Chapter Thirty-Two #2
After finishing with Cooper, Seth found Cassandra on Adrian’s arm in the ballroom.
Adrian’s typical stoicism remained, but a polite affection had formed between the two after weeks of Saturday breakfasts.
Even so, he was all too eager to end his watch, swiftly depositing Cassandra into Seth’s arms before fading into the shadows.
“You threw me to the wolves. ” Cassandra pinched the space above her nose and Seth wanted to kiss her there and everywhere else. Placing his hand on the small of her back, he brushed his thumb against her spine. A gasp escaped her lightly parted lips and he couldn’t wait any longer.
“I’m here to rescue you.” Tucking her close, he trailed his finger up her neck and whispered in her ear, “I’m taking you home.”
Once the carriage door closed behind them, Seth brought Cassandra onto his lap and sealed his mouth to hers.
Tongue diving in, he groaned when she pulled him closer.
She tasted of champagne and sugar and she was his.
Finally his. And he would have her a dozen different ways before the night was through.
Every bump rocked her against his hardening shaft.
He teased her over her dress, grazing over her breasts, her hips, the soft skin of her thighs as the hem of her dress rose up and up, and he tugged it down, not trusting his restraint with her bare thighs around him.
When the carriage stopped in front of their townhouse, he was hard as stone.
His hand shook as he unlocked the door. Hands on her waist, he lifted her over the threshold and pressed her to the other side of the door as it closed, kissing her senseless.
Giggles and laughter turned into moans and grunts of need as he carried her past partially decorated rooms. Locked together and stumbling, they left a trail of shoes, slippers and hair pins down the hall as he fought the urge to take her against a wall, or on the floor.
Instead, he tugged her into their bedchamber.
Black silk and mahogany decorated the room, dark with drawn drapes.
Separating from him, Cassandra moved to light the oil lamps, each tiny flame flickering fire-light across the expanse of her milk-pale skin.
Coming behind her, he brushed her hair over one shoulder and placed his open mouth over the slender curve of her throat.
“Let me undress you.” With great care, he unwrapped her sash, unhooked her dress and the corset underneath, savoring her deep inhale as his fingertips whispered down her back.
Moon-silver and unmarred, he revealed her to him inch by inch as each garment slid off of her and onto the floor.
He guided her to the bed and lifted her to the edge.
Standing between her legs, he laid her down.
His gaze raked over her, delighting in seeing her lithe limbs and lush curves for the first time in light.
“I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want you.
” He kissed his way down her body, worshiping her with fingertips and tongue.
Lower, he parted the curls between her legs, licked and suckled her, heating her skin with breath and pressure.
Wet and ready for him, his fingers slid into her effortlessly.
How he loved to watch her move, chest flushed and rising, back arching as he reached up to circle a hardened bud of her breast with his fingertip, matching what he did to her with his tongue, stroking inside of her, just so.
All too soon, her lips parted and she breathed his name, trembling under him with the force of her orgasm.
Using his thumb, he eased her through aftershocks.
Recovered, Cassandra reached for him.
“My turn.” She tugged him down to her, using his shirt as leverage. With a laugh, he let her flip them and pin him under her hips. As she tried to undress him, he dug his fingers into the soft curve of her waist, grinding her over his clothed erection with glorious pressure.
“I need to be inside of you.” He groaned. “Like this… with you on top of me… please, love, don’t torture me.”
“Slow, Seth.” She pressed her lips to his.
Forcing patience, he waited while she tugged his shirt from his trousers.
Unhooking buttons, she worked her way up.
Cool air hit his stomach, and he halted her movement.
He lifted her hands to take her ring finger into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the gold band.
She gasped as he nibbled on the pad of her fingertip.
“I’m trying to undress you, and you’re trying to distract me.” She breathed a giggle as he kissed her.
“You’re doing it wrong.” He took one of her wrists and guided her hand to his shaft. “Start here.”
Undeterred, she sat back and worked on the buttons at his collar.
“Cassandra,” he warned, rising to his elbows. “Leave my shirt on, or close the canopy.”
“I’ve seen your scars, Seth.”
“Not like this,” he argued.
She kissed him and pushed him to lie back down.
“Don’t hide from me,” she whispered. Button by button, she exposed years of weakness and failure etched into his flesh. Shirt open, he cringed and shied away.
“I’m monstrous, Cassandra. You don’t have to force yourself.”
She paused and placed a hand over his heart.
Her amber eyes met his tenderly. “Is that what you’re afraid of?
That I’ll see you and find you unworthy?
That I’ll have to force myself to make love to you?
” She eased his shirt from his shoulders and arms. “I see you, my love.” She placed a kiss over his heart.
“My husband is strong. A survivor. A hero. How dare you call yourself monstrous?”
In her eyes, he saw an accepting love that broke him as she straddled his hips once more. “I want to see you as I make love to you,” she said against his lips. “If you’re afraid, close your eyes, and I’ll love you enough for the both of us.”
Then she guided him into her body. Taking him beautifully, she claimed him, inching him deeper inside with each slow roll of her hips, and it was worth it all to see her riding him.
Slow and sweet, then with deliberate pressure.
Her eyes fluttered closed as he thrust upward, rising as she fell.
He loved her, lived for the sounds she made, the smell of her skin, the hot silky feel of her gripping and sliding over him.
He would have given her anything, promised anything when she moaned his name, tightening around him with another orgasm.
When her tremors subsided, he shifted her onto her back.
Sinking into her, he drowned in her fine details.
He memorized every way he made her cry out, learned that she liked it when he tilted her hips at just the right angle, hitting a spot within her that curled her toes and made her scream.
She loved it when he praised her, and flushed when he brought her to climax again, and again.
She was responsive, and he was patient, drawing out her pleasure until she shook beneath him.
Pitched cries drifted into silent gasps and breathless sobs, and he devoured each sound, pressing inside of her, over and over, until he came with a release so powerful he forgot everything but her name.
The heated metal of the ring on her left hand slid over his back, matching the warmth radiating off of his own ring on her hip.
Panting heavily, glistening with sweat, he reluctantly withdrew and laid on his side, pulling her back against his chest. Holding her, he brushed his fingertips over her front, carefully avoiding over-sensitive areas.
For now, he smirked against her shoulder.
“I surrender, Captain Reeves.” Cassandra sighed and gave an exhausted laugh. “You cannot possibly want more.”
“I’ll always want more, Mrs. Reeves.” He kissed her neck.
“And I will be demanding, little wife.” His hand trailed inward and her breath hitched as he moved toward her center.
Placing his hand over her once more, he brushed his fingers through her curls.
“I’ll want you every night, every way I can have you.
” She moaned when his fingertip circled her.
“For as long as you can bear it. Do you wish for me to stop?”
She kissed him and grinned. “Not yet.”
Hours later, he allowed her to rest. As she drowsed on his chest, sated and spent, Seth knew Cassandra was the most beautiful when she laid in his arms, wearing nothing but his ring.