Chapter 45
Chapter Forty-Five
Matthew
The rush of relief Matthew felt as his fingers closed around his coin was full of joy, but it did not last very long.
As soon as he held it in his hand, his thoughts pushed past the initial emotion reaction as he realized he had not needed it to make his decisions.
His world had not fallen apart without it.
In fact, there had been a kind of freedom in doing what he wanted, even making it through some of the hardest decisions he’d ever had to make.
“Matthew.” Johanna’s voice was odd. “That is your lucky coin?”
“Yes.” He rubbed his thumb across its surface. Even though he was now uncertain as to how he truly felt about its return, he had to admit that he still liked having it in his hand. Feeling it.
“Matthew. How can you tell which side is which?”
“What do you mean?” He met his wife’s troubled violet gaze. Her peignoir was open, revealing the filmy lilac silk nightrail underneath, cream lace edging the neckline. The view was decidedly distracting, but her expression was more worried than anything else.
“Matthew.” Her voice was gentle as she reached out to cup his hand holding the coin with both of hers. “Look at the coin. Really look at it.” She pushed his hand a little higher, and Matthew looked down at it. “You have rubbed it nearly flat on both sides. How can you tell which side is which?”
“I…” He stared at the coin. Used his thumb to flip it over on his palm. The other side looked exactly the same. Just as she said. He’d noticed the sides wearing down over the years, but he’d always been able to tell which was which at a glance.
Now that he was staring straight at it, he could not decipher the difference.
Perhaps it was not the right coin?
But he knew it was. He’d recognized it the moment that she’d held it out to him. Matthew slowly used his thumb to flip it over again.
Flat. Both sides were almost completely flat with no discernible difference between them.
“I…” He could not find the words to explain how he’d always known. “I just knew, I suppose. I would just look at it, and I would know.”
How long had his coin been like this? How could he possibly have known what the decision was? Yet somehow, he always had.
Johanna still held his hand cupped in hers, her gentle touch keeping him anchored through the storm of emotions sweeping through him as the questions, the confusion, cascaded over him.
“I do not know.” He shook his head, suddenly wishing he could drop the coin, so he did not have to look at it. Did not have to think about it again. “I do not know how I knew. I…” The strangest thought occurred to him. “What if I just saw what I wanted to see?”
“Perhaps you did.” His wife smiled at him, her fingers curling around his, closing his fist around the coin. “Perhaps you were making the decisions all along without realizing it.”
“Not all along. It did not use to look like that.” Matthew shook his head. “I do not know when it might have changed. It must have done so slowly enough that I did not really notice.”
“Which means you chose to marry me.” Her smile had turned rather brilliant. “Not the coin.”
“Yes… I… yes, I did.” That was what that meant. He’d seen her on that stage, and his first thought had not been to purchase her to rescue her, but to marry her. Which was exactly what he’d done because he’d wanted to… It was not so long ago that his coin would have had its sides.
How very odd to discover that now.
Stepping into him, Johanna went up on her tiptoes, pressing her lips to his.
Their arms bent, hands still together between their bodies, the coin trapped in his fist. Matthew moved his other arm to hold her, keeping her from stepping away as he kissed her back, his tongue sliding into her mouth to deepen the kiss.
When he lifted his head again, she was smiling up at him, her eyes sparkling like the amethyst jewels she’d worn tonight.
“Are there any other important decisions you would like to make this evening?” she asked, teasingly.
“Actually… yes.” Matthew glanced over to her vanity, where the jewels were sitting. “There is something I have fantasized ever since I brought you home.”
“Oh?”
Johanna
Bedecked in a tiara, necklace, earrings, and bracelet, but nothing else, Johanna could not help but blush as Matthew stared at her.
She was now standing in front of his bed, entirely naked to his gaze, other than the jewelry, and the way he was looking at her made her feel utterly wicked.
The metal was cool against her skin, but the heat of desire coiling inside her kept her warm.
“You are so beautiful,” he murmured, smoothing his hand over his dressing gown.
Johanna did not entirely know how to respond to that.
“Thank you, Your Grace,” she said, blushing furiously and trying to tease him rather than give in to the embarrassment. His eyes flashed.
“Oh. I do like hearing you call me that, kitten,” he said, walking toward her.
Johanna’s head tilted back as he came closer, her gaze holding his.
His dressing gown was soft against her skin as he trapped her between his body and the bed, making her nipples pucker against the soft velvet. Her insides throbbed in response.
Bending down, his lips brushed over hers, and she hummed low in her throat as an anticipatory shiver went down her spine.
“Are the jewels the only part of your fantasy?” she asked.
“Oh, no.” He grinned wickedly, pressing his lips more firmly against hers for a kiss. “They are just the beginning.”
Johanna squeaked as he stepped back while keeping his hold on her, just enough so he could bodily lift her and settle her onto the bed with her back against the pillows.
His gaze was hot with desire as he stripped off his dressing gown, leaving himself bare.
Crawling onto the bed, he lowered his upper body between her legs, his shoulders pushing her thighs wider as she watched him.
Their gazes caught and held as he lowered his mouth to her pussy, watching her as his tongue slid between her nether lips.
Johanna moaned, her eyelashes fluttering at the touch of his tongue on her heated flesh.
His hands slid under her thighs and up to caress her sides, then moved up to cup her breasts as he began to feast.
Gasping at the sensations as his hands cradled her breasts, squeezing and kneading the soft flesh, his tongue going to work on her sensitive folds and pearl, Johanna clutched at the bedsheet beneath her.
Her heels pressed into his upper back as she whimpered from the sensations now coursing through her.
Matthew’s head lifted for just a moment, his eyes flashing.
“Hands up, kitten. Hold on to the headboard. I want you completely open to me.”
The order made her insides clench, and she lifted her arms above her head, reaching for the headboard.
With the pillows behind her, she had to stretch to grasp the spindles, pushing her breasts up into his hands.
He pinched her taut nipples, and her grip tightened on the hard wood as she jolted in reaction. It hurt, but it felt so good.
His tongue delved between her folds, teasing her, tasting her.
Johanna moaned, moving her hips up and down, pressing her pussy against his mouth as pleasure ignited through her body.
One hand left her breasts, and he shifted, suckling on her clit for a moment before letting it go. She cried out at the sensation, her body pulsing in reaction.
“I want you to do something for me, kitten,” he murmured.
Johanna moaned as she felt his fingers press against the opening of her pussy.
“Yes, Your Grace?” Again, she tried to be teasing, especially after his previous reaction, but she sounded more breathless than mischievous.
Matthew chuckled and began to slide his long fingers into her wet heat, stroking her insides and making her gasp and arch again.
“Do not climax until I give you permission.”
Johanna’s pussy clamped down around his invading fingers, the growing pleasure distracting her, and it took her a moment to fully comprehend his words.
“What?”
His fingers pumped, stroking her insides.
“Do not climax until I give you permission,” he repeated. “You are my good girl, yes?”
“Yes…” She moaned, tightening, as his thumb brushed over the sensitive nub, sending a shock of pleasure through her.
“I want you to do your best to hold off your climax until I give you permission. Do you think you can do that for me?”
“I… do not know,” she admitted, flexing her fingers around the spindles of the headboard again. She was already so close to her pinnacle, and he wanted her to hold it off? Was such a thing even possible?
His deep chuckle was full of sinful promise.
“Let us find out.”
Johanna opened her mouth to protest, but his fingers thrust again, his mouth descending on her pussy, and all that came out as a moan as her lower body tightened.
Somehow, some way, she had to stave off the growing ecstasy.
She tried to squirm away, but the hand still on her breast now left and wrapped over her hips, holding her in place for his mouth.
She cried out as his fingers thrust again, stroking inside her, hitting a spot that made her entire body jerk against his hold.
Her head fell back, thighs trying to tighten around him, to no avail, as the sensations rippled through her.
Whimpering, she closed her eyes, trying to fight back against the rising tide of passion.
Matthew
His wife’s body, bedecked in jewels, while she held onto the headboard, was everything Matthew had wanted to see.
The taste of her on his tongue, the way her body clenched around his fingers, her moans of pleasure, were utter perfection.
She wore the jewels of a princess while he made depraved plans for her body.
Because he already knew she was not going to be able to keep from climaxing. That was just part of the game. Part of the fantasy that had been building in his mind since their marriage. He wanted her to fight it and fail… then he could spank her and claim her completely.
His fingers curled inside her, stroking that sensitive spot, as he licked all around her clit. The salty sweetness of her cream was pure aphrodisiac, and his cock throbbed in response.
“Matthew!” She cried out his name as he sucked her clit into his mouth. “I cannot… I cannot… Please…”
Her begging was sweet music to his ears. He felt her insides clamp down on his fingers as her body arched.
Releasing her clit, he went back to licking around it as she whimpered and strained.
Holding her in place as she attempted to writhe, he twisted his arm so he could rub his thumb over the tiny crinkled hole he planned to plunder before the night was over.
It was already slick from the sweet cream spreading from her pussy, and she gasped, hips jerking in reaction to his touch.
“Please, Matthew, I need permission,” she begged, and the headboard creaked, emphasizing her plea. “I cannot… I cannot…”
Her body bowed.
“No.”
Matthew denied her request, then moved his mouth back to her clitoris, sucking the pleasure nubbin between his lips and sliding his tongue across it.
His wife screamed as forbidden ecstasy exploded inside her.
Matthew held her down in place as he sucked and sucked, sending her on wave after wave of wicked erotic bliss.
Only when she was limp and panting did he release her from his grip, pushing himself up and grinning as he looked down at her forlorn expression.
“Oh, dear, kitten,” he purred. “You’ve been a very naughty girl. Whatever shall I do with you?”