Chapter Twelve #2
“We were attacked just before dawn. It was a damn cold morning in Spain. Our socks were threadbare, toes were frozen, bellies were nearly empty.” As he talked, Cecil let his fingertips drift down her spine.
Then he drew up the hem of her thin night dress so he could cup the curve of her arse.
“They had more numbers and more weapons. We hadn’t seen the attack coming due to fog.
I tried my best to keep him safe.” His voice caught.
“Fighting was fierce. I’d fallen on my back.
The demented boy threw himself bodily in front of me. ”
“And took the brunt of the attack,” she finished in a whispered voice.
“Yes.” He let the tears fall to his cheeks, for some of his stress eased by talking to her.
“The young man was gutted by a bayonet blade. By the time I killed his attacker, he was on the ground, nearly dead.” His voice broke.
“He reached out a hand to me at the last, implored me to help him, told me the pain was so intense…”
“It was his choice to do that for you. I only hope you honored his memory by saving the next one.”
“I did.” He nodded though she probably couldn’t see the gesture due to the dark. “Many times over.” In an effort to purge his soul of the guilt for not saving that one. A few moments slipped by as he let the softness of her skin distract him. “God, Emma, I truly am sorry for everything.”
“I know you are.” Her fingers paused on his chest.
“Have I cocked everything between us up beyond saving?” It would kill him the rest of the way if she said he had.
“I don’t believe so. In fact, I think you’ve stopped yourself from doing that just in time.” Then his wife kissed his lips and that was all he needed.
For several minutes, they spoke with kisses and fleeting caresses.
Eventually, he needed more skin-to-skin contact, and it took next to no time to assist her out of her nightdress while she did the same for his sleeping shirt.
“Ah, that is better.” Then he rolled her onto her back where he settled her between his legs while ignoring his growing arousal.
“Show me that granting you this final reprieve isn’t a mistake, Cecil. I want a real marriage, a true union.” A gasp escaped her as he ever so gently he drew his fingers along her sides, playing her ribs as if he were a pianist. “Working together, we can have that.”
“I want to believe that too.” A shiver of need went down his spine. “Haven’t you realized by now that when I married you, it was forever?”
“I bit difficult to believe that when you ran from me.” Her eyes fluttered closed, and she reclined into him, her back to his front, both relaxed and with taut muscles. “But now? Are you still afraid, Thornton?”
“Every damned day, but I am willing to screw my courage to the sticking place in order to keep you.”
“Ha.” She worried the skin beneath his jaw, peppered it with tiny kisses. “I have been betrayed by pretty words before, and by you, Thornton. Now I need actions to back up promises.”
Would he lose her after all? “Words are not my strong suit, but I am more than willing to show you my intentions as many times as you wish it.” Cecil cupped her breasts, and she sucked in a breath of surprise.
“Is that acceptable just now?” Needing to touch her, taste her, he kissed the side of her neck.
“It is, but don’t break my heart again…” Emma sighed as he squeezed her breasts, rolled the nipples at the roots. “Oh, yes, do that.”
He chuckled. “Perhaps I should stop, for this is far too distracting.”
“You said it yourself, you weren’t one for words.”
“Indeed. I can do this or grow you a flower garden, or gift you with honey from my bees. Whatever you want.” His lips glanced along the side of her neck.
“I want you to start.”
“Mmm, I can give you that.” When she stirred restlessly against him, he grinned. ”You are exactly the sort of woman I need in my life as it is now.”
“Good, since I am still your wife.”
“Thank you for remembering that.” As he glanced his palms over her erect nipples, a shuddering moan escaped her. She arched her back, clearly lost in pleasure, and that was exactly where he needed her to be.”
“I need so much more, Cecil.” Did she refer to what they were about to do or for life in general? Perhaps it didn’t matter. Then she wriggled her bottom, and that friction against his hardening shaft sent him to the very edges of bliss, but he couldn’t let himself go with abandon yet.
Desperate, he racked his brain for how to convey his feelings while he caressed the perfect globes of her breasts.
With each pass of his hands, each stroke and twist of his fingers on those dark pink, perky nipples, she moaned.
As he slipped a hand down her torso, past the soft swell of her belly, over her mons to delve his fingers into the curls shrouding her sex, the sounds of pleasure and encouragement she made went straight to his shaft.
Ever since the first, they had been a perfect fit physically and carnally; there had been no need to think about it.
If he waited too much longer, he would embarrass himself by spending too soon, for his need for her was great, but he gritted his teeth and ignored the throbbing discomfort.
Right now, his focus was on Emma, in caring for every need she had—mind, body, and spirit—because he suspected the love he’d initially held for her hadn’t changed.
Well, it had, but perhaps it had merely deepened, matured.
“Ah, Cecil, this reminds me of when we were first married.” She half-turned, drifted her fingertips along the mangled side of his face, and he sucked in a breath, for even in that weightless touch, her concern was evident.
“More.” The dear woman parted her legs to allow him greater access, and as he spread her folds to uncover the swelling button at her center, she moaned.
She held his other hand to her breast, pressing it to the nipple.
He couldn’t wait to claim her body, to show her the depth of his regard.
“Thank you for tonight, for bringing me back.”
“How could I not?”
“Mmm.” Though he didn’t want to ruin the moment with talking, nothing had been decided between them.
“I suspect I have always been weak without you in my life; I’ve been a wretched fool.
” Cecil circled that tiny bundle of nerves, teased her with varying levels of friction, and all the while, he kissed the side of her neck, plucked and rolled her nipple, did everything he could to back up his words.
As her breath came in labored pants, he grinned.
“When I look at you, I see the man I fell in love with through letters, the man I know I’ll be proud of once you fully grasp the man you are.”
It continued to boggle his mind she hadn’t given up entirely on him. To cover his confusion, he worried that swollen bud, rubbed it, flicked it, circled it as if that were his only purpose in life, and he wouldn’t stop until she’d found that first release of the night.
“I couldn’t let you continue to be lost.” She writhed against his body, and his hardened length pulsed with urgent need.
“Perhaps you have been my light all along. How could I have not seen it?” As he spoke, Cecil sought to push her toward the brink, and for one second, he left off working her nubbin to slip two fingers into her honeyed heat.
A ragged moan left his throat when she bucked her hips into his hand.
“I can’t wait to claim your body.” She was warm and welcoming as he stroked into her passage, and as her feminine walls greedily sucked at his digits, he bit back the urge to spend.
“I haven’t bid you nay, Thorton.” The words were breathless and wispy as she moved restlessly in his hold.
“You are as stubborn as I in most things.” His voice broke. “I want to share everything with you, every messy, emotional failure and every moment of triumph.” In and out, he thrust his fingers into her while bedeviling her button with his thumb. “I have been such a fool these past days.”
“Welcome home, Cecil.” Tears slipped down the slopes of her cheeks.
Unable or unwilling to say anything, he renewed his attentions at her breast. He withdrew from her passage only to focus on her nubbin with greater intensity.
“Oh!” A shiver racked her body, but he didn’t let up on the friction, the play he did to her button or her nipple.
When she fell into that release, she did it in spectacular fashion.
A low keening cry left her throat as her body stiffened then relaxed.
His wife clutched his arm, while contractions and waves of pleasure made her temporarily mad.
It was one of the most glorious things he’d ever shared with anyone, and he wanted to always be the man to send her flying.
The piece of his heart flew into her keeping.
As soon as she came back to herself, he went onto his back, encouraged her to straddle his waist. Now that he was able to gaze upon her lush body as much as the darkness would allow, his arousal grew more acute, but he tamped on the need to immediately claim her.
“I hope I never give you cause to feel disappointment in me again.” Putting his hands on either side of her neck—erotically this time—he drew her to him and kissed her, slowly at first because he was in awe of her, and then once the familiar heat roared through him, he deepened the embrace because he would die if he didn’t.
“This is a turning point for us both…” The words trailed off as she explored beneath his jaw with her lips, went on to nip the skin there, licked everywhere she’d just kissed, and one of her hands drifted to his chest. “A second chance if you are willing.” Then she flicked the flat disc of his nipple with a fingernail, and his world tilted as it always did with her.