Theodosia grinned into his eyes. “While you were rocking, I thought of the means they probably employ to arrive in this standing position. It occurred to me that the woman lies on her back upon a high bed or table and raises her legs toward her shoulders. The man then leans over her and slips his arms around her back while the woman wraps hers around his neck. Thus, the man simply straightens.”
“Now you tell me. We could have used the back of the wagon to do that. What good is your genius if you don’t use it in time?” Turning his head to both sides, he kissed each of her ankles.
She felt his swollen sex stir against her lower back. “Make love to me, Roman.”
Her request and the peculiar but highly provocative, wide-open position she was in brought him such fierce desire that a low growl of passion reverberated through his chest. Lifting her higher, he attempted to situate her so that he could lower her directly upon his rigid masculinity.
But he couldn’t see what he was doing and felt his member slide straight through Theodosia’s legs and slide up over her belly.
She looked down and smiled. “You missed.”
“Well, dammit, I can’t see! And since I’m holding you up with both hands, I can’t feel what I’m doing either. It’s like trying to hit the bull’s-eye while blindfolded and with my hands tied behind my back.”
“’Twould give me unprecedented pleasure to assist thee, O helpless one,” Theodosia offered sweetly. She released her right hand from around his neck and took firm hold of his pulsing arousal. “Lift me once more.”
When he did as she asked, she guided him. Her position allowed him to sink more deeply into her than he ever had. “Oh!” she cried softly. Nestling her face in the thick black hair that streamed over his shoulder, she concentrated on the wonderful feeling of being so completely filled by him. “Oh, Roman.”
He couldn’t answer. Gritting his teeth, he tried to stem the pleasure flowing swiftly through his loins. She’d taken all of him, and he was buried so deeply inside her that he could feel her womb. It was the most incredible sensation he’d ever experienced.
Cautiously, afraid to hurt her, he began to move, inching his hips upward while lifting and lowering Theodosia.
The gentle care he took with her merely frustrated her. “Roman, please.” Raising her head from his shoulder, she pressed her lips to his and slipped her tongue deeply into his mouth.
Her passion freed him from all worry, and he drove into her with all the strength his raging desire lent to him.
But he stilled abruptly when he heard a snapping sound. Dear God, had he or Theodosia cracked something important? “Something broke. Was it something of mine, or something of yours?”
Though she yearned for the sensual peak of the pleasure she’d begun to feel, Theodosia couldn’t stifle her laughter. Her profound amusement burst through her in great churning waves.
Roman was hard pressed to keep a firm hold on her. She quaked in his arms, and the convulsive movements not only caused him to stagger as he struggled to maintain his balance, but made him a little worried over the safety and well-being of his highly vulnerable and deeply buried man parts. He lifted Theodosia high and felt himself slide out of her depths, just as a fresh seizure of laughter rolled through her. “For God’s sake, Theodosia! Stop—”
The rest of his command was lost in a loud groan as he tripped over an exposed tree root and fell toward the ground. Instantly, he twisted his body and landed on his back so Theodosia would not be hurt.
Startled, she ceased laughing. “Are you all right?” she asked, sitting on his belly.
He took a moment to retrieve his breath, which had blown completely out of his chest. “Are you kidding?” he managed to answer. “Falling flat on my back on a tree root, with you coming down hard on my belly was such a pleasant experience that I think we should do it again.”
His sarcasm assured her he wasn’t injured. She moved so that she was lying full length upon him. “Roman,” she began, smiling into his steady gaze, “the cracking sound you heard was caused by your stepping on a brittle stick. I am truly sorry I laughed, but when you asked if one of us had broken something, I simply could not—the thought struck me as—you were so serious, that I—”
He watched laughter come into her eyes again, and this time he joined her in her merriment. Holding her tenderly to him, he laughed into her soft fragrant hair and couldn’t remember ever having so much fun.
“Roman,” Theodosia whispered when her fit of amusement had finally subsided, “we have yet to finish what we started.”
He lifted an ebony eyebrow. “Can we do it—I mean,maywe do it the American way?”
She smiled. “Yes, Roman, we may.”
He swept his fingers into the hair at the sides of her head and studied her beauty as if tonight would be the last time he had the pleasure of seeing her. Profoundly tender emotions thrumming through him, he rolled her to her back, and covered her body with his own.
Theodosia gloried in his lovemaking. He pleasured her gently, slowly, and so sweetly that her happiness became a joy so overwhelming, it brought tears to her eyes.
And when at last he was through and he held her next to his warm and powerful body, Theodosia gazed into the fireflames and allowed every memory she had of him to filter through her mind. With each one that came to her, a single truth grew in the heart of her heart, and she slowly came to understand the unfamiliar feeling whose name had eluded her earlier.
She suspected the emotion had come into existence long ago, on the day he’d first settled that glittering sapphire gaze of his upon her.
She’d fallen in love with Roman Montana.
Chapter Eighteen
