“You sleep here, don’t you?”
He nodded. No point in denying it. There was no shame to it, but even still, the way she looked at him when he told her, it was almost as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Oh, Arran,” she murmured. “Why?”
He turned his head away from her. The way she looked at him, it was as though she could see right through him, into hissoul. He had never been this exposed in front of someone before, and it made him… uneasy, to say the least.
And yet, as she moved before him, lifting her hand to his cheek, he felt that he could not pull away. There was a part of him that wanted her to see him. A part of him that wanted to finally allow someone in. For so long, he had done all he could to keep everyone away from him, to protect his mind and his heart from everyone who came close. It was simply safer that way. But now, here, as he stood before the woman he had taken his wedding vows to? Whatever walls he had put up, they were beginning to crumble.
He tilted his head into her hand, closing his eyes, allowing the warmth of her touch to course through his body. Slowly, carefully, she reached out her thumb to brush it along the hollow of his cheek, down to his jaw. The first time they had come this close, he had been the one in control, but now, he let her touch him, as she wanted to.
“You don’t have to sleep here, alone,” she told him, and he opened his eyes once more. Her gaze was fixed on his, burning into her.
“And where else would ye have me sleep?” he asked her. He needed to hear her say it. No matter how hard it might have been to put it into words, he longed to hear her say the thing that he needed her to; she wanted him, longed for him, craved him as much as he craved her. He’d not take an unwilling woman, and he wanted to make certain that she was sure of her need for him before he laid another hand on her.
“With me,” she breathed, and he could feel her hand trembling against his face. “With… with me. Please, Arran. I want you to sleep with me every night. And I don’t want to wake up and find you gone. When I wake in the morning, I want you to be there beside me, where you belong. My husband. Not down here in the study, surrounded by dusty old books.”
“With you, aye?”
She nodded. Before he could think twice about what he was doing, he leaned towards her, and kissed her.
As soon as their lips came together, the barriers crumbled. He pulled her into his arms, wrapping them around her tight, and guiding her back to the very bench that he had spent so many nights alone on. He had never imagined that he would allow anyone else into this place, let alone someone like her, but now, as he moved on top of her, her body pressed against his, he knew he had just been waiting for the right person to share it with.
Her hands tangled in his long hair as she let out a gasp against his mouth, and his hardness began to swell beneath his cloak. He pulled it aside, moving to push up her skirt in the same instant. She reached for the hem of her dress and gathered it above her hips, and he leaned back for a moment, admiring her half-nakedness below him.
His eyes trailed along her body, from the soft curve of her thigh to her belly to her chest, rising and falling so fast it seemed a miracle that she could catch her breath. For all her refinement and nobility, there seemed to be something of a wild animal in her now.
And if there was one thing he knew how to handle, it was a wild animal.
He stripped her from the waist down, moving back on top of her and kissing her once more. Her tongue found his, speaking a million words of want against his lips, and he pressed himself against the crease of her thigh. Her breath stuttered against his lips, and he pulled back, pressing his head into hers.
“Tell me,” he ordered her. He did not need to explain what he was referring to. It was clear, from the way he was touching her, the way he was moving against her, the insistent pressure of his hardness against her hip, what he wanted.
“I need you,” she pleaded with him, her legs parting, as though of their own accord. “Please, Arran…”
Hearing that desperation in her tone sent a shockwave of want through his whole system, his body finally unable to fight any longer. All the desire he had been trying to stem, it was finally demanding his attention, and he could do nothing but give into it.
He took himself in his hand, guiding his manhood towards the soft folds of her sex. She parted her thighs for him, opening like a flower in bloom, as he planted himself at her entrance. Slowly, he began to ease himself inside of her.
He moved slowly, taking in every expression on her face as she registered this sensation. He could see a slight furrow in her brow, and he mistook it for pain, stilling for a moment before he went any further.
“No, no, please,” she murmured to him, voice breathy. “More. It’s just… new, that’s all…”
He planted his mouth to hers again as he continued to ease himself inside of her but, with how perfect she felt around him, it took every bit of self-control he had not to just plunge into her and take her like a wild animal. Her hands wound around him, sliding down to the small of his back, and resting there as he finally pressed his full length inside of her.
He held himself there for a long moment, letting her grow accustomed to the new sensation. Her mouth opened a little wider against his, and she pressed down on the small of his back, silently telling him that she craved more.
And he was more than willing to give her everything she wanted. Slowly, he drew himself back, and then moved into her again then repeated the motion, taking his time, savoring every moment of their closeness. Moving his mouth to her neck, he breathed in the scent of her, that intoxicating feminine musk that seemed to swell out of every inch of her body.
As he slowly moved into her, she began to match his pace, pushing back against him, her hips rising, her feet wrapping around his calves as she drew him closer and closer to her. It was as though she could barely get enough of the way he felt inside of her, the intensity of their connection more than either of them could deny any longer. From the moment he had kissed her in that carriage, he had craved her like this, and to finally give in to the tension between them felt better than he could have imagined.
The two of them rocked together, their bodies rising and falling in perfect unison as they drew closer and closer to their edge. He could hear her making the same noises she had done the night before, when they had explored each other, their chests pressed together, the swell of her breast against his thudding heart.
When he pulled back again to gaze into her eyes, there was a blaze in her gaze that almost stilled him, but right then, he felt it; the moment she tipped over and into her release. Her lips parted, and a small whimper escaped them, her vision growing blurry and distant as she stared at him. She slid her hand to the nape of his neck, guiding him against her so that he could watch her expression, written with pleasure, as he stilled himself within her.
It was the movement of her body which took him over the edge. That, and the knowledge that he had done so much to pleasure her, that he was enough to please a woman like her. He moved into her one last time and held himself there, a deep growl emanating from some place deep inside of him as he reached his release.
He held himself there for a long moment, not yet willing to break this sensation between them. As she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close, her breath began to go back tonormal, softening to what it had been before the two of them had come together.
