Harvest Moon (Borrowed Brides 2)

David realized she was cold. He scooped her up in his arms. Tessa relaxed against him, looping her arms around his neck.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“To bed.”

“Oh.” She smothered a yawn.

David chuckled. “Don’t go to sleep on me now, Tessa. We’re just getting started.” His voice was laced with tenderness. He discovered that despite the life she’d led at the Satin Slipper, Tessa had never before felt the exquisite sensations he’d aroused within her moments before. She had more to learn about lovemaking, more pleasure to experience. David felt honored to teach her.

He carried her to his bed.

Tessa snuggled into the covers, watching as David peeled off his shirt. He lit a lamp, turning the wick down low. “I want to see you,” he told her, “and I want you to see me.” He kicked off his boots, then shucked his tight pants.

Her eyes widened in surprise as he revealed himself to her. Sleek and bronzed in the lamplight, he was magnificent. His wide shoulders tapered into a hard, ridged stomach. A light sprinkling of black hair trailed from his navel, pointing downward to… She closed her eyes. A hot blush stained her face red.

David grinned. “Open your eyes, Tessa,” he commanded softly. “Look at me.”

She opened one eye, then the other.

“See what you do to me.” He walked to the bed, pulled the covers back, and slipped between the sheets next to her. “Feel what you do to me.” He pressed his large body into hers.

“You’re so warm,” Tessa told him, placing her hands against his chest. “I’ve never felt anything like this.”

“Touch me, Tessa,” David directed, taking her hand in his, guiding her down to the hard length of him.

Tessa marveled at the contrast. The steel hardness encased in velvety softness, the rough crinkle of hair at the base, the smooth, gentle slope at the summit. David removed his hand. She no longer needed his guidance. She explored him on her own.

David groaned aloud, biting his full lower lip as she tested his limits. He squirmed beneath her hand, whispering her name over and over, like a litany. She ran a hand down his inner thigh. David reacted instantly. He caught her hand in his, moving it up to his chest. “No more.” His voice was hoarse, strained. “I can’t stand it.”

Leaning on an elbow above him, Tessa trailed her hand across the expanse of his chest, then up his neck, to his mouth. She traced the fine contours of his lower lip with her fingertip. “What should I do next?”

Smiling at the innocent question, David hooked an arm around her neck and pulled her down to him. He captured her lips with his own, kissing her with a thoroughness that sent her coherent thoughts flying. “Make love with me,” he murmured between breaths.

Rolling her to her back in one sure motion, David positioned himself between her legs. He pushed, trying to bury himself in her moist cavern, and met resistance. “What’s this?” He looked down at her face, saw the way her teeth worried her bottom lip, and he understood. “God, Tessa, I didn’t know… I never dreamed…” David slowed his movements, gentling his touch. He struggled to find the words to thank her for gifting him with her innocence. “You’re wonderful. Magnificent.” He praised her as he moved his hips, easing his way inside her. His heart felt near to bursting at the flood of sensations and the wave of tenderness he felt for her.

Tessa squirmed against the pressure building inside her.

David kissed the corner of her mouth. “It’s all right. I can wait until you’re ready. There’s no need to hurry.”

But there was. Tessa’s heart pounded in her breast. She moved against him, yearning to explore the wonderful feeling, wanting to quench the fires within, sensing that only David could help her.

“Tessa, don’t move,” David pleaded. “Please don’t move. Not yet.”

But she did. She hugged him. Pulling him as close as possible, Tessa pressed her lips against his breast, finding his nipple, feeling the rapid thundering of his heart.

And David was lost. Unable to control the emotions urging him onward, he withdrew a bit, then plunged his length into her welcoming depths.

Tessa felt a twinge of pain a moment before he began the rhythmic stroking. Then she forgot all about the pain, forgot about everything except David and the pleasure spiraling inside her. She arched against him, then locked her long legs around his waist.

“Hold me,” David demanded hoarsely in her ear. “Don’t let me go.”

Tessa obliged, holding him through the storm as he buried himself deep within her one last time. Tessa heard the wonder in his voice as he called her name and felt the pulse that shook his whole body. She answered his cry with a cry of her own only seconds before their world exploded in a shower of colors, like the fragments of a rainbow.

Tessa opened her eyes, hugging David tightly as he rolled to her side.

He held her close. “Oh, Tessa…” he whispered, kissing the sensitive skin beneath her ear. “My sweet, sweet, Tessa. I promise I’ll take care of you.”

“Don’t,” Tessa whispered back. “Don’t make promises.” She snuggled closer in his arms. “You might not be able to keep them.” She sighed deeply, then closed her eyes and slept.