“I love having you so close to me. Don’t stop.”
He doubted if he could. Her throbbing heat turned the world to gold. This union was extraordinarily profound. He’d loved her from the first, but he’d never before felt that their souls meshed into one entity, while their bodies entwined in sensual bliss.
Resting deep inside her, basking in the snug welcome, the horrors of war faded to nothing. At last he was home. He released a shuddering breath and gave himself up to pure pleasure.
Canforth became preternaturally aware of a host of marvelous physical details. The radiant, sleek heat where they joined. The brush of her nipples against his skin. Her long hair tickling his scarred hands. The way her legs cradled him. The scent of arousal thickening the air.
Piercing joy filled him, but the transcendent stillness couldn’t last. His body tightened with the need to move, to push forward, to seek the explosive ending to his endless longing. Every muscle tensed in anticipation. He kissed her hard. “Hold on.”
Luxuriating in the barrage of wild sensations, he withdrew, then thrust to the limit.
***
Felicity jerked under the ruthless invasion, even while pleasure flooded through her. As Edmund drove into her like a conqueror, she sank under his weight and strength. His animal hunger was astonishing. She arched up and crossed her legs over his back, holding him close.
With startling speed, her incandescent delight in his passion spiraled beyond her control and became something greater. Something unfamiliar. Something focused not on his pleasure in her, but on her pleasure in him.
A ravenous hunger that wanted to swallow the universe in one bite coiled in her belly, tighter and tighter with every thrust of his body. She moaned and dug her fingernails into his shoulders, as the volley of sensations intensified. The flagrant carnality of this union left her shaking. She poised giddy on the edge of some terrifying, glorious, inescapable precipice. The breath crammed in her lungs, and she closed her eyes in excitement and fear.
Edmund growled as his movements became less controlled. He bucked against her, making the grand old bed creak. How she relished his uninhibited need. How she relished her untrammeled responses.
Yet still she teetered on the brink of the chasm, desperate to cross over, but unsure how to break across the final barrier to whatever waited on the other side. Tears of frustration clogged her gasping breath.
“Come over with me,” Edmund whispered into the side of her neck as he plunged, pushing her deep into the mattress.
This was like a war. But magnificent and untamed and brilliant, too.
“I can’t…”
She strained against him, but that mysterious ending hovered beyond reach. Her blood thundered like a stormy sea, and her muscles ached with frantic longing. He pounded into her, his movements choppy and urgent.
“You can,” he almost snarled. He tensed and thrust his hand between her legs to the source of that insistent ache. When he touched her hard, she bowed up and stepped off into clear air. The old Felicity shattered into a million sparkling crystals. She cried out on a high, pure note and shuddered into a release so exquisite and overwhelming, it was like streaks of lightning ripped through her.
At last she was flying. As she soared, wild and free, she clung tight to the man she loved.
With another long groan, Edmund jerked in her arms. Through her quaking upheaval, she felt the hot spurt of his seed.
When at last she floated down from the outer reaches of bliss, she realized that her cheeks were wet. Edmund sprawled over her, crushing her into the bed. The scents of sex and satisfaction weighted the air.
Fighting dizziness, she gulped in a shallow breath to ease her burning lungs. Dear God, she’d have to tell him to move soon, or end up suffocating. But how could she bear to push him away? She’d never felt so close to him, even when he’d slid inside her, or when he’d yielded to shuddering release. Through the lonely years, this closeness was what she’d longed for most of all. After that rapturous flight that split the heavens wide open, she couldn’t yet bring the connection to an end.
His big, strong body felt loose and exhausted in her arms. He breathed in great gusts, and his skin was damp with clean male sweat. She couldn’t doubt that she’d satisfied him. As he’d satisfied her. When until tonight, she’d had no idea what satisfaction meant.
A wry smile curved her lips. How absurd to discover the joys of the marriage bed eight years after speaking her vows.
Felicity turned her head to kiss the cheek he pressed against hers. In this radiant aftermath, tenderness vied with sated desire. With a lazy caress, she ran her hand over his thick red hair, marveling at its silkiness. Her husband was such a fascinating mixture of the gentle and the strong.
Although it meant she could finally snatch a full breath, she was disappointed when he shifted. “Hell, Flick, I must be squashing you flat.”
“I like it,” she admitted softly.
“Thank you.” He rose on his elbows and bent to kiss her with a piercing sweetness that melted her bones to syrup. “That was unforgettable.”
She stared up into gray eyes, glowing in the candlelight. “Welcome home, Edmund.”
He kissed her again with more of that soul-stirring care before he rolled to the side, separating their bodies. At the prospect of his departure, she couldn’t contain a sound of distress. From the day she’d agreed to marry him, she’d promised herself that she wouldn’t ask for more than he was willing to give. But after what they’d just shared, everything had changed. She was about to break that particular promise.
“What is it, Flick?” He leaned over her, brushing her tangled hair back from her forehead. “Did I hurt you? All these years, the thought of you has driven me mad. I wasn’t as considerate as I might have been, damn me for a careless brute.”