Jack struggled to keep his masculine impulses in check, to clear his lust-driven brain.The words, the words, the words...
“Charlene Blanchard, I take you for my wife. I want you by my side, always. I wish to hear your voice every day, to see your face light up in the morning and your head on my shoulder at night. I ask you to bear my children and know that my affection for you will only grow as the years pass. This I promise you.”
Her eyes had grown serious as he’d made his declaration. Did she realize how seductive she was? Or how he valued the gift of her trust?
Their hands were still joined. She now placed his palm against her left breast. “My heart is yours, Jack Whitridge. You are the only one who knows me and has not tried to change me.”
“I would not have you picking pockets,” he had to admit.
She laughed, the sound the music of angels. “I promise I will never stoop to crime again.”
“Thank you. It would not do for a lawyer’s wife to be a petty thief.”
Charlene’s eyes softened. “A lawyer’s wife. There is no finer title that I want. I am yours, Jack. I love you all the way to my soul.”
Ah, yes, blessed.
Jack kissed her. He must. The kiss between them grew heated. Her tongue now tasted him.
His hand covered and stroked her breast as he introduced her to the other places that should be kissed. The bed became their school. Charlene let him push her down into the covers, his leg resting on her thigh.
He kissed her cheeks, her nose, her eyes, but when he nibbled his way to the sensitive skin below her ear, she practically cried out her astonishment.
Jack smiled against her skin. “You like that,” he whispered. “What of this?” He kissed her breasts. She gasped, then sighed her pleasure.
Her voice became a purr. “I like that very much.”
Jack took his time. Reveling in the taste and feel of her skin. The warmth of her body was his haven.
He ran his hand over her hips and down along her thigh. She immediately opened to him. She was that honest and willing... and so he slid his hand up intimately.
Charlene did not flinch but arched herself for him. Her hand returned to his hardness. He stroked and she mimicked the same movement against him and he was the one almost undone.
Jack could delay the moment no longer. He needed to be in her, to feel himself surrounded by her. He rose over her and pressed her back into the mattress.
“If the hurts, even the slightest bit, tell me and I shall withdraw,” he said.
“It won’t,” she answered. “You would never hurt me.”
He was not so certain. Her trust humbled him.
Slowly, he entered her. Her body warmed to his. She reached up for him, placing her hand around his neck and drawing his weight down to him. Their lips met and melded. Jack pulled back and thrust deeper.
He felt her tightness, the breaking. She shifted, a sign she’d experienced something, but she would not let him leave. “Please, love, stay,” she whispered.
Jack began moving, his every sense attuned to her. This was the way it was meant to be between two people who loved each other. This was no fleshy act but a sacred moment between a man and his love.
He sensed her quickening; his own desire picked up heat. Together they moved, striving for that moment, that little death where all cares are erased—
Her hold on him tightened. She said his name, repeating it. Her body arched. Her words became inarticulate. He kept driving, knowing what she needed, letting her ride to that one point, that pinnacle, that glorious completion.
Only then did he allow his own release and it was magnificent. For a span of time, he was lost in her.
And then slowly, he regained his focus. He felt the sheets around them, the softness of the mattress, the curves and secret places of the woman he loved. Jack rolled onto the bed, gathering her up into his arms. She snuggled right into him, holding him tight.
“We did it,” she whispered. “We are no longer alone.”
Her last word caught him by surprise. Since Hope’s death hehadbeen alone. Love’s grace had once again rescued him. “You are my life.Mylife.”
