The cold air she had registered before didn’t feel so cold now as he shifted the gown down her body. She raised herself up, just enough that he could reach around her and pull at the laces of her corset. He didn’t completely free her from it, but enough so that he could pull the front apart. She heard the material tear down the center, though she hardly cared. She gasped with excitement as he revealed her body, and the cool air brushed her skin.
Unsure what he was doing, she held her breath, waiting for what he would touch next. His lips found her breast. Intoxicated by the sensation, Charity leaned back on the bench again as he lowered her down, moving over her. He took her whole nipplein his mouth and sucked, with such suddenness that she gasped and drove her hips up into his.
It was not something she knew could be a part of lovemaking, not something anyone had ever told her, but she just wanted him to keep doing it, never to stop.
He seemed to take a hint from her writhing hips, and he reached down between them, entering her again with one finger. Her hands raised up, one clinging to his shoulder as the other tangled itself in his hair and held him down to her.
He shifted his kisses, moving across one breast to the other, taking that breast in his mouth too with a long languid kiss. His finger inside of her pumped faster, then he found that bud of nerves outside of her that he had found before, and this time, worked it with his thumb slowly.
Charity was completely overcome. Her body, already so sensitive from being pleasured by him once, reaching that pinnacle for the first time, had the second peak even more exhilarating. She basked in the glory of that feeling, her hips driving up against his own and holding his body to her.
When that peak came, she moaned his name, far too loudly, though fortunately the heavy rain and the thunder must have drowned out any possibility of someone from the house hearing her.
His hands abruptly moved to the stone bench on either side of her as her body still shuddered, coming down from the feeling.He kissed her again, but he did not stay with her lips. He kissed her neck, her breasts, her temple, everything he seemingly could reach.
“Never known a feeling like it,” he whispered to her, his voice deep. “This desire, this urge, this need. Say you are mine, Charity.”
It was possessive, yes, but strangely pleading as well. He wanted her to be his, but he was not demanding it. He was asking for it.
“Say you will marry me, and no other.”
“I will,” she whispered, knowing it was a decision made in the heat of the moment, though she could not bring herself to care.
“Thank God.” He kissed her again.
CHAPTER 12
Seth held Charity close to his side. The morning light shone through the window, basking the two of them in a bright golden glow now that the storm had passed. They were laying in his bed, leaning against the pillows together, with Charity resting her head on his chest as he had both arms wrapped around her.
After what had passed between them in the storm, Seth had carried her inside. They had undressed one another, silently, drying themselves, before they retreated to the bed, warm and dry for the night.
Seth closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, breathing in the sweet scent of Charity that had somehow not been damaged by the rain the night before.
I do not think I will ever forget that night.
Seth had been incapable of controlling himself. He had needed Charity, with every fiber of his being, and what amazed him was that she had desired the same, responding to each one of his heated touches. The memory of her still flitted through his thoughts now, watching as she arched her back off the stone bench, her hands reaching out to hold onto him, her blonde hair plastered to her neck in the rain, and the way her full lips had parted to moan his name.
Charity moved in her sleep, her head turning on his chest, then her eyes opened a little.
“Good morning,” he whispered to her, as she lay there still wrapped up in his embrace.
“Good morning.” She shut her eyes once more. “For a moment then, I thought last night may have been a dream. Then I felt you holding onto me.” She nuzzled into his chest, and he held onto her, more tightly than before. For a short while, they stayed there in silence and Seth just held onto the moment.
He didn’t overthink. He chose not to think about the fact she was the daughter of his sworn enemy, just as he chose not to think about what Luke would make of this. Only in his thoughts was Charity.
“Are we mad?” Charity whispered eventually, stirring the silence from the room.
“Mad? Why?” he asked.
“For agreeing to marry each other when we know one another so little.”
He chuckled and shuffled his head a little, kissing her forehead.
“Many other couples have married while knowing each other even less. Some meet on the day they are to wed, something I have never understood.” He shook his head sharply. “And… I am not sure I could live without this feeling now.” He moved his lips down to her neck. She gasped at his playful nip and her body curled against his own. “Don’t move like that, or you’ll make me want to make love to you completely.”
She shivered in his grasp, a suppressed smile gracing her lips in such a pleasant manner that he had to hold himself back from planting her back down on the bed, parting her legs, and entering her. He had barely held himself back the night before, wishing it to be a moment of complete pleasure for her. The first time they shared themselves completely, it would hurt her.
I want to avoid that pain for now.
