“I’d love to feel something drastic,” she whispered against his lips before she kissed him.
Cass didn’t waste another minute. He withdrew from her, then slid back in with one long, agonizingly slow stroke. She raised her hips, trying to take him deep, deeper, deeper still as his tempo increased.
The tension returned, coiling even tighter as Cass moved inside her. Her hands drifted all over his body before coming up to frame his face.
“I love how you feel inside me.”
Cass leaned down and kissed her, a raw, possessive passion that set off a chain reaction inside her. Heat burst between her thighs before spinning out through her veins, setting her nerve endings on fire as she cried out against his mouth. A few moments later, Cass groaned her name as he found his own release. He leaned down, pressed another gentle kiss to her lips and then rolled to the side.
She lay there for a moment, wondering what one did next in a situation like this. It was her room, so she wouldn’t leave. Did she ask him to leave? Or would he just know to since he’d done this sort of thing before? Even if the thought of him leaving made her feel disappointed.
Cass slid an arm beneath her bare torso and pulled her across the bed. She gasped as his naked body pressed fully against her. He tucked her head into the crook of his arm, his hand drifting lazily through her hair.
“Tell me again why you decided not to mention that you had never been with another man.”
“You distracted me.”
She bit down on her lower lip. She was not going to make excuses or apologize for her lack of experience.
“So it’s my fault?” he asked, a teasing note in his voice that relaxed her.
“Yes.” She sighed again, a soft sound of satisfaction. “I feel like the last couple years of my life, people have wanted something from me. My relationships have been more transactional, what I could do for them.”
Cass stiffened at her side.
“I wasn’t any better.”
“You were different. You told me up-front. Mostly up-front,” she amended. “But you never portrayed our marriage as anything but what it would be.” She rolled over and cupped his face. He flinched, but she didn’t let him pull back.
“I know we’ll never be a grand love story. I’ve accepted that. Tonight, before we went outside, I was enjoying my time with you. I’ve learned so much about myself, about what I want to do with my life and how I can make a difference here. I have you to thank for that.” She smiled at him. “So much of my identity was caught up in my family, in being the person I thought they wanted so I could have their love, that I never bothered to ask what I wanted. And what I wanted tonight was you.”
She rolled back onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, for some inexplicable reason slightly embarrassed by what she had to say next.
“I wanted you tonight. I know you wanted me, too, but you haven’t pursued it. You haven’t made sex a part of our agreement. That made me want it, and you, more. It wasn’t transactional. It didn’t have any bearing on our contract.” She inhaled deeply. “It was just...fun.”
And soul-stirringly amazing.When the pain had faded and he’d started to move inside her, she felt not only the response of her body but the response of her heart. How long would she be able to keep her growing feelings for her future husband at bay?
“Fun,” Cass repeated in a flat tone.
She turned her head and smiled at him.
“Very fun.”
His chuckle sounded both surprised and a little nonplussed.
“I’m glad I could make your first experience fun.”
They lay there for a moment in intimate silence. Her eyes drifted shut, and she was on her way to falling asleep when his voice broke the stillness.
“Why did you wait?”
“Hmm?”
“Why did you wait?”
“I was waiting for the man I would fall in love with,” Briony murmured. “Since I can’t have that, the next best thing is the man I’m marrying.”
She registered the slight stiffening of his body. But she was too tired to ask questions, too tired to do anything but let the pull of exhaustion take her into deep slumber.