“But it meant so much to me,” she said. “Knowing how you hated me but were still willing to reach out in my saddest moment. I kept that damn note for months until Kirkford found it and destroyed it. But he couldn’t destroy my memory of it.”
“I wish I had been there for you.”
She shook her head. “You were, in my heart. And when I heard you were to marry Celia, I thought I would shatter from the pain of it. Kirkford crowed and I died a little inside. But when I found out your engagement had ended, it was the only light in my darkness. I knew I couldn’t have you, even though Kirkford was dead by then. I believed I’d never even see you again, but still…you were there and in the world and you were free. It was a selfish thing to want, but I did.”
He reached for her, overwhelmed by these continued confessions, but also by her absolute faith that he would hear and protect her. And now he would.
“Listen to me. You have me, Elise. In a way, you always did.” He stroked her cheek. “And I promise you, from this day forward, as long as I have breath in my body, you always will.Thatis my wedding vow to you, not the ones said up at the house. This. I will love you until my world ends. And I will love you in the next.”
Her face crumpled a little and he realized his own cheeks were damp. He didn’t care. He could give her those emotions, too, and for once he knew he could trust her with them.
“I love you,” she murmured, wrapping her arms around his neck. “And I will never waste a moment of this second chance. I realize that it is a rare and special thing.”
“Good,” he said, lifting her against him, off the floor as he cupped her backside and began to carry her out of the main room and up the stairs into the master quarters. “Because I think we’ve wasted enough of them already. And it’s time to truly make you my wife.”
Elise couldn’t believe how much she and Lucien had laughed as he helped her undress. It was like confession, trust, forgiveness, had burned away all the bad and left only hope and happiness. Now she lay on his bed, naked, watching as he stripped away the last remnants of his own clothing.
Her heart stuttered and her breath caught as she looked at him. He was all wiry strength and coiled muscle as he stalked toward her. And he was ready for her, too, as proven by the thick cock that curled proudly against his belly.
“I’ve been waiting for this since we agreed to wed,” he murmured as he took a place next to her. He rolled onto his side facing her and placed a hand against her bare skin.
She shivered at the press of his rough flesh against her softness. “I’ve been waiting for this almost all my life,” she murmured before she leaned in to kiss him deeply, passionately, with all the love she felt for him and all the hope she now dared to have.
He smiled against her lips, lifting his hands into her hair as he rolled onto his back and drew her over him. She pulled away, understanding his surrender as exactly what it was. He was showing her his trust in her now.
And she wasn’t about to waste it or this moment when she had control over their lovemaking. She sat up on her knees and looked down the long length of his naked body. In that moment she knew exactly what she wanted to do. She leaned in, gently kissing and licking his neck, sliding her lips across his collarbone, his broad chest.
He caught his breath as she inched lower, swirling her tongue around one flat nipple with the same focus and pressure that he had with her nipples so many times.
“What are you doing?” he murmured, his voice low and rough.
She looked up the length of his body even as she pushed his legs open with one hand, creating a space for her to kneel in as she worked her mouth over his stomach.
“Exactly what you think I’m doing. Don’t argue.”
He said nothing more, just settled back, his hands folded behind his head as he watched her intently. She kept her gaze locked with his as she kissed his hip then slid her mouth over and smoothed her cheek against his cock.
He made a strangled noise and lifted against her slightly. She smiled, her heart swelling with love and the knowledge that she could move him just as he so often moved her.
Slowly she darted her tongue out and licked the length of his cock, starting at the base and sliding up to the tip in one long, languid stroke. He responded by cursing, and she laughed.
“Is that a message to stop or keep going?” she teased him.
His eyes narrowed. “Whatever you do, don’t stop,” he said, his voice almost impossibly rough.
She licked him again, swirling her tongue around his length over and over and over.
Slowly she pressed her mouth around him, lowering herself to take as much as she could before she withdrew. As he moaned, she paid attention, sliding over him harder and faster, then slower when he clenched his fists against the coverlet. She found that even though she was doing this only for him, even though he didn’t touch her in any way, her body grew heavy, wet as she took him. She snaked one free hand between her legs and restlessly touched herself as she brought him closer and closer to the edge.
Finally he moaned deep and low, and then he caught her arms and dragged her up his body.
“This is not where I’m going to spend for the first time with my wife,” he growled before he crushed his mouth down on hers, shifting their positions so that his bigger body half covered hers, holding her in place as he smoothed a hand down her body and joined her fingers between her legs.
“I would very much like to watch you touch yourself,” he murmured as he kissed her neck. “We’ll put it on the list of ways to pleasure you later.”
He pushed her hand aside gently and covered her fully with his. His fingers parted her folds, sending electric pleasure through her body as he pressed a thumb to her clitoris and two fingers deep into her wet, clenching sheath.
She moaned his name, arching against his chest as pleasure rolled through her body in a slow, building wave. He watched her, breath heavy, eyes hooded as he stroked and stroked until her back arched and she shuddered out a climax against his fingers.
