Chapter 12 #2
“What? Please talk to me.” She scooted closer and wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her cheek on his shoulder. The embrace, so gentle and comforting, obliterated that last barrier inside him keeping his heart safe from her.
“When I see Jack, see how broken he is over what we faced during the war… and I come away with a few harmless nightmares, I can’t help but wonder what that says about me.
Is my heart so hard that the things that haunt him fail to haunt me?
What sort of man am I, that my spirit is bruised rather than broken?
We faced the same men, fought the same battles, our hands coated with the same innocent blood.
Why am I not trapped inside the nearest bottle, too? ”
Milly didn’t speak for so long that he thought she wouldn’t, but when she finally did, her voice was a delicate whisper close to his ear.
“When I first met you, I believed you were a heartless seducer, bent on securing a fortune.”
He closed his eyes. Her vision of him was black and all too true.
“But I was wrong. So very wrong.” Her voice caught and she paused. “Everything you do comes from a place of love. Love for your home, your friends, even your servants. I never met a man who acts with his heart as you do. The last thing you are is heartless.”
He turned his head to look at her, and a little tear escaped one of her eyes and rolled down her cheek. He brushed a finger over the tear and leaned in to nuzzle her cheek.
“I want to kiss you right now. Would you let me?” he asked.
She nodded, bringing her arms around his neck as he shifted on the bed to face her.
“I’d like you to do a bit more than that, husband.” A little impish smile curved her lips and warmed her eyes.
“Thank God.” He chuckled against her lips right before he kissed her.
Her lips parted and he took advantage, thrusting his tongue into her mouth.
She moaned in encouragement and met him kiss for kiss.
Her hands dug at his clothes, tugging on his jacket, his shirt, the front of his trousers.
Her clothes were a little trickier, and he had to slide one hand beneath her to unhook her skirt before she could shimmy out of it.
He was never more desperate to get a woman fully bare beneath him than he was in that moment.
Milly laughed, seemingly content to let him struggle with her clothing.
“Lend a hand, sweetheart?” he growled as he wrestled with the ties of her corset.
“Very well,” she said, still laughing but breathless now.
The expression lit up her face and her usually austere beauty was now soft and womanly.
Her eyes were slumberous and her cheeks flushed to a delicate rose as she embraced their passion.
He slowed to a stop, his hands knotted in her shoes as he stared at her in awe.
“What?” she asked, her brows drawing together, and her smile started to wilt at the corners.
“It’s just…” He struggled for words. “You are so lovely it took my breath away.” He meant it. Looking at her actually made him feel a tad light-headed.
Her lips formed an enchanting moue as she stared at him.
“Then why did you stop undressing me?” she asked, still confused.
He began undoing her laces again, this time more sure of himself. When he raised his gaze to hers, he was unable to stop a smug grin.
“I was savoring the fact that you are mine, my wife, mine to take to bed, mine to make love to.” He parted the corset and she raised her arms as he lifted it off her. She was finally down to nothing but a filmy sleeveless chemise. Her full breasts were barely concealed beneath the thin material.
“It’s time we got better acquainted with each other,” he murmured with a wry chuckle before he lifted the chemise up and off her.
Milly gasped, arms coming up to cover her breasts, but he caught her wrists and gently trapped them above her head while he nibbled a path to her breasts.
He suckled each sensitive nipple until the small buds pebbled against his tongue.
She panted beneath him, her sighs and moans of encouragement showing him what she enjoyed the most. He wanted to teach all of the delights to be had between a man and a woman.
Owen worked his way down her body, nipping and licking the curves of her breasts, the slightly rounded belly, and down to her mound.
“Owen, you can’t!” Milly protested, but as he settled between her thighs, he saw excitement and fear flash through her eyes.
“Don’t fear me. There will only be pleasure between us.” He parted her womanly folds and licked her. Milly’s hips jerked wildly as she nearly came up off the bed. The strangled little cry of pleasure made him chuckle. She was learning to respond to him without thought, to let her barriers down.
“Close your eyes,” he murmured, and then continued to lick her, flicking his tongue inside her and swirling it in patterns.
He braced himself on one arm and gently inserted one finger into her sheath, while he teased the little pearl peeping out from her folds.
That was all it took to send her flying off the edge in a cry.
She put her fist in her mouth to muffle the sound.
Someday he’d teach her that she didn’t have to silence her sounds of pleasure. Someday.
He crawled back up her body, feeling like a veritable god of ecstasy. She lay panting and gasping for breath beneath him, her lashes fluttering wildly.
“Want to try something different?” he asked.
“Different?” Her lips quivered as she still continued to breathe hard.
“Mmm.” He dropped his head to kiss her neck and then bit down on her shoulder.
“Oh, that feels…nice,” she moaned, her nails digging into his back as she dragged him closer.
He positioned himself above her and sank inside.
They shared a soft sigh of fulfillment as their bodies fully connected.
But he didn’t wait for her to move; he rolled their joined bodies so she lay atop him.
She gripped his shoulders, staring down at him in shock.
“Me on top?” she asked, genuine surprise on her face. “Is this…acceptable?”
Owen lifted her hips, withdrawing, then jerked her back down, impaling her on his cock. She made a little whimper and smiled in a heated daze.
“It’s acceptable, if you like how it feels. Do you?” he asked, and repeated the lift and thrust hard.
Milly bit her lip and nodded, starting to raise her hips on her own and slamming them back down.
He kept a firm hold on her buttocks, giving one cheek a light tap with his palm.
The tantalizing view of her breasts bouncing against his chest as they made love made it nearly impossible for him to focus on not coming too soon.
This woman had the power to undo him and she had no idea how dangerous that was.
I’ve fallen for my wife. The thought struck him just as he increased his upward thrusts and she dropped her hips down.
They moved in time, their bodies working together in perfect sync.
It was everything he’d ever dreamed to feel with a woman and it wasn’t just about being in bed with her.
What he felt right now came from something deeper, from the moments they’d shared leading up to this.
The quiet smiles, the whispered words, the shared stories, their working together to resurrect his home to its former glory…
Milly was perfect…for him. How can I not love her?
How could anything feel this good? Milly completely surrendered to the moment and her own passion.
“Give me your hands,” she said.
Owen lifted his palms off her body and held his hands up by his face.
She shifted a little, circling her hips, and grasped his hands, palm to palm.
He laced his fingers through hers as she pinned their joined hands into the bed.
They rocked together, eyes locked, sharing breaths.
They began a delicious climb to pleasure.
When she leaned down to kiss him, her body felt as though it burst apart in a thousand pieces before it came back together.
She continued to kiss him long after he’d come beneath her.
There was little in the world she believed she’d ever want to do forever, but kissing Owen, like this, while they were intimately joined, was one of them.
Pure and simple. Nothing could ever be better than this.
She finally understood why women risked scandal.
It was so they would someday be free to act as men did to enjoy life, not be trapped by it.
Owen deepened the kiss and Milly clenched her inner walls around him, making him groan deeply. It seemed neither of them wanted to stop, but Milly was exhausted from another long day of helping with the house.
“Are you tired, sweetheart?” He squeezed their joined hands and she nodded, still trying to kiss him. “Then you need to rest.” He rolled them so they lay on their sides facing each other.
“So do you.” Her sleepy reprimand seemed to amuse him. He withdrew from her, but laughed softly as she made a disgruntled sound of protest.
“Oh dear, I’ve created a beast.” He nuzzled his nose against hers.
“A beast?” She wrinkled her nose and frowned.
“An insatiable lovemaking beast.” He kissed the tip of her nose.
Milly cuddled close, tucking her arms up by her chest as she burrowed into him.
“Owen, you promise not to leave again?”
“Leave?” He wound one arm around her waist.