Page 71 of The Big Bad Duke

His hands moved to the buttons of her shirt, but he paused, a question in his eyes. For a moment, Leila just stared at him, wondering what he was waiting for.

“May I?” he rasped again. Only then did Leila realize he was waiting for her permission.

She wasn’t used to men doing that. They took what they wanted and commanded her to perform whatever acts pleased them.

The look in Gideon’s eye as he asked her, the need she could see written all over his features, made her eyes prickle with tears.

Gideon wasn’t exactly a gentle man. He didn’t handle her like a porcelain doll that might break in his arms. He kissed her with fire, gripped her hair and body like a man drowning in need—just as lost in her as she was in him.

And she met that hunger with her own.

Their passion burned white-hot between them, all-consuming and primal. Yet, even amidst that blazing need, even as they both trembled with want, he had taken a moment to ensure she felt safe enough to bare her body to him.

She didn’t know if this was normal. In her experience, it wasn’t.

Either way, she was grateful.

She gave a little nod, drawing immense satisfaction from the look in his eyes as he slowly unbuttoned her shirt, his knuckles brushing against her skin as he worked.

He pushed the fabric away, the cold air surrounding her bare skin, making her nipples harden. His silver eyes glowed like fire, his breath hitching.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, his hands skimming her sides.

When his palms cupped her breasts, she gasped at the sensation. Every nerve ending seemed to sing under his touch. Never had she found as much pleasure as she did in his hands.

He caressed her breasts, slowly learning her shape, then pinched her nipples.

She yelped in surprise, and the grin that spread across his face was full of mischief. She couldn’t help but laugh in response.

He lowered his head and kissed the swell of her breast, nudging it with his lips, biting lightly. Leila moved, bringing her nipple to his lips, and he chuckled, his warm breath hitting her skin and making her arch. He slowly opened his lips and took her hardened peak into his mouth, rolling it with his tongue, bringing her wave after wave of pleasure.

She arched her back even more, demanding more of his touch, more of his kisses. She needed more of him.

And he obliged, kissing, licking, devouring her breast, then moving to the other while his hands explored her skin, leaving scalding sensations in his wake.

Then he moved lower, his mouth tracing a hot path down her belly, his tongue dipping into her belly button, then pausing at the band of her breeches.

He hooked his fingers into the waistband and looked up. “May I?”

Leila nodded.

She was willing—no, she was dying—to let him do anything he wanted to do to her. She wanted to experience it all.

With him.

* * *

Gideon watched Leila as she lay half-naked beneath him, and he couldn’t believe the heat coursing through his veins. It ignited him from the inside out, to the point where he was certain his eyes blazed with fire.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this way—if he’d ever felt this way at all—and he didn’t want to.

What mattered was the woman in his arms.

Leila.

She writhed beneath him, her black hair fanned like ink on his cloak, her movements lithe. Like a panther. Wild. Dangerous. Graceful.

And utterly irresistible.