Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Minnie could hardly believe this was happening.
She had started this discussion with the intention of discovering just what Tommy was holding back. She had never guessed that her demands for an explanation would lead to… this.
That he thought he was undeserving of her was ridiculous, but she would make sure that he understood she was the one who didn’t deserve the sacrifices that he made for her each and every day.
His mouth on hers and his fingers inside of her, moving steadily, relentlessly, were about to send her over that edge she had experienced last time his hands had been on her, but just when she was about to go spiraling forward, he pulled back, removing his fingers, and she cried out in protest.
“Tommy! What are you—”
She cut off in surprise when his mouth began to trace a path down her body, stopping for a glorious few seconds — not long enough, in her opinion — to pull her nipples into his mouth.
When he moved on, it was to continue farther down until he stopped with his head between her thighs, hovering just over top of her.
What was he doing?
Instinctively, Minnie tried to close her legs, but he firmly held them open with strong hands on her thighs.
“Tommy?” she said tentatively. He couldn’t be about to put his mouth on her — could he?
She had asked for his touch, however, so she supposed she would just have to give in to whatever he had to offer her, as much as it made her pulse pound through her body.
He surprised her by lifting her legs up and over his shoulders, spreading her apart with his fingers.
“Relax,” was the impossible demand he made before he lowered his mouth to her.
The first thing she felt was the scruff of his jaw scraping across her inner thigh. Then she nearly jumped off the bed when he pressed his tongue flat against her, and slowly dragged it up, again, and again.
He possessed her completely as he held her hips in strong hands, his rhythm even, his pressure perfect.
His jaw was rough against the softness of her thighs, but every sensation drew her higher.
Continuing to hold her, he began to glide his tongue over her, and just when it seemed like she couldn’t take any more, pleasure began to shoot through her from where his tongue touched her, until the euphoria began from so far within her that she wasn’t sure that she could feel anything but him below her hips.
She twisted the sheets in her hand, trying to hold onto something solid, until her heart was beating so fast and her body was so tense that she could do nothing but give herself over to him as pleasure ripped through her, leaving her defenseless, vulnerable, exposed, who she truly was, for Tommy.
For he was the one who had brought her here. He was the one who had shown her that she could open herself to him, could let him in. In this moment, she would do anything for him.
When she looked down at him with heady eyes, they locked gazes, and she was sure he could see what he had done to her, that she was no longer the untouchable belle of a woman as everyone thought, but a person who was genuine yet uncertain, strong yet fragile, who was still searching for her place in this world.
But who no longer wanted to do so alone. Who would far rather search with Tommy at her side.
He leaned down and pressed a soft kiss against her stomach before returning to lie beside her, brushing her hair back away from her face as he stared down at her.
She wished she could find some eloquent words to explain how she felt, to describe just what he had done to her, but instead, all she could do was continue to lie there before him, gratefully sated.
“Are you well?” he asked, his eyes exploring her as though he would be able to tell if she was telling the truth or not.
“Never better,” she said, and when she felt a nudge against her leg and looked down to find him shifting so that his hard length was no longer touching her, her curiosity began to win out over her shyness.
She took a chance, reaching out, touching the hard planes of his chest, intrigued by his firmness and the bristles of hair over his muscles as she ran her hand all the way down, over the divots of his abdominals, until her fingers brushed against his solid erection.
Before she had a chance to fully explore it, however, he reached out and took her in his arms, rolling them so that he was on his back and she was sitting on top of him.
She raised her brows in surprise, uncertain of just what she was supposed to be doing, but he only smiled wickedly at her in challenge, placing his hands behind his head and relaxing back against the cushions, allowing her to have her fill.
She bit her lip as she recalled how he had pleasured her and decided to replicate his motions. She took a breath as she stared at his length, before she wrapped her hand around him and slowly squeezed.
His eyes slid shut, his jaw tightening, and she guessed that meant she was doing something right.
She slowly moved her hand up and down, and he reached out, covering hers for a moment as he slid his hand along with hers, showing her just how tightly to squeeze and move.
She quickly caught on to the motion, and after a few moments, he released her, his hands tightening into fists.
Would he like her mouth on him? When Emmaline had told her it was possible, she had nearly fallen out of her chair, but now, it didn’t seem like such a terrible idea.
When she leaned down to take him, she didn’t do much but flick her tongue over him before he shot up to a sitting position, gripping her shoulders.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, concerned. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Not at all,” he said, his breathing ragged. “You did everything right. Too right. It’s that… if we want to keep this going, you can’t do that or it will be over before we’ve even started.”
She nodded as she swung her leg off him, lying beside him as she prepared for what he had to give her.
She knew some details of what came next, having friends who were more than happy to share, but she couldn’t help the nerves that filled her at the thought.
She was oscillating between fear and excitement so quickly that it was making her dizzy.
He looked deeply into her eyes. “Are you ready, Minnie? Truly? Because once we take this next step forward, there won’t be any going back.”
“I’m more than ready,” she said, swallowing hard. If she said no now, she would forever regret it. That, she knew.
He nodded before he moved over top of her.
“Spread your legs,” he said huskily, his jaw tense as though he was about to lose control, giving Minnie a strange sense of power, to know that she could affect Tommy so.
She did as he said, her eyes wide as she watched him lower himself to her.
She waited both tensely and breathlessly for him to enter her, but first he bent down and took her mouth again, kissing her with a need as great as she felt in turn, their lips, tongues, souls meeting as they each sought more.
She forgot to think anymore when he began to slowly enter her, causing her to pause their kiss and her breath to leave her body.
“Tommy,” she cried out – in pain, pleasure, uncertainty – and he was there, surrounding her, his mouth at her ear.
“Relax,” he murmured again. “Let me in.”
She tried to do as he said, and it helped when he began to kiss his way down her cheek and her jaw as he played with her nipple. When she gave him a little more, he slid in even farther.
“That’s so fucking good,” he groaned, and Minnie started, his language – strangely – causing her to flood with even more desire for him.
He kissed her again, only this time it was soft, passionate, as he stroked her tongue while his fingers rolled over her nipples, his hips beginning to slowly, tenderly move in and out.
She hadn’t thought he could enter her any deeper, but each thrust seemed to take him farther inside her.
It was so much more than Minnie had expected. Emmaline’s explanations hadn’t quite given justice as to what to imagine.
His body was hard, sculpted, his scruff rough against her skin.
She had wanted him for so long that she had built up this image in her mind of what it would be like to actually be with him.
This exceeded every expectation and more.
She wasn’t sure that she would ever get enough of him.
She became lost in him. In how he touched her, how he whispered in her ear, how he made her feel.
That pressure began to build once more, deep in her core, and every time Tommy thrust into her, it built until the pleasure began to roll through her again.
“Tommy,” she cried, grasping at his shoulders, holding onto him, needing him to anchor her. “I’m... I’m...”
“Me too, luv,” he said, “Me too.” He picked up his pace until they both cried out, and he wrapped his arms around her tightly in turn, holding her close as they both lost control and went spiralling.
It took a few minutes until they both recovered as they held one another, their breath slowly coming down as Tommy’s heart hammered against her where their chests touched.
He stroked her up and down her spine, his lips running over her neck until finally he pulled back and cupped her cheeks in his hands, staring down at her as though he could see right into her very soul.
“Minnie,” he said, appearing nearly as shocked as she was. “That was… unbelievable.”
She nodded, and as much as she loved every moment and wanted nothing more than to do it again, she couldn’t help the small bits of doubt that crept in, that wondered…
“Is it always like that?”
She didn’t want to think of him with other women; she wished it hadn’t even entered her mind. He was a man of experience, whereas she was… sheltered. As much as she wished that it wasn’t so.
“It has never been like that for me before,” he said, his honesty obvious. “I think it’s because I have never cared for someone like I care about you.”
She couldn’t look him in the eye at that, in fear that he might see her true feelings — that she was falling for him even more so, that she was likely already in far over her head.
She knew that it made sense as they were married, but she also didn’t want to be hurt if he ever decided that their marriage would no longer be one of exclusivity, of hearts as well as logic.
She hadn’t been enough for her parents to truly love. Could Tommy ever love her — for real, for forever? And would his desire for her fade now that he’d had her?
They were truly awful thoughts after what had passed between them, but as much as she tried to stop them, she couldn’t keep them from flooding her mind.
"What’s wrong?” he asked, picking up on her mood. She blinked back the few tears that threatened.
"Nothing,” she said, shaking her head more vigorously than was necessary.
“Minnie,” he said in a sterner voice than she had ever heard from him before.
“I’m just being silly,” she said.
“Is this about me being with other women?”
“Perhaps,” she admitted with a sigh.
He reached out and took her face in his hands again. She loved it when he did that, as he held her so tenderly, lovingly.
“Minnie,” he said, exploring her eyes. “I cannot help my past. But just know that everything in my life has been in preparation for you. To give you what you deserve. To be the man who can protect you. Provide for you.”
She noticed he didn’t say to love her, but she would overlook that. For now.
“I know,” she said. “I do.”
“Never forget that you are the only woman I ever offered to marry,” he said with a quick laugh, leaning in and pressing a kiss against her forehead. “Now, I have a very important question for you.”
“Go on.”
“Any chance you might be interested in doing that again?”