“Yours,” she repeated with a grin of her own. She belonged to this man—her husband—and for the first time in her life, it felt as if she’d found her way home. “You are mine too.”
An expression of wonder crossed his face. “That’s the first time you’ve ever asserted any sort of possession about me.” He leaned over her and brushed his lips over hers. “I rather like the sound of it.”
That made her unaccountably happy, but she didn’t know why, and couldn’t discern that feeling from the heated desire being with him sent through her veins. She took one of his large hands and put it on her breast. “Please hurry. These feelings… so overwhelming…”
“I understand, but this will go all too quickly once we’re underway and I—”
Caroline pressed the fingers of one hand to his lips. “Other will times there be.” When he chuckled, she nodded. “Just want you.”
For long moments, her husband looked at her as if he couldn’t quite believe she was there, then he shook his head as if to clear his thoughts, yanked at the buttons on his front falls, and when his engorged, hardened length tumbled out, she gasped. He winked. “Do you wish to touch it?”
“No.” She could hardly force the word out from a tight throat. “Later.” A shiver of fear went down her spine as she gazed at that enormous shaft, and she attempted to scramble out from under him. Isobel’s words from her wedding day rang in her ears. “Too big. It can’t, I won’t be…”
“Sweeting, it will be all right.” John came over her once more with a hand between her thighs. “Our bodies will fit. I promise.” His fingers at that sensitive flesh brought back memories of the day at the duck pond, and she relaxed by increments. “Some men are bigger than others, but if you find it uncomfortable, we can stop.”
She nodded, squirming as the familiar waves of pleasure swept over her when he found that tiny bundle of nerves. Her back arched. A moan escaped her throat. Again, she was awash on a sea of sensation that stemmed from his touch but also pushed her ever closer to him, drowning in him.
The tumble over the edge this time came quickly. A strangled scream of surprise left her throat. She clutched at his shoulders while contractions fluttered through her core. It was so fast, so unexpected. Before she could catch her breath, John was there, or at least the wide head of his shaft was, bobbing at her entrance, and another shiver shot down her spine, but not of fear. Oh no. There had been too many nights she’d thought of feeling him move inside her, and she wanted to see if her imaginings were as good as reality.
“There will be discomfort initially.” His whispered words skated across her cheek, but then he claimed her mouth in an urgent, intense kiss that shoved all thought from her head. At the same time, he flexed his hips, thrust into her body, and kept going until she was completely and irrevocably filled by him.
“Oh!” The sharp prick of pain that accompanied that joining had tears welling in her eyes. So much so that she hid her face in the crook of his shoulder. “Didn’t realize… Too big!” He filled her so much, and they were truly joined as man and wife.
It was at once both marvelous and frightening.
“Do you want me to withdraw?” He rested his forehead against hers.
Did she? The experience was by far the most interesting and incomprehensible she’d ever experienced. But then she wriggled her hips, slowly acclimating to his intrusion. “We’re together.”
“Yes. Does it make you feel afraid?” Strain graveled his voice.
“No. Yes.” She trembled in his hold. “No. But…”
“But?”
“It is not as good as your fingers there.”
“Oh, my girl, we’ve yet to start.” He kissed her and at the same time withdrew from her body. Before she could protest the loss, the heat of him, he stroked back in, and this time the previous pain faded. Unexplainable pleasure took its place.
Caroline had no idea what to expect let alone what to say. Perhaps there was no need to say anything. She met John’s gaze, nodded when he lifted an eyebrow, and then sighed from the sheer pleasure of finally being a woman who was desired and wanted.
And finally, she knew the rest of the freedom he’d talked about when they’d wed.
Each time John moved, the sensations he invoked threatened to steal her sanity. Slowly, ever so slowly, he thrust in and out. She had no idea what to do, tried to move her body in some semblance of a rhythm but failed miserably.
“Don’t worry about doing it correctly right now. Enjoy and let the feelings wash over you. We’ve a lifetime ahead to perfect the mechanics.”
His words brought her comfort, but the unrelenting pressure circling through her insides stole it away. With each new push, every subsequent stroke, the need for something rose and grew. Of what she had no idea, but suspected that only John could give it to her. Oh, how she wished they were naked so she could marvel at the powerful form that moved over hers, feel the play of his muscles beneath her fingers, and then the pace changed.
Faster and faster, he moved. When he drew her legs up to settle about his waist, he went so deep that she feared she’d lose herself in him. The urgency of his thrusts increased; every time he pushed inside pressure increased but so did the pleasure brought on by friction and his shaft rubbing against every sensitive spot she had. And then he put a hand between them, touched that button and shivery pleasure washed over her.
It was all too much, too overwhelming… drowning, needing to breathe but only wanting him. “John, I…” Before she knew what was happening, a roaring vortex of bliss rushed up to engulf her. It spun her about, catching her up into its rings, and then flung her into a brilliant white light where the only thing that existed was pleasure and a great throbbing relief between her thighs where he continued to pump for all he was worth.
Seconds later, he gave a hoarse shout of her name. Warmth filled her core. He collapsed on top of her, and the pleasant weight of him anchored her back to reality.
Caroline’s heartbeat hammered in her ears as she clutched him closer, and her inner walls convulsed around his member. Tears streamed down her face, for the all-consuming wonder he’d given her couldn’t be explained or calculated. She only knew it was much like music or painting and was beautiful like the art she created.
Eventually, John stirred. He lifted off her enough to peer into her eyes. Concern clouded his. “I didn’t hurt you, did I? It wasn’t really well done of me not to finesse this, and it went by too quickly, for I haven’t been with a woman in—”
“Hush.” She smoothed a shock of hair from his forehead and gave him a tired sigh. “I have no words except… are amazing you.”
“Ah, my girl, so are you.” He dropped a kiss to her cheek, to the tip of her nose, her closed eyelids, and then finally her lips, and it was the sweetest kiss she’d ever been given. “I’m so grateful you are my wife.”
“Oh!” Her heart squeezed, and no matter how illogical it seemed, she lost a piece of that organ to him. “You are my hero.”
“For as long as you have need of me.” He shifted, rolled onto his side and he took her with him. When she sighed, he gathered her into his arms and settled her against his chest. “Has the storm inside abated?”
She’d completely forgotten the anger. For the time being, she couldn’t detect it. “Perhaps your sort of storm is stronger—the one we make together.”
There was no need to say more, so she snuggled into his embrace and let her eyes close. Perhaps that was what she’d needed—a stronger storm or else a man who was large enough to withstand hers.