Chapter 18

Good Christ he loved her hair. It had never occurred to him that the simple act of slipping it free of its pins and letting it cascade down over his hands could have been such an erotic act. But it had been. The way it had skimmed, coarse, strong, wild over his palms was remarkable.

Working the soap out of it, was another fascinating set of events. The ropes of her damp hair had tangled over his hands and he’d longed to trail it over her breasts. Which of course he’d done.

Now, she sat wrapped carefully in a soft, thick linen before the fire, her long hair fanned out over her shoulders. He knelt behind her, carefully spreading it so that the heat from the flames would dry it.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Enjoying you.”

“Well,” she cleared her throat. “I would like to enjoy you too.”

She was such a marvelous woman. So to the point. So unlike anyone he’d ever known. “You’re not enjoying this?”

“I do not take well to sitting still for long periods of time. Though I do admit, it feels quite nice.”

“Nice?” he teased, stroking his fingers through her hair.

“Yes.”

That gave him pause. He was not accustomed to having his ministrations referred to as nice. “You have a problem with focusing?”

“Only when asked to sit still.”

“Shall I give you something to do?”

She glanced back over her shoulder a devilish grin lighting her face. “I know exactly what I’d like to do.”

His heart slammed against his ribs. He couldn’t recall the last time any woman had surprised him or more importantly held him so entirely captivated. He would do anything to please her.

Jack tightened his hold on her smooth hair, tugging her head slightly back so that her face was tilted towards his. No. Not anything. He couldn’t give her his heart. He was not yet that far gone. And he never could be. No one as worthy as Cordelia deserved to be bound to someone such as he.

“We only have one week,” she whispered.

“And?”

She blinked. “Don’t you feel we should make use of our time?”

Before he knew what he was saying, he countered, “You could always stay longer.”

Immediately, her eyes shuttered and she started to look away, but before he could lose her, he lifted his hand to her jaw line and held her still. “I merely wish to point out that you are the one who insists there must be a timeliness to our delights.”

“Don’t you find that exciting?” she asked with a surprising degree of brightness. “The fact that we know it must end?”

He didn’t know what he felt but he knew that if he didn’t make her his now, he would never forgive himself. So, he took the linen sheet in his hands and yanked it from her body.

Her eyes flared with shock but then she bit down on her lower lip, her gaze darting to his linen shirt. “What’s good for the goose. . .” And she grabbed fistfuls of his shirt.

Obliging, he lifted his arms and bent slightly forward. She whisked the shirt off him and then that oh so clever gaze, the one which could pin him to the wall or set his desires ablaze devoured the naked plains of his chest.

“I have never seen—”

“I’m glad,” he said, his voice rumbling with a degree of possessiveness unfamiliar to him.

She stretched out a hand but hesitated as though her fingertips might burn upon his surface. “You have seen many women.”

“So, I have.”

She scowled. “It hardly seems fair that you should be glad of my ignorance.”

He clasped her hand with his then pulled her slowly towards him. “Perhaps you should not think of the fairness or lack of fairness.”

“What should I think on then?”

He paused. How to say what he meant? “That it is no happy thing, my experience.”

Her brow furrowed. “Pardon?”

He shook his head unable to explain, unwilling to mar their present with his past. “Now is not the time.”

“But you—”

He placed a finger over her soft lips. Truthfully, it would never be the time to discuss the way he had used and been used. He never wanted her to know the secret humiliation he’d felt as an object of so many women’s pleasure. A walking dildo. And he was determined that before the week was out she would love herself enough to never let herself be treated like an object. As he had done. He took his finger from her lips and asked, “Are you sure this is what you want? You and I?”

The crackle of the fire filled the silence and her answer came in the subtle shift of her body toward his. She knelt before him and placed her hands on his shoulders. “I want this.”

How he longed for her to say she wanted him. But for now, this was good enough. More than good enough. He clasped her in his arms, then lowered her to the floor, laying her gently atop the linens before the fire. Her blond hair spilled across the white silk.

Gazing down at her body, Jack was seized by the sudden feeling that he was seeing a woman for the first time. Which of course was absurd. He’d seen more women than he could recall.

But in this moment, she was his first.

He sucked in a sharp breath, feeling a hint of fear for the first time that he could recall.

“Are you well?” she asked softly, staring up at him through a scorching gaze.

“Well doesn’t even touch what I feel.” Lowering himself, he oh so gently slid his hand over her skin. Loving the way her body undulated to his touch, he barely skimmed her flesh, teasing it, sensitizing it.

She moaned when his fingers teased her nipples, a flirtatious promising touch, but one that whispered away before she could arch into his palm.

A flush tinged her body and he loved it. He wanted to drive her out of her wits. To send his oh so intellectual Cordelia rolling on a sea of physical need.

Most of all, he wanted her to never forget that it was he and no one else who awakened her and that he had done so with adoration for her body.

Jack leaned back, gazing at her thighs and at long last he could bear it no longer. He teased his fingertips down, over her hips bones and brushed them over her thighs.

Shaking slightly, her legs parted for him.

He slid his fingers through the soft curls guarding her clitoris and Jack’s eyes fluttered shut as he encountered her slick heat. Christ, how he longed to be inside her. But not yet.

Delicately, he slipped his fingers over her swollen folds. And whilst he focused on her response, he bent down and took one nipple into his mouth.

She gasped with surprise and he smiled to himself. Sucking and twirling his tongue around the taut peak, he mirrored the action with his fingertips, circling and teasing over her tight little nub. He was careful, waiting to see which strokes pleased her the most.

Cordelia grabbed onto his shoulders, her nails digging into his flesh. “Please,” she breathed.

“Please what?”

She licked her lips. “Make love to me.”

His chest squeezed with a pang of emotion. One he refused to contemplate. So, he kissed her, taking her mouth with his. While she clung to him, he parted her thighs a little further and rested his weight gently atop her body.

She tensed and pulled away from their kiss. Frowning she glanced at his body atop hers. “Are you sure this is right?”

Jack glanced down their bodies, curious as to what could possibly be amiss. He smiled, a bemused grin. “I do believe so.”

A bright blush spread over her already flushed cheeks. “Well, it doesn’t look like. . .”

Jack stroked back a lock of hair from her face. “Like what?”

She rolled her face to the side, staring into the fire. “Like what I’ve seen,” she mumbled.

That stopped Jack. Resting his weight on his forearms, he stared down at his wife, marveling that they were discussing such a thing. And yet, he wouldn’t wish himself anywhere else in the world at this moment. “What have you seen exactly?”

She cleared her throat.

“Cordelia?”

With a great sigh she whipped her gaze back to his. “The donkeys if you must know.”

A laugh boomed out of him.

“You needn’t laugh.”

“Laughter is the balm of all things.”

“Yes but not—”

“When better than making love?” he said softly, wishing to ease her embarrassment.

She arched a brow but then her face creased with curiosity. “Do we really not do this with you behind?”

His mind went momentarily blank at the thought. “We will, love. But not this time.”

“I see. So there is more than one option for love making?”

Jack grinned down at her, his heart ridiculously warm for the woman beneath him. “I will show you them all if you wish.”

“All?” she mouthed.

He nodded. “But let us start with the first one first.”

“Very reasonable.”

“I’m glad you think so.”

She nodded. “I am a rather precocious learner however.”

“I’m sure you are,” he agreed.

“So, if you wished to begin at a more advanced—”

“Cordelia?” he cut in gently.

“Yes?” She stared up at him, wide eyed.

“Are you nervous?”

Her lips clamped together. And that was more than answer enough. His fiery, prim woman would never admit to being nervous, but she might do everything in her power to distract him from her fear. “I promise if you do not like it, I will stop.”

“I understand it can be painful.”

Jack fought the urge to gape. Who in god’s name had taught her about love? Apparently someone who used the words close your eyes and think of England. “Do you trust me?”

She blinked.

The impulse to pull away, raked through him, but he realized the idiocy of such a feeling. She had no reason to trust him. Not yet. “Do you trust that I give women pleasure?”

An odd expression crossed her features then she nodded.

“Then trust I will do everything I may to make this pleasurable.”

To his shock, tears glistened in her eyes. The sight nearly undid him and he was very close to calling the whole damned thing off when she said, “What if I am bad at this?”

Was that what was causing her chatter? Jack cupped her cheek in his palm. “That is not possible.”

“Why?” she demanded.

Of course she would ask why. He had to give her a good an answer. A true one or she would never trust him. “Because you are a remarkable woman who is always frank in her opinions and a woman like you, a woman who can speak her mind, will always be a remarkable lover.”

“In truth?” she breathed.

He nodded. And it was true. A woman who could speak her mind wouldn’t be afraid to say what she disliked or what she enjoyed. “Shall we try?”

“Oh yes,” she urged, her excitement returning.

Jack rested his cock at her still slick core and teased the head along her folds. Carefully, he teased her clitoris again.

As he rubbed back and forth, barely letting his cock touch her opening, she held onto him, pulling her body up against his.

Just as she let out a cry of frustrated need, Jack rocked the head of his cock against her opening.

Her eyes flared wide and as soon as he felt her body adjusting to his size, he eased deep into her core. Her body protested for a moment and she winced.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his voice rough with desire and the difficulty of keeping himself in check when all he longed to do was drive home and claim her.