He slid his thumb across her collarbone, pushing the muslin gown lower. It was like opening a present. The buttons were hard to make out in the darkness, barely the size of his fingernail, and he undid each one with methodical care. Jane had his shirt off with greater efficiency, bending to kiss his chest as she stripped off the fabric.
“Are you sure?” he whispered.
This still didn’t feel real. He could measure the time since their first meeting in the library in weeks, when she’d walked out on him with only a few cold words. Everything seemed to have unfolded at a breakneck pace since then. But at the same time, it felt like this hadbeen building forever. For all the time they’d spent together, and the time they’d been apart, when she’d haunted his thoughts. It was all for this.
In answer, Jane pulled him closer, her grip telling him she didn’t intend to let go.
Eli kicked off his shoes and trousers and pulled Jane to the bed, naked skin against naked skin. The sensation had him swelling rapidly against her hip. She kissed him, opening her mouth to invite him in. He slid his hand down over her belly to find her sex. She was already wet, but not enough. He teased her with his fingers until her breath turned shaky. There, that was better.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he murmured, pulling back from their kiss long enough to speak. “Do you want to stay on top, so that you have more control?”
In answer, she braced her weight on his shoulders to bring her legs around and straddle him. But instead of settling back down on him, she remained with her body suspended, the tip of his cock barely touching her.
Eli whimpered, rocking forward to press into her by the barest degree. It was the smallest movement, and it was everything. He groaned, desperate for more.
“Please,” he managed. “God, Jane, I want you so much.”
“Go slowly,” she instructed, humming a sigh as she inched herself slightly lower on his cock. “Like that.”
Good Lord. She was going to kill him with wanting. She was so tight and wet around his shaft, it took every ounce of control to obey.Slowly. Eli squeezed his hand in between the place where their sexes joined and pressed against her the way she’d liked it before. He was rewarded for his efforts with a little mewl of pleasure.
I’ll never get tired of that sound.
He stroked her in time to the languid pace of their lovemaking,every muscle in his body straining with the urge to go faster, deeper. But there would be other chances for that. Decades, he hoped. He only had one chance to make sure Jane’s first time was what she deserved.
Time was suspended as he fell into the rhythm of their pleasure, and he lost himself in it. His patience paid off, for Jane gradually grew bolder, arching her back as her body tensed. She was getting tighter around his cock, and it drove him wild. Eli dared to thrust a bit deeper, groaning as she rode him. He could feel her getting close.
“I love you,” he whispered, skirting the edge of his own release. He couldn’t climax yet. But God, it was hard to hold back.
“I love you too,” she replied between halting gasps. She pressed herself against his hand as she found her pleasure, her features contorting as a cry escaped her lips.
It was enough to push him past the limit of his self-control. He pulled out, barely in time, and spent himself against her thigh.
Afterward, Jane lay inside the protective circle of Eli’s arms and contemplated her situation. A few weeks ago, she would never have imagined herself here. Giving herself freely to Eli before they were married, particularly when she only needed to wait another day to learn how the inquiry would unfold. But it felt right.
She didn’t want to be able to release him if he were disgraced. They were bound together now irreversibly. Whatever happened, she would face it by his side.
“You should go back home,” she said reluctantly. “Get some sleep before it’s too late.”
“What about the rest of it?” His eyes were somber in the darkness. “Where we’ll live, and all that? I still feel the same way I did before.I intend for you to have a house in town, even if it means I have to remain in the navy for a time. I won’t let you give up your life for me.”
Jane bit her lip, not trusting herself to speak.
It felt as though everything she’d ever wanted was just inside the window to a cheery little house, the curtains flung back to display the scene to her covetous eye, and she was trapped outside in the cold. To have her happiness so close at hand, and yet be unable to touch it!
There must be a solution. She could calculate the odds to determine her best chance at a profit in a hundred scenarios in vingt-et-un; surely she could find an answer to this. The problem was only a lack of funds, and hadn’t she been trying to secure her financial security from the very start?
It was obvious, really. She’d just been too cautious to see it.
“What if there were a way we could have everything? A steady income without you returning to sea. Would you be willing to leave the navy, if money were no issue?” The excitement of an idea was taking root. “I don’t want to force you to give up your career if that isn’t what you want for yourself.”
“I don’t understand how it could be possible.” He studied her, his eyes two fathomless pools in the darkness. “Of course I want to be with you, but I don’t want to feel ashamed at how we must live.”
Hmm, that might still be an issue.But it was the best solution she could find, so she would forge ahead.
“I have an idea, but I’m worried you might laugh.” Jane felt shy suddenly. Who was she to plan their finances? She was an orphan with next to nothing in her name. A woman who couldn’t hope to earn anything. Yet she did hope.
“I won’t laugh. I respect your judgment.”
