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He pretended to think about it “I don’t believe you”

She planted her hands on her hips, which had to be a ludicrous position, naked as she was from the waist up

“All right,” he acceded, “but the only words I’ll allow from your mouth are, ‘Oh, Gareth,’ and ‘Yes, Gareth’”

He lifted his finger

“What about ‘More, Gareth?’ ”

He alht face “That will be acceptable”

She felt laughter bubbling up within her She didn’t actually iddy feeling that tingled and danced in one’s belly And she marveled at it She was so nervous—or rather, she had been

He’d taken it away

And she soht Maybe he’d done this before Maybe he’d done this a hundred times before, omen a hundred times more beautiful than she

It didn’t matter He was her first, and she was his last

He lay down beside her, pulling her onto her side and against hi it free from its coils until it fell in silky waves down her back She felt free, untamed

Daring

She took one hand and pressed it against his chest, exploring his skin, testing the contours of the muscles beneath She’d never touched hiers down his side to his hip, tracing a line at the edge of his breeches

And she could feel his reaction His muscles leapt wherever she touched, and when she moved to his belly, to t

hat spot between his navel and the last of his clothing, he sucked in his breath