Everything about the moment felt luxurious and fresh. The decadent sensation of her stockinged toes in the lush carpet, the warm crackle of the low fire, the delightfully unfamiliar bed beckoning two paces behind them.

Tommy was different and new tonight, too. She was wooing Philippa as herself. Philippa hadn’t realized how much that vulnerability would mean. To know that this was the real Tommy touching her, kissing her, courting her. Their flirtation was not a role Tommy was playing, but true. This was what they both wished. She ran her palms lightly down Tommy’s arms, feeling their strength and warmth through the fine linen.

Philippa had woken from several dreams imagining what it would be like if they could ever meet as lovers did. And here they were! She was about to discover how close her imagination had come to reality, as well as learn all the other things she hadn’t even known to imagine.

Tommy feathered kisses up Philippa’s throat to the hollow behind her ear. It tickled in the best possible way. She felt it in her toes. Tommy touched the tip of her tongue to Philippa’s neck, tasting her there. Her breath caught at the erotic sensation.

“Would you like me to remove your gown?” Tommy’s breath was soft against Philippa’s sensitive skin.

Philippa nodded. She could feel Tommy smile in response.

“Tell me.”

This was something Philippa hadn’t known to imagine. Tommy’s husky insistence that Philippa state precisely what she wanted, with words, aloud. Or that the thought of doing so would increase her arousal. Center her even more in the moment.

Her breath came faster. She had yearned to be the heroine of her own story. For others to cease making decisions on her behalf without consulting or caring about her opinion. She was about to have her most secret fantasies come to life. But only if she was brave enough to put them into words.

“I want you to remove my gown.” Philippa’s voice only shook a little. “And to kiss me again afterward. On my mouth and my…neck.”

She did it. She said it. Each spoken word was terrifying and exciting and freeing.

Tommy was giving Philippa the ability to decide for herself, to be herself, to control her own fate—if only for their lovemaking here tonight. Tommy turned Philippa toward the bed.

As far as Philippa was concerned, this would be the night she lost her virginity, technicalities be damned. She wanted it to be Tommy, not some stranger she neither knew nor liked. She wanted a first time and a second time and a third time. She wished her night with Tommy could last forever.