“I’m sorry. I don’t know what to do. And when you said ‘God,’ I thought you didn’t…”
“Didn’t what?”
She steadied herself, but her voice still trembled. “Didn’t like what you saw.”
A soft rumble hummed in his throat. “I said ‘God’ because I do like what I see. You’re very pretty, wife, and I want to kiss every inch of you.”
That’s a lot of inches, Ruth thought to herself. Her eyes closed again, seemingly of their own volition.
“Open, Ruthie. Open your eyes and look at me.”
She complied, her nerves skittering, and met his burning gaze. Garth unbuttoned his shirt, and Ruth tensed, waiting for the sides of fabric to part like the Red Sea. When they did, she gulped at the pure masculine glory exposed. A mat of golden hair covered his hard chest, and two mahogany nipples eyed her. Ripples of solid muscle walled his stomach, and a golden pathway of hair arrowed to the waistband of his trousers, and to his arousal that bulged beneath them.
She’d never seen a male member, of course. Even this morning in the hotel, when he’d lain naked on his bed, his sheets and legs had covered that part of him. Though she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t taken note of him, her concern at the time had been Mary Alice.
Now, though, she focused solely on Garth. Her husband. Land sakes, that sounded odd, even in thought. After a few years of accepting spinsterhood as her lot in life, suddenly she was married to the most beautiful man on earth.
A man who was unbuttoning his trousers at this very moment, readying to expose his full self to her. She forced her eyes to remain open.
Garth leaned down and removed his boots, pushed his trousers and then his drawers over his hips.
Oh, my! It was big. But beautiful, in its way. Darker golden than the rest of him, it stood straight and proud. Her fingers itched to touch it. Why not? She’d never been one to shy away from a challenge. And he’d touched her down there last night, and would again. Soon, she hoped.
She extended her arm and let the tips of her fingers brush its tip.
Garth jerked away.
Ruth’s tummy dropped. “Gracious, I’m sorry!”
“Don’t be. I want you to touch me. Just not yet. I don’t want this night to be over before it’s begun.”
What? She turned her head to hide the mist in her eyes. She knew she’d do something wrong. He’d probably be petitioning for an annulment tomorrow.
But such negative thoughts fled when he lay down next to her and gathered her close. The heat of his ski
n sizzled against her. From their foreheads to their toes, they touched, bare skin to bare skin. A delicious sensation.
When he shifted gently, the tip of him grazed a place between her legs that shot a spark through her. Her breath hitched, and a spiral of rapture surged through her belly.
He took her lips then, while he still pressed against that lovely place, and she opened to him. A groan rumbled beneath his breath, and he thrust his tongue into her mouth with a sweet urgency that she returned. Ruth fingered his sleek shoulders, his strong arms, all the while reveling in his warm and silky mouth.
When he released her lips, a soft sigh escaped her. He rained kisses over her cheeks, her neck, groaning unintelligible words as he ventured lower, to her chest, to the mounds of her breasts. His firm lips slid over the rosy swells and then clamped around one nipple.
She remembered this—that wonderful licking and tugging that made her body quiver. His erection pushed against her thigh now as he lowered his body to suck her nipple. She arched into him, her secret place searching for his hardness. Such a void, longing to be filled.
Garth moved to the other nipple, and shivers raced through Ruth as he kissed the swollen nub while he plucked at the other with his strong fingers.
Such hunger, such longing! She wanted every part of him to touch every part of her. If she could crawl into his skin with him she would. She wished to become him, experience everything he could offer her, if only for one timeless moment.
“Oh, my.” The whisper left her lips in a delicate sigh.
Garth smiled against the flesh of her breasts and then ventured lower, kissing her belly, her navel, the triangle of dark curls between her legs. A cushion of breeze fluttered through the window and floated over Ruth’s moist nipples. She closed her eyes and shivered at the titillating awareness.
“Ah!” Her eyes shot open when a jolt of energy rushed through her. Between her legs, Garth’s blond locks fell over her pale skin, tickling her. His firm lips were on her. Kissing her. Kissing that delicious place.
Unseemly, oh yes. But she couldn’t have stopped him if her life depended on it. Rainbows of color pivoted around her, and she lifted her hipsoff the bed, pushed into Garth’s face. Closer, had to get closer.
Empty. Aching. Garth. She needed Garth. She ran in her mind, hurtling toward something she couldn't name. Couldn’t understand. Only knew she must get there. Must.