Bridgerton fans are just discovering book's carriage scene is more explicit than in Netflix series

Is anyone else still swooning over that Bridgerton series finale?

After what felt like YEARS of anticipation for the third series to land on Netflix, producers gave us exactly what we needed earlier this month, with the hot and heavy 'friends to lovers' storyline we've all been waiting for.

If you're anything like me, and you rapidly rattled your way through all four episodes at record speed, you'll already know that there's one particularly saucy moment in the most recent instalment that sent viewers completely wild.

And apparently, this hotly-debated scene was even saucier in the original Julia Quinn Books of the same name...

Fans have waited for a newly-hunky Colin Bridgerton to realise his true feelings for fan-favourite Penelope Featherington since the show first took to our screens four years ago.

So, when Pen finally decided to cast aside her spinster reputation at the beginning of the series and ask her long-time love for his assistance in charming the gentlemen of The Ton, it was only a matter of time before Colin would start enduring feeling jealous for the fellas attempting to woo her right back.

Thankfully, the season concluded with a jaw-dropping declaration of love between Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan's characters in the back of a carriage in the dead of night, which - as Bridgerton often does - results in an extremely passionate backseat affair indeed.

Let's just say, Colin takes an overtly hands-on approach to their blossoming romance...

And the steamy moment certainly caused quite a stir amongst viewers, some of whom claimed it knocked them for six.

The carriage scene is truly steamy. (Netflix)

One X user penned: "Just watched the carriage scene with the audio description and I'm unwell."

A second chimed in: "The descriptions that came my god... I'm not able to process it something changed in me after I watched with audio descriptions."

"I actually need to take several days to get over it I fear," replied the original poster.

If this many Bridgerton fans have been left startled by the on-screen version of the raunchy affair, just wait until you read what author Julia Quinn wrote about it...

In the novel, the x-rated moment is notably more verbal, with Penelope and Colin professing the things that they wish to do to one another.

After Colin pretty much totally undresses Pen in the back of her carriage - to such an extent that her breasts are bare for the first time, surprising both the Bridgerton hunk and the Featherington girl herself - he teases her.

The scene differs greatly from the book. (Netflix)

"He found her nipple again," Quinn writes. "His fingers tracing slow, tantalising spirals around it, and then on it, and all the while she watched her body growing tighter and tighter."

Is anyone else feeling a bit hot?

"His lips closed around her," Quinn writes. "And before she'd even felt more than the heat of him, she bucked off the bench in surprise, her hips pressing shamelessly against his, then setting back down as he ground against her, holding her immobile as he pleasured her." Ooft.

Sadly, the frisky scene comes to a sudden end in the book as it does on the show, with the carriage stopping outside the Featherington house.

Thankfully, however, the moment has consolidated their love for one another, and at the end of their passionate escapade, Colin asks Penelope: "For God’s sake, Penelope Featherington. Are you going to marry me or not?"

Eek!