“What a lucky man your husband is.”
“He is, isn’t he?” Her lips curved in a delicious, contented smile. She stretched out beside him, contentment and happiness bright in her eyes. “Today was perfect, wasn’t it?”
He rose, propping himself on his elbow to look at his wife. She lay against the cream-colored sheet of the San Diego hotel room they’d arranged for their wedding night. In the morning they’d fly out to New Zealand for two weeks of backpacking, kayaking, and just enjoying nature and each other. Not everyone’s ideal honeymoon, but when they’d discussed places they wanted to go, exploring New Zealand had topped both of their lists.
“Not anywhere near as perfect as tonight will be,” Cole promised. Their wedding had been perfect, but nothing compared to when the world receded and it was just the two of them, together, in love. That was perfection.
“Oh, really?” Amelia’s brow arched provocatively, her eyes sparking with challenge. Damn, the woman was going to kill him. But what a way to go. “Because if you expect tonight to top my wedding today, you have your work cut out for you.”
“A little hard work never scared me.” He bent, nuzzled her neck, teased the lobe of her ear with the tip of his tongue. “I’m up to the challenge.”
And would enjoy every moment of meeting that challenge.
“I don’t know.” She shifted on the bed, arching her naked body beneath the sheet, giving him better access to her throat. “Having the entire Stockton clan home is going to be pretty tough to top.”
Topping that would never be an easy feat, but Cole wasn’t worried. He had access to Top Secret insider information, such as the sensitive spot at Amelia’s nape and the way she liked him to look into her eyes when they made love.
He couldn’t get enough of her. The way she’d looked at him when their eyes had met when she’d stepped out of her parents’ house to walk between the rows of guests in her parents’ backyard. That look had taken his breath away.
Amelia had looked at him as if he was her entire world and Cole knew he’d been looking back at her exactly the same way. She was, and he’d take on the world to keep her safe, to keep her his, to love her all his days.
He breathed in her scent, loving her, wanting her despite them having made love not so long before, knowing she was his forever.
One breath at a time, one kiss at a time, one touch at a time, Cole put everything Amelia into his memory, discovering every nuance of her body, noting every delightful response, relishing her words of pleasure, her cries for more.
Rolling on top of her, Cole clasped their hands, and smiled down at his wife. “I hope you’re enjoying your wedding night so far, Mrs. Stanley.”
Amelia stared up at her husband, breathless with need. Did he have any idea what he did to her? How much she wanted and needed him? How happy he made her?
Today truly had been perfect. The California sunshine had been glorious. Her parents’ backyard had been transformed into a lush wedding paradise complete with white chairs, white flowers trimmed with navy ribbon, a white lattice backdrop with ribbon and flowers entwined. Having wanted to keep the wedding small, they’d only had about thirty guests, but all the right people had been able to attend. Clara had been her maid of honor. Josie and Suzie bridesmaids. Robert had been Cole’s best man, with Peyton and a schoolfriend of Cole’s serving as groomsmen. Sarah Stockton had been a gorgeous mother of the bride and the Admiral had looked handsome decked out in his uniform as he’d given Amelia to Cole.
And Cole. No man had ever looked more gorgeous in his uniform. No man had ever given so much to a woman.
Not hiding the emotion rushing through her, Amelia held Cole’s gaze, loving the feel of his body over hers, loving the adoration in his eyes.
“Just so long as you’re mine…” she squeezed his hands, enthralled by the strength of his fingers laced with hers, of the strength in everything about this wonderful man “…every night is perfect, Cole.”
“I’m always yours, Amelia. My heart, my love, all that I am I give to you and you alone. Forever.”
And as he kissed her, made love to her, Amelia knew Cole’s promise was true. Her husband was a man of his word.