Chapter 21

Circe sighed contentedly. She was having the most wonderful dream. She had given up her husband hunt and allowed Reese to sweep her away, and now he was introducing her to the passion that had simmered between them. His body was lying spooned close behind hers. Her head was pillowed on one of his arms and she could feel the other resting heavily across her waist. Soft kisses fell along her neck to the juncture where it met her shoulder.

She was uncertain how it happened, but her nightdress was being pulled open and the kisses continued trailing along her collarbone to her shoulder. Kisses were placed along the skin of her arm that was revealed by the open gown. None of the dreams about Reese that had consumed her in the past had felt this real or caused these sensations coursing through her body, and there had been more than she was willing to admit. She found herself wishing his touch was real and not just a phantom dream lover. She rolled partially onto her back.

“Kiss me,” she murmured. “I love your kisses, how they cause tingles all over my skin.”

“I find your kisses are fairly amazing, too,” Reese whispered in her ear. 

She was so deep in her dream she could feel his warm breath stir her hair. Reese nipped her earlobe playfully then took it between his lips and suckled gently. “Reese, kiss me,” she whispered again. She felt herself being gently rolled onto her back. When the kiss came, it was everything she had remembered and so much more—a tangle of tongues and of joining. Circe raised an arm and draped it about his strong neck. “I never want to wake up.”

“Oh, you’ll wake up, because I want my wife to be fully aware that I’m making love to her,” he said.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked upwards to see someone hovering over her. She blinked again to clear her vision until she recognized the figure over her was not her dream lover Reese, it was the real man. Frantically, she tugged her night rail closed, no not a night rail, but one of Reese’s shirts that did not entirely cover her legs. One of your husband’s shirts, she corrected herself. Just as the thought had crossed her mind, she watched him bend over and brush a kiss over her knuckles that tightly gripped the material closed.

“Where is your nightshirt, knitted socks, and matching sleeping cap?”

“Pardon?”

“You know, what men sleep in. I had always dreamed of knitting my husband socks and a matching sleeping cap.”

“I hope to hell we are both in our dotage before that happens,” he said as he leaned over to kiss her.

“Reese, I do not think—”

“Don’t think. Don’t do anything but just feel and experience. I promise I’ll take care of you and we’ll go as slow as you need to. I don’t want you to be frightened. You know I never would have imagined my breeches would look so amazing on a woman before I saw you in them tonight. The way they hugged your curves should be illegal. I wanted nothing more than to be able to strike the men we encountered blind so they couldn’t ogle you.”

“They were doing no such thing.”

“Once they knew you were a woman they were, and now to see you wearing nothing but my shirt, well, I might consider purchasing you a different type of wardrobe if I thought I was the only one that would see you in it.”

“Reese, you’re teasing.”

“Oh, I am most definitely not teasing, wife.”

She studied his eyes and realized that several lanterns were lit around the room, but turned down low, creating a romantic atmosphere. Circe heard the rain still beating against the window panes and saw the lightning flashes followed by rumbles of thunder. She looked beside her and saw that Reese was lying on his side with his head propped on one hand. Circe’s gaze skirted to the end of the bed and worked upwards. She could see the outline of his feet and legs beneath the covers which ended at his waist. He was bare from the waist up. What she saw had her salivating and her fingers itching to feel him. Her eyes moved upwards until they met his once more. His mercurial eyes looked more blue with mere hints of green and gray tonight. She must have said the words out loud because she was shocked when he responded.

“That’s the passion I feel for you showing through,” he said huskily. “Now, I believe you had a request for me.”

“I did?” she asked, drawing a blank. She inhaled sharply when he trailed the back of his fingers of his free hand down her cheek.

“You did,” he replied.

She watched him lean towards her and held her breath in anticipation of his lips touching hers. He moved ever closer to her and brushed a kiss on her forehead, the tip of her nose, her left temple, her cheeks, and her chin.

“Reese,” she said irritably.

In response he kissed each corner of her mouth. All of the kisses he bestowed on her were done with more reverence than he could ever remember bestowing on another woman. There was something about this woman, his wife, that brought out his protective instincts. He felt her hand cup the back of his neck and guide him to her lips, her slightly parted and welcoming lips.

She endured the way he toyed with her. Every time she attempted to deepen the kiss, he backed away, leaving her wanting more. She tightened her grip on his nape and pulled him closer. When his lips crashed into hers, perhaps a little harder than expected, she took advantage of the situation. Circe opened her mouth beneath his and her tongue led the charge against his. Her move shocked him into hesitating momentarily, but she sighed in gratification when he quickly joined in the battle. She enjoyed feeling the warmth of his hand now cupping her right cheek and burrowed against it while trying to deepen the kiss.

Circe lifted her free hand and placed it on his chest, unable to wait another moment. She moaned into his mouth when she felt the coarse, springy hair on his chest curl around her fingers. Going on pure instinct, she let go of his neck and let that hand join the one already on his chest. She curved her fingers and lightly scraped her fingernails down his brawny chest and over his defined abdomen.

“I won’t be able to go slow if you keep that up,” he muttered against her lips.

“This?” she asked, repeating the movement.

“Yes,” he groaned.

“What would you like me to do?” she asked mischievously before kissing him once more with leisurely pleasure.

“I think that request should wait until you’re more comfortable with the marriage bed.”

“Sounds intriguing,” she said.

“It is quite enjoyable, trust me.”

“I do,” she whispered ever so softly. She was slightly shocked to realize she did, explicitly, trust him.

In the time they had been talking and kissing, he had, unbeknownst to her, peeled apart the shirt she wore. In fact, she did not realize her breasts were exposed to him until his hand settled on one of her bountiful mounds. She pulled her mouth away from his and looked up into his passion-filled eyes her mouth opening to scold him for taking liberties with her person.

“It’s only fair,” he said, brushing a kiss across her brow.

“Fair? How do you suppose?”

“Look where your hands are.”

She did not have to look to know he was right, but she did anyway. Her hands rested on his chest as if they belonged there. She saw the way her breast filled his palm to overflowing. He gave a gentle squeeze and let her peach ripened nipple slip between his fingers causing a most delightful friction. His attentiveness to her body resulted in a pulsing sensation she could not ignore low within her pelvis, causing Circe to press her thighs tightly together. She bowed her back, pushing her breast deeper within his palm.

“Do you like that then?”

“Yes,” she sighed. She opened her mouth to his once again when he returned to kiss her once more. Circe moan-shrieked into his mouth when he plucked at her nipple then rolled the turgid peak back and forth between his thumb and forefinger. She whimpered when Reese pulled his mouth from hers. “Do not stop, please,” she said, knowing she was begging for his touch.

“Oh, I’m not nearly done with you, wife,” he said. “In fact, I believe you will greatly enjoy this next part. Now, widen your legs for me.”

“Pardon?”

“I promise we are going to go slow, but this is going to get a bit uncomfortable.”

“And lying between my legs will be better for you?”

“For both of us.”

“Oh, very well,” she said and spread her legs slightly.

“Further apart now,” he coaxed. “Yes, that’s more like it,” he said, and while remaining beneath the cover he slipped between her legs. His abdomen rested against her pelvis and he could see that it made her skittish. “Shhh, it’s all right. Remember, slow and easy,” he said, lifting up and capturing her mouth once more. Frustrated with the little bit of cloth from the shirt she wore keeping him from feeling her skin to skin, he ripped it free of it’s buttons and worked it off her arms, all the while never stopping their kiss. Finally, when he broke away from her, it was to palm her other breast. “Do you enjoy this?” he asked showing it the same attention he had its mate.

“Yes,” she sighed.

“And this?” he asked as he plucked her nipple.

“Hmm.” She arched her back.

He voraciously kissed her, as if he were a starving man and she was his sustenance. Then he trailed kisses along her jawline, down her neck, and across her collarbone. He wiggled downward a bit as he placed kisses along her upper chest. She shifted, allowing him access when he used his tongue to find her pulse fluttering crazily in her neck.

I caused that reaction in her, he thought with pride before returning to his endeavor.

Circe squeaked when he kissed the tip of her breast. “What do you think you are doing?” she demanded.

“Seeing if you taste as good as you look. You smell like roses but look like a ripened peach,” he said dropping a kiss to her breast once more.

“You should not do that.” She tried to push him away, but he refused to budge.

“Why not?”

“They’re for feeding babies,” she hissed.

“Oh,” he groaned.

“What is it? What is the matter?” she asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

“An image just flashed in my mind of you feeding our babes.”

“Babes?”

“Oh, love, if this is any indication, we’ll have a houseful of them.”

“And I suppose you expect me to do everything?”

“I’ll help with changing nappies, but I fear I won’t be able to help you feed them, well, not at the beginning.”

“No, I don’t suppose you will,” she agreed. 

“Then again, maybe I can,” he said, cupping her full breast, lifting it, and molding it.

“I seriously doubt that.”

“Imagine you are exhausted and the babe cries to be fed. I get him and bring him back to you and help him find his way to his nourishment.”

“Reese,” she hissed the image he invoked vivid in her mind. She looked down and saw her husband’s head nestled against her bosom, suckling her like a babe. Sensations washed through her that were indescribable as she collapsed back onto the bed. When the throbbing in her feminine core intensified, she tried to clench her legs together but forgot her husband blocked the way, and instead, her thighs ended up gripping his hips. Circe could feel his groan against her skin. She slid her hands up his chest, around his neck, and tunneled them in his dark, overlong hair. At first she had meant to pull him away from suckling her, but as the sensations coursed through her, she found them less frightening and more enjoyable.

“Has it ever stood at attention like this?” he asked.

“What?” she asked wondering how he managed to think at a time like this, let alone talk.

“This,” he explained before teasing just the very tip of her breast with his tongue.

“Only when I’m cold,” she managed to say.

“Good. I’ll admit I’m a jealous man when it comes to you. I want them to come to attention only for me,” he said.

“Whatever you want, just please do not stop.”

“Nay, my lady, I wouldn’t dream of it.” He paid homage to her other breast before moving slowly downward.

“I wish you would not do that.” Her words halted his progress and he stared up at her. The confusion on his face was plain to see.

“Why not? You’re my wife and you should be shown attention.”

“Still it is unseemly.”

“Not between a husband and a wife.”

“I am not like the debutantes in London or even here. I am too large by society standards. You will find me disgusting and wonder why you settled for me.”

“Allow me to tell you what I think of you, and why I most definitely did not settle for you. I chose you, remember? You are my beautiful wife and you have a beautiful body. You are womanly through and through. Your curves, oh, your gorgeous curves, only accentuate your beauty. Your body was made to please a man and I pray you do nothing to change it.” He kissed her most thoroughly before dropping kisses on her ribs, her soft belly, and dipping his tongue in her navel. He continued his travels until her hands, entangled in his hair, stopped his progress once more. Reese looked up at her expectantly.

“What do you think you are doing?”

“Kissing you. Every single portion of you.”

“There are portions of me that will be perfectly fine without you kissing them.” A flush had spread across her body at the thought of where he was headed.

“But—”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Perhaps another time.”

“I sincerely doubt it.”

“We’ll see. Now, where was I? Oh, yes,” he said before returning to her navel. Then he reversed his journey until he was once more at her lips.

She was so caught up in his kisses that she screeched his name in shock when she felt his finger slip through her slickness.

“I thought I told you—”

“You told me no kissing. You said nothing about touching.”

“Well, I am telling you now—”

“Then we should have separate beds for the rest of our lives, because there’s no way in Hell I’ll be able to keep my hands off you.”

“Just there,” she hissed, embarrassed.

“There is exactly where I am most meant to be,” he whispered back.

She knew this. Deep down she knew he spoke the truth. It was the very conversation her mother had had with her, but it was the reality of the situation. That she was about to allow this man to conquer her body as no one had before. It was both frightening and exhilarating. A particularly bright streak of lightning quickly followed by a loud clap of thunder seemed to echo the feelings coursing through her body.

“All right,” she whispered.

“Are you certain? Because I will not do anything you are not absolutely certain about.”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

She licked her suddenly dry lips before replying, “I am certain about you, about this marriage, about everything.”

“Oh, Circe, you don’t know how glad I am to hear that.” He bent and captured her lips once more. 

He smoothed her leg higher and guided her to hook it over his waist. Just as she wondered why, she felt his hand move between them, brushing lightly over her womanhood. She fought herself not to push him away this time. Instead, she forced her hands to let go of him and drop to the mattress. She knotted her hands in the bedsheets, and with every stroke of his finger, from back to front and deep inside, he caused her hips to dance in answer to his movements. When he flicked something at the front that had been hidden, even from her, all these years, her hips thrust upwards, seeking more.

“Like that?”

“Oh, my, yes,” she groaned, her voice turning husky.

“And this?” he asked as he playfully tugged and lightly pinched that same spot.

This time it left her breathless and she could not answer him if her life depended upon it.

“What of this?” This time he plunged a solitary finger deep inside her dewy core.

“Reese,” she groaned, her throat tight with feeling.

“Shhh, I’ve got you,” he whispered at her lips before kissing her thoroughly. He plied her body, gently widening her channel, preparing her for him. “You’re so very tight. You’re going to fit me like a glove.”

“Glove?” she muttered only having heard part of what he said.

“Yes,” he groaned when she very innocently, and unknowingly, clenched his fingers that were inside her. “I can’t wait any longer, sweetheart. I have to have you, now.”

“Yes,” she readily agreed. She eagerly watched him as he threw off the covers, rose up on his knees, and scooted closer to her. He took what must be his member in his hand and placed it against her opening.

“Slow and easy,” he said, even as beads of sweat popped out all over his body.

Circe watched him lean closer to her by moving to his forearms. Her eyes widened in shock as she felt him slowly push into her. She gripped his upper arms and squeezed her inner muscles in wonder.

“No,” he rasped. “Don’t do that.”

“Why? Did I hurt you?”

“It’ll be over before it begins if you continue,” he said.

“Oh.” She bit her lip and scrutinized him as he continued moving forward. Finally, their pelvises met and he was taking deep breaths while she studied his face. Circe experimentally shifted beneath him as she became used to the feeling of fullness he created within her.

“Are you trying to kill me, wife?” he growled before kissing her.

She whimpered when he began to pull out of her.

“Am I hurting you?” he asked, immediately stopping and looking concerned.

“No. I have decided I want you to stay where you are.”

“Don’t worry, Circe. I’ll always return to you.”

Wondering what he meant, she sighed a moment later when he slowly pushed back into her. When he once again retreated, she gripped his upper arms as if that would keep him closer. True to his word, he returned to her once more. He continued the slow, lazy pace of withdrawing and entering until her body was burning with a need for more. Circe felt something elusive far off in the distance, something she could not put a name to, but knew would be amazing when she reached it.

“Reese, help me,” she pleaded.

“With what?”

“I wish I knew,” she said sounding almost near tears.

“I’ll take care of you,” he answered, understanding what she needed even though she didn’t. He reached between them and caressed the bud that could give her the pleasure her body craved. He rubbed, pinched, and plied it until she was frantic. Still he kept his movements slow and steady. Reese watched her thrash on the bed, proud that he had brought her to this state. He bent low and suckled one of her breasts deeply. It was her undoing. He watched her back bow as she reached the precipice and saw her silent scream of ecstasy.

“What did you do to me?” Circe managed to ask as her eyes opened to look up at a smiling Reese.

“I gave you pleasure.”

“You almost killed me,” she sighed. She shifted just a bit and still felt sparks of pleasure shooting through her body, and Reese was still within her. “You—”

“I will.”

She watched as he pulled slowly back causing more shivers to course through her. This time, instead of coming back to her slowly, he slammed back in, taking her breath away. He altered the rhythm every time he moved, confusing her as to what to expect and exciting her at the same time. She tried to meet his every thrust, but it was difficult with his unexpected movements. “Kiss me,” she ordered.

He obliged.

She felt him retreat and this time she bested him by hooking both legs so that her heels were able to spur his buttock and pull him into her, as hard and fast as she wanted, and she found she wanted it that way, just like she had liked it slow and easy. She must have surprised him for he moaned, and she was able to capture the sound and swallow it away. Circe broke off the kiss, panting heavily. She pulled Reese down to her and whispered in his ear, “I need you, now.”

“Circe,” he groaned as his movements became harder and faster.

She could feel the strange sensation building within her once again. It was as if she were reaching for something that was elusive and just out of her grasp.

“Come with me, Circe.”

“I want to,” she whimpered, “but—”

He reached between them as he continued to pound within her. “Fly, sweetheart. Fly.”

“Reese, I…I…I…” she did not know what she was trying to say only that she was suddenly engulfed with emotions and feelings and doing the very thing he had asked her to do. She was soaring, and just as she was floating back down to earth, she felt Reese’s essence filling her. She looked up to see his head thrown back in what looked like a cross between agony and pleasure. She reached up her hand to caress his cheek just as he went boneless and collapsed on her. 

Reese rolled to her side and took her with him, still intimately connected. Circe hooked her leg over his and gasped as fresh aftershocks ran through her body. She sighed as she settled against Reese, resting her head on his shoulder.

“I told you I would have you in my bed,” Reese said, rather pleased with himself.

“If I knew this was such a pleasant way to pass the time, I might have become someone’s mistress after all.”

“Whatever this is between us is special, and you will never be anyone’s mistress,” he growled and kissed her voraciously, igniting sparks once more.