Chapter 9 #3
Caroline smiled, suffused with delight, and traced the gorgeous musculature of his broad chest with her eyes.
She trailed her gaze down his taut stomach, following the arrow of dark hair to the thick length of his male member.
Fitz shuddered as though he felt the touch of her stare, his fist tightening around his erection until the veins stood out in his forearm.
A single drop of pearly liquid appeared at the tip of the member and without thinking, Caroline reached out to touch it.
Fitz made a sound as though she’d stabbed him, but Caroline was too entranced to stop.
Hot and slippery, she spread the moisture over the head of his organ, making it shine.
As if he couldn’t help himself, he pumped his erection once through the tight circle of his fist, and a sudden wave of covetous longing burned through Caroline.
Putting her much smaller hand over his, she grasped the blood-hot member and squeezed.
Life pulsed under her fingers, the skin so taut and satiny over the hardness beneath.
The organ jumped in her grip, moving as though it had a life of its own, and Fitz released himself to plant both palms on the chaise and cage Caroline in.
But Caroline had never felt more free as she continued to explore.
She experimented with different grips, pumping slow and then fast. A twist of her wrist just under the domed head made him shake; the brush of her fingertips over the pendulous orbs below made him throw back his head.
Power flooded her along with a ferocious protectiveness.
She held Fitz in the palm of her hand, vulnerable and aching and needing, just as the place between her own legs throbbed with an almost painful emptiness.
Bracing one foot on the floor, Fitz leaned down to kiss Caroline’s open, panting mouth.
She gave herself up to it, and to the sensation of his long, dexterous fingers questing up her thigh to test her readiness.
She knew he’d find her slick and hot; she could feel her own moisture dampening her inner thighs and making her squirm.
The first touch of his fingers had her falling back against the velvet cushion, opening herself to Fitz, to whatever he wanted. To everything.
And he gave it to her. With a groan that sounded like her name, Fitz notched himself against her and gathered her up in his arms. The moment he penetrated her, slow and careful, he kissed her, and the dual sensations stole Caroline’s wits and plunged her straight into her body.
Hot. Hard. Wide. He pressed her apart as he surged into her, the untried flesh of her channel clenching at his length and making them both gasp. A pinch of pain had Caroline biting his lip and he paused for a breath with only the head of his organ inside her.
One hand came up to her breast to tease at the nipple, plucking and rubbing circles around the pebbled bit of flesh.
Pleasure arced through her, distracting her from the strangeness of having a part of him, oh God, actually inside her, moving deeper now.
And the sparkling bright sensation in her nipple seemed to be connected to the muscles inside her that wanted to clamp down upon Fitz in rhythmic waves that pushed the tension higher and higher until he was all the way inside.
There was no more pain, only a fullness, an unmistakable presence, and then… friction.
His face a mask of concentration, Fitz withdrew slowly, making Caroline shiver and clutch at him with every part of her body, and then he rode back into her in a long, smooth, inexorable push.
Caroline cried out, a sound without form or meaning beyond yes, more, now, please.
Attentive to her every need, as always, Fitz gave her exactly what she craved, filling her over and over again, making their two separate selves into one single being working intently toward a pinnacle that seemed to rise higher and higher, just out of reach until suddenly, they were there, lifting out and up into a great nothingness spangled with stars.
Flying.
Together.
A long while later, in the midst of a pleasant drowse, Caroline lifted her head from Fitz’s bare chest. “Not that it matters, I suppose, if anyone finds us in a compromising position, but ought we not to get back to the house? My mother must be turning the place upside down looking for me.”
“Well, as to that…” Fitz coiled a hank of her hair lazily around his hand, letting it run through his fingers like water.
She watched the fascinated way he toyed with the strands with fondness.
“I know I said the older people would have to shift for themselves from now on, but I may have put one final plan into motion before I came to find you.”
Frowning, Caroline propped her head up on her hands where they were crossed over his pectoral muscles. “Fitz. What did you do?”
“I wanted to give us enough time alone to come to an agreement,” he said, widening his eyes innocently.
Ridiculous, darling, beloved man. “So I left a note in your chamber explaining that I’d convinced you to elope with me to Gretna Green.
And I had my man, Avery, pack bags for both of us and stash them in the stables. ”
Caroline’s jaw dropped. “Fitzwilliam Drake!”
“I imagine they’re halfway up the Great North Road by now,” he mused, lacing his fingers together behind his head.
“You think they went after us together?” Caroline shook her head, impressed despite herself. “Good grief. They likely did. They shall hare all the way up to Scotland—”
“Days trapped in a carriage together, stopping at inns along the way, perhaps finding that there is only one bed available…”
Caroline laughed and pinched his nipple in punishment at the same time. “You wretch! My poor Mama.”
“My poor father,” he countered, covering his offended nipple with a wounded expression. “He has stormy seas ahead if he is to make any headway wooing the woman he jilted all those years ago.”
“Is that what happened?” Caroline settled back against Fitz’s chest, her thoughts racing. “I suppose it does make sense.”
“If I had to hazard a guess. When he was going on about my general unworthiness to aspire to your hand, he said something about not wanting to see history repeat itself. He wasn’t worried about your lack of title—he was worried I’d do to you what he did to your mother, and then regret it for the rest of my life.
As he has spent the past twenty years mired in regret. ”
A chill chased down Caroline’s spine. To have a love like this and to throw it away—even the thought was painful. It would be enough to turn anyone bitter and miserable. “My mother won’t make it easy on him. Whatever his reasons might have been, she clearly hasn’t forgiven him.”
“We’ve done all we can for them.” Fitz pressed a kiss to the crown of her head and Caroline snuggled in closer. “I have faith that your mother is able bring Father round if anyone could. If she wants to.”
“Mmm. I wouldn’t be surprised if she does, actually.” She twisted round to look up into Fitz’s gray eyes. “You Drakes are hard to resist.”
That wicked smile she loved so much curved his lips as the hand that had been lightly stroking her back slid down to palm the swell of her buttocks. Caroline shivered.
“I’ve been called many things in my time, but never irresistible. I like it. I like the way you see me.”
Caroline lifted her chin imperiously. “I am a very observant person; I’ve often been told I see things that others miss. Perhaps one day you’ll learn to trust that I am usually correct.”
“Ah, sweet,” he said, “Have patience. I am still learning you, after all.” He lifted her over him as though she weighed no more than a feather. He brought her down onto his stiff organ, sliding into her on an easy silken glide that made her moan and lean back against his raised thighs.
“I’ll learn you, if it takes a lifetime,” he promised roughly, working his hips, his gaze intent and savage and tender all at once.
Leaning down to bring their mouths together, Caroline gasped at the change in angle. Savoring the closeness, the intimacy of their bodies moving in tandem, she smiled at her wonderful, impossible, ridiculous man and said, “One lifetime might not be enough.”
They both had a lot to learn, she thought, in the brief moment before passion clouded her mind and whisked all thoughts away.
A lot to learn about love, and each other, and how to make a life of meaning and purpose that both of them could fit into—but that was all right. They had time. And they would learn.
Together.