Chapter 23

Damien

Her faith in me and the man she wholeheartedly believes I am is more than I can handle, but it fills me with hope. I want to scoop her up into my arms and let down the rest of my walls. I want to believe I can give her everything she deserves and more.

But my fear is real.

I don’t want to hurt her.

Hurting her would be something I could never come back from.

“You aren’t going to hurt me,” she claims and steps toward me. My hands itch to reach out to touch her, to claim her, but neither of us is ready for what that means.

“I can’t claim you.”

“That’s what you don’t understand, Damien.” Her voice is silky smooth, hitting my dick with each syllable. “You’ve claimed almost every piece of me already. You claimed my person the night you chose me. You claimed my trust the day you came back for me. You claimed my name the night you married me. You claimed my friendship during our time here. You claimed my heart when you finally let me in tonight.”

“Penny—” I start, but she silences me with one slender finger pressed against my lips. The animal in me wants to flick my tongue out to taste her.

“I’m not expecting you to feel the same,” she tells me with love shining from the depths of her eyes. My heart tugs in my chest, wishing I could say the words she deserves to hear. “The only thing you have left to claim is my body, and while I appreciate the chivalry you’re determined to show me, it has to stop. I need you to claim every little piece of me. I need you to make me yours in every possible way.”

Fuck.

She’s left me speechless.

This confession has me ignoring every promise I made to keep her safe from me, because I’ll be damned if her words haven’t made my heart pound in my chest. I’m barely coming around to the idea she thinks I’m a good man, but being someone worthy of her?

I close my eyes and take a deep breath trying to calm the variety of lust and emotion raging.

“Damien, please touch me,” she whispers, and I open my eyes to find her standing nearly naked, the blanket a pile of material at her feet, still wearing only her blue thong. My cock pulses painfully, needing to be closer to her.

I swallow hard. If we’re going to do this, it needs to be slow.

“Penny,” I mumur and reach for her warm body, giving in to her request and my animal instinct. “You are fucking perfect.”

She responds by moving closer. I feel her shiver the moment her skin touches the fabric separating us. My hands find the curve of her hips and hook into them, yanking her harder against me.

“Damien,” she whispers as her hands snake up my back, finding their place around my neck again.

I lean in, stopping an inch from her lips, waiting for her to close the gap. I’m anxious to feel her lips against mine, to taste her.

“Angel, if you want to stop at any time, I will.” I lift my hands from their spot on her hips and cup her face. She needs to know that even as things progress between us, I will stop if she changes her mind. God, I hope she doesn’t change her mind.

She nods before lifting up onto her tiptoes and closing the distance between our lips. It’s fucking magic. The small kiss we shared the night we married has nothing on this one.

We poor ourselves into this kiss, saying the things we can’t say yet but doing it with passion and our connected mouths.

I want her to control the kiss at first, needing her to feel confident, but the moment her tongue slips between my lips, I can’t hold back any longer.

The need I’ve spent too long controlling snaps, and I lift her up. My arms wrap around her wasit, and her long legs wrap around me. I settle one hand on the warm flesh of her ass, kneading it as I walk forward into the room. I don’t stop until my legs hit the edge of the bed.

Lowering her down onto it, we climb the bed together. I settle between her legs, never breaking the kiss, our lips frantic for one another. When her head hits the pillow, she reaches for the hem of my shirt, ripping it up and over my head.

Her teeth graze my bottom lip, and I can’t help the growl that resonates from somewhere deep within my body. I get the sense that despite her innocence, my angel is going to be something of a wildcat in bed. Which I don’t find surprising, given the brazen behavior she’s displayed tonight.

Her bare nipples brush against my bare chest, causing her to writhe in need. My brave girl arches off the bed, seeking a stronger contact, and even as her hands make their way across the lines of my back, I know it isn’t enough. Because it isn’t enough for me.

“Touch me,” she moans between kisses, and I respond by snaking a hand between our bodies to find her perfectly shaped breast. “Oh god…”

I relax a little, flicking and plucking at the taut nipple, needing to taste the rosey bud for myself.

Breaking our kiss, I feel the overwhelming urge to worship every inch of her body, making all of it mine. I capture her nipple between my teeth. She hisses at the twinge of pain but arches her back higher off the bed, offering herself up to me

I suck the rosebud into my mouth while I use my free hand to hook her leg around my hip, then grind my hard cock against the wet warmth of her pussy.

“You have too much clothing on,” she moans, tugging at the waist of my jeans.

“I don’t want to go too fast, angel.”

“I want to feel you, Damien.”

“Soon,” I promise before taking the other rosebud into my mouth, repeating the nip of my teeth against the sensitive nub. Her fingers thread into my hair, and she gives it a little tug before holding it in place at her breast.

“More,” she mewls, but there are other places on her body I want to taste. Places I know she’d rather me be much quicker if she knew what I plan on doing to her.

“Angel, we have all night,” I chuckle, feeling just as anxious but in control of myself. This night is about her, and I’m on a mission to make her first time, no, our first time memorable.

“I’ve been waiting for you, for this moment, my entire life, Damien. Please don’t take too long. I don’t know if my heart can handle it.” She looks down at me with sapphire eyes so dark, I nearly lose myself in them. Smiling to myself, I vow make her come more than once before giving her what she’s sweetly begging for.

Lowering my head, I place a gentle kiss on her hot skin, the first of many along the pathway of her body.

I’m going to make her scream my name more than once.