“Breathe,” he said, and then she felt the tip of him pressing more firmly.
To her surprise, her body did open for him. He slipped in just a fraction and the sensation was powerful. A joining unlike any she had experienced and she realized with a start that this was something she would likely only experience with him. Something secret they shared that bound them. She lifted with the pleasure of that thought and took him a little farther.
The pressure increased in kind and she felt the faint tingle of pain mixed with the satisfaction of his claiming. She must have tensed without realizing it for he lifted his head and looked at her.
“I know,” he whispered. “Slowly now. You’re so perfect.”
He’d said that when he licked her and that praise had been as arousing as his mouth. How could that be possible? Her body flexed and he growled out a curse softly.
“My God, Clarissa,” he murmured. “You will drive me wild.”
Drive him wild. There was a thought. Odd that she felt desperate to see it when a lack of control was usually so frightening to her. But taking his? Oh, that was something else.
“More,” she whispered.
His eyes went wide and he obliged, sliding farther. The pain was fading now as she stretched to take his thick length. A little more and he was fully seated inside of her. He groaned her name and rested his forehead to hers.
“So good,” he whispered.
She nodded. “Y-yes.”
“I’m going to move,” he said. “If you’re ready.”
“I’m ready,” she promised, though she wasn’t entirely certain that was true. This was all so overpowering and magical and mystical. How could anyone be ready?
He withdrew a little and thrust back into her gently and all the wondering vanished because it felt like heaven. He did it again and she found herself rising to meet him, matching his motion with the grip of her body.
“Yes,” he hissed out, and then there was nothing but the roll of his hips against hers, their moans matching in the quiet of the room, the soft sounds of their bodies joining.
Every thrust rubbed just right, building the sensation she’d felt with his mouth all over again. She found herself reaching for it, trying to find it in the dark. His pace was increasing now and the power of this increased with it. Her legs began to shake, she couldn’t find her breath, pleasure inched up and up, overtaking everything else but him and she let out a cry she couldn’t have held back for any amount of gold in the country.
His thrusts increased, as if the ripple of her body as she gripped him stole more of that control she so desperately wanted. His hands cupped her harder, his breath merged with hers in deep pants as he kissed her. And then he grunted her name and she felt the flood of his release fill her gripping sheath as he collapsed over her, pressing kisses to her throat and shoulders like he couldn’t get enough of her taste or feel, even though the deed was done. Their marriage was fully real, in name and in act.
There was no going back. And she found for the first time since her parents had forced both their hands, that she didn’twantto go back. She wanted to be just where she was.
How long they lie like that, legs and bodies tangled, Clarissa couldn’t have said. It felt like a lifetime as Roderick gently kissed her skin, stroked her body with his hands. At last, though, herolled to the side, propping himself up on one elbow as he stared down into her face.
“Was I too rough?” he asked.
She blinked up at him, wondering at the concern on his face. He was truly worried about her, focused on her experience. How many people in her life had been like that?
“Not at all,” she assured him as she reached up to trace the line of his jaw absently.
“Good,” he breathed in what felt like true relief. “As much as we tease about my so-called prowess, I will admit I’ve never taken a virgin to my bed before. I wanted it to be a good experience for you.”
She shook her head. “I suppose I hadn’t thought of it that way. Your lovers were all…experienced.”
He nodded. “This seems a poor topic to discuss with your wife.”
She shrugged. “I know you have a past. It doesn’t trouble me.”
It didn’t, that was true. What did trouble her, a little burn in the back of her pleasure-addled mind, was that he might have a future with lovers, too. A love, even. She pushed that thought away.
“Did I disappoint you, though?” she asked. “Since you are more accustomed to ladies with experience in what to do?”
“No,” he said swiftly. “God, no. What we just did was uncommonly wonderful. To unwrap the sensuality you hide beneath all those layers of propriety was an honor I’m glad to have.”
She worried her lip. “Yes, propriety,” she repeated, and dropped her hand from his face as she stared away from him and toward the crackling fire. “Certainly I didn’t show much of that while I was writhing naked in your arms. Nor do I feel much of it now when I want?—”
