Chapter Nine #2
Unaware, Dominic turned in the doorway, holding up his hands and counting off on those long, gorgeous fingers.
“Before you go in, know that this is only temporary if it doesn’t suit,” he said quickly.
“It’s been vacant for months, but it’s not attached to the house in case of chemical mishaps or…
” His lips sliding into a sluggish grin, his explanation died away.
Louisa laughed, pressing a palm lightly to his chest to nudge him aside, and slipped into the room. Her ring glittered upon her finger, the emerald a warm, wonderful reminder.
Lips parting, she stopped short. Glass retorts and flasks, a copper alembic glinting on the bench, rows of vials she recognized as her own.
The air was steeped in the sharp tang of sulfur and the briny bite of saltpeter, scents so familiar they wrapped around her like home. Her experiments—her oddities—here.
He hadn’t just made space for them. He’d made space for her. In his life, in this place that was to be their home.
Dominic stepped around her, going to the narrow shelf holding a jumble of powders in mismatched jars, each marked in her own hurried scrawl, his thick lashes lowering to hide his eyes.
“I want to please you, but I don’t know much about this husband business.
You’ll have to be patient. Only know that I’m trying. ”
Oh, she thought, gaze roaming the first true laboratory she’d ever had. I do love him.
It was then she heard the gentle snore of a gray-and-black dog, curled in the corner, fast asleep.
“He comes with it.” Dominic cast an amused glance at the stray pup. “I searched for his owner, but no one claimed him. Anyway, he didn’t want to leave. So I gave him a bath and named him Rocket. It seemed appropriate.”
“I have a husband and a dog,” she said with wonder, tears stinging her eyes.
Turning to lean his hip on the workbench, his lips tilted in a cautious smile. The loose sunlight pouring in the window picked out the gilded threads in his stormy blue eyes. “So it seems.”
Gratitude surged, wild and unstoppable. Dominic Beckett wasn’t asking her to change, and he wasn’t hiding behind, well, anything. Louisa crossed the space and rose to him, thank-you spilling from her lips to his before the words dissolved into a kiss, tender at first, then urgent.
Fisting his hand in her hair, his mouth seized hers with rough yearning as he urged her back against the stone wall. “Finally,” he whispered, giving up his hushed struggle and letting passion consume them.
Heart hammering, his body anchoring her in place, she clung to his hips, pulling him closer. The moment broke only when he tore his mouth from hers to grasp her arm, tugging her back through the doorway. “Not here, Lou.”
With ready eagerness, they stumbled down the gravel path, his stride urgent, her skirts tangling around her legs to keep up until he halted to catch her mouth again, devouring her with an embrace that stole reason.
Hair tumbling loose as pins scattered, she caught his hand before he could stoop to gather them, urging him on with a naughty grin that gave him no choice but to follow.
On the staircase, he caught her against the shaky banister, fumbling at the ties of her gown as she tugged at his cravat.
She pressed her lips to his jaw, his throat, reaching until he cursed softly, tearing himself free just long enough to half-drag, half-carry her upward.
By the time they reached the bedchamber, her bodice hung loose and her slippers were long gone, his shirt was askew, waistcoat wrinkled, buttons half-slipped free—both of them dizzy with laughter and the sharp edge of desire.
“I want,” she gasped, taking her last lucid moment to observe a beautiful rose and cream bedchamber, the coverlet turned down, hearth lit, a room that, unlike the rest of the house, had been readied for them.
He spun her around, his lips caressing the nape of her neck as his hands made quick work of her gown—ties undone, skirts rustling to the floor, stays tugged loose, petticoats falling in a whisper until only a thin shift clung to her. “I want.”
She moaned lightly when the cool air touched her skin, the sound rippling through the approaching night.
Sliding his arm around her waist, Dominic pulled her back against his chest. “More than you know, Mrs. Beckett,” he murmured in her ear, his tepid breath sending a shiver of yearning through her.
Before she could move to undress him, he settled her carefully on the bed, the coverlet a silken dream beneath her.
For a heartbeat he stared, eyes shining the color of forgotten seas, full of mystery and desire.
His chest fell with a deep sigh as his hands tensed at his side.
“My God, you’re stunning. I consider myself the luckiest of men. ”
Dazed, she shook her head, having no idea what to say, what to do when she was burning up inside, when she loved him this much.
With a knowing smile, he began to strip away the remnants of his own restraint—waistcoat shrugged aside, buttons slipped open one after another, shirt tugged free and tossed to the floor.
Braced on her elbow, her breath caught at the sight of him undoing himself piece by piece, until at last he stepped from his trousers and drawers, his gaze meeting hers again, no barrier left between them.
You’re the stunning one, she pledged, beauty carved not in stone but in flesh. And I’m the luckiest of women.
After only a second’s hesitation, he moved toward her, crawling onto the bed.
Her elbow gave way as he eased her down, laying her back.
His lids lowering to conceal the heat in his eyes, his broad body covered hers, pressing her into the mattress.
Then his mouth found hers again, no words now, only the fierce insistence of lips and tongue, the surrender of purpose as he kissed her until thought dissolved.
The details of their first time would surround Louisa for days, weeks, months—forever—but in the moment, it was a rush of sensation that she’d been, even with some knowledge, unprepared for.
The friction of his slick skin against hers, his hips nudging her thighs wide as he sank between them.
His shaft, hard and heavy, settled into her soft folds as if they’d been fashioned for each other.
Which, she supposed, they had.
He palmed her lower back in skillful possession, tilting her hips as his fingers began the wicked play he’d made her crave since that stolen interlude in his warehouse.
She closed her eyes to the sight of him looming over her, the gorgeous silver-streaked strands she so loved dangling across his brow, struggling to control the tremors dancing across her skin and the surety that she would be crushed by passion if she allowed it.
“It doesn’t work like that,” he whispered, his lips settling at the curve of her shoulder and sucking the delicate skin there between his teeth—gently but with purpose.
She felt the touch, the intent, to her toes and back.
Laughing tenderly, he slid a long finger inside her and stroked.
Then he paused, his warm breath streaking across her cheek.
“Command of our bodies isn’t always ours to maintain, that’s the beauty of this.
It’s my husbandly duty to make you lose your mind. ”
She groaned, hips rising, grasping his shoulder, urging him to continue.
“Recall my advice, the pause is everything. The moment the senses take over, let them. Feel me, Lou,” he said and worked his finger deeper, then another joining the first. His thumb moved over her sex, pressing as he stroked.
“The second before the delicious spoils is the best approximation of heaven.”
“Spoil me, then,” she whispered, drawing a ragged laugh from him.
But he complied—and was calculated about their adventure after that.
His touch, his palpable hunger, the sensual grind of his cock against her thigh, left her no choice but to submit to anything he asked of her.
When he left the kiss to draw her nipple between his lips, his tongue circling the hardened bud, she was lost. Her release rolled over her with a roar in aching degrees, taking her with it.
She gasped, pulling his body atop hers, her cheek pressed to his chest. His heart bumped in time to her frantic breaths as blood raced through her veins. The ecstasy was indescribable.
Confidence born of need, reserve mislaid in the face of raw desire, she took hold of his rigid shaft, marveling at the smooth sleekness, the absolute perfection. Her strokes were clumsy, but his hum of pleasure made her soar. And with more practice, she would get better.
“I’m not going to last, darling Lou. Not this time.
I waited, as promised,” he said, his voice threadbare.
Unable to form a capable reply, as she shuddered with the last vestiges of her climax, he moved to fit the crown of his cock at her entrance.
“I’ll be gentle, as much as I can. Just know I want you more than I’ve wanted anyone in this life. ”
Mouth locating the nipple he’d yet to savor, he feasted while thrusting inside her in agonizingly, gloriously slow notches, the patient skill he’d spoken of on display. The pain was sharp but lasted only seconds, swallowed by his tenderness and their ardor.
When his hips were locked against hers, he paused, his brow dropping to hers. “This is better than I’d imagined, and sweetheart, I’ve imagined nothing else for days.”
Dominic held still, buried deep, as they trembled at the enormity of what they’d done, what they’d become. Husband and wife, lovers. His breath feathered across her lips, tremors rocking his body from holding back, while his thumb brushed her cheek in a touch so reverent it unraveled her.
She cupped his jaw, anchoring herself in his kindness, his strength, as if she might steady them both.
“It doesn’t work like that,” she whispered, lifting her hips, dragging him back into the dance.
The silver streaks in his hair glimmered in the lamplight, her endless fascination.
“That’s the beauty of this. My wifely duty is to make you lose your mind. ”
He groaned in what she assumed was agreement and began to move, gradually at first, each thrust a measured claim, until her body softened, opened, answering his. Her name fell from his lips as he gathered her close, as her legs wrapped around him, intensifying their rhythm.
His hair dampened against his temple, his mouth finding hers in kisses that blurred into the cadence of their bodies—urgent, consuming, their breath tangling in the hush of the bedchamber as they gave themselves over to one another completely.