Chapter Nineteen – Elizabeth

“It’s over.” Elizabeth stood next to Dean and watched the car carrying Suzie and Kit drive away.

“You should be very proud of yourself,” Dean told her honestly, his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him, holding her close.

“Yes, you should.” Karen was on the other side of Dean and overheard. “When we first met you, Elizabeth, I am going to admit I didn’t think you would go through with it. But over these last few months, you have truly blossomed.”

“Thanks, Karen. It’s meant so much to have you and Scott support me. And everyone else who helped too.” Elizabeth looked around at all the happy faces milling around on the road as the car finally disappeared around the corner, taking Suzie and Kit to the airport.

People who were once strangers, whom she would have avoided meeting, let alone talking to, were now her friends. This what she had dreamed of her whole life, to be part of something bigger, but she had never had the courage to take hold of it and wrestle it into submission.

“Shall we get some coffee on?” Karen asked.

“Actually, Elizabeth and I are going to head home. I’m exhausted.” Dean stifled a yawn, which was real. “Last night took it out of me.”

“I thought you were having dinner at Fiona’s last night,” Karen said, her curiosity piqued.

“We did.” Elizabeth looked at Dean with equal curiosity. “What else did you get up to?”

“After I left you, I went over to Jacob’s, to check up on the bridegroom and his best man.” Dean looked a little sheepish. Had he been sworn to secrecy over what happened next? “Neil was there too. So we went for a run over the mountain.”

Elizabeth got the feeling there was more to it than that, but Karen was happy to let it go.

“Bears will be bears,” Scott said.

“If they got up to anything they were not supposed to, I don’t want to know,” Karen admitted. “The day has been perfect, and I want it to stay that way.”

“Let’s go get that coffee,” Scott said. “Elizabeth, Dean, have a great rest of the evening.”

“We will, and we'll be around tomorrow morning to help clean up,” Elizabeth insisted.

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Scott replied. “I think we all deserve a rest in the morning.”

“Tomorrow afternoon.” Dean waved to them and escorted Elizabeth to the car, his arm around her possessively. Ever since she had asked him to stay the night, she was certain he had been dying to leave so they could be together.

As they drove home, she sat quietly by his side, trying to keep hold of her newfound confidence. Her suggestion that Dean stay the night had been buoyed along by the party atmosphere, and the excitement of the day. As they drew nearer to the house, her resolve wavered.

“Are you OK over there?” Dean asked as he turned his truck to head up the steep road to Suzie and Kit’s house.

“I am.” She nodded, unconvincingly. “It’s been a long day.” Was she trying to let him down gently? Or did she really want Dean to stay the night?

“It has. Look, if the day has been too much, I’ll go on home and we can meet up tomorrow.” Dean, as usual, had picked up on her indecision.

Elizabeth gave herself time to think before she answered. “I want you to stay. I’m just not sure I’m ready for…”

“Sex,” Dean filled in the missing word.

“Yes. I want to… But I’m scared,” she finished quickly.

“Me too.” Dean’s admittance was unexpected. “I’ve been celibate for some time.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth let that sink in. “We can take it slow.”

“We can. I’d like to…” Dean chuckled, a warm sound that she had grown to love. “We’re like a couple of kids. It’s not as if it’s our first time.”

“But it feels like it,” Elizabeth stated honestly.

Dean nodded in agreement. “It does. But we have time, we have all night, and if it doesn’t feel right, we have the rest of our lives.” They had reached the house, and he parked the truck and switched off the engine. “I love you, Elizabeth McLeish, and that is all that matters.”

“I love you, Dean Capel.” She opened the truck door and climbed out, breathing in the scent of the mountain at night, and listening to all of the night-time creatures scurrying around in the undergrowth.

Dean joined her, taking hold of her hand as they stood beneath the stars, which wheeled above their heads in the clear sky. “It always makes me feel so small, so inconsequential.”

“The stars?” Elizabeth placed her hand on his cheek, and turned him to face her. “You are not inconsequential. None of us are. I know that now. It’s taken me a long time to feel my own self-worth.”

“But you got there.” Dean swung around to look at the house. “Shall we go in?”

“Yeah, although it feels weird being here without Kit or Suzie.” Elizabeth took a step forward, and then another. Each one got easier, and her reservations about Dean staying the night slipped away. They were both old enough to know what they wanted, and to understand things didn’t always work out how you might expect.

If the night ended in sleep, rather than sex, there would be no repercussions, no angst. And if they did sleep together, there would be joy that their relationship had moved to an intimate level.

Elizabeth opened the front door with those thoughts clear and present in her brain. She used that knowledge to chase away the fear that might threaten to make her spin around and tell Dean she had made a mistake.

“Do you want coffee?” Elizabeth offered.

Dean shook his head. “No, not unless you do.”

“No.” In truth she only offered coffee to be polite, to try to keep the evening this side of normal. But when Dean closed the door behind them, and pulled her into his arms, she realized that normal had been left outside, under the stars.

He kissed her. Kissed her like she had never been kissed before. Which wasn’t hard, since he was the only man who had ever kissed her with love. A love that was real, and true, strong and everlasting.

Elizabeth stroked his arms through the jacket of his suit, but she wanted to feel his skin under her hands, and so she set to work. First, she pushed Dean’s unbuttoned jacket off his shoulders, and then she fumbled her way to undoing his shirt buttons, while he tried to distract her with his lips on hers. Not to mention his hands, which roamed her body, touching, caressing, until she thought she would explode.

“Shall we take this to the bedroom?” Dean asked, as she triumphantly pushed his shirt off his shoulders and let it fall to the floor.

“Yes.” She took his hand, and led him upstairs to the guest bedroom. Luckily she’d left it clean, all her clothes hung up, no dirty laundry on the floor.

Not that Dean would have noticed. He was too interested in her body, and the removal of any clothes that covered her body. She giggled nervously as he unbuttoned her dress, thankful that she’d made an effort to buy new lingerie to wear under her wedding outfit.

“I like a lady in lace,” Dean said, as he ran his fingers across the swell of her breast. She sighed, closing her eyes, allowing her other senses to drown in his touch. Then he unclasped her bra, freeing her breasts. “But not as much as I love a naked lady.”

Elizabeth burst out laughing, her breasts jiggling as she tried to stop. “That is some sexy talk.”

“Isn’t it?” he asked with a wide smile. “I think I need to practice some more.” His hand cupped her breast, his thumb rubbing across her nipple, making it harden into a taut bud. “But not tonight.”

Her laughter died as he sucked her nipple, the sensation exquisite. Dean rolled his tongue over the taut bud, sending shockwaves through her body. She cradled his head against her, holding him close, while he grazed her nipple with his teeth. Between her thighs, heat pooled, and her knees felt weak, it was all too much.

In one swift movement, Dean scooped her up in his arms and laid her down on the bed. Covering her body with his. Ducking his head, he licked her naked flesh. Her skin tingled, as he nuzzled her neck, working down over her shoulders to her breasts. He didn’t stop. Lower. His hands found the buttons of her skirt and undid them before dragging it down over her curvy thighs.

Hooking his fingers in the elastic of her panties, he pulled them off her legs, along with her skirt. She was naked. In bed. With a man.

But not just any man. Dean was her mate, the one who loved her, no matter what.

Elizabeth took comfort in this thought as he spread her thighs open, and lowered his head to kiss her most intimate places. His mouth was like heaven, all kinds of wonderful rolled into one.

He kissed her, sucked her, nipped her soft flesh between his teeth, until she writhed beneath him. One finger, then two, stroked along the length of her sex, pushing inside her. She was wet, so wet.

Her arousal built, a tension in her belly that spread out, taut, tight, a pressure that finally gave way to an incredible orgasm, that rocked her world. She didn’t care how clichéd that sounded in her head. She could not deny the earth had moved. Along with every other star and planet in the universe.

“What are you smiling about?” Dean asked when at last he’d kissed his way back up her body.

“How incredible that was.”

“I’m happy to be of service.” He chuckled. “I sound like a vacuum cleaner.”

Elizabeth reached down between their bodies, and tried to undo the button of his pants. “I think my brain has stopped communicating with the rest of my body.”

“Then let me help you.” He slipped off the bed, and she watched as he stood beside her, and undid his belt, then the button of his pants, before he pushed them to the floor. Stepping out of them, he rejoined her on the bed, his cock hard as he moved.

Elizabeth coiled her hand around his length, and stroked him. He groaned, pushing his face into the pillow next to her head. “I want you,” he said, as he turned his head to murmur in her ear.

Taking her courage in both hands, she shifted her body, Dean slid between her thighs, and she guided him toward her sex. He paused, and used the head of his cock to stimulate her sex, before he inched forward and entered her.

Elizabeth held her breath as he slid deeper into her. As he moved, her inner walls gripped him, holding him tight. Inch by slow inch he thrust deeper, until he was inside her, buried up to the hilt. Only when he pulled back out, did she let her breath go.

Dean thrust forward, impaling her on his cock, before pulling back out again. Over and over he slid deep inside her, the friction between them incredible. She finally got control of her limbs, and wrapped her legs around him, while her hands stroked his back, his arms, and his face. She kissed him, their lips meeting, his tongue pushing inside her mouth, sliding in and out in an act that mimicked the rhythm of his hips as they thrust deep inside her. She sucked his tongue, her teeth grazing it, and his hips bucked in response.

Dean thrust harder, long lunges that took them both to incredible new heights. She wasn’t a virgin, obviously, but when she finally came, she knew that what she’d experienced before was sex, pure and simple. This was making love. Deep, soulful, passionate love.