“Good night,” she chimed in as pleasant a voice as she could muster, scrunching her eyes closed.

“Good night?” Sebastian echoed, his voice filled with surprise. “Is the evening over, then?”

“I’m quite tired,” she insisted, faking a yawn. “It’s been a long day.”

He rolled toward her and leaned over her, his breath a fiery brand on her neck. “So, you don’t want me to do this?” He kissed her neck.

She kept her eyes closed, desire already streaking through her. She loved it when he kissed her neck.

“Or this?” He nipped her earlobe. She loved it when he nipped her earlobe.

She rolled onto her back, already wanting him, her breath coming in hot pants. He moved atop her, his arms braced on either side of her body. “Or this?” he said before leaning down and kissing her deeply.

Veronica was lost. She couldn’t resist him and didn’t want to. She wrapped her arms over his broad shoulders, reveling in the feel of the sinewy muscle beneath her fingertips. His skin was smooth and firm and hot. His mouth shaped hers, stoking desire throughout her body that pooled in the intimate spot between her legs.

Sebastian pulled his mouth away and moved down. Pushing the covers aside, he slid her night rail up her thighs. “Or this,” he breathed as the fabric slowly ascended to her hips.

Veronica’s breath caught. Oh, God. He was going to— And she wanted him to…desperately. But she shouldn’t want him to…should she?

“I just thought of my third rule,” she managed, trying to control the panic rising in her throat.

“Too late,” he breathed hotly against her inner thigh before bending to his task.

“What? Why?” But her hands were already fisting the sheets and she didn’t give a toss about the third rule.

Sebastian lifted his dark head. “My third rule is that you cannot make your third rule while we’re in the middle of, ahem, this.”

Veronica’s head fell back onto the pillow. His breath was at the juncture between her hips. His arms wrapped around her thighs, and he pulled her legs apart, opening her for him. Then his hot tongue lavished her. She whimpered in the back of her throat, unable to stop herself from making the noise. This, this had been something she’d tried to forget, tried and failed. The man could do things with his tongue that made her positively wild with wanting. There was a part of her that realized she hadn’t used one of her rules to stop this before because she’d known deep down how much she wanted it, how much she’d missed it.

The third rule should be that he could never stop.

He licked her in long, commanding strokes, all the while holding her thighs apart so she couldn’t close herself to him. Not that she wanted to. On the contrary, she wanted exactly what he was giving her, building her toward a climax unlike one she’d had in…far too long.