“You don’t have to now if you still don’t want to.”
She lifted her chin and he could see tears shining in her eyes. “My brother was shot, killed in the war.”
Beau nodded. “I see. I suspected as much, but when you said he was murdered, I wondered about the details.”
“He was killed in the war,” she repeated, staring straight ahead at the wall, unseeing.
Beau squeezed her hand. “I can see it’s difficult for you to talk about. I’ll walk you back to your room.”
She shook her head and met his gaze. “I don’t want you to walk me back to my room, Beau.”
He swallowed hard. “What do you want me to do?”
Marianne stared unseeing at the wall for several moments. She looked frightened, alone. He moved closer, pulling her to his chest for a hug. He wanted to hold her, soothe her. He caressed her arms, her back. He smoothed her hair before placing a chaste kiss on her cheek. All the while, he murmured words of comfort.
She turned her face up to him. “Kiss me again.”
He pulled back and searched her features. “Are you certain?”
She nodded. “Yes. When you touch me, everything else fades and there’s only you. Only pleasure.”
Beau went slowly at first. He lifted one hand to her neck, pulling her closer to his mouth as his lips descended to hers. But the moment their mouths met, Marianne didn’t allow him to be gentle. Her tongue pushed its way between his lips, and she began ripping at his shirt.
Only moments passed before they were both naked on the cot and Marianne laid down and pulled him atop her. “Make me yours again, Beau,” she breathed.
Beau’s hand moved between her legs to ensure she was wet and ready for him, but unlike last night, he didn’t spend time stoking the fire inside of her. They both wanted this fast and hard and he was prepared to give it to her.
He pushed her legs apart with his knee, then slid inside of her, waiting for only a second to ensure she was settled, before sliding out and pumping into her again and again. Her head moved back and forth fitfully on the pillow. The tiny groans coming from her throat were nearly his undoing.
When she grabbed his buttocks and squeezed, that was it. Beau pumped into her again and again until he was on the precipice of one of the fastest, most fulfilling orgasms of his entire life. He pulled out of her swiftly and came on the mattress beside her hip, his breathing nothing more than a series of ragged gasps.
She had a satisfied smile on her lips when he leaned up to look at her face moments later. “I apologize for that,” he said with a sheepish grin. “That was rushed, and very bad form.”
“Nothing to apologize for,” she said, snuggling deeper into the cover, the grin still inexplicably riding her lips.
What was she grinning for? He knew he hadn’t pleasured her the way he had last night.
“I don’t understand,” he began.
“I loved it,” she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck and turning so that her lips met his ear, “because I loved making you lose control.”
He had to chuckle at that. “Well, you certainly did that,” he admitted, before tossing the cover over his head and descending down the length of her body. “But I fully intend to make it up to you.”
As his tongue swiped between her legs, her eyes rolled back into her head and Marianne didn’t have another coherent thought for several more minutes, until well after she’d come so hard, her body lifted itself from the bed.
In the aftermath, she pulled the covers up to her underarms while she considered how truly skilled the man was with his tongue. It was amazing, really.
He pulled her into his arms and held her there tightly as he had the night before, and she pretended again that whatever this was between them was real.
She waited for several silent, satisfied moments to pass before she ventured, “Why…why did you…withdraw?”
“Excuse me?” His voice held a note of confusion.
“Please don’t make me repeat it,” she said, her cheeks heating. “I only ask because…William never did that.”
Beau pulled her close again and kissed her cheek. “Then William was a selfish ass. I did that so you wouldn’t find yourself with a baby nine months from now.”
Marianne nodded. Of course. And Beau was right, Williamwasa selfish ass. Then again, at the time she’d thought they were going to be married, so a baby hadn’t been a fear; but he hadn’t ever asked her if she’d got with child. She hadn’t, of course, but William hadn’t known that.
