Chapter Sixteen
She was everything he’d imagined and so much more.
Her form - warmed by the firelight, bared to him in her sheer dressing gown with all of her loveliest parts on display - made his throat go dry. Her breasts were large, far more than the handful he’d dreamt them to be. Her dark hair cascaded down her shoulders in inky tendrils.
“I…” he started, then quickly stopped when his voice caught. He paused to clear his throat. “You look beautiful.”
Her shoulders relaxed at this, which made Sebastian realize just how tense she had been. He approached slowly, coming to stand within a mere pace of her.
“I am afraid I do not quite know what to do with myself,” she said, looking up at him apologetically.
The prospect of watching her discover what to do with herself made Sebastian hard in an instant.
“That is alright,” he said, reaching out to take her hand in his. “You will be a quick study, I am certain.”
The smallest smile broke out on her lips. He chose that moment to lean in and capture her mouth with his. She inhaled sharply before settling into his kiss, just as she had during his proposal.
He knew he ought not to move too quickly.
A gentleman would take great time, would ensure that his bride was more than ready for each and every move he made.
And yet, Sebastian could hardly stop his hands from gripping the curves of her hips, his fingers splayed across her backside.
She responded in kind, pressing herself against him as though they were merely picking up from where they’d left off in the Haversham gardens.
With hardly any material between them, he could feel just how soft she was. He wanted to feel it completely, skin to skin. He wanted to be surrounded by her.
She wanted the same from him, if her small moans between kisses were anything to go by. Her hands wrapped themselves into his hair, holding on as though he were a wild horse carrying her away.
He certainly felt wild.
And it was those wild hands of his which moved up her body. They parted her sheer dressing gown to reveal her breasts. They were so perfectly round, simply aching for his hand. So, he provided it.
Augusta gasped slightly, then acquiesced. Her own hands moved from his hair to his chest, her fingers roaming against the exposed skin. When his thumb brushed against her pert nipple, another gasp escaped her lips.
“Do it again,” she begged against his mouth as he pressed another hard kiss to her.
A heavy haze overtook him as he gave her what she asked for. Her moan vibrated against his lips. She tasted of the cake from their wedding feast. The depth of his kiss was practically consuming, and she sweetly allowed it.
He could not move slowly. It would kill him.
But she needed to be ready for him. His hands slid down her soft stomach to the apex between her legs. She tensed, but allowed him to feel the wetness that awaited him there. Even more than that, she instinctively moved to stand on tiptoe, to press against his hand with more friction.
“I need you,” he said, his voice low and rumbling. “On the bed.”
He unwrapped himself from her body, which elicited a sound of protest from her.
Sebastian smiled as she shuffled off her sheer dressing gown entirely and hopped onto the bed.
As she crawled across it, her backside beckoned him.
His trousers grew too painful to endure any longer, and within moments his own clothing found its way to the floor.
Augusta turned onto her back, leaving him bereft at the loss of her backside, then delighted once again by her ample chest. Her gaze locked onto his naked form and she inhaled, her tongue darting out to lick her upper lip.
In an instant, Sebastian was upon her. The heat from her body met his and her legs spread around him, knowing what to do, opening completely to him.
Her slick entrance beckoned him. Aligning with it, he pressed a soft kiss to her jaw.
“It will only be uncomfortable for a moment, I promise.”
She nodded, and he understood that she knew precisely what was to come next. It seemed rude to extend the anticipation any longer.
Initially, she offered little resistance against him. Only when he was in about halfway did he feel her tense again. Her eyes closed and she bit her lip in discomfort.
Sebastian planted kisses down her neck, focusing on the sensitive areas beneath her ear to distract her. This appeared to work, as the tension dissipated and he sheathed himself completely within her.
His thrusts were slow, at first, but it was a struggle to maintain so achingly gentle a pace for long. After a few seconds her breathing picked up, and Sebastian knew that pain had given way to pleasure. Her eyes closed, then fluttered open again, as if her own body had stupefied her.
And thank God for her enjoyment, because he had grown deeply greedy here in her warmth. With each press of his hips he went harder, harder, entranced by the way that her breasts bounced each time.
Somewhere, beyond his own pleasure, he was aware of her holding tightly to him. Her nails dug into his skin, only adding another layer of sensation to the wild symphony of great, immeasurable delights that his body provided just then.
Then her back arched, and her breasts presented themselves even more to him, and all he could think of was pleasure as his body stiffened. Then, it seemed as though every muscle in his body gave out on him at once.
He dropped his head to the crook of her neck as he laid against her. Though he worried at first that his weight would be too much, that worry disappeared at the soft sound of her breathing and her hands gently rubbing across his back.
Good God. It was over all too soon. And yet, this too was enjoyable - the afterglow of his wife’s body, the sweetness of her hands upon him. He could live happily in this moment, he thought.
“I fear that if I stay here I may fall asleep and crush you.”
When he lifted his head, he was greeted with the rare sight of one of Augusta’s smiles.
“It would not be the worst death,” she said softly.
He smiled back, thinking the vow of forever that they had made that morning had not been in vain. Not at all.
She looked at him with something that none of his other liaisons had ever looked at him with before. It took him several long moments to realize that it was love. It looked wonderful on her, that expression.
He rolled off of her as the burn of guilt fired up in his chest.
“We ought to sleep a little, at least,” he said. “I suspect that tomorrow will bring even more vigorous activities.”
Her smile this time was cheeky. “Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren’t we?”
Just like that, the guilt faded, and in its place was that intrigue, that curiosity he felt so deeply around her.
“Ahead? No, my dear. We have started terribly behind. We must catch up.”
*****
When Sebastian awoke, he was immediately aware of the soft, warm figure across which his arm was draped. As he slowly came to, the memory of his wedding night playing over in his mind, he felt the soft rise and fall of his bride’s chest.
It struck him all at once how wholly his fortunes had changed in so short a time.
The few weeks of courting Augusta had seemed an eternity, as the outcome had been uncertain until the bitter end.
Once he had secured her acceptance, however, it had all seemed to happen so very fast. Yesterday morning he had awoken in poverty, less than a month away from public ruin.
Now, his debts were hours away from being paid, his family accounts soon to be filled, and a lovely wife lay happily in his arms.
God, she had been so much more than he had expected last night.
He knew, after spending some time with her, that her figure was lovely, her company excellent.
But in the passion of their wedding night, Sebastian had known what it truly was to become inflamed with lust. The way her lips had so delicately parted for him, the soft feel of her hips in his hands, all of it played in his mind and heated his blood.
A pang of guilt gripped his chest. It was a feeling he’d become quite acquainted with recently.
This time, however, it was tinged with something more than the shame of his scheme.
A new emotion unfurled alongside it - the awareness that perhaps, maybe, love for his wife was not out of the question.
Perhaps his marriage could bloom into a true love match.
A love match that he, a terrible cad, did not deserve in the least.