Chapter Twenty-Seven
Pere wasn’t certain how one could be both shivering and on fire at the same time, yet her body seemed capable of both simultaneously.
Gabriel’s touch was searing as he held her close, his lips dancing with hers in the most tender of kisses.
He lingered at her mouth, then withdrew.
As her eyes fluttered open, she watched him, obsessively so.
“Why did you stop?” she asked.
“You’re shivering, and…” He leaned down, kissing the arch of her neck, his arms wrapping around her hips and pulling her in tightly.
“And I want to make sure it’s because you’re chilly, not afraid.
Because I promise.” He placed a lingering kiss along her jawline, then grazed his nose along her cheek and he continued. “There is nothing to fear.”
Pere felt her body relax a measure of the tension she hadn’t realized had been present.
“I love you, completely. You undo me with a glance.” He bent and kissed her shoulder, somehow now exposed to the cool air.
Her breathing stuttered as he ran a fingertip up her back, the stays loosening at his touch.
“Your smile makes me weak.” He nipped the flesh at her shoulder playfully, his hand reaching up to gently tug on her hair, the delicate sound of pins hitting the floor punctuated the shivers that were now deliciously warm and intoxicating.
“Oh?” she managed, unable to make the word more than a whisper.
He nodded against her neck, kissing along her collarbone.
She could feel the mad pounding of his heart against her own chest, and it soothed her, knowing she had the same effect on him.
She released the hold on his shoulders. When had her hands even moved there?
And reached up to tug on his hair, her fingers losing themselves in the chestnut curls.
His breath hitched just slightly, enough to encourage her to tug a little harder, angling his head so she could claim his mouth with her own.
His kiss was insistent, restrained but only barely as his hands mapped her back.
A moment later, he gently lowered her fingers from his hair and stepped back, and before she could register why he’d given space, she felt her dress slip from her shoulders and arms, pooling at her feet.
He deepened the kiss and walked her backward, her fingers reaching up again to find his neck and pull him close.
Dress forgotten, she simply needed him closer, impossibly closer with a desperation that overwhelmed all other thoughts.
He spun her around, his lips immediately finding her neck as he nipped and teased the curve along her shoulder as he worked her stays.
Her breath came in gasps as each swirl of his tongue brought a new sensation of need.
Rather than fear the removal of her under things, she found she was desperate for him to accomplish the task faster.
As the stays shifted and slipped off, she turned back around, only to be captured by his lips as he made quick work of his shirt, his cravat long gone.
Soon her hands were warmed by the sensation of his bare shoulders under her fingertips, and his lips having never left her own. His body shuddered under her touch, and she pressed in closer, her body warmed by his.
“Pere,” he groaned against her lips. “We can go slower—”
His words were cut off as she kissed him fiercely. “No,” she whispered the word softly between kisses.
“As you wish.”
She could taste his grin as he lifted her into his arms, breaking the kiss for only a moment to speak the words.
He gently guided her backward, step by step till her legs touched the bed.
Slowly he ended the kiss, and tenderly laid her on the bed, her skin flaring with gooseflesh at the cool temperature of the sheets.
His gaze raked over her lovingly, possessively, and unexpectedly, she didn’t feel apprehension at her lack of clothing, rather the opposite.
It was a heady feeling, the sensation of being laid bare and adored for it.
Gabriel took a step back and removed the rest of his clothing, never once looking away from her, vulnerability meeting vulnerability.
Pere boldly appreciated the view of her husband, in his glory. She shivered, her body desperate for the heat in his body and gaze. As if reading her mind, Gabriel knelt on the bed with her, and leaned down beside her, pulling her into his arms as he met her lips.
“I adore you. There’s never been anything so beautiful as you,” he whispered between kisses.
He moved against her; instinctively she followed, needing his words to be made into action.
“I love you,” she whispered against his shoulder, reaching over and pulling him closer, sighing with delight when his weight settled on her.
She gasped when his most intimate part met hers, waiting, requesting, yet deliciously enticing. She leaned into his warmth, and as Gabriel’s heartbeat pounded an excited rhythm against her own, she found the completion that can only be found in love’s consummation.