He stared deep into her eyes as he deliberately grazed the taut peak of one breast, and she shuddered as though he’d flicked her nipple with his tongue. He continued to torment her with feathery, light strokes, gradually increasing the pressure of the satiny petals until she let out a soft cry. Then he turned his attention to her other breast, showering it with equal affection.

Sophie’s chest flushed pink, her plump lips parted, and her pupils turned huge and dark. She was practically drunk with desire and trembling with need. It would have been an easy thing to convince her to abandon the rules she’d set.

But Reese couldn’t do that. He already worried that she’d regret the things they’d done that night. And he wouldn’t risk scaring her away. The knowledge that she would return the following week was the only thing that kept him halfway sane.

Of course, he knew their time together was finite. But he refused to think about that right now. What he needed to do was to bank the fire and douse the flames that leapt between them.

“Why don’t you lie down again?” he suggested.

When she rested her head on the pillow, he reached for the quilt that had been around her shoulders and covered her torso with it.

“It’s late,” he said. “And you’ve had a long day. Rest your eyes and dream of rainbow parasols. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She shot him a grateful smile, snuggled beneath the blanket, and closed her eyes.

He watched as her body relaxed and her breathing grew even. And just as she was about to drift off, he touched the flower to her cheek in the lightest of kisses. “Good night, Soph.”

Chapter 15

A cool drop plopped on Sophie’s nose, but she was too cozy, too content, to bother brushing it away. The sun had only begun to rise, and they could afford a couple more hours of sleep.

But then another drop pelted her cheek, and another—and soon she was unable to ignore the onslaught. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes to find Reese already moving about the pier, shrugging into his shirt and gathering up her castoff clothes.

The clothes she was definitely not wearing.

She pressed a hand to her chest, confirmed she was approximately ninety percent naked, and felt her cheeks burn despite the chilly rain. Beneath the quilt, she wriggled her arms into the top of her shift, sat up, and made a valiant attempt to smooth the cloud of curls around her shoulders.

Reese looked over at her and grinned. “Good morning, Miss Kendall.”

“There seems to be a leak in the ceiling of my bedchamber,” she grumbled.

“Forgive me, madam. I shall take it up with the owner at the first opportunity. In the meantime, I think we must relocate you.”