Chapter Twenty-Five
Franny had so much to look forward to that she awoke enthusiastic to tackle her day.
Now that their enemy was in custody, they could reopen the gymnasium.
If she and Josie worked hard and got the word out, maybe they could open tonight.
Surely, they would be ready because together, they could accomplish anything they set their minds to.
Giddiness burbled through Franny. Even her outlook on competing had improved, so after she visited Papa and Harry, she’d skip rope, perform calisthenics, and spar.
As if all of this wasn’t exciting enough, she was falling for a man who made her heart flutter and her toes curl.
He also knew how to make her body soar. Waking up beside him was so comforting that she might like to sleep with him every night.
Mrs. Benson had been correct. Now that Franny had rid herself of arbitrary relationship restrictions, her heart felt lighter.
She wriggled her arse into the mattress and stretched long. Once her blood vigorously pumped to her extremities, she opened her eyes and rolled toward Edward.
To her surprise, he was wide awake. His thick lashes fluttered, and he grinned. “Good morning.”
Her heart lurched. He was so beautiful, even with the bruise marring his face, and messy hair and dark scruff overtaking his chin and cheeks. His muscular shoulders and well-formed biceps peeked out from above the blankets, reminding her again how very male he was. Not that she ever forgot.
Franny scraped her nails through his morning growth. “I favor you, Edward Robinson.” She also quite liked the abrasive texture of his facial hair on her fingertips.
His grin widened. “And I am a fool for you, Frances Valentine. I have been since your fist first met my face.”
Although he’d tried to make her laugh, she did not find humor in her long-ago indiscretion. She ran her index finger over the disfigured bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. I truly am.”
“I’m not.” Grinning, he lifted his chin and angled his head to show off his profile. “I think it makes me look ruggedly dashing.” When he faced her, his smirk had been replaced by firm-lipped sincerity. “It is a piece of you I carried with me these many years.”
This man was too good to be true. She gently nuzzled his nose before bestowing tiny kisses along its length. She’d intended for her touch to be gentle and loving, but it seemed Edward was easily seduced.
With a feral growl, he pounced and straddled her. His hard cock pressed into her hip as he leaned forward and licked her collarbone.
Tendrils of pleasure twined up her spine.
“You fell asleep before I was finished with you,” he rasped in her ear.
It was hardly her fault. She had wanted to spend hours exploring each other’s bodies but had fallen asleep because he turned her brain and body into mush.
“I am here and awake right now,” she said with a playful eyebrow raise.
His deep growl vibrated her cheek and sent a bolt of awareness to her core.
Tucking his face into the hollow of her shoulder, he caressed a trail over her obliques, leaving heated tingling in its wake. He lifted his hips slightly, running his finger along her vaginal lips.
She melted into the mattress.
He parted her folds, pressing a finger inside of her. She widened her thighs, inviting him deeper. His finger drew heavenly little circles as her cunny cried tears of joy that slicked her passage. She closed her eyes and succumbed to the warm sensation overtaking her.
“Franny,” he said.
She opened her eyes.
He looked down at her, his gaze wild with lust. “I’ve never wanted a woman more than I want you. I’m so overwhelmed with desire for you that it steals my reason.”
Her belly twirled about, and she wasn’t sure it landed back in its proper place. It seemed too high.
Her core caught fire. She reached to trace the edges of his sensuous mouth with her index finger.
He propped himself on his elbows and hovered above her. “Do you want me?”
Want him? Did he mean his heart? Or was he talking about his cock in her cunny?
“I want everything,” she said as she shoved her pelvis against him. To her disappointment, her efforts went unrewarded because her insides still ached, as his rocklike cock poked her belly.
“Everything,” he whispered as if the word were a prayer. He moved to line his tip up with her entrance.
She reached between them and, for the first time, touched his steely strength wrapped in soft skin.
He hissed, slid insider her, and then held completely still.
The painful pinch quickly morphed into a lightning bolt of pleasure.
It was as if her insides were flower petals and he was sunlight as she opened and welcomed him.
As they stared into each other’s eyes, she ran her hands over the solid contours of his back, a back so strong that, like Atlas, he could carry the heavens upon his shoulders.
“Can you go deeper?” she asked.
He responded with a throaty chuckle as he slid halfway out and pushed back in. She cried out with rhapsodic pleasure.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked.
“Hell, no,” she said.
His pupils grew unfocused as if he were possessed, and a devilish grin spread across his face. He slid halfway out and then thrust, hard.
As deliciously full as she felt, she needed more. “Yes. Please. Deeper,” she begged.
Over and over again, he pounded into her, plunging deeper each time. She wrapped her legs around his waist and met his thrusts with equal force.
“So tight and wet,” he growled between clenched teeth.
“So hard,” she panted back.
To her disappointment, he halted his unrelenting barrage to lower his body weight onto her.
“No!” If he stopped, she’d die from want.
Embedded deep, he rocked his hips, rubbing his pelvis and the lower part of his cock against her clitoris.
“Oh, yes,” she roared as her eyeballs rolled back in her head.
“Christ, Franny.” Edward slammed into her.
With no distinguishable pattern, back and forth he went. One minute he rocked against her, tickling her pearl in a sweet taunt, the next he was slamming into her, the friction threatening to send her over some intangible ledge.
And then he stopped moving altogether. Sweat coated his chest and dripped from his forehead. She didn’t have the patience to wait for whatever sensual trick he had up his sleeve, so she bucked her hips upward, chasing her pleasure.
To her delight, he met her with a thrust that sent the headboard smashing into the wall.
Their hip bones repeatedly crashed together, and the pounding against the wall grew louder.
He was embedding himself so deeply, it was as if his entire body was inside her.
Up, up, up, her pleasure built and whirled.
His jaw tensed, and the veins in his neck protruded. She couldn’t help herself; she licked at the purple lines, tasting his salty essence.
“Come with me,” he said. He reached between them and pressed on her pearl while at the same time laving a sensitive nipple.
“Oh, Edward,” she cried.
“Fuck, Franny!” His cock twitched, his body quaked, and he pulled out. His warm seed splattered on her belly.
She only felt his loss for a second. He slid a finger inside her and circled her pearl.
A wave of euphoria washed over her, burning her cheeks.
Then, her heart beat in her clitoris. Her spine tingled, her toes curled, and her inner walls spasmed.
With one final shudder, she exploded from her body into a sea of pleasure.
She returned to her body feeling as if she were shimmering and shining like a glowworm on a hot summer night. He rolled off of her and pulled her back to his chest.
“My darling, Franny,” he whispered into her hair.
If she could have spoken, she’d have told him he was her darling, Edward. But since she couldn’t yet form words, she remained silently cocooned against him. She steadied her breath as her heart, body, and soul celebrated the dizzying sensation that was Edward Robinson.