“You see how your body is made for me?” he said. “You’re made to take me inside you.”
“You mean, your...your big thing?”
“My cock,” he reminded her. “Yes.”
“Oh.” She let out her breath in a rush as he added another finger. “Well, Sir, I’m not sure it will work.”
He was quickly reaching the end of his tether. He had to move her toward acceptance, or risk traumatizing his new bride. “You’re stretching for me, don’t you see?” He moved his fingers in and out, through her wetness. “It doesn’t hurt, does it?”
“Not precisely. But it feels strange.” She squeezed around his fingers and he barely suppressed a hiss of frustration.
“Cassandra, sweeting, are you ready for me to come inside?” He moved, parting her legs wider, positioning himself over her.
“Oh.” He could feel her shivering. “Yes. All right.”
She closed her eyes, going tense. Damn. She’d had too much experience of men as brutes, as bullies, to trust him now.
“Stay with me, darling. I’m not going to hurt you.”
He took her hand and held it tight, bracing her as he pressed his cock against her entrance. She was hot and wet, but God, so small.
“Remember how we felt together before,” he said, dropping kisses along her shoulder, even as his cock ached to drive inside. “Remember how we’re meant to be together? That warm, excited feeling you had?”
“Yes.”
Despite her small, frightened voice, he could feel her reaching for those bodily memories. He traced her nipple, then kissed her trembling mouth, widening her thighs with his hips at the same time. He brushed his swollen cock between her pussy’s folds to prime her, and was rewarded with another of those whimpers she gave whenever he stroked her just so.
He gazed down at her, at her wild, unbraided hair spread over the pillow. His dark princess, the princess he hadn’t particularly wanted, now seemed to him the most exotic, arousing creature in the world. He felt a soul-deep need to breach her virginity and make her his. “Hold tight to my shoulders, Cassy, and I’ll make you my wife.”
When he finally thrust inside, it was not as violent or as difficult as he feared. He held her hips and aligned his body to hers, and pressed into her slowly, inch by inch, stopping now and again to muffle a gasp with a kiss. He hurt her a little, yes, he could feel it in the tautness of her shoulders, but she didn’t try to close herself to him, or push him away.
“Yes, darling,” he breathed. “I’m moving inside you. How wonderful it is.”
“How tight it is.” It was a mild protest, considering how impaled she must feel. He withdrew, thinking grateful thoughts for the generous women who’d schooled him in bedcraft. He would use that knowledge to make this encounter a fulfilling experience for her.
“Is that everything?” she asked. “It didn’t hurt too much.”
“It’s not everything.” She was as ignorant in these matters as he was experienced, which made this whole thing very difficult. “We’re just getting started, but I promise it gets better,” he told her. “And the hurting is over, so fear not.”
*** ***
Cassandra squeezed on her husband’s cock, amazed by his reaction, his sharp, intense gasp. “How does it feel to you?” she asked.
“Horrible and wonderful.” He shook his head, laughed softly, and kissed her chin. “No, not horrible. The wrong choice of word. It’s more like tension.”
“Yes, I feel that too.”
It wasn’t bad tension, but it wasn’t comfortable either. He was so large in general, she shouldn’t have been surprised that he would feel large inside her. The only surprising thing was that he’d managed to make it fit. When he moved in her, even a little, her whole body reacted, and yes, she felt a tension she’d never fathomed before. She wanted to move, but she didn’t know how. She wondered if he felt the same.
“Goodness,” she whispered as he withdrew from her, then came in again. “This is so...”
She had no word to describe what he was doing, because it was so new. He left and drove in again, starting a rhythm. What had he told her? Give your body to the rhythms when they come.
He surged and withdrew, slowly enough to make those sparks and jolts course through her body, but powerfully enough to take her breath. He pushed deep in her, but it didn’t hurt. In fact, it felt exciting. She tried to move as he did, arching her hips, meeting his thrusts with a little twist of her own.
“Yes, good girl,” he said. “That’s exactly it.”
His words of encouragement made her bolder, as did his continuing caresses. When he pinched her nipples, she liked it. When he sucked them between his teeth, her body shuddered of its own accord, propelled by some inner demon that desired unfettered passion.
No. There was no demon inside her. That was how the sisters used to talk, but she didn’t believe them anymore, because Gideon had proved all their lectures and warnings to be false. He wasn’t hurting her. In fact, with each thrust of his male part inside her, she felt closer to him. It was the loveliest feeling, tossing and straining in his arms. There was a tingling deep down in her center, in the place the sisters had warned her she must never touch. It grew stronger, throbbing, aching with a glorious intensity.
He slid his fingers between their bodies, to the sensitive spot at her center, and her thighs spread wider, opening for his touch. “Please, that feels very...oh...very wonderful.”
Wonderful wasn’t a good enough word, but it signaled that she didn’t want him to stop what he was doing, and he didn’t. Between his kisses and his deft touch, and the fullness of his cock inside her, she recognized that some finale of sorts was coming. She understood the meaning of consummation, because need and want consumed her as she struggled to reach that peak.
The bit of flesh he caressed grew hot with longing, and when he moved his hand, she ground her hips against him to feel that longing continue. Her nerves tingled madly as he drove into her. He went rougher now, harder and deeper, but she liked it. They were making rhythms together, as naturally as if they’d been doing it their entire lives.
She pulled him into her, marveling at how the hard muscles in his buttocks bunched beneath her palms. He was striving to make her feel good. She loved his kindness and his strong, arching body...
A climax arrived as she considered the power of his possession. All the pleasure he’d stirred up with his thrusting caresses exploded in a squeezing release. She clung to him, feeling herself transported to some other place. If this was what the sisters had termed “debauchery,” all her fear and anxiety had been for naught. Her body squeezed and wavered with bliss until the release had run its course.
Then Gideon groaned, and she looked to him warily, but his stiffening and shuddering turned out to be his own paroxysm of pleasure. She could tell it by the contented noises that escaped his gritted teeth, and the broad smile he gave before he collapsed beside her.
That smile sustained her as they lay together, saying nothing for a while. She was still naked—as was he—but she didn’t feel embarrassed. She felt close to him, and at peace.
“That was lovely,” she said. “A lovely consummation. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He panted, a little out of breath. “I tried very hard to make it lovely.”
She knew he had tried, which made her adore him. “It’s a shame we can only do it once.”
He hauled himself up on one elbow. “What do you mean?”
“Our marriage is consummated now. It was so delightful.” She spread her hands on a wistful note. “But now it’s done.”
He chuckled. “You’re an innocent little goose, by God. Our marriage is consummated, yes, and we’ll need to deliver the sheets downstairs presently.” He showed the faint smear of blood on the bedding, the evidence of their joining. “But we’re free to couple as many times as we like for the rest of our married days.”
“You mean we can repeat what we just did?”
“Yes.”
“Over and over?”
He drew her against his body, pressing a kiss to her lips. “If you like, we can do it again in a few minutes. Only please, by your courtesy, give me a moment to recover my stamina. Bedding a virgin is a tremendous undertaking.”
“You did very well,” she assured him. “You’re certain to plant plenty of babies in my stomach with such stamina. Though, hopefully, you won’t plant too many at the same time.”
He chuckled again. “We’ll have a talk about that in the morning, for I fear you need more clarity in these matters.” He gave her a deep, forceful kiss that made the spot between her thighs start tingling with renewed vigor. “But that’s just as well. I’m more than happy to teach you everything I know.”
Chapter Five
Gideon awakened in late morning, yawned and stretched, and rolled against the drowsy princess sprawled to his left. For a moment, he was surprised to find her there, because he generally woke up alone.
Not anymore. His wife had curled beside him after their last energetic coupling near dawn, and still remained, a sleepy bundle in his bed.
Three days ago, it had seemed an impossibility to be a husband, to be married, even though, as the oldest child of the Hastings royal family, he had little choice in his life’s direction. He’d been primed for a politically expedient marriage since birth, which was probably why he’d always been so disinterested in a family life.
But now his wife had a name, and a face. She had hair that looked even blacker and silkier in the day’s light. She had long, delicate lashes that twitched in her sleep, and lips that turned up slightly, even in repose. He knew now that when she opened her eyes, they would be deep black with dark green flecks, recalling earth and nature. His Carlisle princess, living a life so far away all this time, until he met her and married her in the space of three days.