Her breath stuttered in her lungs, and though still mortified by her messiness, and not entirely convinced he spoke the truth, the wanton in her had her parting her legs to invite more of his touch.
He loosed a shuddering breath. “You like this?”
She nodded, closing her eyes as the sensual need inside her built.
He pressed her onto her back and his lips sealed over one of her nipples, suckling her, while his clever fingers played, twisting her insides, tighter, tighter, like an overwound spring ready to soar.
Abruptly, the tension reached a tipping point, and pleasure burst through her like the sun burning through a cloud. Sheheard moaning, realizing it was coming from her, only when Sterling covered her mouth with his, swallowing her cries.
When he’d wrung every last ounce of the exquisite sensation from her, he eased himself on top of her.
Her thighs fell open in helpless invitation. She locked eyes with him, watching him in wonder as he guided himself to her opening and slowly sank himself inside of her.
The pinch from last time did not recur. There was pressure, but it was…exactly right. Him, filling her, his weight pressing her into his lush mattress. Nothing had ever feltmoreright than Sterling’s steady, relentless invasion.
Tears stung her eyes as happiness, unlike anything she’d ever known, overtook her. She reached for him, wrapping him in her arms and legs, needing to hold him to her, to draw him closer.
He choked in a breath, and his control seemingly snapped. His hips drove into her, deeper, faster. In another moment, he groaned, set his jaw, and reclaimed his rhythm. “Not this time, Minx,” he murmured, before kissing her tenderly. So tenderly her heart threatened to burst.
“Sterling, Sterling,” she all but sobbed. Because the heat inside her, the tension, was building with each glide of his hips. “I feel…I need…” She shifted, she arched, she squeezed.
He groaned. Gritted his teeth. Claimed her. Again. Again.
She clung to him, wanting nothing to separate them, not even air. “Please,” she begged, uncertain what she was asking for but certain he would know.
And then, more pleasure unfurled. Sparkling, glittering, like a dozen shooting stars. She cried his name, as her body shuddered and quaked in dizzying release.
Her undoing seemed to spark his own. He arched up, gasping, grinding into her, and calling forth another burst of unimaginable delight.
And then he collapsed atop her, breathing hard. They lay still, locked together in the most intimate manner possible.
The closeness wasn’t real, of course. The happiness she felt would be every bit as fleeting as the intoxicating sensations he’d coaxed from her body. She knew as well as anyone that people ultimately pursued their own best interests. For now, theirs were aligned.
So long as her needs did not clash with his, so long as he found her beauty and allure entertaining, they would do well together.
For now, it was enough.
Chapter 28
Sterling awoke some time later, naked, his body wrapped around the perfectly delectable creature that was his wife. Hiswife.
He did not move so much as a muscle, glancing at her sleeping form. Her tousled blond hair shone, catching the last of the sun’s winter rays slanting in through his bedchamber window.
With care, he extracted his arm from beneath her head to rise from the bed. She mumbled something incoherent and tried to snuggle back into his warmth. He hated to deny her, but with nightfall, the dropping temperatures would soon make this chamber an icebox if he did not address the grate.
With that in mind, he padded across the room to deal with the dying embers. Next, he’d call for supper for the two of them.
And then…he smiled and crouched to pile some kindling on the coals then coaxed it to blaze.
And then.Already arousal stirred his loins. But no. It would be too soon. She would be sore. He could wait. Perhaps they could do…other things.
In the grate, the fire began to crackle, and he added a log.
Behind him, the sound of sheets shifting told him his sleeping bride had awoken.
He glanced over his shoulder at her as he straightened.
She had pulled the bedcovers up to her chin. Her long, lustrous hair spilled over her shoulders like a mermaid’s. She stared at him with eyes the color of the sea.
