The Officer and the Bostoner (Historical Western Romance) (Fort Gibson Officers Series, Book 1) (22 page)

“I hated that no young lady would talk to me without blinking her lashes at me and agreeing I was right about everything I said, even when I was wrong. I hated attending dinners and being given what was considered the best spot: right next to the hostess’ oldest daughter, even if she was only fourteen or all the way into her thirties. I did what my family required of me and danced and smiled, but I hated it.” He swallowed in a way that made his Adam’s apple bob considerably. “When I was eighteen, I informed my parents that I was going to West Point to join the Army. I couldn’t do the Social life anymore. That was their life. They loved it and they thrived on it. I don’t despise them for it, nor do I hold their love for being right in the center of everything that happens in Charleston against them. But it wasn’t for me. I wanted to be just me. Just Wes Tucker, an average man. Not Wesley Ellis Tucker, heir to the T & E Co. fortune,” he finished in an arch tone.

“
Wes, I don’t care about your money,” she said a touch defensively.

“
I know.” His voice was thick and raw. “I didn’t always see it, but that’s only because I wasn’t ready to believe it. I saw you just the same as I saw the ladies in Charleston and that wasn’t fair of me.”

“
No, it wasn’t very fair of you,” she agreed. Not that she could blame him entirely. If he had enough money that he didn’t seem bothered one bit about paying Nicholas forty thousand dollars, then she could only imagine how much money his family had and why it had made him so skeptical.

“
Will you forgive me?”

His broken voice and clouded eyes stopped her heart. She sank to her knees, too, bringing them face to face. “Wes, there’s nothing to forgive. I might have been slightly less than complimented when you accused me of being obsessed with money; but now that I know your past, I understand your reason and I don’t hold it against you. I’d be the same way if I were you.”

“That doesn’t make it right,” he said raggedly.

“
Wes, stop. There is no need for you to be so hard on yourself.”

“
Yes, there is. It was because of my nasty accusations about you being frivolous and wasteful that you kept from telling me what you thought was the truth regarding Mr. Parker and his demands.”

“
No,” she corrected. “It was because I knew that you loved me and you’d work yourself to death to come up with that money. I couldn’t allow you to do that. I wanted you to be happy, and I didn’t think that would make either of us happy.”

“
But it was because of me being an ass in the first place and saying those things to you that you felt you couldn’t come to me with your problem,” he pointed out.

“
I see,” she said slowly. “Do you not think that even if you hadn’t mentioned that I was wasteful or thought I was overly concerned with money that I would have come to you with his demands?” She shook her head. “No. I wouldn’t have.”

“
Well, you should have,” he retorted.

She pressed her forehead to his. “Don’t you know that I’m just as protective of and in love with you, as you are with me?”

“Are you?” he murmured against her lips before kissing her.

“
Mmmhmm.” She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and held him closer to her, thankful he’d fought so hard for what he wanted to bring them the happiness they could embrace together now and forever. “As stubborn as you are, I wouldn’t want you any other way.”

“
Allison,” he breathed, pressing a trail of kisses from the corner of her mouth across her cheek then to behind her earlobe. “I want you in many ways.” He licked the skin just behind her earlobe as if to further emphasize his meaning and she shivered.

“
Wes, you can have me any way you’d like.”

“
Any way I’d like, you say?” he murmured as his lips further explored her neck and his fingers worked the buttons on the front of her shirt. He undid the top half of her shirt, then slipped his large hands inside to cover her breasts. “I think I’d like you on the bed just now.”

Allison sighed his name as her breasts swelled under his touch. “As you command, Captain.”

~Chapter Twenty-Six~

Only the knowledge that they’d soon resume their spot—and on her bare skin, no less—allowed him to relinquish his hold long enough to help her crawl onto their bed.

He sat down next to her and removed his boots, then stood to shed his coatee, shirt, and gunbelt before climbing onto the bed with her. “I love you,” he said with a kiss on her lips, while the fingers of his left hand continued where they’d left off, caressing her breasts.

“I love you, too,” she said against his lips.

He took her parted lips as an invitation and pushed his tongue into her mouth, using his hand to pull the bottom of her shirt free from her skirt. He loved the way she tasted and how soft the inside of her mouth was.

She brought her hands up to the back of his head and sank her fingers into his hair, holding him to her. He spread her shirt wide and reached for the thin fabric of her chemise, pulling it from where it was tucked into her skirt, then began to kiss down her cheek and to her jaw. He reminded himself to slow down or everything would be over too quickly and began a slow line of kisses along the edge of her jaw.

Wes slid his hand under the hem of her chemise and skimmed his palm over the soft, smooth skin of her stomach and her sides. Her muscles jerked at his touch. He reached the edge of her jaw with his lips, then parted them slightly to taste her behind her ear. He swallowed hard to tamp down his excitement at her gasp.

Then he did it again.

“
Wes,” she said on a sigh.

He moved his lips to the crook of her neck and his hand to her breast in response.

Beneath his palm, her breast swelled and the tip hardened. He loved that her body reacted this way to him. He continued to caress and shape her right breast and moved his lips to the plane of her chest, just above the edge of her chemise.

“
Wes, what can I do for you?” she asked in a voice he’d have never believed was hers.

“
Just enjoy it,” he murmured before lowering the top edge of her chemise and dropping kisses along the top of her breasts as he made his way lower.

“
But I want to—” She sucked in a sharp breath, ending her words, as soon as his lips brushed her nipple.

He pulled a little more on her chemise to allow him better access to what he craved so dearly. Allison’s fingers tightened their grip on his hair, her body arching up to him, offering him more. He wanted so badly to take more; but her confounded chemise was in the way, and he knew she didn’t have another so he couldn’t tear it.

He moved both of his hands under her, then urged her to sit up, refusing to relinquish her breast from his mouth until he absolutely had to. “Take this off.” He might have grimaced at the way his words sounded as if he were panting if he didn’t desire her so much.

She reached for the cuff of her shirt and began to pull at the sleeve.

He ground his teeth and moved to help her. She was taking way too long for his liking. He slipped his fingers in the shoulders of her shirt and slid it down. Once it was off, he locked eyes with her, then took hold of the bottom of her chemise, which was pooled around her waist, and slowly lifted it to reveal her beautiful body, complete with flawlessly creamy skin and a pair of pert, pink-tipped breasts.

It had only been two days since he’d seen her naked, but it felt like an eternity.

He swept her with his gaze, then felt his face heat at the curious look on her face.

“
I take it that you like what you see,” she mused.

“
You know that I do,” he said raggedly, then leaned forward, intent to show her just how much he enjoyed what he saw.

She fell back against the pillows and embraced him as he positioned himself over her and lowered his head toward her breasts.

Under him, she arched and gasped and jerked and sighed in response to his mouth on her. He closed his lips around the crest of her breast, leading her to arch and jerk and gasp and sigh almost all at the same time.

Just for good measure, he did the same on the other side.

He released her nipple and a noise of frustration came from her throat, which only excited him more. He ran his parted lips along the curve of the underside of her breast until she sighed his name.

Repositioning himself, he moved lower, dragging his lips down the soft plane of her abdomen and to his target: her navel, where he dipped his tongue inside and was rewarded when her entire body jerked in response. Lavishing attention on her lower abdomen and the soft dips above her hips, he worked the buckle on her belt to loosen her skirt.

When it had been loosened enough, he moved his weight off to the side a little and tugged her skirt down just enough to expose the points of her hips, an area he had yet to explore.

He’d have to remedy that immediately. And what a pleasure it would be.

Allison must have thought so, too, for she twisted and sighed under him as he used his tongue to explore every dip and point of her hips. “Wes,” she said on a ragged breath.

He murmured her name against her skin in response and lifted her thick skirt just high enough to slip his hands underneath, then skated them up her calves and to her thighs. Ever-so-gently, he eased her thighs apart and brought his right hand to the apex of her legs.

“No,” she said, her legs tensing.

He jerked his head up so he could see her. Had he heard her right over the roaring of blood in his ears? “No?”

“No,” she repeated breathlessly. She leaned up and wiped away the hair that was plastered against her damp face. “You did that last time.”

He stared at her, dumbfounded. “I thought you enjoyed it.”

“I did. But you—” She bit her lip and her already pink cheeks flushed crimson. “Last time you didn’t...” She cleared her throat and shot him a pointed look.

“
Climax,” he supplied for her.

Her crimson face flushed even darker. “Yes. That. I want to make you—” she swallowed audibly— “do that.”

Any other time, he might have grinned at her innocence. “Don’t worry about that just now. I have no plans for either of us to leave this room until that happens at least twice. Now, lie back and let me touch you.”

She didn’t look convinced.

What better way to convince her than with action, since his words weren’t changing her mind. He brushed his fingertip over her silky folds and watched with interest as, at first, a look of surprise, then pleasure, came over her face when he did it again with a touch more pressure.

“
Lie back.”

She bit her lip and looked at him as if she were undecided.

He touched her again, this time sliding his finger inside her. “You’ll get your chance to drive me mad with desire soon enough; right now it’s my turn, now lie back.” He reached his free hand up to help ease her back against the pillows.

“
Wes,” she said in a tone that sounded as if she were trying to protest.

He would have none of that and brought another finger to join the first. “Do you not know that this gives me just as much pleasure as it does you?” He sped his pace and covered her breast with his hand. “It does.” He kissed the dip of her hip. “I like the way it makes your skin heat.” He gave her breast a firm squeeze. “And the way it makes your breasts swell and your nipples harden—” as if she might need any clarification on that point, he closed his fingers around her erect nipple and applied a hint of pressure, eliciting the most rewarding gasp he’d ever heard— “and that, too.” He opened his hand to palm more of her breast while he increased the pace of his thrusts again. “Then, of course, I like it when you respond like this—” he moved higher and drew her nipple into his mouth, laving it with his tongue until she was writhing underneath him and her hands were back in his hair, holding him there.

Sensing how close she was, he pushed just a little harder and gently added more pressure with his lips.

Then suddenly, she tensed and her inner muscles were contracting around him. He pulled his head back to watch her flushed face as she reveled in the splendor of her completion.

***

“
That’s my absolute favorite part,” Wes commented a few moments later, just as she was coming back to reality.

Her face flushed slightly. “Watching me?”

“That’s part of it.” He removed his hand from between her legs and moved up the bed until he was even with her. “I like the way your breathing grows rapid and shallow and your face goes rigid right before it transforms; and I certainly like the way it feels when your body tightens around mine. But most of all, I love that it’s me who creates this reaction in you.”

“
I am, too, Wes.” She rolled on her side and trailed her fingertips up and down his abdomen with a feather-light touch. “And I’m sure I’ll enjoy getting the same reaction from you.”

He groaned and his muscles leapt under her touch. “You don’t plan to torture me, do you?”

She tipped one shoulder up in a careless shrug. “Is that what you think making love is: torture?” She pushed him onto his back, then moved her fingers to the top of his trousers where she traced the top edge of the fabric along his warm skin, then undid the top button, but not the rest. She lowered her hand to boldly cup his erection. She stroked it with her thumb, then released her hold on him and walked her fingers back up to his chest.

“
When you’re being deliberately slow or teasing, it qualifies as torture,” he said through clenched teeth.

“
Is that what I’m being, Wes? A tease?”

Wes reached between them and cupped her bare breast. “You know it is.”

“Does it qualify as teasing when you’re not aware that you’re doing it?”

He stared at her for a moment, then nodded once as if he’d understood her question perfectly. “I have no doubt you know you’re doing it, because you’re doing it to perfection.”

She blushed at his compliment and relaxed at his assurance that she was exciting him as much as he’d excited her. Peeking up at him from under her eyelashes, she slipped her hand beneath his waistband and closed her fingers around his thick erection.

His body jerked slightly and his hand’s hold on her breast tightened a fraction. He brushed his thumb over her nipple and she mirrored the action, by moving her thumb over the velvety tip of his erection and then sliding her hand down to the base, with deliberate slowness, then back up to the top again.

His eyes locked with hers and she repeated the action, noting how he grew more rigid as she did, if such a thing were possible.

“
Allison,” he rasped, rolling her nipple between his fingers.

The intent look in her eyes must have rivaled his, because before she knew what was happening, Wes had her flipped over onto her back and had himself positioned on top of her. Her hand was still wrapped around his erection and she gave him another squeeze. His grunt made her feminine pride soar and she did it again, tighter this time.

His hand flew to hers and he encircled her wrist. “That’s enough.” The look in his eyes said more than his words and she pulled her hand away.

He’d had several opportunities to embarrass her and hadn’t; for as curious and slightly proud of herself as she was for bringing him so close, she couldn’t do that to him.

She brought her hands up to his shoulders and traced his muscles, and he slid her skirt down, then peeled off her stockings and slowly kissed and rubbed his way back up her body to rest his hair-roughed thighs between hers. She didn’t know just when he’d removed his trousers, nor did she care at that moment. She loved the way his warm lips felt against her skin. So soft and gentle, yet they had the power to send sparks of lightning jolting through her with each one.

He pressed openmouthed kisses along her ribs and under her breasts, as he’d done earlier; and just as before, tension and fire pooled in her abdomen. She’d never expected him to do such a thing, nor that she’d enjoy it so.

“Wes,” she sighed.

He nuzzled the crook of her neck and said her name against her skin. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said as evenly as she could, considering how heavy her breathing had become in the last moment or two.

He murmured something else before gently nipping her neck and soothing it. Then suddenly, something thick was
there
. That must have been what he’d said. She tried to concentrate on the way he was kissing her, not on the discomfort down below, but instinctively gripped his shoulders tighter as he pressed forward.

She closed her eyes and bit the inside of her cheek, saying a silent prayer that he didn’t have much farther to go.

“Let me know when you’re ready,” he whispered a moment later.

She blinked at him and the strained expression on his face. She could never tire of seeing the intense look in his eyes when he looked at her thus. The discomfort and stinging she’d felt a moment ago began to fade. She relaxed her grip on his shoulders and pushed a hank of his thick, brown hair from his forehead. “I’m ready to be yours.”