“Reg, I love you.”
“I know, sweet. And I you.”
“It’s okay if you don’t want to wed me. I shall still stay with you.”
He cupped her face in both hands, his blue eyes softening. “Why would I not want to wed you? You are everything to me.”
“I have something to tell you,” she said, her heart a hard lump in her throat.
“What is it?”
“I am not...” She squeezed her eyes shut and hot tears traced paths down her face. “That is, I have been...”
“Don’t cry, love,” he whispered, kissing tears from her cheeks. “Whatever it is—”
“I am not a maiden,” she blurted.
He stiffened and his comforting arms dropped. “You’ve been with a man?”
She nodded. “It was against my—”
“Who was it?”
She swallowed to try to keep bile from burning up her throat. She couldn’t tell him. He hated Christopher Abbot. Reg would never want her if he knew that vile man had successfully ruined her.
“It was...”
Lara slapped Reg across the face, grateful that he suddenly looked like Reece again. Reece flinched. “What did you do that for?”
“She about to lie to him, which is the stupidest thing she could possibly do, but she’s afraid he won’t love her if he knows the truth.”
“So you slap me?”
“We have to fix this, Reece. She loves him so much. Does Reg love her?”
“He’d kill for her. He’s jealous of whoever claimed her maidenhead—did I really just call it that?—em, popped her cherry.”
“Reece! Don’t be crude.”
“He’s hurt, but he’ll get over it. Did she get carried away with some stable boy or something?”
Lara shook her head. “She was raped by Abbot.”
“God! Why didn’t you let me kill that fucking bastard?”
“I’m going to make her tell Reg the truth if I can. You need to make sure he’s supportive instead of jealous, got it?”
“Yeah, I’ll try. He’s not going to be jealous. He’s going to be murderous, I guarantee you that.”
“And then we have to help her get over her fear of sex. She thinks it’s disgusting, humiliating, and painful. We’re going to show her that it’s none of those things.”
“How?”
“Same way we made things nice for Helga and Eirick.”
Reece made a fist of victory. “Now that’s a plan I can get behind.”
Lara grinned at him. It was no wonder she’d fallen for Reece. He held nothing back. “Take it easy, okay? Don’t jump my bones at the first sign of surrender.”
“Me?” He attempted a look of innocence that made Lara laugh.
“Stop,” she said. “This is serious.”
“So why do you keep volunteering to help these women with their sexual problems?” Reece asked.
“Maybe that’s why we’ve been sent here. To help.”
“Or maybe you just want an excuse to get into my pants.”
“In your dreams, Jericho.”
“And they be very wet dreams.”
Lara shook her head at him. She wasn’t used to talking to men who blurted any naughty thought that occurred to them. Maybe that’s why she’d been so freaking bored with her life. “Hold me again,” Lara requested. “Last time, when I started feeling safe and comfortable, Eleanor’s thoughts came through.”
“You were feeling safe and comfortable?” he asked hopefully.
She emitted a long sigh. “Have I ever told you that you’re impossible?”
He grinned nostalgically. “All the time.”
She gripped his linen shirt in both hands and tugged him closer. “Will you just hold me?”
“If you insist.”
His arms surrounded her and she felt anything but safe and comfortable. Knowing that she’d just indirectly asked Reece to make love to her again had her feeling more hot and bothered than anything.
“Lara?” he said after several minutes.
She still wasn’t relaxed and Eleanor was still outside of her perception, but she was willing to let Reece hold her for as long as it took. Not because she was enjoying the feel of his hard body against her or anything. She really wanted to help Eleanor find happiness with Reg. “Hmm?”
“I’m not sure this is the best idea.”
Her heart twisted. “You don’t want to make love to me?” she asked breathlessly.
“Of course I want to make love to you, but if Eleanor’s been raped, wouldn’t it be better to give her time to heal emotionally before we have her jumping in the sack with Reg?”
“I don’t know. She wants to be with Reg. You’re so good in bed, I know you’ll make it special for her.”
“You think I’m good in bed?”
She didn’t have to look up at him to know he was grinning. “I mean, you’re not fantastic or anything, but I’ll be relaxed, so she’ll enjoy it instead of being afraid.”
Reece chuckled. “You know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think you’re using her as an excuse to get me into bed.”
Lara shook her head. “I can’t believe you’d think I’m doing this for selfish reasons. I just want to help her.”
“Uh-huh,” he agreed in a most sarcastic tone.
She slapped his chest with the flat of her hand. “Don’t make fun. I think we’re supposed to help these couples.”
“By having sex with each other?”
“I guess that does sound pretty stupid.” She sighed. “Maybe I am just being selfish and trying to make this all work out in my favor.” It didn’t feel that way though. She really wanted Eleanor and Reg to be together. Not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. She legitimately thought she and Reece could help them find their happily ever after a little faster.
“We’re traveling through time, fixing one fucked up relationship after another,” Reece said.
She laughed and moved her arms around his back to draw him closer. Her hands slid over his shirt up the solid muscles of his back, craving the texture of his naked skin. “Exactly.”
“We’ll try your approach and if Eleanor starts to experience emotional trauma, we’ll stop.”
Lara tilted her head back to gaze up into Reece’s eyes. He was genuinely concerned about Eleanor’s feelings. Was it because he was sharing space with Reg? She didn’t think that was why at all. Lara cupped Reece’s face in both hands. She could practically see his heart melt as he gazed down at her. “This must’ve been why I fell in love with you.”
He grinned crookedly. “You just thought I was sexy.”
“That’s just an added bonus.” She rose up on tiptoes and claimed his lips in a searing kiss.
If he’d had reservations about making love to her before, they were gone now. Fingers tangled in her curls, he tugged her head back and feasted on her mouth. She yanked his loose, linen shirt free of his trousers and impatiently pushed it up his body. He released her lips long enough to pull the shirt off over his head, but claimed her mouth again immediately, caressing her upper lip with his tongue, nibbling on the lower. Her hands roved the planes of his back and shoulders as she pressed against his hard chest. She just wanted to touch him. Everywhere. When she reached for the fastening of his pants, he groaned against her lips before tugging away.
“Lara, you’re going to get me all worked up and I’m supposed to be taking it easy.”
Lara’s hand cupped his erection through his pants. “I want to touch you.”
Reece fumbled wit
h his waistband and she found her hand full of thick, hot, and oh so hard, cock. She stroked his length gently, her free hand moving down his back to ease his pants down so she could explore the flesh of that hot little ass of his. She pressed her lips to his collar bone and trailed kisses down his hard chest to his nipple. She gave it a playful nip and then soothed it with the flat of her tongue.
“Someone is feeling naughty,” he murmured.
“It’s your fault,” she said, kissing her way down his belly. Her hand continued lower, pushing his pants down until they settled around his ankles. He kicked them aside. He stood before her naked, and gorgeous, and hard.
“I could really get used to this,” she said, sinking lower as she sucked kisses around his navel and then along a sexy path of hair that pointed her toward her ultimate destination.
“Me, too,” he breathed.
She hesitated, her lips inches from his swollen cock, her heart suddenly racing with fear. It sure was a bad time for Eleanor to let her feelings known.
“El, if you want to stop...” Reg’s voice said from above.
“No,” Eleanor whispered, her heart still hammering, “I just need to get used to your body.” Abbot had used his tool to cause her untold pain and humiliation. Eleanor just had to remind herself that this was Reginald. She promised herself that she would endure his lust. She wanted to give Reg pleasure even if every minute of the interaction caused her agony. She loved Reg mind, heart, and soul. Now she just had to learn to love his body. She loved most of it already, it was just this strange protruding part of him that caused her anxiety.
Reg touched her hair gently and she looked up at him. When he smiled, her racing heart slowed slightly. She lowered her head and kissed the swollen end of his cock gently. It twitched in her hand. Her heart skipped a beat. It moves?
“Take as long as you need, love,” Reg said.
She trailed her fingers down the length of him. The skin was loosely attached so that when she pressed against it, it slid slightly over the hard, thick rod beneath. She traced the veins just beneath the surface of his satiny skin and then ran her thumb up the thick ridge on its underside. Reg’s breath came in sharp, shaky gasps and when she glanced up at him, he had his head tilted back and his jaw clenched.
“Reg?” Eleanor whispered, her heart thudding for a different reason now. Was she touching him wrong? Hurting him? “Are you okay?”