Chapter Twenty Four #2
“I am not trapped and you have not been ordered. We have chosen each other, and for me there is no other choice. I cannot imagine my life without you, El.” His hand cupped her cheek.
“I want us to marry because I want to be your husband. I want to be the father to your children. I want to enter a ball with you, and leave a ball with you, and return to a home that is ours.” His gaze lit with intent.
“I want to marry you because I love you with everything I am.”
The fear still lingered. It would always be there, but her love for him was stronger. “You did not answer my question.”
His brow raised. “What question?”
Her cheeks hurt from her smile. “Will you marry me?”
“Well, I am unsure. Have you yet applied to my brother for permission?” he teased.
“After all Lady C said, I do not think he will refuse.”
“I do not think so either.” His thumb stroked her cheek. “When did you speak with Lady C?”
“At the ball last evening. She gave me guidance.”
“Yes. She is good at that.” He went quiet. “Ask me again?”
“Benedict Daniel Adam Stapleton, will you marry me?”
A glorious smile bloomed on his face. “I will.”
Elation filled her, so big if felt as if her body could not contain it. Framing his face with her hands, she pulled his mouth to hers. He kissed her back, kissed her and kissed her and kissed her.
As it always did with them, the kiss changed, from love and relief and I missed you so much to passion and heat and lust. She moaned into his mouth as his hands his slipped down her back to cup her bottom.
“El,” he rasped. “I want you.”
“Yes,” she said.
Picking her up, he strode for the chaise longue. She kissed every piece of skin she could find as he lowered them, arranging her in his lap. Gathering her skirts, she straddled him. She could feel him beneath her, hard and growing harder.
His hand settled on her hip, the other tangling in the hair to pull her into his kiss.
He kissed her like he needed her to breathe, like he was desperate for her taste and her heat.
She kissed him back, ridding herself of the misery of the last thirteen days and replacing it with lust and desire and love. So much love.
She pushed his jacket and waistcoat from his shoulders and he helped her to pull his shirt over his head.
Her breath caught as he sat before her naked to the waist before her, all that golden skin on display.
Running her fingers over the line of his shoulder, she leant down to trace the line of her collarbone with her lips.
His head fell back as she relearned him, his taste salt and warm skin, his scent winding around her.
A growl rumbled in his chest as his hands slid up her back, finding the buttons of her gown to work them free, loosening her stays. Once her chemise was also at her waist, he urged her back. “I need to look at you, El.”
She leant back, loving the heat and need in his eyes as devoured her naked breasts.
“Christ, you are pretty,” he rasped, and then he covered her with his mouth.
She clutched his head to her, moaning as his hand lifted her breast, his tongue laving her nipple until it was painfully hard.
Then he used his teeth.
She shrieked, the pleasure arrowing straight to her core.
“You like that, don’t you, El?” he said, blowing on her wet flesh, his hand still shaping her flesh.
She nodded, dazed by pleasure.
“Did it make you ready for me?” His hand slid down her belly. “Are you wet somewhere else?”
Her breath locked in her chest as his hand slid closer to her core, the whole of her attention focussed on its path. He found her curls, his fingers toying with them before sliding further. “Ah, El, you are ready, aren’t you? You’re drenched for me.”
“Always for you,” she said. “Only ever you.”
His eyes flared. “Take me out while I play, El.”
She fumbled with the opening of his breeches while his fingers circled her, finding her nub.
Pleasure streaked through, intense and shattering, but she focussed on her task, the buttons stubborn.
Finally, she opened the flap and his cock sprang out.
Immediately, she took him in hand, stroking him in the way he’d taught her.
He groaned, his fingers stumbling as she worked his shaft, teased his head. “El, you do much more of that, and I’ll be no use to you,” he warned.
“You’re always of use to me, Benedict,” she said. “But I would prefer you come inside me.”
He stilled. “El?”
“Do not leave.” She smiled. “You will be a wonderful father.”
He moaned and then he kissed her, his moves jerky as he positioned her over him.
“Do you like that idea?” she whispered in his ear.
“So much,” he said, and then he pushed inside her.
She gasped, her flesh giving as he entered her, inch by delicious inch. She had missed him. She had missed him so much.
Finally, their hips met and he throbbed inside her, thick and hard and hot. “You feel so good around me, El,” he rasped. “I’ve missed you. I’ve missed this.”
“Shall I move?” Slowly, she rose so only his head was inside her, torturing him.
He hissed. “Christ, yes. El. You’re killing me.”
She sank back down, his thickness filling her deliciously. “Like this?”
“Yes. El. Christ. Kill me just like that.” His hands tightened on her hips, guiding her as she moved on him “Tease.”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Do you think you can continue to do so, El? How long do you think I’ll allow it?”
“As long as I want you to.”
The wickedness of his grin made her shudder. “Is that what you think?”
Sliding his arm up her back, he pushed into her an arch, his other hand splayed over her chest. She could no longer control her movements, fully supported by his arm, and he took full advantage.
Holding her still, he slammed into her. She shrieked, his cock hit that exact right place inside her, white hot pleasure spearing through her body. She could only grip his biceps and hold on as the pressure built inside her.
His gaze locked on her breasts, bouncing with each heavy thrust. She arched her neck, knowing he would not drop her, her thighs tightening around him as he worked his thick cock inside her. Need built, her skin on fire, and then it broke.
Release radiated through her, her vision going white. She moaned his name, her core clenching him in waves.
He hauled her into his chest, burying his face in her neck as his thrusts became erratic. She clutched at his back, her naked breasts flattening against his bare chest. “Come inside me, Benedict,” she whispered into his ear.
A moan rumbled from deep in his chest at her words. He grew wild, pushing into her faster and harder, and then he broke, growling as he came inside her.
Eventually, her heart returned to its normal beat. He was still inside her, his cock still half-hard. Because he had climaxed while inside her, giving her his seed. They may have made a child. How miraculous.
“Best ever, El,” he said, pushing her hair back from her face.
She couldn’t contain her smile. “You always say that.”
“Because it is always true.” He wound her hair around his finger. “Shall we marry next week?”
She blinked. “Next week? The banns must be read.”
He shrugged. “Colgrove can apply for a special licence. He’s been on at me enough to wed, it is the least he can do.”
“People will talk.”
“Let them.” His cock twitched inside her. “I cannot wait any longer to be your husband.”
She pushed the curl that had fallen over his forehead back. “So it is not only the thought of a child that stirs your passion? You also harden at the mere mention of marriage?”
“Thinking of being your husband makes me want to fuck you, El,” he said matter-of-factly.
She shivered. She loved it when he cursed.
She looked at his beloved face, at the love shining from him, her own love so big her body could barely contain it, and any remaining fear melted away. “Then by all means, let us wed. After.”