Truly a Wife (Free Fellows League 4)

“So am I,” Miranda replied. “I don’t quite understand how I could lose my virginity by doing what we did, but …”

Daniel laughed. “Miranda, my sweet, what we did is one of the ways a gentleman can pleasure a lady without taking her virginity.”

“Oh.” She looked at him and Daniel recognized the disappointment on her face. “Well, of course. How stupid of me. You’re a gentleman. I should have realized you would know how to be intimate without … It’s just that I thought you wanted to make love to … It’s just that I thought …” She struggled to find the right word. “Otherwise.”

“I am making love to you,” Daniel told her. “There are as many ways to make love as there are couples doing it. Women generally take a bit longer to find satisfaction than men. What I did to you, what we just shared, is usually a prelude to the other ways of making love that result in the loss of your virginity and the possibility of a child …”

“There’s …”

He read her mind. “More,” he promised. “In fact, it’s only the beginning. Because, while I should know better …” He took a deep breath. “I am going to make love to you in as many ways as I possibly can. In as many ways as you’ll allow… God help me, but I fully intend to dispose of your virginity. Now. Tonight.” He looked her in the eyes so there would be no misunderstanding. “Unfortunately, that’s the part of lovemaking that may be uncomfortable for you and incredibly pleasurable for me.” He made a face at her. “And the part selfish men generally enjoy most.”

“I knew it was too good to be true,” Miranda replied in a slightly disappointed tone of voice. “I knew there had to be discomfort somewhere.”

“Not for you,” he said, brushing her lips with a tender kiss. “Not if I can help it. I may be selfish in other ways, but you’ll find I’m a very generous lover.”

“Prove it,” she challenged.

“I thought I already had,” he replied. “With your prelude to lovemaking.”

Miranda looped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for another passionate kiss. “Prove it again with the finale,” she ordered. “And start by licking my breast again.”

Daniel’s body tightened with each word. He sucked in a breath and held it as the male part of him grew rigid and insistent, staining the sheets with the beads of moisture that appeared each time he thought about what was to follow.

Miranda smiled, then cupped her breast and offered it to him.

Daniel’s blood rushed downward. The throbbing in his groin increased with each beat of his heart. Aching to sheathe himself in her warmth and end the exquisite torment, he accommodated her request, rolling her onto her back before lifting himself to cover her.

Settling between her legs, Daniel pressed himself against her. His male member nestled against her mound, cushioned by the soft curls covering it as he lavished attention on her breasts.

Reaching up, Miranda trailed her fingers up and down his spine, over the strips of cloth that bound his ribs and the bandage that covered his wound, then over his firm, muscular buttocks, down the tops of his thighs, and around to the front, where she brushed her fingers against him.

Momentarily forgetting about her breasts, Daniel sat back on his heels and groaned aloud as his hard jutting length surged up to greet her.

Miranda chuckled at his reaction. She wrapped her fingers around him, marveling at the feel of iron encased in velvet as she moved her hand up and down, testing the effect.

But Daniel put a quick end to her experiment by gripping her wrist and guiding her hand safely out of reach. He leaned forward, lifted her hips, and slipped inside her.

His entry was smooth and painless. Daniel bit his bottom lip to keep from groaning aloud as he gently pushed forward until he reached the bit of tissue barring his way.

“Why are you stopping?” Miranda squirmed against the pressure building inside her.

“Sssh,” he soothed, placing a gentle kiss on her eyelid and then on the corner of her mouth. “Lie still for a moment. We’re in no hurry. There’s no need to rush.”

But there was. Filled by a sense of urgency she couldn’t name, Miranda moved against him.

“Don’t …” He tried to warn her, but Miranda pulled him to her and Daniel pushed past the barrier to sheath his full length inside her.

The tearing pain lasted only a heartbeat or two, but it was enough to give Miranda pause.

“That hurt,” she murmured against his ear, seconds before biting down on his lobe.

Daniel yelped.

“Now, we’re even,” she told him.

He smiled down at her. And then he kissed her with all the pent-up passion and frustration and longing he felt. He kissed her until her breasts heaved with exertion, until her bones seemed to turn to jelly, until all she could do was cling to him, returning his kisses as she fervently gave herself up to the rhythm as old as time.

He set the pace, and Miranda followed, matching his movements thrust for thrust. She held on to him, reveling in the weight and feel of him as he filled her again and again, gifting her with himself in a way she’d never dreamed possible.