With a full-bodied shiver, he spent his seed, knowing he was truly hers, too.
…
Julia felt as if Rayne had sliced her straight up her middle. Exposed everything inside that was weak and hidden and then molded her into something entirely new. This wasn’t the raw lust they’d indulged in before.
This—this was something she never could have imagined.
For the first time today, she was certain she would no longer regret any of her choices. Not that first demand for a kiss in the library. Not agreeing to the impulsive plan to abduct him. And especially not the vows they’d spoken, nor the pain of the troth their bodies just pledged.
She could have—as Farring pointed out—chosen a safe husband. Someone proper. A refined gentleman who’d have treated her with deference and temperate consideration. But no matter how genteel the man, he would have had to invade her body in the same way Rayne just had.
Unthinkable to submit to something so painful, so raw, and, ultimately, so beautiful with someone she’d chosen through logic alone.
Rayne was who he was—often rough, occasionally brooding, sometimes crude—but, when the time demanded, careful, protective, and kind.
Again and again her heart had chosen him. And now, she was finally, fully united with him…and reunited with the part of her she’d given over to him the moment they’d first locked eyes.
He withdrew, rolled onto his back, and pulled her against his side. She rocked with his breath, content. If she’d learned anything in those three blissful days at Periwinkle Gate, she’d learned that men—or, at least,thisman—temporarily lost his mind once he spilled his seed.
She needn’t any reassurance yet. Time would tell how he’d been affected. And she refused to ruin this moment with any more thought.
She rested her palm against his stomach. Then, a wet sensation webbed between her fingers.
She lifted her hand. “Oh, heavens!” Her fingers were stained with blood. “You are bleeding.”
“How can you possibly be so innocent?” He stroked her back. “You who acted as if you knew everything from the start. You who—like such a thing was nothing—took my cock inside your mouth?”
She frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He brushed her hair from her face and rubbed his thumb between her brows until she ceased to scowl. “I didn’t mean to offend.”
“I’m neither innocent nor experienced. Neither wise nor foolish.”
“I know.” He sobered. “I apologize.”
“Pardon?” She closed one eye. “Could you say that again?”
“I apologize,” he repeated. “And you needn’t act as if I’ve never done so before.”
“Rare, though. You have to admit.”
Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, she was in trouble. One coupling had somehow imbued him with the power to dissipate her anger with a small, teasing smile.
He covered her hand with his. Absently, he played with her fingers. “Still no regrets?”
“None,” she answered.
“Good.” He leaned down and placed a soft kiss to her lips. “Now, don’t be unnerved.”
“Why should I be?”
“It’s your blood.”
She sucked in.
“Your maidenhead did, in fact, rip. I wish it hadn’t caused you so much pain, but it’s perfectly natural the first time, as I understand. In our grandparents’ time, the sheets would be kept as a sign you were chaste.”
She gasped. “Is that why you bought new bedding?”
