“ I’m sorry,” Owen rushed out. “I’ll buy you new pearls as soon as we return home.” His eyes were panicked as he stared down at the remnants of her necklace in his hand. His length was still deep inside her, hard and pulsing.
She cradled his face in her hands. “I don’t care about the pearls, Owen.” Planting a kiss on his nose, Elaine stood and moved to the bed. “I just wanted to try something a little different. The pearls seem a small price to pay for…” She shrugged when she couldn’t put it into words, then flopped back on the counterpane.
He followed her, lying down on the bed beside her and smoothing a hand over the flat of her stomach. “For something more exciting than we’ve ever shared before?” he prodded.
“ Oh, please don’t misunderstand,” Elaine pleaded, a blush heating her cheeks despite the fact that she was already hot enough to warm the whole abbey in the dead of winter. “I love the way you make love to me, but-”
“ But variety never killed anyone, right?”
She laughed, a deep, throaty, unfamiliar laugh. “I suppose not, when you put it that way.”
Owen trailed a spiral with his fingertips over the flat of her stomach, and it twitched in response. “It didn’t kill me-even though I felt like that was exactly what you were doing to me. You’re quite the enchanting seductress, my love.”
“ You’re not cross with me for taking command like I did?” she murmured, her breath faltering under his explorative fingers as they moved lower, nearing the join of her thighs.
“ Cross with you?” He flicked a tongue over her nipple and then blew cold air over it as his fingers quested ever lower.
Elaine gasped.
“ I might be a little cross that you saw fit to discuss our private affairs with your friends.”
Blast, she should never have done that. She should have told Judith and Vivi to go jump in a lake, but that was between herself and her husband. Elaine opened her mouth to apologize, but he beat her.
“ But I can’t stay cross with you for long, since that discussion led to this. Tell me, did they suggest you take me into your mouth, or was that your own brilliant idea?” Owen’s fingers finally met her curls, delving between her folds and searching for her button.
“ Oh,” Elaine cried out, her hips lifting to meet him as he touched that wicked spot. She’d have to remember to thank Vivi for mentioning such a thing to her, however fiercely she blushed while doing so. “They suggested it,” she admitted when he met her gaze.
“ I see. And did they mention anything about ways I might return the favor?” Already, he was moving down her body, without waiting for her response.
“ Yes,” she whispered, but it was all she got out before his mouth was on her, using his lips on her button. He grazed his teeth over it and swirled his tongue over her place of desire until she was writhing beneath him and grasping wildly at the counterpane for purchase.
Over and over again, he stabbed with his tongue and nibbled with his teeth until a crest of euphoria broke over her and she collapsed against the bed. “What a pleasant little pearl this is,” he said a few moments later. “So perfect. Did you know it would do such things for you?”
Elaine shook her head. “Not until today. Not until Judith suggested I might try touching it while we make love.”
“ We’ll definitely have to give your friends our thanks, then.”
Then Owen rose over her and lifted her legs until her ankles were up by his ears. Her eyes went wide in wonderment as he sank his shaft inside, deeper than she’d ever known was possible. He held her hips and supported her weight as he took up a new rhythm for their lovemaking, slower and more tenderly than he’d ever done before.
“ Did they have any other suggestions for you?” he asked.
But his thumb had found her nubbin and was pressing on it again, and Elaine could do nothing more than nod her head.
“ Well, I suppose we’ll have to explore these recommendations in depth, won’t we?”
And they spent the majority of the night doing just that.