Chapter 13 #2
“If only Romeo and Juliet were old enough to understand not to give up on the love they shared, they would have lived long lives of joy and happiness.” He whispered against her lips.
“You do know they were fictional?”
“Damn, I was hoping to make Romeo jealous.”
“Then let us make all the other Romeos of the world jealous.”
“With pleasure.”
She pulled at the hem of his shirt, lifting it over his head as he bent to assist her.
She gazed at the muscles she had admired a few moments before through his clothing, and it was as if she was seeing him for the first time.
She splayed her hand against his ribcage, tracing the lines of his muscled core with a reverence of touching a piece of art.
The etching in the paper didn’t do his beauty justice.
“You’ve changed since I used to bathe you. ”
“I had to do something while trapped in that bed. I found sitting up and then laying down over and over exercised my stomach muscles. Then Charlie brought me the two brass footstools from the library, and I began repetitively lifting them to exercise my arms and my good leg.”
“I wondered why they were here. I understand how you used them with your arms, but how did you use those on your leg?”
He grinned that boyish grin she loved when he spoke to the children about any mischievous stories he told from his childhood.
“I told my housekeeper I would buy her the best lady’s stockings available if she would allow me to have two pairs of hers for my use.
I thought she was going to expire on the spot, and I had to rush to assure her my need was for my recovery.
It was Charlie who explained how he was going to help me tie the stools to my leg to improve my strength.
I’m not sure she completely believed the explanation until she came in two days later while Charlie was helping me do the lifts. ”
She smiled at his tenacity but also recognized his concerted effort to distract her from where they were now seated on his bed.
“Are you certain, Caillen, because as badly as I want to make love to you, we can wait. I will wait until the end of time for you, as long as I know you are mine. I have dreamt of this since the night we met.”
“Yet you ignored me unless you were tormenting me. I didn’t understand you. I had always found you attractive, but you aggravated me so.”
He began pulling the pins from her hair, watching each curl fall with an intensity she had never seen in him.
“My methods were those of a teenage boy too immature to express his desire and pursue you properly. I had never wanted to win a woman’s hand in marriage before.
You were my first and, I suppose I reverted to boyish behavior. ”
“You mean you’ve put them behind you now?”
“I will always want to play with you, whether we are in bed or making love by the lake at my country estate.”
She laughed in breathless outrage. “Your family is there!”
“I plan to kick them out from time to time, especially while I’m on my honeymoon.”
“We couldn’t.” Oh, but she rather liked the idea of being at Langley Castle with just him.
“It’s important for my family to come to town. It is high time the ton learned to deal with our ilk, don’t you think?”
“I think I will leave that decision in the capable hands of your mother.”
“Damn, then I’ll just have to buy another country estate for the two of us to use, exclusively. And, do not mention my mother again while we are in our bedroom.” He shuddered. “That could be catastrophic to my ardor. May I continue?”
“I want this and I want you. I just don’t want to disappoint you when I don’t enjoy it as much as you.”
“I will do my best to ensure that you do.” He combed his fingers through her hair and began kissing her neck just below her ear, the heat of his kisses burning a trail of desire through her body.
“Do you know how badly I’ve wanted to touch you here?” He licked and sucked at the pulse point of her neck, making her aware of a part of her body she never would have expected to bring her so much pleasure.
“I do now,” she breathed.
“At Harding House, I used to lean over your chair almost every morning just so I could smell your scent and dream of running my tongue along the silken skin of your neck. My God, I never could have imagined it being this soft.”
She moaned with the tantalizing trail he created with his lips and tongue. Her hand slid across the ridges of his abdomen, glorying in the definition and strength he’d built in the short month she’d stayed away.
Simon pulled down the sleeve of her gown, baring her shoulder as his kisses followed the path of the naked skin he revealed. His clean, masculine scent was doing things to her body she didn’t understand, until he talked of how he craved her just as much.
Her breathing became labored and her body heated in places she’d never experienced before. It was as if he had cast a spell over her, because despite her belief that no woman could possibly enjoy the ministrations of a man, she rather enjoyed what he was doing.
He stopped and met her gaze before exposing her further. “May I?”
She nodded, afraid to say anything as he held her gaze and spoke to her in the most reverent tone she’d ever heard from him.
“Your skin is as smooth as butter cream.” Slowly, he unbuttoned her gown with the nimble movements that would put the best of lady’s maids to shame.
Then he pulled her fichu from around her neck and exposed a bit of flesh she had covered since her marriage.
“I don’t ever want to stop exploring every inch of your body. ”
“Simon…” Oh, the things he was doing to her.
Her gown gaped in the front and she resisted the need to grab it and hold it in place as he pulled her to stand in front of him between his thighs.
He slowly slid each sleeve down, devouring each bit of flesh he exposed with his gaze as he released her arms one at a time and her dress floated to the floor.
He met her gaze once more, a question in his eyes, and she merely nodded her agreement as he began unlacing her corset. Gooseflesh rose across her arms and chest as his knuckles grazed the top of her breasts, and her rapid breaths threatened to get the best of her.
“Remember how I taught you to breathe?”
Once more, she nodded.
“I need you to do that now, alright?”
As she released the air in her lungs on a slow and languid exhale, her mind began to calm, her body still a bundle of exposed nerves.
Her corset dropped to the floor, and something landed on her foot.
She startled, grabbing Simon’s thighs for support.
She felt his flinch and her eyes flew open as she began stepping away from him, but he was faster.
He grabbed her wrists and pulled her back.
“I’m fine. You just startled me, the muscles in my leg are tight.”
“Then let me massage your leg before we go further.”
He shook his head, as if that was the last thing he wanted her to do, and then he studied her face. As if sensing her needs had instantly changed, he acquiesced. “May I take my trousers off?”
“I never wanted you to put them on after your bath,” she admitted, a blush creeping up her cheeks.
He tore at his falls, popping buttons off in all directions to create a musical chord of anticipation as they struck the floor.
She chuckled and turned to pick up the errant brass fasteners, but he stayed her once more by grabbing hold of her wrist.
“My apologies. I got carried away.”
Standing there in just her shift, it was as if there had been a transfer of power in their relationship. Simon had given up his power completely, allowing her to take the lead. She knelt and began pulling his pants over his hips, down past gloriously thick thighs to his ankles.
“Caillen,” he groaned, the sound sexy and alluring. “That’s not helping.”
She looked up to find his eyes half closed, and his erection tenting the front of his smalls as it strained for release.
She helped him step out from his trousers and removed his stockings before standing up to untie his smalls.
As she pulled them down, his cock sprang loose as if it were demanding to be serviced.
Now. Yet because it was Simon, she wasn’t threatened by his masculine strength and prowess.
She wanted to touch him, soothe him, but she had no idea how.
Simon pushed his smalls down further and then stepped out of them completely and stood naked in front of her.
“Caillen?”
“Close your eyes and lie back on the bed.”
The corners of his mouth twitched, showcasing the dimple he rarely hid. “My pleasure, my lady.”
Simon pulled himself to the middle of the bed as she watched his muscles flex across his arms, shoulders and chest. The taut ripples of his abdomen flexed in a way she never imagined would be possible. Then he folded his arms behind his head and let out a sigh of masculine contentment.
The Whispers of the Ton was correct. He was a god, and he was hers. All hers.
With him finally in position, she lifted her shift over her head and dropped it to the floor, allowing herself the freedom to experience this act of love between them without any barriers. She never would have guessed that the state of being unclothed in front of a man would feel so freeing.
Climbing onto the bed, she let her eyes travel the length of him. If she hadn’t seen him before, she would be shocked by how much larger he was when aroused, and yet his cock only seemed to grow as they got closer and closer to doing what she dreaded most, and wanted even more.
“I’m going to straddle your legs, but I promise I won’t put any weight on your body.”
Simon groaned and his cock twitched as if it had a mind of its own.
“Does it always do that?”
A sly grin crossed his face before he bit it back. “Does what always do what?”
“Are you attempting to lure me into talking dirty?”
He grew serious for a moment. “I would never trick you into doing anything you didn’t want to do.”