Chapter Eight
Oh, dear heavens, this is going to truly happen!
Penny was bemused as she watched the major remove his shoes, hosiery, and then finally his evening breeches.
The man was wonderfully erect, and she couldn’t help but stare at his hardened shaft, but then, the rest of his form was equally pleasing, for he still had muscle definition in the sculpted planes and edges of his body.
She couldn’t wait to run her fingertips and tongue over the length of him.
The longcase clock in the corridor beyond struck the midnight hour, and in the back of her mind, she had the distinct feeling that she was leaving behind the woman she used to be for the woman she was now.
Leaving the sofa, she went over to him the moment he removed his breeches. “Will you allow me to play tonight?” she asked in a whisper as she drew her fingertips over his chest.
“That depends on how strong my willpower is.” But Cornelius swept her into his arms with a little growl and trapped her against the hard wall of his chest and a shelf of books. “Tell me you want me, Penny. No more hints and playing. If we go forward with this, there is no going back.”
“I know that, and I also know that I want you, ever since you stepped back into my life.” Her pulse rushed so hard through her veins it thrummed in her ears.
Unable to deny herself from touching him, she stroked a hand along his jaw.
The faint prickle of blond stubble rasped against her skin.
A muscle twitched beneath her fingertips.
With every beat of her heart, she feared she’d shatter from need.
For this one moment, she wished only to feel his lips and to have his body moving on hers.
Worrying about scandal could wait; trying to puzzle out her future would benefit from a delay.
In this one fleeting second, there was only her and him.
“Yet I should never have come into the bookshop that night.”
“Why?”
“Because I have a feeling you and I won’t be able to stop with this one meeting.
” He crushed his mouth to hers, claiming her lips with a strength she couldn’t deny; all her senses were consumed by him.
The muscled length of him pressed into her softer body while the hard edge of the bookshelf provided interesting pain-tipped pleasure to enhance everything else.
His arms around her were like iron bands, his fingers fire as he played them up and down her spine.
The warmth of his tongue as he tangled it against hers sent warmth between her thighs.
She moaned into his mouth and burrowed closer.
His clean, crisp scent wafted into her nose and left his indelible stamp upon her brain.
This was her Cornelius, the man she’d dreamed of in the dark of her bedroom when she felt most alone.
He’d been the one man she could never forget from her innocent dreams as a young woman; the one man she’d always wished would come back into her life if for nothing else than to lay eyes on him one last time.
Except now, she wasn’t ready or willing to give him up to fate or chance. Penny threaded her fingers through the silky hair at his nape. She stood on tiptoe in order to feel the full extent of his kiss. Her sensitive nipples rubbed against the coarse hair on his chest, and she moaned.
Seconds later, the heat of his hands seeped into her rear as he gripped her arse.
His fingers feathered over her skin, and she shifted her stance, hoping he’d bedevil the button at her center again.
When he drew abstract patterns over her buttocks, his fingers so close to where she wanted him to be, she wrenched away to pepper his chin with kisses. “Perhaps we should move upstairs—”
“No time.” He grasped her hips and ground his pelvis into hers. “Things are already quite urgent.”
Daring much, she drew a hand between their bodies and cupped his hardened shaft, fondled his stones. His breath hissed. She smiled and rubbed her hand along his length.
“I won’t last if you keep on.”
“That’s what teasing play is for.”
“Vixen.” He lifted her off her feet, unmindful of her squeal, and used the shelf of books at her back to leverage her upward. When she wrapped her legs about his waist, he took one of her breasts in hand, dipped his head to lick and worry the nipple with his lips.
Penny moaned, for if he continued, she’d dissolve into a puddle at his feet, especially because his rigid length rubbed against her sensitive folds.
Merely as a distraction, she wrapped a hand around his length as best she could.
His hot girth filled her palm and jumped when she rubbed her thumb over its tip.
What would he feel like in her body or taste like on her tongue?
Hopefully soon she would discover just that.
“It is lovely to be in a man’s arms like this. ”
Amusement warred with need in his brown eyes, hardly visible in the low illumination. “I’m glad to oblige.” He dropped a kiss on her mouth.
A host of shivers fell down her spine and clashed with the ones invading her insides.
“I haven’t been with a man for years before my husband died, so I…
” Her stomach clenched from nerves. Anxiety twisted down her spine.
No matter how much she desired Cornelius, or how much her body clambered to be joined with his, what if they weren’t compatible… ?
“Shh, don’t think.” He shoved into her passage without warning, and then Penny’s world dissolved beneath a wave of pleasure.
“Damnation, you feel so good.” He pulled out only to thrust again, groaning as he held his position, fully sheathed inside her.
His breath stirred the loose hair at her temple.
“Oh, goodness.” There were no words she wanted to waste on how he made her feel.
She grasped his shoulders and tilted her hips, wriggled them in order to take him in as far as she could.
His thick, long length filled her, stretched her more than she’d ever been.
Each tiny movement on his part set off a flutter of sensation through her core.
She pulled him closer, wanting him to move yet hoping they could remain like this forever.
It was everything she’d dreamed of where he was concerned, and unexpectedly, a tiny piece of her heart left to become his.
“Indeed.” Cornelius held her steady with his hands at her hips. His gaze softened and a mixture of awe and pleasure lined his expression. He closed his eyes and moved within her. Each penetration sent glorious sensations through her body.
With each slow, gentle thrust, Penny surrendered to him.
In this one moment where her fantasies and real life collided, she discovered the reality was far better than her dreams. As he slid his hands to her arse, holding her steady, while she clutched him closer with her ankles locked at the small of his back, she never wanted this moment to end.
“This is lovely.” Why was her voice so hoarse, so smoky?
He grunted, opening his eyes to meet her gaze. “I don’t want our joining to be lovely.” As if he wanted to make an impression, his rhythm increased as did his bid to claim her. Stronger. Harder. Faster. Each slide into her sent her closer the edge.
“Please… Send me flying.” Desperation filled her voice. Penny dug her fingernails into his shoulders. “I need to feel you.”
“I’m trying.” Renewing his hold on the outside of her thighs, the major pumped into her. Each thrust sent intense sensation racing through her every nerve ending. Books tumbled from the shelves to tumble to the floor around them.
She encouraged him with soft sounds. Intense sensation pinwheeled through her body, but she tried to ignore the warning signs in order to prolong this coupling. “Give me all of you.” For this wasn’t nearly enough after so many years of longing, of dreaming.
“So needy. I had no idea. Hang on,” he whispered as he wrapped his arms about her and moved her over to the leather sofa where they’d started this adventure.
When he laid her down, he was quick to follow, and as he layered his body to hers, settled in the cradle of her bent knees, he said, “This is exactly what I wanted, knowing that while I fought in that damned war, it had all been worthwhile because you were here, staying safe.”
“That’s beautiful,” she managed to say while tears welled in her eyes. Then she buried her confusion into kissing his lips, and he was all too eager to go along with that.
Seconds later, he broke the embrace. “God, this is going to go quickly. I’m nearly gone.” Once more, he thrust inside her body, penetrating her with an intensity that left her gasping. The new angle must have been pleasing for him, for he groaned, and she couldn’t help but agree.
How had she never been treated to such a thing before?
Why hadn’t Weymouth been driven to such passion each time he’d bedded her?
She had no idea, but with Cornelius, she felt as though she would soon launch through the roof and go across the skies like a comet.
When she needed a bit more stimulation, she pinched and plucked one of her nipples, and the added pleasure sent shivers of bliss throughout every nerve ending.
That was all it took for her to shatter. “Cornelius!” Her back arched of its own accord, her toes pointed as a wave of pleasure swelled and crashed over her, sending her flying over the edge into a world of white lights and colorful shooting stars.
As she dug her fingernails into his shoulders, the major thrust once, twice more, and he, too, found his own release.
His graveled cry of her name wasn’t as loud as hers had been.
While his shaft pulsed, he buried his face into the crook of her neck, and ground against her, no doubt prolonging the exquisite pleasure they’d found together.
The tears that had been lurking spilled over onto her cheeks. She sniffled into his hair.