“Enough.” He stilled her with a finger over her lips. “I’m not talking about dinner parties, or discovering buried familial secrets. I speak of making this a marriage in truth.”
He leaned closer, brushing his lips against the soft skin of her neck. “I speak of consummation,” he said huskily.
“Oh.” Her eyes closed and she swayed against him. “I was wondering why... that is, I don’t know why we haven’t achieved that state before now.”
“Because I’ve been biding my time, waiting for you to be ready, to bloom for me like this rose you hold.” Gently, he took the rose from her fingers, smelling the lemony-sweet scent. “I’ve been dying to take you, Ana.” He slid the soft rose petals down her neck, into her decolletage. Her breathing quickened. He trailed kisses down the same path, slipping her bodice lower to kiss her breasts, finding one nipple with his tongue. She arched backward, offering herself to him. He sucked greedily, supporting her weight with an arm around her waist, splaying his hand over her belly.
“Dex,” she said breathily. “We’re not in private.”
“Are you ready for me, sweet Ana?” The sheer force of his need made his voice low, nearly a growl. She must say yes. She must be his.
“Y-yes,” she said shakily. “I’m ready.”
He gathered her up easily into his arms. “Then it’s time I took you to bed.”
She studied his face, the firelight sending shadows over his scars, his eyes holding hers, waiting for her response. The room seemed to be holding its breath.
It was as though her mind had decided there was no use in attempting to fathom what was happening to her and had just decided to allow her body to steer the ship.
He kissed her forehead, her lips, her neck. “Your skin is like silk. Are you really mine to touch? To smell. To taste?” He moved lower, trailing kisses over her breasts, down her belly, and lower still.
She wound her fingers into his hair as his head moved and his tongue pleasured her. He didn’t stop her from touching him. The allowed intimacy warmed her insides as though she’d drunk a glass of wine. He slipped his fingers inside her as his tongue continued teasing her, coaxing her toward climax. She sighed dreamily as ripples of pleasure played through her body.
He raised his head and licked his fingers slowly, savoring the flavor of her, making her watch. “Salt-honey on my tongue. Are you mine for the taking, Ana?”
“I’m yours,” she breathed. “Take me, Dex.”
He reared up above her, bracing his arms on either side of her body.
There was no strategy to her words, no thought of making him lose control. She was the one who was lost. Her head spinning from this feeling of closeness, from being so thoroughly pleasured.
He spread her with his fingers, readying her for his penetration. And then he was nudging his way inside her, and it stretched, and stung and she couldn’t help tensing up.
He stopped immediately. “Is it too much?”
“It’s a lot,” she said truthfully.
“Relax your muscles,” he instructed. “Breathe deeply. I’ll take it slowly, allow you time to adjust to my girth.”
She nodded, biting her lip. “All right,” she said shakily.
He began moving again, slow and steady, filling her inch by inch. She spread her thighs wider, finding a more comfortable angle.
“Yes, that’s right. Find what feels right, Ana.”
When he was all the way inside, he stopped moving. She could feel him, a stirring, a pulse buried inside her, like a heartbeat.
“Ana. I want you to know pleasure as you’ve never known it before.”
“I already have. Tonight was beautiful, it was melting and urgent... I want more of that pleasure. I want more of you, Dex.”
“I’ll give you everything. Everything, Ana.” He held her gaze and began moving gently inside her, a rolling sensation, as though she were a ship riding a wave. “Let me love you.”
The familiar beginning, undulations deep within her belly. “More. I want more.”
He moved faster, thrust deeper inside her. Her body expanded to fit him; her thighs spread wider. She lay her head back on the pillow, surrendering completely. He knew what to do. He knew how to take her to that place that existed outside of time. A place where the only thing that existed was ecstasy.
“If I touch you while I move inside you, I may be able to give you another climax.”