Reaching for the hem of her chemise, he lifted, and she wriggled beneath him in the most delicious way until he was able to pull the whisper-thin garment over her head.
He hardly dared look down, knowing that he’d be utterly undone by the sight. To his surprise, she reached up and pushed his robe from his shoulders. “You too. I want to see you.”
Well, who was he to object? What the lady wanted, the lady would get. He sat back on his heels and shed his robe, dropping it off the side of the bed to join her chemise in a crumpled heap.
Her gaze on his flesh tickled and tortured like the tip of a feather. When it landed on his pulsing cockstand, she gasped and reached for it, brushing her fingers along the side and over the tip, making him lean in, despite his best intentions. She drew her hand back suddenly upon touching the drop of liquid at the top. “Oh! It’s wet!”
He had to smile at her innocence. If he needed further proof of her inexperience, here it was. “It’s a sign of how badly I want you. When two people come together, they draw nectar from each other. It’s a sign of desire. It happens to you too.”
Unable to resist, he reached between her legs, brushing slowly between her folds, watching with a wicked grin as her mouth dropped open and her eyes widened. Good Lord! That slick heat would be his undoing. He lingered for a moment, brushing the tender bit of flesh that would send her to the heavens when she was ready. She quivered at his teasing touch, and he slid his finger further back, pressing it into her as hecontinued to stroke her bud with his thumb. Her whole body trembled, and she moaned as she pressed into his hand.
He'd only intended a demonstration, but now that he had her at his mercy, he couldn’t stop. Using his other hand to tease her breast, he brought her higher and higher, his breath rasping as he watched the gorgeous sight. In very little time, her eyes squeezed shut and her whole body rose in an ecstatic arc.
By God, she was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen! And she was his. All his. To have and to hold for the rest of their lives. Had any man ever been so lucky?
No, he didn’t dare think about luck because his had always been abysmal, and the higher his euphoria, the harder he would fall if things went awry. But it was too late. Far too late, and he was lost already. He might as well revel in it.
As if she’d read his thoughts, she wrapped her long, lithe legs around his waist. “More,” she crooned, her bedroom eyes melting him like so much wax.
“Are you ready?” He needed to hear her say it. There was no going back.
“Yes, David. I’m ready.”
“God help us both.”
He settled at her entrance and braced himself to lose his soul for the sake of a moment of heaven with her.
Chapter 10
Clarissa hardly knew where she ended, and David began. Every thought in her head had been replaced with the overriding need to get closer, to open herself more completely, impossible as that seemed. As he slid into her, she could hardly breathe. His progress was agonizingly slow. She squirmed against him, wanting a fruition she hardly understood.
He filled her, stretched her. There was a slight pinching sensation as he rocked gently and pressed the final inch, and then it was gone, replaced by an overwhelming sense of rightness. They fit together perfectly, as if they had been made for each other, made for this. A curious restlessness took over, and she couldn’t stop herself from rocking her hips beneath him.
David groaned as he buried his face in her neck, kissing and nibbling in a way that made her strain and writhe all the more.
“Clarissa…my sweet,” he murmured against her neck as he pressed even deeper and sending sparks from head to toe.
“I’m yours. All yours.” She ran her hands up and down his lean body, memorizing every curve and plane, as he pulled back slightly then pressed in, making stars sparkle behind her eyelids.
He did it again, sparking another explosion. And again and again in a steady rhythm that built and built until there was nothing left but pulsing white light and hunger.
This was the mystical connection she had sought. Their two bodies had become one, moving in perfect synchrony. Her heart was full to overflowing, knowing that he trusted her like this, that he was willing to give so much of himself after holding back at every step. He was hers at last. Her knight had not failed her. He was everything she had hoped for when she dreamed of a love match.
Their movements grew frenzied, and she relished his loss of control. After all the worry and doubt in the lead up to their wedding, it filled her heart to see such proof of the depth of his ardor. But was it truly love?
If it wasn’t, it was certainly a step along the way. It was something she could build on with time, showing him in word and deed that she cherished him and that his heart was safe with her.
That she was in love, she did not doubt. She had begun to fall for him before he was her fiancé, and what she had learned of him since had deepened her feelings for him. She could only pray that someday, he would feel for her what she felt for him. It was too soon to declare her love, so she tried to show him, clutching him close and kissing him with all the words she left unspoken until his whole body shuddered and he cried out.
He reached between them, stroking the place between her folds that had sent her to the stars earlier, and she hurdled into the cosmos, all conscious thought obliterated. The hot pulsation within her as he thrust into her one last time pushed her over the edge into an ocean of white light and bliss.
As she floated back to consciousness, he rolled to his side, pulling her to face him, their legs entangled. He clutched her with gentle strength, as if he feared letting go, and kissed her forehead, murmuring her name again and again like an incantation.
Warm lethargy overtook her as she snuggled into his embrace. It was difficult to form words when he asked, “How do you feel?”
She brushed her lips against his as she searched for an answer. Blissful, sated, addled, transformed, complete, happy, safe… In the end, all she managed was, “Mmmm.”
He chuckled, and she could feel the vibrations in his chest as he clutched her closer. “Rest, love. I’ll guard your sleep.”
