Page 128 of An Unexpected Love

He hungrily covered her mouth with his own and her head spun, her nails digging into his back. Abruptly she broke off the kiss, her shoulders heaving. “Jason, please… I want you.”

He didn’t need any further encouragement….

“Okay, so far?” he asked sometime later.

“Oh, yes,” she whispered, smiling her assurance. The pleasure was so keen it was almost beyond bearing.

Lightning flashed and thunder rolled, punctuating their lovemaking. “Jason…oh, Jase,” she cried out, her voice a trembling wail of pleasure as her senses caught fire, exploding into a mindless madness. Her body shuddered as she gave herself to the storm, to her husband, to the night.

Afterward, when he, too, had reached completion, they were both panting. Jason gathered her in his arms, and they were silent, words between them unnecessary.

Eventually their breathing steadied.

“I still have trouble believing how good this is,” Charlotte whispered. “Making love, I mean.”

Jason kissed the crown of her head. “It always has been.”

“Not in the beginning.”

“It was,” he said. “Because you let me try to prove how much I love you.”

Charlotte was quiet for a moment as she absorbed his words. Their first attempts at making love, on their honeymoon, had left her frustrated and in tears. She was convinced Jason had made a terrible mistake in marrying her. He wouldn’t allow her to criticize herself, though. His patience astonished her and gave her the courage to keep trying.

She’d struggled with her inadequacies, silently condemning herself, but on the seventh night of their stay, they’d broken through the restraints and made beautiful, intoxicating love. Charlotte had wanted everything to be magically different from then on, but that would have been unrealistic. Her fears were unpredictable and continued to be for weeks. But now, four months after their wedding, loving Jason was the most incredible experience of her life.

Tears slipped down Charlotte’s cheeks as she recalled the first weeks of their marriage—his gentleness, his unwillingness to give up, hislove.

“You’re crying,” he whispered, his lips against her hair.

“You’re not supposed to notice.”

“But I have. Are you going to tell me why?”

Emotion clogged her throat as she struggled to hold back the tears. “In a minute.”

Jason’s brow creased with a thoughtful frown. “Is it something that came from your meeting with Bill?”

Bill was her counselor; she saw him twice a week. She shook her head. “You promise you won’t laugh?”

“I’ll try.”

“I’m crying because I’m so happy.”

“Happy,” Jason repeated slowly. “But if you cry when you’re happy, what do you do when you’re sad?”

“Cry,” she returned with irrefutable logic. “Now aren’t you going to ask mewhyI’m so happy?”

“I don’t need to. It’s obvious.”

“It is?”

“Of course. You’re married to me.”

Charlotte laughed at his mock arrogance. “Carrie cried, too.”

“Carrie’sthathappy?”

“It’s the reason she’s spending the night with a friend. I wanted the evening alone with you.”

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