God’s teeth, the man could kiss and move his body. His tongue rubbed against mine. His mouth conquered and consumed. His pelvis rotated, subtly, suggestively, stoking fierce flames of longing in my belly.

I shook uncontrollably as he licked the inner flesh of my lips, infusing my blood with potent desire. He tasted exactly how I’d imagined—wet, dark, and masculine—like a devastating storm. His powerful body quaked as his throat produced the deep guttural noises I’d heard on the balcony.

My heart danced. My legs quivered. Then I was moving, being lifted by strong hands and set onto the edge of the table.

He wedged his hips between my thighs, shoving the skirt up and out of the way to make space for his indomitable physique. Through it all, his mouth stayed with mine, refusing to release that glorious, voracious kiss.

Teeming with hunger, I leaned into him and reached for his cheek. His jaw flexed beneath my buzzing fingertips, the skin supple and smooth over unbending steel. He cupped the back of my head and angled my mouth where he wanted it, deepening the crush of our lips.

My hand slipped to his corded neck, caressing the tension beneath his cravat. His Adam’s apple bounced against my touch as he swallowed our kisses in greedy gulps.

Tucked into the hollow beneath his iron jaw, his jugular throbbed and swelled beneath my finger. His heart definitely existed. It had beaten for his sister once. And now it pounded for me.

My body thrummed with awareness as he kissed me into oblivion. I was so lost in the intimacy I hadn’t realized where my hand wandered until he gripped my wrist, stopping me from seizing him between his legs.

He didn’t halt the kiss, though. Guiding my fingers up his body, he flattened my palm against his neck. But I kept going, reaching higher, until I discovered the soft, thick texture of his hair.

With a groan, he expressed his pleasure in the touch. His arm hooked around my back as his mouth feasted and fed with no end in sight.

Gradually, in a melting of lips, the kiss dissolved on its own.

His brow fell against mine, our breaths rushing forth in sharp spurts. My heart dealt blows like a hammer, my entire body trembling in a sheen of restless want.

I’d enjoyed that with a recklessness I didn’t want to analyze. But as my pulse slowed, irrational guilt crept in.

I hadn’t kissed another man since I’d met Priest three years ago. The betrayal tasted like stale ale in my throat, and this was only the beginning.

I banished the thought before it grew roots.

Ashley leaned back, and his eyes captured mine, intense and dilated.