Renewing Hope (In Your World #2) (29 page)

He swallowed and jerked his head in a nervous nod.

I held my breath and slowly pushed the material down his thighs, feeling his breath hitch when I bared him. One hand on his chest, I eased him to sit on the edge of the bed. He looked up with dark eyes, licking at his lips as he watched me pull the shift over my head, revealing myself to him fully for the first time.

"You are so beautiful," he groaned, reaching out for me with a trembling hand.

I took his outstretched hand, kissing it gently, and placed his hand on his knee.

"Let me do this for you?" I asked again, kneeling between his legs.

He let out a stuttered breath when he felt me move closer, my hands sliding up his bare thighs. When I reached where I wanted, he let out a long groan and let his eyes roll back into his head.

"I will not last. Oh, Kate," he moaned.

"I know," I whispered and leaned in to him, hoping that this would settle his nerves.

Then we would have the chance to go slow afterward.

One touch of my lips and he jolted, crying out.

I smiled and continued on, purpose driven to please my husband.

Always.

I kissed him again, my hand sliding languidly along the length of him as my mouth carefully took him in, the sharp taste of him hitting my tongue when it glided over him, his low moan spurring me on to try a little harder. Our eyes locked upon one another, the desire clear in his while he watched me pleasure him. He leaned back against one elbow, his hand threading into my hair desperately, and his breath coming faster. He adjusted under me, his hips rising slightly from the bed, a whimpered cry the only warning I had from him.

He shuddered and held my head still, panting my name until his head lolled back onto the bed and he melted into the blankets. I crawled up alongside him, smiling when he wrapped his arms around me, his body all but jelly as he lay, spent. I could feel his hot breath at the base of my neck. He had not lasted long at all, the tension of the day surely winding him tight. Now he was much more relaxed.

He pulled away some, letting his eyes wander over my body. I lay there in nervous anticipation, his hand tracing along my neck and dipping down to trace a line down and in between my breasts. His fingertips never left my flesh, grazing lightly as they circled around one breast, and then the other. He seemed to be memorizing every single inch of my skin as he touched.

My heart raced at the heated look in his eyes as he watched my body react to his touch. His voice seemed to drip with want.

"You have no idea how much I have wanted to be with you like this," he whispered, his head lowering to lay a tender kiss over my heart.

His breath tickled the swell of my breast, just before hot lips touched the skin, causing it to pebble from his touch. I moved against him, my body tense with excitement from his touch, coupled with the joy of having brought him pleasure before.

Of feeling him lavish my breasts with his fingers and mouth.

The heat of his mouth enveloped one nipple, sending delicious shivers through me, making me cry out. He pulled away, as if to check to be sure he had not hurt me, only to smile and turn to the other nipple. I gasped out his name, grabbing at his hair and writhing underneath him in my desperate need for more.

He continued to tease my breasts, a hand on one while his mouth sucked the other, his tongue moving against me much as I had done to him minutes before.

His teasing mouth was too much. I needed more.

I began to wonder why I had thought I should offer him a quick release, when I became so worked up.

How long would it be before he was ready again?

I needed him.

Needed to feel him there.

"Need," I whimpered, rolling into him slightly to wrap my arms around him, drawing him close.

Feeling him already begin to harden, I moaned and looked down at the beauty of my husband’s awakening need.

Tugging on his hip, I urged him to roll over with a groan against me. I could feel his heavy pulse against my thigh. Sliding my hands down his back as he hovered just above me, I watched his eyes trail down until we were both watching him stir and grow. Nathan let out a measured breath, moving slightly so that he lined up close against me. I gasped at the shiver that shot through me. He was barely touching me but already I could feel the heaviness of him as he slid closer, his body almost nudging on its own.

Our bodies knew exactly what they needed; it was just the matter of our minds letting go.

"Kate," he whispered and coaxed my legs to relax, allowing the heat of him to press against me.

I whimpered and flexed my legs around him, trying to draw him closer. But he held himself away enough to drive me crazy with the need for more. My hands traced across his back, feeling every muscle quiver as I worked my way down, until my fingers spread across his buttocks.

Still he remained just far enough away to keep my body strung tight.

Looking up, my eyes widened when I was met with his staring down at me. In them I saw so much need, and hesitation.

“It will be all right,” I soothed and stretched to kiss him with a reverence that belied the nervous heartbeats in our chest.

His eyes tightened and he groaned when he felt me move against him, sliding closer and closer. As if testing the water, his fingertips skirted downward across my stomach.

He paused and looked up at me, his lip between his teeth. I reached down and guided his hand, both of us sighing when we felt his fingers slip against me, edging his length against my entrance with care.

"Please," I whispered, stretching my neck to allow my lips to brush across his neck. I felt him swallow and groan quietly, sliding against the slickness of me. He hovered there, pressing against me just enough that I could feel his thunderous pulse vibrate along the sensitive skin there.

Nathan's breath grew more labored at my temple. The tension inside me was becoming too much. I didn't want to push him; I knew he worried.

I knew there would be some discomfort.

But that passed. People had sex all the time and enjoyed it.

For thousands of years couples had survived this first moment.

The pain wouldn't last. I had felt pain. This would be nothing like that. There was such a thing as pleasurable pain.

I knew this would be so.

"Please, I need to feel you," I pleaded and arched into him, his reaction too slow for my movement.

Pressure again and a gasp from both of us as we felt him slide inside just enough to feel everything, a tingling stretch that was not exactly painful, perhaps just a little uncomfortable for only a moment. Burning hot and smooth, he inched slowly forward, the tight, stretching feeling only eclipsed by the quivering ache that blossomed deep inside at feeling him inside of me. I let out a forceful breath and clutched at him, his progression halting.

"Kate?" he croaked, hot breath panting beside my ear. He was tense everywhere I could feel him.

Wound up. Coiled.

Cautious.

"I'm fine," I breathed, scared he would withdraw and I would feel the vast emptiness of where he had joined with me.

Nathan's hand gripped my thigh, holding me to him as he flexed forward until I felt his hip grind into me. Fully and completely, we were one.

"So much, I cannot," he groaned and buried his head deeper into my neck. He held himself deep inside of me, not moving but breathing as if to calm himself.

Every place we touched seemed to thrum from our heartbeats, pulsing in a harmonious rhythm. This was what it felt like to be complete with your lover. To feel that amazing moment when you connected, no space between one's bodies. His lips touched the racing pulse in my neck, his deep groan moving down through his body and into mine. With a tortuously slow movement I felt him pull away, making me whimper when I felt the air cool me along my stomach and breast when his skin separated from mine.

And then he pushed back toward me. My hands felt every tense contraction in his hips, the slight forward rotation accompanied with a tightening of muscles, and then a softness of flesh as he pulled up into my hands.

Slow, measured. Deep. Long.

Tattered breath in, low moan out.

Lips against my neck, capturing moist flesh.

Flex. Tense. Groan.

"Nathan."

My breath came in short bursts, because every time I breathed, I felt him tremble and his chest would connect with mine. The rough hairs of his chest would scrape across my nipples and I would feel that ache inside coil tighter with each breath.

And then he pushed through that tightening and entered me a little harder, a little deeper and paused.

Slow. So unbearably, deliciously slow.

We trembled against one another, quiet except for our labored breaths.

The hand on my hip hugged me tighter to him, and in response I wrapped my legs up and over his waist, opening myself further to him and holding him to me. His responsive flex into me was more persistent, making me gasp. He pulled away to look down at me worriedly.

"Did I hurt you?"

I could only shake my head and urge him on with the gripping of my calves along the small of his back. The resulting thrusts made both of us whimper.

Slow and deep was unbelievable.

But that short firm thrust made my stomach tense and quiver.

"Again," I whispered, my eyes closing when he pushed against me, again with a little more enthusiasm.

"Too good," he groaned and moved again, a little faster.

"More," I moaned and let my fingers dig into his flesh just a little, like spurs to a stallion, willing him to go faster. He obliged, and soon he was moving with more vigor, panting with each thrust.

He rose up onto his elbows, his hands on either side of my shoulders, watching in wonder as he disappeared inside of me. I forced my eyes to remain on his face. On Nathan's dry lips as they pouted while he breathed in heavily. On the quick lick and tug on his bottom lip when he groaned. On his eyes as they traveled up my body and then fixed on my own. His dark eyes traveled to my own mouth, and then he leaned in and kissed me, his movements only slowing long enough to find my lips before breaking off to watch us moving together once more.

He worked up a sweat, the flickering glow of the candles enhancing his rippling muscles, shown in sharp relief as he moved. I was enraptured by his body — forearms tight, stomach taut, his heaving ribs ridged as he curled and twisted above me.

Watching his intense concentration caused a deep trembling wave inside of me, like a quaking shiver that ran as far as my toes and then up into my scalp. It prickled and drenched every cell in me, like a wash of icy hot liquid running over me, making me shudder and whimper.

His eyes closed for a moment and his body slowed, as if he could feel the reaction his body created in me. And then he moved with more energy, and the quivering inside me grew, radiating from the center out.

Blossoming as I cried out.

A clenching that made him thrust into me harder with a rough series of grunts.

Losing control.

Faster. Whimpering.

Uncoiling.

Teetering.

Crashing.

Shaking.

"Kate," he whimpered, his eyes fluttering closed and his thrusts quickened, shallow and erratic.

My hands grasped at his shoulders, needing him against me, but the shaking made it hard to hold on. He leaned in, arms sliding up around my shoulders to draw me tight against his jolting and heavy frame. I felt his body tense, my name caught in his throat.

Every muscle tightened, as if he was frozen like a statue for a split second.

And then he shook, his voice deep and almost pained as he called out my name, long and loud against my hair. His body grew heavy against me, the delicious weight of him against my hips only serving to keep him deep inside me, even as I felt him relax every muscle. He struggled to hold himself up by his forearms, breathing hard along my neck and down to my shoulder, laying trembling kisses along my hot skin.

When he was finally able to lift his head up, his eyes were half closed as if drunk, and his mouth was turned up in a relieved grin.

I returned the smile and stretched to kiss his dry lips.

"I do not wish to leave this spot," he murmured, angling his hips slightly, and felt him slip from inside me.

I moaned at the loss.

It was a strange feeling — a foreign emptiness when he was not a part of me.

Having him there felt so natural. Now, as we held one another close, spent and quickly cooling in the chilly air, I wanted nothing but to feel him there again.

For all eternity.

He sighed and nuzzled his mouth against my shoulder, holding me tightly against the length of his body. His eyes followed his fingers as they wandered along my body, taking in every inch of my skin.

"Did I hurt you?" he whispered, tracing along my hip and pulling me closer to him.

I looked into his eyes and shook my head.

"No," I replied and let my lips trace over his jaw until they found his lips, his mouth opening up to my searching kiss.

"Did I please you?" he murmured against my lips and nibbled on my bottom lip lazily.

“Oh yes,” I breathed, giggling when a bright smile broke out over his face.

I sighed into his mouth while I threaded my fingers into his damp hair at the base of his neck. His lips moved to my ear, delivering slow open-mouthed kisses as he hummed and adjusted me against him, crushing my breasts into his solid chest.

"I love having you against me," he whispered and rolled us over until he was laying partially on me, his eyes closed while his lips trailed down along my collarbone.

My limbs felt weak, but my heart beat a little faster, even as he laid his head gently against my breast and sighed contentedly.

"I am happy to feel you here," he murmured against my breast. The roughness of his stubble felt good against my soft flesh.

"I wrote you another poem for tonight," he murmured, lifting his head just enough so that he could look up with heavy-lidded eyes.

"Are you going to recite it for me?" I asked, grinning.