He shrugged. “None of them were you,” he murmured.
She stared at him for several seconds, her breath held. “Oh, John,” she finally said on a sigh, wrapping an arm around his neck while she stood on tiptoes to kiss him. When she ended thekiss, she placed a hand over his, guiding it so it cupped one of her breasts as she pushed the corset from her body.
Although it didn’t provide enough light for the entire room, the hurricane lamp was close enough to illuminate her. Ella Mae felt far too exposed, but then she saw how the light played off John’s chest, and she inhaled softly. “You’re so... broad,” she whispered.
“Is that bad?” He rubbed a thumb over one of her nipples, the nubbin leaving a silhouette in the fabric of her chemise.
She inhaled sharply, which had her breast filling his hand. He repeated the move on her other nipple, and she mewled softly. “No,” she managed. She placed the pads of her fingers against his warm skin, trailing them through dark curls and down his stomach to the top of his trousers. She knew what caused the bulge below that, even if she hadn’t seen one directly. Cupping her hand along its length, she gently pressed it.
John inhaled sharply and covered her hand with one of his. “Careful,” he whispered hoarsely.
She pulled her hand away. “Did I hurt you?”
“Exactly the opposite.” He fumbled with the buttons of his trousers.
Ella Mae understood his struggle and immediately went to work undoing the fastenings. The trousers opened, and his manhood sprang out as she pushed the garment down his hips. “Oh, my,” she whispered.
“Is that a good ‘oh my’ or an ‘oh my’ of disappointment?” He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled his boots and stockings from his feet, placing the footwear at the end of the bed.
Ella Mae gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Mayhap of fright?” She took in his nakedness from head to toe and back to his crotch when he stood and pulled her into his arms. She resettled her cheek against his warm skin. One of his arms had wrapped behind her shoulders while the other was at the back of herwaist, as if he feared she might try to leave the room. She glanced up at him. “You’re very warm.”
“There is a reason,” he remarked dryly.
She pulled one of her hands from behind his back and smoothed it between them until it came in contact with his manhood. Drawing a finger down the side of it, she paused when his breathing hitched.
“It’s so soft,” she murmured.
“I beg your pardon?”
She blinked and then drew the finger up the vein that throbbed along its length. “The skin. It’s like velvet.” She added her thumb and gently squeezed, her hold on him giving way when he pulled back. “Like velvet stretched over a metal rod.”
“I don’t think it’s ever been this hard.” He took her hand and guided her fingers to wrap around the shaft and then moved them up and down, his breaths shortening when she tightened her hold. “I fear if you do that much longer, I’ll come too quick.”
“Won’t you feel pleasure? From your... your release?” A bead of moisture had formed at the tip of his manhood. She drew her thumb over it, spreading it out as John inhaled sharply.
“How do you know about that?” he asked between gasps for air.
Ella Mae glanced up at him. “Mother says making love is really quite pleasurable.”
He nodded before he remembered she hadn’t experienced the intense pleasure of sexual congress. “I think we’re about to find out.”
“Will you...?”
She couldn’t finish the sentence when he suddenly pulled the chemise from her body and scooped her into his arms. He had her in the middle of the bed and his body atop hers before she could react. His mouth covered one of her breasts, his tongue flicking across her nipple until she whimpered. Moving to theother side, he murmured something about how beautiful she was before doing the same with her other breast.
Needing something to hold onto, Ella Mae speared her fingers into his black hair, her fingernails scraping his scalp. She felt him shiver, heard his labored breathing, and thrilled when one of his hands smoothed down her belly, through her damp curls, and to her thighs. Knowing some of what to do, she parted her knees in invitation and almost drew them shut when his fingers slid past her folds and circled her most private place.
“Did I hurt you?” He stilled his fingers.
“You startled me, is all. Do go on. Please.”
He chuckled softly, reveling in how she angled her hips to welcome his touch. When he heard her breaths shorten and her soft whimpers increase in volume, he quickened his ministrations until he heard his name called out and her body quivered. He ceased moving his hand when one of hers suddenly covered it.
His need for her too great, he didn’t give her time to catch her breath. He hooked his arms beneath her knees to lift them and then pushed his manhood into her in a tentative thrust.
Ella Mae’s back arched in response, and he seemed to drive deeper into her before he pulled nearly all the way out of her.
He might have paused to prevent what he feared was about to happen, but his body required surcease. He had been too close to his release the moment before he lifted her onto the bed. Now that her thighs gripped his and her fingernails were leaving half-moon indentations in his back, John knew she was his. Only a few more thrusts, and his entire body spasmed, the intense pleasure blinding him to everything but the soft body beneath him.
