Tommy slid toward the foot of the bed. Not far—a few inches. Just enough to allow her mouth to reach the spot where the hem of Philippa’s neckline met the plump curve of her breast. Tommy dropped soft, slow kisses along that line from one edge of Philippa’s bodice to the other. The first row of kisses was on the exposed flesh of Philippa’s breasts. The second row of kisses was just below the hem, along the thin linen.

Having a layer of linen between Tommy’s kisses and Philippa’s skin should have felt more chaste. Instead, her nipples tightened in awareness that Tommy’s mouth was drawing ever closer.

Tommy paused when her mouth was so close to Philippa’s nipple that she could feel Tommy’s breath through her shift. “Stop or continue?”

“Continue.” The word came out raw, a shameless, helpless plea.

“Kisses or touching?”

“Both,” Philippa whispered. “Please.”

Breathy little one-word answers were far from eloquent, but Tommy did not seem to mind. Instead, she resumed her slow, heated kisses, down the hill of one breast, into the valley between, up the other side, ever so close to the trembling peak there.

The tantalizing trajectory of Tommy’s mouth consumed Philippa’s attention until Tommy’s slender fingers cupped her other breast, trapping the engorged nipple. She began to play. Philippa’s body reacted instantly. Every muscle galvanized.

While Tommy’s left hand stroked Philippa’s breast, Tommy’s mouth closed over the other, teasing through the fabric with her lips and teeth and tongue.

This was a kiss of a different sort. Deliciously unsatisfying, serving only to make Philippa’s body all the more restless. A coil of want began to curl between her legs. Her clitoris felt swollen and needy, eager to be the next body part visited.

“May I…touch you?” she asked.

“I told you.” Tommy’s eyes met hers. “You can touch me whenever, wherever.”

“You can touch me everywhere, too.” Philippa desperately hoped Tommy would take her true meaning and not force her to specify whether she referred to her toes or her vulva.

Tommy tugged down Philippa’s shift, exposing her breasts to the cool air…and the heat of Tommy’s mouth. Philippa closed her eyes and tilted her head back, only to realize that she was arching her back to raise her breasts toward Tommy. If she’d had an etching of this moment, it would have been erotic indeed.

She reveled in the sensation of Tommy’s fingers against her bare nipple, Tommy’s wet tongue scraping against the other, only to suck it into her mouth.

Heat and excitement suffused Philippa’s body. She wanted to see, to touch.

She placed her hands on Tommy’s back and fisted her fingers in the soft shirt. The action caused the hem to rise, revealing the alluring shape of Tommy’s buttocks.