He kissed down her stomach and reached for the waistband of her jeans and looked up at her and she nodded and he worked them open and pushed them down and off and drew her underwear down with them and she stood in the kitchen of Ashford entirely bare and the Aga warm at her back and him kneeling in front of her.

He looked up at her.

She looked down at him.

He pressed his lips to her inner thigh. Then higher. His breath warm against her skin, building the anticipation until her hips shifted forward and he smiled against her skin — she felt it — and finally...