Chapter 24 #2
Penny laughed tearfully as I pulled his sleeve down and helped him back into his glove. Then I dried his face with the hem of my cloak.
“I love you,” I said and dipped to steal a salty kiss. “More than anything. And there is nothing in the world that could pry me away from you. Not anymore.”
He nestled into my side, and I curled my arm around his shoulders. The sights of Stagcross no longer held either of our attention; Penny stared at the bit of cord peeking out between his sleeve and the cuff of his glove, and I surely couldn’t take my eyes off him now.
Months ago, when Penny showed up at my door in Forstford, I’d told him that I was happy there.
That I was satisfied with my life of solitude and obscurity.
Even then I’d privately acknowledged that it wasn’t so much happiness as it was degrees of contentment.
I hadn’t felt actual happiness in so long that I’d forgotten what it was like.
But Penny barged into my life and lit up the parts of me that I’d tried to smother because it hurt too much to face them alone.
He found the cracks in my armor and took root.
Then he grew there behind my defenses like a weed.
He breathed life back into me. He reminded me what it was like to care and to forge the kinds of connections that made life worth living.
He showed me what it was like to be happy.
And with him fitted perfectly against me, knowing that sometime in the very near future he would be my husband, I was blissful.
“I was going to ask you, you know.” He craned his neck so he could look up at me. “I was going to have Warren make a chain when we were home for spring planting. Then I was going to ask you at harvest. I was afraid that any sooner and I would scare you away.”
Considering how critical I’d been of the speed at which Cait and Edgar’s relationship had progressed, his concern didn’t surprise me.
It was hard to believe that a few months ago I was certain I could never love someone like that.
I’d been so frustrated that they couldn’t give me an explanation other than “when you know, you know,” but they’d been right. I did know now.
“Sorry I ruined your plans,” I said.
Penny pressed in closer. “Don't be. I'm glad I didn't have to wait.”
I leaned down to brush my lips across his forehead. “This is where this was always heading, right? Why waste any more time?”
It was full dark by the time the driver dropped us in front of the inn and offered his congratulations on our engagement. We thanked him for the ride and returned to our room to warm up by the fire, tangled together on the sheepskin rug in front of the hearth.
Penny fussed with the cord around his wrist, and I couldn’t deny that I liked seeing his commitment to me on full display.
It wasn’t that I’d had any doubt that he was mine, but I was only half-joking when I told him he would have found someone else if not for me.
I relished the thought of keeping him—all his love and the happiness it brought—all for myself.
Propped against me and still fawning over his bracelet, Penny ran his fingers across the vines and feathers etched into the leather. “Did you make this?” he asked.
I nodded. “I did. Still not as good as your work, but it’s passable.”
He shot me a scolding look, and I chuckled.
“It’s perfect,” he said. “I don’t know where you find the time to do these things.”
I carded my fingers through his hair and tugged him in for a slow, savoring kiss that kindled a fire in my gut.
“You were recovering from the trip to Wendwood,” I said against his lips.
“I needed something to occupy my time in the forge. I don’t like being away from you.
” My free arm curved around his waist, and I traced my fingers up his spine beneath his shirt. “And now you’re stuck with me forever.”
Penny melted into me. “I don’t mind that,” he murmured, “and I can’t wait to tell everyone you’re mine.”
The first time he’d said that, it had galled me.
It felt proprietary and suffocating. But I understood better now how he always meant it, even if he didn’t say it in so many words.
It was how I felt about him. The same reason I loved the sight of the leather knotted around his arm.
He was mine to love, to care for, to protect and defend.
And I was his just the same. It felt comforting, now. Felt right.
I eased Penny back so I could stand, then offered my hands to help him up, too. “And you’re mine,” I said while backing us toward the bed. When my thighs hit the mattress, I settled on the edge of it and slid my arms around Penny’s waist, encouraging him into my lap.
His lips met mine, sweet and insistent, and I lost myself in those kisses, in the heat of his skin under my palms as I pushed his shirt up over his ribs. We parted long enough for me to tug the garment over his head and for him to return the favor, and then we were chest to chest.
His hips rolled against mine, eliciting a groan from both of us, and I turned my attention to the button fly of his trousers. As soon as they were undone, I pushed his waistband down just enough to free his erection so I could curl my fingers around it.
Penny broke away and sucked in a sharp breath. I didn’t wait for him to ask for more before I started a slow stroke, and it didn’t take long to get him panting and pawing at my trousers, too. He was beautiful with his face flushed, jaw slack, and his eyes dark with lust as they met mine.
“I’m yours, Pen,” I whispered. “So have me.”
He let out a shuddering breath and his knees squeezed my hips as he surged forward to crush his mouth against mine. I let the move knock me onto my back, and my arm around his waist dragged him with me. I chased his lips when he pulled away to speak.
“Did you bring—”
“In the drawer on my side of the bed.”
With a grin, he slid out of my lap and stood.
I took the opportunity to strip out of the rest of my clothes and settle in the middle of the mattress, propped up on the pile of pillows, while Penny rounded the foot of the bed and retrieved the crock of oil from the bedside table.
He paused there, and his eyes raked over me.
I imagined he was memorizing the moment to put it down on paper later, and the thought made me shiver.
That was enough to break his focus, and he set the oil on the table so he could push his trousers off his hips to pool on the floor around his feet.
He crawled into bed after me, trailing his lips up my chest. His hands followed close behind, and I arched into the touch, desperate to feel his skin on mine.
I rolled my hips in search of friction and couldn’t bite back a whimper when Penny settled his weight on me and ground his hardness against my own. There was little room for any other thoughts in my head, then, pressed into the plush mattress with Penny’s lips tracing along the shell of my ear.
One of his hands left my chest to drag a pillow down. I needed no prompting to lift my hips so he could tuck it beneath me, and he made an appreciative sound when we settled again.
“I’ve been thinking about this since we got here,” he whispered, so close to my ear that it sparked gooseflesh down the side of my neck and across my shoulders. “Having you like this on this bed.”
There were too many overwhelming sensations to fight through to speak, so I flailed a hand out to grab the oil and press it against his side in response. His breathy chuckle puffed hot against my neck.
He pushed up and settled between my legs, then took the oil and pulled out the cork. He paused again with his fingers dipped in and stared for a long moment.
“You’re not allowed to draw me like this,” I muttered.
He laughed. “But this is one of my favorite ways to see you.”
I nudged him with my knee. “This is just for us. No one else.”
He heaved a dramatic sigh and set the oil crock aside. “You’re right. No one else gets to see you like this. Because you’re mine.”
My head dropped back onto the pillows as he ringed one finger around my entrance, then eased it inside.
A second followed shortly after, and I groaned at the stretch when he spread them and pumped them in and out.
I was breathing hard by the time they withdrew, and Penny dipped back into the oil to coat himself.
He leaned over me and braced on one arm as he pressed into me. The fingers of his other hand dug into my side like an anchor. As his lips ghosted over mine, I fisted my hands in his hair to keep him close.
It was slow and sweet, and every roll of his hips undid me bit by bit until the world around us fell away, and there was nothing but him and me sharing heat.
I wanted it to last forever, but when his fingers wrapped around my erection and stroked to the rhythm of his thrusts, it was all but finished.
“You feel incredible, darling,” he whispered, then hummed a satisfied sound. “Gods, I love you.”
His encouragement tipped me over the edge, and pleasure washed over me as I filled his palm with glossy white. The sight of it made him moan, and I shuddered as he sank deep into me and emptied inside.
The sense of fullness, of that intimate connection, left me feeling warm and hazy. Everything sounded far away as he pulled out carefully, then draped on top of me and feathered tender kisses across my chest.
“You’ll be the best husband, Kit.” He nosed into the hollow of my throat, adding to the sensations still rolling over me. “And I’ll be so good for you. I’ll make you so happy…”
“You do, sweetheart,” I assured him. “You already do.”
I cupped one hand to the back of his head and threw the other around him, holding him against me until he settled. By the time he stirred again, I was fighting a doze. I shivered as he pulled away to retrieve his shirt from the floor and wipe us both down.
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I’ll get the bath going.”
“I’ll come with you. I’ll fall asleep if you leave me here.”
He chuckled and pushed to his feet, then held his hands out to pull me up, too.
Before long, we were settled together in the tub that put ours to shame.
We scrubbed off, and Penny insisted on washing my hair for me as I stifled increasingly frequent yawns.
His fingers massaging over my scalp pushed me closer to sleep, so he had to physically help me out of the bath when we were done.
I hardly remembered drying off or getting back into bed, but I was awake enough to tuck myself under Penny’s arm and drape across him when he crawled under the covers. With my ear pressed to his chest, I could hear the steady beat of his heart. It was better than any lullaby.
For so long I was sure that I would grow old alone. I couldn’t imagine finding someone who could know me fully and not also think me a monster. And then there was Penny, and everything changed.
Now, I was looking forward to spending every night for the rest of my life just like this one. Warm. Safe. Loved. Half of a whole.
I was his.