The Wedding of the Century & Other Stories (31 page)

“Jase,” she moaned, feeling restless and languid at the same time. It was like she was floating, as if the heaviness of her heart and mind suddenly sprung wings and lifted away from her soul, leaving only a weightless body waiting, hungering for the feel of his touch. When he touched her like this she forgot everything, even the fact she was supposed to be resisting his charm and rakish skills.

“Yes, Blossom?” he asked, his eyes, which had only seconds ago been shining brightly, now dimmed. “Are you going to tell me I can't? That I shouldn't? That we shouldn't?” He placed a soft kiss on her navel through her chemise. “We are supposed to be courting, isn't that right? A bit too forward for courting, I think.”

“N-no.” She shivered despite the heat in the room and the warmth flowing through her veins.

“Then what?” he asked, his wicked mouth covering every inch of her belly through the thin linen. Blossom sunk farther into the silk cushions, her legs spreading, trying to cradle his hard thighs between hers as he
slowly raised the hem of her chemise and bared her to his gaze.

“I know what it is you want,” he said, stroking her with his finger. “It is the same thing I want, sweeting. You want my hands all over you.” He slid his warm palm up her thigh to her belly where he circled her navel with one long, roughened finger. “You want my mouth covering you.”

She squirmed when he sunk his hand between her thighs. She waited to feel his fingers inside, but he did not indulge her. Instead, he cupped her, waiting for her to look into his green eyes. “Here is where you want my mouth most of all, I think.”

She twisted beneath him, but he stilled her with his heavy thigh. “You want to feel me inside you. You only have to admit you want it, Blossom, and I shall give it to you. Anything you want.”

“Yes.” The word whispered past her lips before she could think to stop it.

He slid up the length of her, his chest slick with perspiration, the evidence of his arousal rubbing against her belly from beneath his trousers. Flinging her arms around his neck, she kissed him, and Jase allowed himself to sink onto her, let her kiss him thoroughly while she commanded the pace and the performance.

She deepened the kiss, and reached for his trousers, fumbling with the buttons until she at last tore them free from their openings.

“That's it, sweeting, take me in your hand.” When she freed him into her palm he moaned a deep, guttural, “Yes,” and began to pump himself into her hand, all the while nipping and tugging at her hardened nipple through her chemise. “Firmer, Blossom, take it tightly and stroke it.”

“Like this?”

“God, yes. Like that.” He groaned when she swirled her fingertip atop the swollen tip of him. “My, what a quick learner you have become.”

“I have had a most excellent tutor. Now, what else would you like?” she asked, trailing her fingertips down the silken length of him.

“You're mouth on me.”

“Like this?” She kissed his shoulder and sucked at it, tasting the saltiness of his skin.

“Lower,” he commanded, spurring her into abandoning every moral edict she'd ever been taught. She teased him with her tongue on his nipples, flicking and laving as he had done to her.

He straightened, then reached for her, bringing her next to him so that they were eye to eye. “I would sell every acre of my estate to feel these beautiful lips around me.” He traced her mouth with his forefinger before his eyes slowly met hers. “I'd sell my soul to watch as you do it.”

Sliding along the silk, she lowered her body and set her mouth to his straining flesh. She kissed him before flicking her tongue along the tip of him. “I will pleasure you as you wish. I only ask that you will not find me wanton or immoral after.”

“Never,” he growled as she kissed him again. “There is nothing immoral among lovers.” His hands raked through her hair and she heard his breath coming in short pants. Leaning back, he spread his legs, allowing Blossom to kneel between them. She tormented him with sultry looks, peeking up at him as she flicked her tongue from the base to the glistening tip.

Close to finding his release, he reached for her and positioned her so that she sat astride him. Her sex was wet as she lowered her bottom onto his lap. She was as much aroused by what she had done as he was, and the
thought pleased him. She was most definitely passionate, and she would bring no end of pleasure to his bed.

“Take this off,” he commanded, hooking his finger beneath her chemise strap. “Slowly. I want you to unveil yourself to me inch by inch.”

Her face was flushed, as were the tops of her breasts as they strained against the chemise, but she gathered the hem tightly between her hands and raised it up along milky-white thighs till the lace edge skimmed her bottom and rested below the dark V between her legs. “Look at me, Blossom.” He tilted her face up to meet his. She looked him in the eye; a womanly challenge sparkled in them, encouraging him to be as bad as he wanted to be. And he so desperately wanted to be bad.

“Show me your breasts.”

With a tilt to her lips, she dropped the hem of her chemise and reached for the straps, then stopped before she slid them down her shoulders. She didn't lower them; instead, she fixed him with her blue gaze and pushed the bodice of the chemise down so that her breasts bobbed out, teasing him with their bouncing. Her smile when she heard his growl of appreciation made him feel reckless. She would not lay cool and unfeeling beneath him, enduring the obligations of the marriage bed.

He took his time studying her in the light, watching as the afternoon sun highlighted her hair and cast her skin in a peach glow. His gaze flickered up to the gentle slope of her shoulder, to the curve of her neck, and beyond, to where a mirror rested against the wall opposite the lounge.

Reaching out, he trailed his fingers along the indentation of her waist and up and over her hip, all the while watching in the mirror as his hand roamed along her alabaster flesh. Gooseflesh sprung to life beneath his fingers, and he felt as well as saw Blossom sway into him.
His hand at last found her bottom and he squeezed it. He rather enjoyed this position, he realized, tipping his head to the side so he could see his finger skimming down her derriere and disappearing into the dark curls that were already damp for him.

“Cup your breasts, Blossom. I want to watch you. I want you to see me watching you.”

He fitted her hands around her breasts, making certain her pink nipples peeked out between her fingers. At first she didn't understand what he wanted of her, but she soon learned as he showed her how to pinch and tweak her nipples.

Lifting her, he positioned her so that she slid her sex along his throbbing cock. He was aching to take her, but he wanted to take things slower, to savor the moment.

Blossom watched as Jase's dark hands roamed her body, heating her with each touch of his fingers on her belly and his lips at her back. When she sat frozen atop him, mesmerized by the beauty of his hands on her, he nipped her shoulder and said in a dark and thrilling tone, “Make them hard for me, Blossom. Make them so that I can flick my tongue along them.”

He was so very wicked, she decided, even as she indulged him. Yes, he was so very wicked and she knew that she wouldn't want him any other way.

Her eyes went wide when he raised her up from his lap and took his erection in his hand, thrusting slowly into her, telling her to sink down onto him.

“Ride me,” he encouraged. He supported her with his knees as he lifted her onto his arousal.

She arched then, the action thrusting her breasts toward him, the movement making them bounce in a way that begged for his hands to cup them.

Good God, he'd never experienced this before; never had lovemaking felt this right, this complete. As he
watched her body move atop him, he realized he was at last satisfied, his hunger appeased, his soul fed. He loved her and it was only a matter of time before she realized that it was safe to love him back.

She moaned again, raising herself up and down without the least bit of encouragement while her nails bit into his thighs. She was molten in his arms.

Resting her back against his knees while she ground her hips onto him, Jase watched her match his rhythm. A thin sheen of perspiration trickled between her breasts and he captured it with his fingertip, circling her nipple with it until it glistened like a shining cherry. The sight made him grow uncomfortably thicker, but Blossom's loving body stretched around him, welcoming him deeper.

“Come for me,” he commanded, quickening his pace until they were deep stabs that made her suck in her breath. His finger found her clitoris and he flicked it in time to his strokes. She was beyond wanton now. She was wild and writhing, and not until he was certain she was satiated did he let himself indulge in his own pleasure.

God, how I love you.
He hugged her slick body to his and nuzzled his face between her breasts, feeling more contented than he ever had in his life.

This was love. This was the future. He had never been happier in all his days than he was right now, vulnerable and weak, with only Blossom's arms to keep him safe from the tempest raging in his heart.

 

B
LOSSOM STOOD AT THE
French doors, staring at the patchwork of farms, trying to think of anything other than the man sprawled gloriously naked, soundlessly sleeping, on the lounge behind her.

Chancing a glance over her shoulder, she saw that Jase still slept, his black hair a tousled mass that was brushed back from his forehead. Shivering despite the heat,
Blossom brought her arms tight around her waist. She'd donned Jase's shirt when she'd risen from the lounge. His scent still lingered and she swore she could feel remnants of his body heat clinging to the material.

With a heavy sigh she closed her eyes and rested her head against the wall. She loved him. Desperately. Forever. How it had happened was so strange. But then maybe that was the mystery of love, it came upon you swiftly, without warning, ensnaring you. It had happened that way for Samuel. Why shouldn't it have happened for her in the same way?

Suddenly Jase's heat engulfed her. He caged her with raised arms, his fingers curving around the molding on the door frame while he proceeded to nuzzle her hair.

“Sorry to fall asleep on you, love. You should have woken me instead of standing here all alone. Although,” he whispered wickedly, “I rather enjoyed waking up to the view. You look rather fetching in my shirt. It's very alluring, you know, what you look like in white linen.” He traced the outline of her bottom that peeked out from beneath his shirt while he nuzzled her neck. “Come back to bed, sweeting. Let me love you till the sun goes down. Then I will seduce you by starlight.”

She smiled and caressed his face. “You already did that, that very first night.”

“Did I?”

“You did.”

“Tell me what you were thinking just now, when your eyes were closed.”

“How beautiful it is here, and how much it reminds me of your estate. The countryside is very similar. I'd like to paint it.”

“I can't wait to bring you home, Blossom. I can't wait to stand at our bedroom window, just like this, and look out upon the fields.

His grip tightened and he turned her to face him. “I want to share this with you—all of it. I want the estate to bear the fruits of our labor. When I look out our window I want it to be with you.”

His fingers cupped her thigh, and he hooked her leg over his. “Can I take you like this?” he asked, his fingers sinking deep inside her.

Immediate desire flared to life within her and she writhed against his hand. “Take me any way you want, Jase.” She sighed as he slipped inside her and stroked her deeply. He moaned and thrust deeper into her, his fingers biting into her waist with the force of his desire.

“I want you hard, Blossom, so that you never forget that it's me inside you.”

“Jase,” she cried as he reached for her breasts and bared them from beneath his shirt. He fondled them, cupping them in his hands and squeezing.

“I have to feel all of you. I have to see you.” And then he pulled out of her body and turned her around so that her back was against the wall. He opened the fastenings of his shirt and roughly shoved the material aside, baring her. Greedily he nuzzled her breasts before he slipped her nipple into his mouth. When she was moaning and tugging at his hair, he grasped her legs and wrapped them around his waist. His arms were above her head, resting against the wall, as he thrust hard into her waiting body. Their eyes were locked and their breaths mingled together with each pant, each sigh, each erotic whisper.

She clutched him close to her bosom as her climax loomed closer. “I've fallen, Blossom,” he rasped as he filled her once more and allowed his seed to empty into her. “I've fallen so damn hard for you.”

“Jase.” His name was a shaky whisper on her lips, and she clutched him closer. “I've fallen, too. How have you done it?”

He raised his head from her breasts and smiled slowly. “You feel it, too?”

The unspoken words hung between them, and Blossom shivered. “Jase, my love.”

His breath caught and he looked at her. “Am I? Am I your love?”

“Forever and always. Through health and sickness, and my inattentive moods when I'm painting. For good and happiness and those times when I'm miserable and grouchy. I love you, Jase.”

“My God, you've made me the happiest man in the kingdom! And you should know, my love, your love is not in vain. You have my heart and soul, and my love. You always did.”

He stared down at her and smiled as his fingers brushed against her lips. “Now you finally have the look of a woman who has flowered beneath a man.”

“You're still a rake.”

“A rake who wants to seduce you beneath the stars night after night until our own lives fade into starlight.”