She sat back on the floor with a thunk. “Oh my,” she whispered. “My goodness, my.”
To his consternation, Jace found himself blushing. “I, ah, ah…anything good to eat in there?”
Nellie kept looking at him and swallowing. She had no idea an unclothed man could be so utterly, splendidly beautiful.
“Champagne,” he said, bending to pick up the bottle. He quickly popped the cork, then, sitting, he filled two glasses and reached across the basket to hand Nellie one. “What shall we drink to?” he asked.
“To love,” she whispered, her eyes roaming over his body.
“Oh, God, Nellie,” he said with a groan, then he quickly pushed the basket out of the way and was on her. “I can’t wait for our wedding night. I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you.” He was kissing her neck. “I’ve behaved so well. I’ve kept my hands off you, but I can’t bear this torture any longer. Please,” he whispered.
“Teach me,” she whispered as she kissed his ear. “Teach me everything.”
He didn’t answer as he kissed her neck, his hand moving the cloth off her shoulder. When he had the cloth half off her body she could feel his skin against hers, his hairy roughness against her soft smoothness. His body was so lean and hard, so full of planes and angles. She ran her hand down the side of him. His lap robe was gone, and she touched the leanness of his buttock.
“Nellie,” he whispered before his mouth descended to her breast.
There were no words or thoughts to express how his mouth felt. That this man who had taught her so much, who had given her the greatest gift of all, love, should give her this wonderful, heavenly, physical joy was almost more than she could bear.
Instinctively she arched her body up against his as his tongue made circles on her breast. His hand ran down her body, caressing her, touching her skin. He moved his hand inside her thighs, stroking, kneading, making her feel things she never dreamed existed.
He rolled to the other side of her, his body slightly off of hers. Nellie looked at him in the firelight, his eyes half closed with desire. His lips were full and slightly parted. She touched his lips, running her fingertips over them lightly, then ran her fingers down his neck, across his chest, down his hips and to his thighs as far as she could reach.
She closed her eyes and put her arms around him, and he moved fully on top of her. Nellie wasn’t sure what she was doing, but instinct, desire, and love combined to make her raise her hips to him.
When he first entered her she gasped at the pain, but when he started to withdraw she clasped him to her. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered.
“Never.”
He went slowly with her, pausing now and then, waiting while she adjusted to this new emotion. “Nellie, I…” he said, and then he was blinded with passion. Nellie’s eyes opened. He hurt her, true, but this building force in him, this overpowering, all-consuming passion she felt in him touched some inner, deep woman’s core of her, and she lifted her hips higher to receive him.
With his final thrust she wrapped her legs about him and pulled him deeper and closer to her. She wanted all of him that she could get.
Jace lay on her for a moment, his body lightly covered with sweat. “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” she said, only half lying.
“Nellie, I meant to wait. I meant to wait for a bed and a beautiful hotel suite and—”
She put her fingertips to his lips. “I am more than happy. If I never have any more than this, it will be enough. I will always remember this night. When I am home alone I—”
“Alone?” He lifted off of her. “Home? What is this, blackmail? You mean you’re still choosing them over me?”
&n
bsp; “I thought you were going back to Maine. Just this morning you were packing.”
It took a moment but he relaxed against her, moving to the side and pulling her close in his embrace. “I figure I would have made it to Chicago before I turned around and came back. I’m not sure I could make it without you. My entire family—aunts, uncles, cousins, all of them—laughed at me for being so lovesick while I was home. All I wanted was to get back to you.”
She snuggled her cheek against the bare skin of his chest. “I ate. I was so miserable while you were gone that I ate pounds of food. Whole cakes. Pies. One day I ate an entire rump roast.”
He ran his hand down her body, over her flat stomach, down her slim thighs, and frowned. “What happened to you? Half of you is gone.”
“Not quite half. I don’t know, I just kept getting thinner by the day. Don’t you like my new size?”
“I guess I’ll get used to it, but if you wanted to gain some weight I wouldn’t mind.”
She smiled at him. “Every other man thought I was fat before. They—”