing her golden skin to the light. “Look at you. I can’t believe you let me touch you.”

Sirius jerked his gaze to hers when Isabel gently grabbed his chin. Soft velvet eyes stared back at him. “And I only want you to touch me.”

Clenching his teeth, Sirius simply held her, his hands firm on her waist and his gaze locked with hers. How had he been so blind? With her black curls falling about her smooth shoulders, Sirius was speechless. How had he not seen all this beauty right in front of him? Once again, shame was his old friend.

He hesitated with the bindings of her corset, although his mouth watered at the thought of seeing the curves her gowns only hinted at. Even now, the swells of her breasts rising above her corset tempted him…but he didn’t make any moves to unwrap her. Although he ached to taste her and touch her again—to finally fill her—Sirius wrestled his desire into submission, for he knew this was Isabel’s first time with a man, and he refused to frighten her. Refused to pressure her or coerce her into an act that could not be undone. If she did allow him to take her to bed, Sirius intended to apply every ounce of experience he had ever gleaned into pleasing Isabel Luna so that this moment, with him, would be forever synonymous with pleasure. She would soon return to Mexico, but tonight Sirius was determined to make sure she never forgot him.

15

Did she really want to do this?

Yes, her mind screamed, which almost made Isabel laugh, because it was usually her mind that approached things logically. But logical thinking told her it didn’t make sense to give her virginity to a man who was the rogue of all rogues…or who at least pretended to be.

And yet Sirius Dawson sparked a slew of emotions in her chest that she tried so very hard to suppress. From the moment she met his sapphire eyes from under that desk, no other man had commanded her attention. Not even dear Lord Westhope, who treated Isabel like a queen. Still, the viscount did not send flames licking up her spine at his nearness. Didn’t make heat coil in that place between her thighs that she hadn’t been able to forget since Sirius had caressed it with his tongue.

The only man to make her feel thus was sitting beneath her now, his gaze almost adoring as he stared up at her. When she returned to Mexico, Isabel desperately wanted these memories to cherish. To keep her warm when she was alone, for Isabel knew she would never feel these emotions with anyone else.

Sirius had loosened her bodice and pulled it from her arms but had made no attempt to remove her corset or chemise. He hadn’t tried to remove her skirts, which were thankfully lacking the bulk they usually had, since she left her crinoline at home. With his hands on her thighs, he simply looked at her. And suddenly Isabel understood. Sirius was waiting for her to make the first move.

Which was definitely something she could do.

Sinking her teeth into her bottom lip, Isabel curled both ends of the corset knot around her fingers and pulled. Ignoring how his breath hitched and the path his hands took as they traced the muscles of her thighs, Isabel made steady work of the ribbons until finally they were loose enough to pull the corset up and over her head. Her hands trembled with the urge to shield herself, knowing all too well that her white chemise hid little of her figure beneath. Instead, Isabel straightened her spine and met Sirius’s gaze head-on, determined for him to look his fill.

“Isabel,” he breathed, his pupils blown wide as his gaze drifted over her. The delicate hairs on her skin rose even as heat surged like a torrent through her blood, pumping not just desire to her limbs, but power. Sirius’s admiration of her beauty, yes, but also of every one of her awkward and tenacious traits, made her feel powerful. He made her feel deserving of good things…and in this moment, Sirius’s hungry gaze promised very good things.

Her skin abruptly felt too tight, and Isabel shifted in his lap, her hands curling around the hem of his loosened waistcoat. Sirius groaned, his eyelids dropping to half-mast as he stared up at her. “Have a care, darling. We’re not hiding under a desk this time, and my desire for you knows no bounds.”

Isabel shuddered at the dark note in his voice. Surging forward, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.

Faith, kissing Sirius Dawson sent a bolt of lightning sizzling along her skin. The logical part of her brain noted this as hyperbole even as it quickly melted under the onslaught of his mouth. And when his tongue flicked along her bottom lip and she opened for him, coherent thoughts were incinerated in the rush of sensations. Isabel dragged her fingers along his scalp to run through his glossy hair, moaning into his mouth.

She needed to feel closer to him. She wanted to make him feel as overwhelmed as she felt.