Within a Captain's Hold (22 page)

“Annalise, why are you so far from my arms?”

“I’m standing here thinking how lucky I am to love such a handsome man. I’m trying to remember you’re still recovering from your injuries so I don’t toss myself into your arms and cause you more harm. But, I have sorely missed you. Has it been only a day?”

“Aye, a day and a night. A long, empty night. Come here.”

She moved to the bed and sat by his side. Tracing the line of her cheek, he plucked the flower from her hair. He lifted it to his nose and breathed in its sweet scent before dropping it forgotten to the floor. She smelled far more intoxicating.

“You appear to be feeling better.” She ran her fingers over his stubbled jaw and across his lower lip.

He grasped her hand and kissed her fingertips. “I am better now that you’re here.”

She laid a tender hand upon his bindings, “Are you still having pain?”

“Not too much.” He caressed her hip. “I only ache from wanting you and not being able to have you. It feels like weeks since I’ve been with you.” Slipping his hand behind her head, he drew her to him for a passionate kiss. She sighed into his mouth before she scattered tiny kisses upon his forehead and his eyelids. Laid a tender kiss upon his mouth and skipped her lips across his face to tease his ear. Jaxon crushed the fabric of her skirt in his fist. Annalise rained more kisses across his chest, stopping to rest her cheek there. “Perhaps I could…if I promised to be gentle… I could ease your ache?”

“Annalise?” Her shy suggestion only added to his ache. He shifted his hips.

“Teach me what to do. Tell me what pleases you. I could make love to you.”

Her fingers raked paths through the hair on his chest and stopped to tease his nipple. It hardened at her touch. She licked it with her tongue and gently sucked it onto the softness of her mouth. Jaxon pushed his hand into her hair and hummed his delight.

“You taste like the sun and the sea.” Teasing the side of his neck, she whispered beneath his ear. “I’ve missed being with you, too. I could ease both our longings if you tell me how to pleasure you.”

“Anna.”

She once more laid a trail across his body. Her fingers burned silken pathways upon his skin. Her lips followed. Each kiss, a flame.

He smoothed the soft curls of her hair while reaching down to the rich curve of her hip, pushing her skirts higher, needing to reach the silk that lay beneath, his hand found nothing but skin.

“Bloody hell, woman, you’re as bare as a babe.”

“I know.” She gaped at him and shook her head with feigned innocence. Batting her eyelashes, she laid the back of her hand against her forehead. “I’m terribly distraught. I lost every stitch of clothing during my hellish voyage aboard the
Pinkerton
. Skirts, gowns, chemises--all ruined. Lost. Shoes, too. All claimed by the sea in a terrible storm. I was able to borrow these two bits of clothing. I’m most indecent, but what was I to do? Wear britches to reunite with my husband?” She stroked his face and ran a finger over the wide curve of his earring. “He’s a famous captain, you know. Brave and fearless. Brutally handsome. I couldn’t meet him naked, could I?”

A smile spread across his face as his hand smoothed over the roundness of her bare behind. “My poor, dear woman. The trials you have suffered. I’ll see you wrapped in silk from now on. I imagine you’d be stunning in gold.” Jaxon tugged at her skirt and growled softly. “But naked would suit you just as well.”

She sighed against his mouth. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed the feel of your bare skin against mine,” he whispered.

Annalise left his side just long enough to rid herself of her two bits of clothing, then slipped beneath the sheet.

Jaxon sighed as he pulled her close. “I’m feeling better by the minute.”

Laying upon his shoulder, she snuggled closer. Again, her fingertips danced upon his chest. She laid the flat of her palm across the plane of his stomach, caressed the play of muscles, and teased the rim of his navel before sweeping a slow hand lower.

A shaft of pure pleasure shot through him as her fingers encircled his erection. When he sucked in a breath, she jerked away.

“Am I hurting you?”

“Sweet heavens, no.” He guided her hand back to his cock.

Annalise laid heated kisses upon the side of his neck as her hand stroked the length of him. “You are as hard as polished stone,” she whispered into his ear.

Jaxon groaned and struggled to keep his sanity. Her timid touches endeared her to him, but the heated torture of those touches made it difficult for him to think.

“Tell me how to love you.”

He pulled her tight with his good arm and kissed her deeply, moaning into her mouth as her hand gently squeezed upon him. He tried to pull her atop him but she balked, shaking her head. “Your wounds.”

He was beyond caring, consumed with a burning need. “To hell with my wounds. I want you, now. I must be in you.”

She pushed her hair away from her face. “What do I do?”

“Straddle me,” he said in a low rasp.

She raised her eyebrows at the suggestion, but he urged her on. Her slow movements tormented him.

Now,
his body shouted. He needed to sheathe his bursting cock in the warm, moist tightness of her. Jaxon ran a hand over her back. “Get on top. Lower yourself upon me.”

* * * *

Annalise hesitated, unsure, but impatient to relieve the building desire within her as well as satisfy his obvious longing. He gripped her hip with strong fingers, kneading her there, telling her again to move over him. His flesh pulsed in her hand, igniting a desperate rush to have him within her, filling her.

Rising up on her knees, she then swung one leg over his hips. A cool breath whispered over the heat of her parted sex. She shivered with want.

“Yes, that’s it.” His lips parted. His chest rose and fell with short rapid breaths. “Move higher.”

Every other time, he led the way in their lovemaking. Would her inexperienced fumbling hurt him somehow? She positioned herself over his erection.

“Go on. Use your hand. Guide me in,” he whispered.

“I don’t want to cause you any pain.”

“You won’t…” His strong fingers clutched at her waist.

She reached between them. The wet heat of her body radiated over the hardness of his. She held tight to him and moved the head of his penis to her opening. Forgetting to breathe, she eased herself carefully down onto him. Widening to accept his fullness, feeling the stretch made her tremble. She closed her eyes and gasped at the pleasure bursting through her limbs. The sense of being in control was both erotic and dizzying. Her thighs shook.

“Feel me.”

Anna took each inch in a slow, agonizing press, every ridge and pulse. Her slick flesh quivered around him. Soon she panted as her own need rivaled his.

“Anna…” Jaxon ground out her name as he surged upward, burying himself deep. Filling her.

The rush of sensation made her cry out. Lights burst behind her eyes.

Jaxon clutched at her thigh. “Move upon me.” He rolled his hips showing her how to rock against him. The feeling intensified the press of him inside her. “Yes, just like that. Slow.”

Annalise eased into the rhythm. Tipping her body, she sighed at the delicious shift of pressure sending luscious tremors through her limbs. Her thighs pressed against his hips. Annalise melted into the smooth flow of her movements as the intensity continued to build within her. “Like this?”

“Bloody hell, yes.” He dropped his head back onto the pillows, grabbed at her hip, and pressed deeper still. His hand swept up to cup her breast. He whispered, “Touch yourself. Like I stroke you. Do you remember our last time? I found you wet…and naked. I took you on my desk. Do you remember? You cried out my name.”

“Yes…yes, I remember.” Her breath came in short pants.

“Do it now.”

He watched as her fingers reached down to press into her tender flesh, slipping over her swollen skin, feeling the slickness and heat at their joining, seeking that one spot he teased before to send her spiraling into oblivion.

She felt wanton and uninhibited. She was in control. It made her feel powerful and intensely feminine. Finding that magic place, she moaned with the intoxicating release.

“Yes…” Jaxon writhed beneath her. Anna arched, filling his hand as he kneaded her breast. She became bolder in her movements, unable to keep them slow. She rode him faster and faster. Each thrust from Jaxon lifting her higher. The bed began to squeak as brass rubbed against brass. Lost in her passion, she was beyond caring.

Annalise arched her back once more and pressed tighter over him as his fingers joined hers to stroke and fondle her sensitive flesh with strong, firm sweeps to send her soaring beyond the sky. She screamed as an intense orgasm overtook her. “Jaxon.”

He roared in a surge beneath her as he joined her in a powerful release that left him wide-eyed and gasping for breath.

Anna continued to shudder. Her hair clung to her back. Sweat shone on their skin. A droplet left a silvery path between her breasts as her lungs pulled in great gulps of air.

He tugged her toward him so she ended up lying across him, their bodies still joined. She shifted her weight to one side and tried to catch her breath. Tiny tremors continued to race along her limbs.

Jaxon strengthened his hold on her and groaned deep in his chest,
“Bloody hell.”

“Did I hurt you?” She struggled to catch her breath.

“Good God, no.”

When she tried to lift herself off him, he tightened his hold.

“Don’t move.” He kissed her shoulder as a low moan purred from him. “If I should die this moment…”

“I’ve never felt anything like that. I’ve become so brazen when I’m with you. It can’t be proper. Is it wrong to lose control of myself like that?”

He continued to brush her shoulder with his lips. “No. Of course not.”

She rose up. “This morning I rested by a beautiful waterfall, and all I could think about was you. Being with you, touching you. Is it right that I dream of your hands on me and how your kisses make me tremble?”

“It is perfectly all right.” He eased her back to lie upon his shoulder. “How did I manage to find a wife like you?”

“I was stuck between two barrels of ballast with some rats.”

He chuckled beneath her cheek.

“Did you imagine it would be like this?”

He tucked her hair behind her ear. “I never believed I’d live long enough. With the life I lead, I never expect to survive the next battle. How could I have imagined being lucky enough to wed such a passionate woman?” Jaxon slipped his hand behind her head and dipped his head to capture her lips again.

He tucked her closer to his side. The soft hair on his chest curled around her fingertips.

Her body still hummed with pleasure. It awoke her curiosity. “Are there other ways?”

“Other ways to please me?”

“To please us both.”

He chuckled. “Did you wish to learn them all today?”

The late-afternoon sun slipped behind lavender clouds that opened to wash the air and put a shine on everything outside their windows. She and Jaxon were content to lie in each other’s arms and let the rest of the day melt away.

Lazy and wonderfully sated Anna snuggled tight to his body. “So, have I changed your opinion of virgins?”

“No,” he murmured into her hair. “You’ve only confirmed what I suspected about you.”

“What is that?”

“You’re extraordinary.” He stroked her back.

“You have to say things like that.”

“I say it because it’s true.” He kissed her forehead.

“But there had to be some reason for your rule.”

“I had good reason.”

Annalise waited for him to continue. Silence filled the room. She pulled from his embrace and sat up. Tucking the sheet around her, she faced him. “Tell me.”

“You don’t want to hear this tale.”

“Yes, I do.”

He shook his head. “It isn’t a proper bedtime story.” He tried to tug her back to him.

“Tell me anyway. I want to know.”

Jaxon stared at her for a long minute, sighed, then stuffed another pillow behind his head, raising himself up. “I’ve never told anyone.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes.

“You can tell me.” She ran a comforting hand along his arm. “I won’t tell a soul.”

He gave her a long, hard stare and sighed. “I was a lad,” he began, “working as a groom. Cocky as hell.” He shook his head. “The master’s daughter took a liking to me. The two of us as green as new grass, but she was bolder than any girl I’d ever met. Headstrong. She hung about the stables for hours. Flirted with me. Teased me with a flip of her skirts. A loosened bodice. She kissed me one day as I was helping her down from her mount. Said I was forbidden fruit. She called me her secret obsession.

“Soon, we couldn’t keep our hands off one another. We snuck away to be together. Kissed until we couldn’t breathe.” Jaxon smirked. “She told me how unhappy she was. How she wanted me to save her from her golden cage. I fell in love with her. Would have died for her. As it turns out, I almost did.

“We crafted a fine plan, she and I. We were certain if I faced her father, professed my love, and explained everything, he’d have to let his only daughter marry a stable hand--the lowly bastard son of a scullery maid. We thought if we’d already lain together, the deed would be done, and he’d have to marry her to me or risk disgrace.”

Jaxon scrubbed at his jaw and looked out at the setting sun. “So, one night there was a large party. The house was full. Close to a hundred guests. We conspired to meet in one of the guest’s rooms while they were at their dinner.

“I had no more experience than watching the stallions rut in the spring. I was sure we’d be caught, but I’d been hard wood for days. I was in too much of a state to know to take my time and ease into her gently. Best do it fast and finish before someone could discover us.

“I shoved into her. Hard. You would have thought my prick was a flaming sword. She screamed at me to stop. When I pulled out, blood soaked the bedclothes, covered me, and stained her thighs. She was sobbing. When she saw the blood, she started shrieking and brought half the house down upon us. When they began pounding down the door, she fainted in my arms. I thought I’d killed her.”