Chapter 35
“Ilove you too,” Selina whispered breathlessly between hungry, urgent kisses. “My goodness, how I love you.”
Philip’s heart swelled as he kissed her more fervently, overcome by the power of her confession. He couldn’t quite believe his luck that this remarkable woman had stumbled into his life, accepted his love, and fallen for him in return.
He had never thought himself capable of love, yet here Selina was, proving him wrong.
How could any child of hers ever be anything but wonderful? Even if there was some malevolence in his blood, her loveliness, her charm, her generosity, her good and pure heart would triumph over any evil.
“As I love you,” he growled, his head dipping to her neck, grazing kisses along the sweet curve before he sought her mouth again.
They fit together as if they were made for each other, her legs loosely locked around him, her body flush against him, holding onto him as if she never meant to let go.
I pray I never give you reason to.
As their kiss deepened, his hand grasped for her skirts, gathering them up to the swell of her hips.
“Yes, my love,” she murmured as his palm slid down the inside of her thigh, seeking the heat of her sex.
With a smile against her lips, he slid his fingertips through her silken, sodden folds, marveling at the slick warmth of her desire. She was ready for him, but he would wait. He would wait for as long as it took until she wanted to give herself to him.
Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t bring her a world of pleasure, a glimpse of what was to come in the life that they would share.
Her breath caught as he eased his fingers inside her, her fingernails raking across his back, grasping fistfuls of his shirt.
“My God, yes!” she cried out, her kiss desperate, frenzied, her tongue dancing with his.
With each pulse of his fingers, he rubbed his thumb over her sensitive bud. She trembled and gasped as the pressure in her belly grew, her hand slipping under the collar of his shirt to let her fingernails draw deeper lines across his skin.
Pleasure and a little pain—a perfect combination to distract him from the overwhelming desire to claim her, to sink deep inside her, as he had longed to do since pretty much the moment they met.
Listening to the language of her body and her pleasure, he curled his fingers and pulsed them more gently, his thumb moving in teasing circles around her bundle of nerves.
“My love…” she panted as he savored the column of her throat like a wolf that was deciding whether to bite or not.
Little nips of his teeth had her crying out for him, and his tongue tasted the faint marks he left behind, his mouth searing across her skin, moving down to her heaving bosom.
Eventually, he grew tired of the barriers between them, needing to at least see her exquisite curves as he had in the gardens. Eager to explore every part of her, even if he could not have her until tomorrow night.
Withdrawing his touch for a moment, he deftly unbuttoned the back of her dress and eased the garment up over her body. She lifted up to free the skirts, and raised her arms so he could remove the dress, pulling him to her once more as soon as the fabric was on the floor in a crumpled pile.
Kissing her with renewed passion, he unlaced the ribbons of her stays, making quick work of removing them from the eyelets. The stays fell away, and he tossed the undergarment to the floor, to join the dress.
“I want you,” she whimpered, her hands curling into the hem of his shirt and lifting it. “My goodness, I want you.”
She fumbled with the fastenings of his trousers, and he stood up slowly, not wanting to deny her the privilege of undressing him for the first time.
Her breath hitched as she eased the trousers down, freeing him.
“Oh…” She bit her lip, making him smirk.
He kicked off his boots, and she peeled his trousers the rest of the way down, her gaze flitting back to his hard length. Each time, her beautiful eyes widened, though there was no fear in them. Rather, there was a hunger, a curiosity, that he was only too happy to satisfy.
At last, all of the literary metaphors and the unhelpful anatomy books joined together to make some manner of sense. She had done this to him. She had made him hard and swollen.
Swallowing thickly, Selina reached out to touch him. The solid flesh was feverishly hot and surprisingly silky, feeling wonderful against her hand.
“I wouldn’t,” Philip said with a smile as his hand gently caught her wrist.
“Why not?” She peered up at him.
“Because this is about your pleasure, not mine,” he replied, then pulled her up to hold her tight, skin to skin, filling her up with the most intense need.
She could not leave this room without knowing what it meant to lie with the man she loved. It was a clear and determined thought that would not be ignored.
“And… if I want it to be about our pleasure?” she asked shyly. “Is there a… um… a way to do that?”
He tilted his head. “Of course, my love,” he rasped thickly. “But I assumed you would want to wait until tomorrow.”
She shook her head slowly. “Tomorrow will be a busy day.” She could hardly believe her courage. “I don’t want to wait. I know that I love you and that you love me, and that we will both be there at the church tomorrow to pledge ourselves to one another. There is no reason to wait.”
He made a gruff, impassioned sound, half-moan, half-growl, as if she had just said the most intoxicating thing.
“Don’t tease me,” he warned, his hand caressing the curve of her back, smoothing over the swell of her backside.
She shook her head. “I am not teasing you, my love. I want you.”
Whatever that means.
She had read countless books about trysts and passionate love affairs, but not one had gone into detail. She could guess, of course, and put the pieces together, but she wanted to know the truth of it intimately.
She wanted Philip to be the one to show her.
As he caught her mouth with his, his kiss became something altogether more intense. A desperate and ravenous thing, as if it could never be satiated. She kissed him back in kind, melting into him, her skin warm against his, no barriers between them anymore.
In one powerful movement, he swept her up into his arms, his lips never leaving hers, and carried her to the unmade bed where she had spent the past few days in uncertainty. She was not uncertain any longer; she had never been more sure of anything in her life.
There, on the mussed coverlets, he lay her down.
For a moment, he just stood there at the end of the bed, gazing down at her, taking in every curve and contour of her body with appreciative eyes.
She, in turn, took that brief pause to enjoy the perfection that was him—so tall and broad-shouldered, his muscles so defined they looked to be carved.
She admired the sculpted lines of his broad chest, wanting to touch the deep diagonal contours that seemed to join that chest to his ridged abdomen at the farthest corners.
At first, she had thought those lines were ribs, but as she looked closer, she understood that they were more taut and honed muscles.
The anatomy books in the library could have learned a great deal from just staring at Philip for a while.
Slowly, her gaze lowered, following the V of his hips and the trail of hair to that rigid, tempting flesh.
What if he doesn’t fit? What if we aren’t meant to be?
A flicker of worry joined the tingling, prickling layers of anticipation that tightened her stomach.
Her gaze dropped lower to his powerful thighs, carved with such definition that she could hardly believe there were so many muscles in one leg. Her own thighs certainly didn’t have any of that, but Philip seemed to like their softness.
“Say you want me again,” he growled, his husky voice sending a thrill through her.
“I want you,” she murmured, her gaze snapping up to his.
He moved forward, scooping an arm underneath her so he could lift her further back onto the bed. With her head resting on a pillow, he paused to kiss her on the lips, slow and searing, before his kiss trailed away.
Already in a hazy world of ecstasy, her body yielded to his every kiss and touch as he made his way down her neck and across her collarbone, dipping lower to the swell of her breasts. She arched her back, pushing her bosom toward him, eager for the warmth of his mouth on her nipple.
He flicked his tongue against that pert flesh, teasing her, heightening the anticipation. His hand cupped her other breast, brushing his thumb over her sensitive skin, before at last he drew her nipple into his mouth and sucked.
“Oh, my love!” she cried out, her hips bucking almost involuntarily. “Yes… Oh, yes!”
A jolt of pleasure ricocheted through her, a lightning bolt that made her eyes close and her whole body pulse with the promise of more bliss.
All too soon, he kissed down the valley between her breasts, his mouth exploring and tasting every inch of her skin. Across the softness of her stomach and over the swell of her hips, down to her trembling inner thighs, his tongue finally found her pulsing bud.
The first stroke made her dizzy with need, her lungs sucking in shallow breaths, her stomach tightening, her back arching off the coverlets.
“Yes… Yes, Philip… Yes!” she moaned, thrashing and fisting her hands in the coverlets as his tongue stroked her.
When his fingers eased inside her wet heat, there was no holding back the tide of absolute bliss. He had barely begun to pulse his fingers when her climax struck, seizing hold of her with its glorious command.
“Oh… oh, God… oh… Yes, my love!” she cried out, not caring that there was a house full of guests who might hear her, not caring about anything but chasing the feeling that swept through her.
It was more intense than anything that had come before, as if the anticipation of the moment had heightened everything. Indeed, the wave was so powerful that she wondered if it might shatter her and didn’t at all care if it did.