14. Chapter 14
fourteen
D avid came to himself some time later. He didn’t know how long he’d lain there, half curled around her, half on top of her.
After he’d spent himself inside her and shifted to move away, she’d only curled her leg around his hip, reluctant to let him go.
He’d surrendered and buried his face in her hair, holding tight to her as if his life depended upon it.
Having her had been all that he’d imagined it would be…
and more. It was the more that had him unbalanced.
He couldn’t describe what he was feeling and could barely even fathom it.
Obviously, he generally felt some affection for the women he bedded.
But this feeling inside him was a pressure in his chest that filled him to nearly bursting.
It smoothed the hard edges and made everything soft and warm.
It was more potent than any drug he’d tried.
He nuzzled her ear, kissing the delicate shell. He couldn’t get enough of kissing her. Rising only enough to see her face, he whispered, “Did I hurt you? Are you all right?”
She might have been slumbering. Her eyes were closed. But she stirred a little and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “You didn’t hurt me. I’m tender but not hurt.”
A wave of affection came over him and he touched his lips to her temple.
Finally, she opened her eyes. For a single unguarded second, she stared up at him with such trust and tenderness that it took his breath away.
She seemed to recollect herself and blinked, breaking the spell, but it was too late.
That unspoken and raw moment echoed in the silence between them.
“I hope I wasn’t too rough,” he said to fill the gap.
“You weren’t,” she whispered and glanced away.
But he wouldn’t let her retreat into herself.
When ordinarily he was the one to put up boundaries, this time he grappled for a way to keep the openness between them.
He nudged her chin so she had to look back at him.
He felt a soft smile linger around his lips and his eyes, a reflection of how velvety and tender he felt inside.
He’d kiss her now if she hadn’t made that stupid pact with him.
Christ, he wanted to. He wanted to taste her there and luxuriate in those pouty lips and eager tongue.
“You liked it.” It wasn’t a question.
She pulled her face away, blushing furiously.
He kissed her breasts. “You can tell me if there’s something you don’t like. We have an entire night ahead. I want you to enjoy all of it.”
“An entire night?”
He paused between kisses. “It was our agreement.” Would she try to renegotiate things now?
“Yes, I know. I want to stay the night,” she hurried to reassure him. “I’m merely surprised that…well…that you’re able to.” Her flush had worked its way down her chest by the time she finished that statement.
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
The very suggestion of more had his cock stirring with interest. He rolled his hips against her to prove it and she gasped. He winked and rolled away.
Aware of her eyes on him, he strode across the room to the wide porcelain bowl set in a mahogany stand.
He lifted the lid on the pitcher next to it and a puff of steam wafted up.
Pouring the water into the bowl, he leaned down and splashed the water on his face before cleaning himself with a small length of toweling.
Though his back was to her, he could feel her watching still, a voyeur who couldn’t get enough of him. He liked it.
When he was finished, he wet a clean cloth for her and walked back to the bed.
“Here,” he said and reached down between her legs with the cloth.
“That’s not…I can…”
But the warm towel was already there. In gentle and deliberate movements, he washed away all evidence of their joining.
Well, not all. She was still a little swollen and pink.
She’d likely be sore tomorrow, but he couldn’t find it in him to feel sorry.
Though she hadn’t been a virgin, her cunt had been tight and unused to sex.
Just remembering it sent another pulse of blood to his erection.
“Has it been very long?” he asked.
“Long?” she repeated.
“Since your last lover.” He tried to keep his tone casual. It wasn’t any of his business, but he wanted to know what sort of man she’d give herself to, and how many there’d been, and if she’d enjoyed them.
“Why?”
His eyes darted to hers and then back down to where he was folding the towel in half before patting it along her inner thighs. “Morbid curiosity, I suppose.” Or masochism. He hadn’t decided which. Finished, he tossed the towel in the general direction of the washstand.
She took advantage of his shift in attention and tugged at the blanket, pulling it up to her chin. He sat on the side of the bed with his arm resting on his knee.
“I’m not given to jealousy.” Usually , he added silently. “But I have a deep curiosity to know such things about you. ”
“Such things?”
“All things.” He held her brown eyes captive.
“You’re an enigma to me,” he added. “The gossips would paint you a Jezebel, but anyone with a brain could see that’s only because of your past living in Paris and studying opera.
If you were that free with your affections, I would have had you before now. ”
“I…” She couldn’t refute him. “You have a very high opinion of yourself.”
He laughed softly. “I’m not wrong.”
She ignored that and blurted out, “How long since your last lover?”
“You already know that.”
She frowned, because she knew he had her there. Finally, she said, “It’s been a couple of years.”
He wasn’t prepared for the relief that swept through him.
What right did he have to feel relief? He didn’t, but that didn’t change anything.
If it had been so long, then she likely wasn’t thinking about him while David took her.
David could have had another woman an hour earlier and there still would’ve only been Jenny on his mind. This evened things out.
“I wouldn’t have thought so long. You’re a beautiful woman.”
“There was only one man,” she blurted out.
Only one man. He tried not to react, but he liked the idea of that. “Only one time?” he asked mildly.
“No…I fancied myself in love with him. We had an affair that lasted several weeks.”
She’d loved him. Somehow that seemed worse than if she’d had a hundred strangers before. It caused an ache to bloom in his chest, though it had no right to exist. Was this jealousy?
“Do you…”—he cleared his throat—“still fancy yourself in love with him?”
She shook her head. “He never really cared for me. I know that now.”
Good. He was happy about that. Only now he couldn’t help but imagine the man who’d had her love and was foolish enough to toss it away. “He hurt you? He made you think he cared for you?”
The idea of it caused that ache to pulse and take root, transforming into something deeper. He didn’t like the idea of her hurt like that.
“It was a long time ago,” she said easily, but the shadows in her eyes told him a different story. He was right.
This man was why she’d been so wary of him all this time.
The realization left him reeling. This man had obviously used her love to get what he wanted from her.
David had wanted to use her body to bring them both pleasure, he’d never lie to her with words of love.
She’d been too guarded to know that, though.
He wanted to make her feel good again and forget all about this terrible man.
He ran the back of his index finger down her bare arm.
They both watched the progression of his finger until it came to rest in her hand.
He slipped their palms together and drew her hand to his mouth, where he pressed a kiss to the back.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered against her skin.
“It’s fine.”
His eyes met hers over their hands. “It’s not. You deserve better than that.”
She swallowed and her eyes reddened. The threat of tears had her blinking rapidly to contain them.
“You deserve to be taken care with, to be cherished, to be given honesty.”
“You’re one to talk. You’re the most notorious rake in London.”
“It’s true.”
She scoffed at him and shoved him away .
He chuckled. “I told you that you deserve honesty.”
She rolled her eyes and meant to leave him to his roguish ways, but when she shoved off the covers and got on her knees, he grabbed her hips.
They rolled across the bed in a splay of limbs and laughter until they came to a stop near the foot.
He raised himself on his elbows over her and stared down at her with what could only be genuine affection.
He cared about this woman in a way he’d never felt about anyone before.
Perhaps it was because she was his wife. The word made him feel strange things.
“I can be a rogue and take care with you, cherish you, and be honest all at the same time,” he teased her.
“You have done all those things.” She smiled softly. “I apologize for doubting you.”
His gaze caressed her face, trying to decide why this woman held him in her thrall more than all the others. But there was no answer to that. He longed to kiss her, but instead lowered his head and kissed the corner of her mouth, not touching her lips but close enough.
“Now that that is settled,” he said trying to push some emotional distance between them and get them back on course. “I’m ready to begin the rest of our night.” He pressed his hips into hers so she could feel the fullness of his erection.
Her lips parted on a silent breath and her pupils were blown wide.
“Can you take me again so soon?” he asked.
Heat rose in her cheeks but she nodded. “I…yes.”
“Good, because I’ve a need to be deep in your snug cunt again.”
“David…”