“Let me. Please.”
Kate shook her head, but he wasn’t watching her, and she let her knees be eased apart. She let him slide between them, let his mouth touch her there.
“Ah!” she cried as his tongue touched her most secret spots. She felt each swipe of his tongue, each circle it traced. Pleasure spread over her like cracks in glass. She cried out raggedly as Aidan’s mouth rubbed again between her legs, finding a little point of pleasure over and over.
He’d mentioned this once to her, in a whispered, breathless conversation. He’d told her of the things that lovers might do after they married. But this was nothing she’d imagined. It felt as though a wicked heart was beating deep inside her, separate from any other body she’d ever known.
Everything inside her clenched tighter and tighter until it burst into a thousand pieces of shimmering light. Her nails clutched the sheets as she fought to anchor herself to the world. Finally a sob was dragged from her throat, a deep-throated cry, and Aidan ceased his torment.
She was crying. She knew she was, and all she could do was let the tears slide down her temples and try not to make a sound. Aidan pressed delicate kisses along her thigh, and she tried to calm herself.
She felt the slide of his body against her legs as he rose. Then the shift of fine wool on her skin. When she opened her eyes, he stood naked and beautiful above her. His eyes met hers directly, meaningfully, and she took what he offered and looked at his body, still and proud, yet somehow vulnerable in the morning light. Her eyes lingered on his wide shoulders, the hard plane of his chest, the long stretch of muscle in his legs. She even let herself stare at his jutting manhood for a brief, thrilling moment.
He went to his knees beside the bed again. He pulled her hips closer; her knees edged farther apart. When the head of his shaft touched her open sex, her body jerked, the slightest touch of him against her jarring and painfully intense. Aidan went still. He was holding his breath, waiting, wanting. Finally, she breathed again, and he pressed forward.
There was none of that pushing, that forcing that was all she could remember of the joining of bodies. His body slid into hers as if it were coming home, as if it remembered her and the way to her soul. It was sweet and slow and like nothing she’d ever felt.
She took him inside in a smooth slide until he was so deep, filling her up, filling a void she’d forgotten existed.
“Oh,” was all she could say. Aidan held motionless against her, and now he was the one whose panting filled the room. “Oh,” she sighed again, “Aidan.”
He slid his hands up to curve around her ribcage and then up to cup her breasts. Her moan turned into a sharp cry when he lightly pinched her nipples, sending a bolt down through to the core of her. She felt her passage tighten around him, felt his pleasure at this when he pushed even deeper.
She squeezed her thighs as he pulled back, gliding out and out until her body held only the tip of him. His hands fell to grip her hips and he pushed in again in one strong motion, sending waves of satisfaction through her belly.
“God, Kate,” he ground out as he found a long, slow rhythm.
Her body registered so many things at once: the heat of his skin against her thighs, the pale play of light over their bodies, the musky scent of their sex.
She moaned and threw her head back, lost in the way he filled her up and set her free at the same time. It felt good. Better than anything she’d felt ten years before. It felt perfect, and she knew then that she’d never regret this.
His strokes quickened. His fingers tightened on her hips. Yes, she thought. Yes, she wanted to make him shake and shatter just as she had. Kate drew her knees higher and felt him settle into that last tiny space between them.
“Ah, Christ,” he moaned. He took her faster, harder, and Kate found herself crying out when he shouted his release. He slid from her body as his muscles jerked, and his seed splashed hot against her belly as he climaxed.
She covered his hands with her own, weaving her fingers between his and holding tight.
“Katie,” he rasped, bowing his head as he tried to catch his breath.
She found herself smiling stupidly up at him, unable to control her joy.
When Aidan opened his eyes, his expression slid from fierceness to surprise, then he met her smile with one of his own. “Well, then.”
A giddy laugh rose up and danced from her throat. “I had no idea, Aidan. I don’t remember it being so . . .” She shook her head in wonder.
“I daresay it was nothing like that before. I was very young and very nervous.”
“Um,” she sighed happily. Her limbs were weighted, heavy with weary satisfaction.
“I’d lie down with you and cover you with kisses, but I don’t think there’s room in this bed.”
“I don’t need more kisses,” she sighed.
He raised an incredulous eyebrow.
She could only laugh. “I’ve had everything I need, and we can’t afford to lie abed regardless. The day is starting.”
His smile turned tender. His eyes warmed. “Yes, it’s just begun.” Aidan rose, and rinsed out the cloth he’d used to dry her tears the night before. While he dressed, Kate washed herself, conscious of the strangeness of their shared space. And all she could think was one word: mine. He’s mine again.