She could only nod this time, her words stolen from her by the force of his nearness when he stepped closer still.
“This will be no different. All you have to do is give yourself up to passion.”
Her eyes met his, the intensity of his gaze reminding her how much she wanted this man in the most elemental way possible. Surrendering to this awareness, she allowed herself to be bold, to lift her hand and run her fingertips down the side of his neck. Curiously, she watched his tendons there work, listened to his shuddering breath as her thumb smoothed over his collarbone.
“Josephine.” Her name hissed past his clenched teeth.
“Hmm?”
She tugged at his shirt, and he caught her wrist. A pause followed—one long hesitant moment in which her anticipation grew—and then his mouth captured hers, kissing her feverishly and dragging her to him until their bodies were molded together in one singular form. His hands slid up her back, his fingers working the buttons of her gown and then the ties of her stays until both were eased away from her body, leaving her only in her chemise.
And since she had no intention of being the only one left in a state of complete dishabille, she tugged Devon’s shirt free from his trousers and pulled it up over his head. The garment sailed through the air in a flurry of white, banished from Josephine’s mind. All she could do at present was admire her husband’s stunning physique. Stilling, he allowed her perusal. Nor did he move to stop her when she hesitantly set her palm to his abdomen, marveling at the rows of muscle and how they flexed in response to her touch. Unable to resist, she leaned in and pressed a reverent kiss to his chest.
But when she ran her hands toward the waistband of his trousers and dipped her fingers inside, he moved with incredible speed, clasping at her chemise and drawing it over her head before she could manage a breath. She was suddenly in his arms, her mouth subject to his exploration as he carried her to the bed. Gently, he laid her on the mattress, sinking down with her while deepening the kiss in a sensual exploration of taste and touch.
His hands forged sensuous paths along the length of her body, sliding across the curve of her waist and trailing over the length of her thighs. When she reached for his waistband again, he made no attempt to stop her, helping her instead in her effort to divest him of his remaining clothing. And then they were both perfectly naked, their bodies touching in all the right places, heightening her need until she cried out with indescribable pleasure. “Devon!”
He planted a series of kisses upon her neck, sparking a deeper desire – an unfamiliar yearning for increased contact. “I love you,” he whispered against her ear as he joined his body with hers. “You’re everything to me—” He moved in closer, commencing an age-old rhythm of uninhibited craving. “My entire world.”
Amazed by every sensation he wrung from her body, Josephine stared up into his hooded gaze. “I love you too. With all that I am.” Nothing had ever felt truer than this, no experience more perfect and no future brighter. He was what she’d been looking for all of her life—the missing part of her soul.
