“Because I am lonely,” she finished, and he stayed where he was, sitting upright next to her.
“I am happy to provide you company,” he said. “Always. Is there anything of which you would like to speak?”
She shook her head, but then realized that he couldn’t see her in the dim light, with only the slightest bit of embers from the fire remaining with the room.
“I actually have no wish to discuss anything,” she said. “It is rather… I just want to be close. To you.”
He bent down closer toward her. “Is it me you want, or are you lonely for any companionship?”
“Only yours,” she whispered, and she could sense him hovering above her — so close, and yet the inch between them could have been a mile. Should she take this next step, knowing she could lose her heart in the process?
Her body decided for her, as she leaned up, meeting his lips, and the same shock that had coursed through her the previous times they had done so began once again. This kiss, however, was urgent, wanting, needing, a promise of more to come.
He bent over top of her, his elbows coming to rest on the pillow around her head, while she lifted her arms to encircle his neck, pulling him down even closer. She opened her mouth to him, shock coursing down to her very core when his tongue touched hers, expertly stroking, tasting, kneading. Oh, but this felt so right, their arms about each other, learning more of one another and all they held within.
“David,” she breathed when he broke the connection, though only to place his lips on one of her temples, then the other, and finally on the tip of her nose before he began working his way down. She tilted her head to the side to allow him better access to her neck, and when he reached the high neckline of her nightrail, she impatiently tried to move the material out of the way to allow him better access. Frustrated when she couldn’t do so, she removed her arms from his neck to reach down to pull the garment up over her head.
“Oh, Sarah,” he said with a groan as she threw it on the floor. “You shouldn’t have done that. For I’m not sure… I don’t know if I can ever stop once we go any further.”
“I don’t want you to,” she responded as she placed her arms back around her neck, the truth coming out before she even had time to think of it, to process it. Sarah always reacted according to what she felt, not what she thought, and she knew now with all certainty that nothing would ever feel as imperative as being with David Redmond did at this moment.
“I want to know what it’s like to feel you — all of you — to know you, inside and out,” she said, and he brought his forehead down to hers, their noses against one another as he tensed.
“You do know what you are asking?” he said, his voice husky. “Once we do this… there is no going back.”
“Then let’s go forward,” she said simply, not entirely knowing what she was saying, or of what was to come in their future, but needing this nevertheless.
Sarah could sense when he let go of whatever doubts were holding him back, and when he returned to her it was with an intense desire that nearly overwhelmed her with its passion. He kissed her with the urgency of a man starving for more, his raw, unbridled desire flowing from him into her, igniting her own passion for more.
“Please, David,” she said, not wanting to beg, but needing him to understand that she wanted him, more than she had ever wanted anything before in her life. What was to come afterward, she had no idea. But one thing Sarah knew was that never before had anyone treated her with such care, provided her such protection, nor given up so much of himself for her.
As he kissed her now, he filled his hands with her breasts, and she nearly arched up off the bed when he brushed his thumbs over her nipples. She knew everything about anatomy, of course. But no one had ever taught nor prepared her for how it might feel when certain aspects of her were touched in the way David touched her now. And then, through the fabric of her thin chemise, he brought his mouth down to her, and she cried out aloud at the sensations that rushed through her.
Suddenly she needed to feel his skin upon hers, to know what it would feel like for that light dusting of hair to brush up against her chest. She brought her hands to the buttons of his shirt, urgently pushing them through the loops. He made no move to help her but allowed her hands to go to work, until she was lifting the hem of his shirt, and he finally assisted her by drawing it up overhead, her chemise soon following suit.
When he came back down to her, Sarah could sense that he was holding back, but she wanted more, needed to feel his weight upon her.
“You won’t hurt me,” she whispered, knowing within her heart that the words were true. And then she could tell when he stopped thinking but gave into the emotions as well, for their kisses and their touches became all the more intense. His fingers ran down her body, over her ribcage, encircling her waist, before cupping her hip and then moving even lower still. She opened for him without even thinking, and when he found the place where she particularly longed for him, she groaned aloud. All of the sensations he was causing within her, from the warmth upon her breast to the smooth strokes of his fingertips, caused a release unlike anything she could ever describe to course through her, tremors rolling from their beginning point throughout her entire body.
And still, she needed more.
He was lying beside her now, still holding himself up and away from her. She reached out to find he still wore his breeches, though there was certainly a strain at the fall. She loosened the fastenings, and through ragged breathing, he managed, “Are you sure, love?”
“Yes,” she moaned, never surer of anything in her entire life. He helped her with the breeches, springing free as he rid himself of them. He hesitated for only a moment before entering her, and together they gasped at the perfection of coming together.
The pain she had been expecting lasted for but a moment, and soon she was urging him on to move within her. Sarah knew everything about the act, but certainly not how exquisite the sensations with a man could be — or perhaps it was justthisman. Of that, she wasn’t entirely sure.
“I cannot hold back much longer,” he said, his breath heavy.
All she could say was, “Then don’t,” and he freed himself from her before he finished. Sarah hadn’t even thought of such a thing, so hazy her mind had been amidst their passion.
Spent, they lay beside one another as they caught their breath. David reached an arm out around her, pulling her in close. As Sarah lay her head upon his bare chest, she wanted to stay awake, to revel in this moment and all that had just happened, but before another thought could flow through her mind, her eyes closed and she fell fast asleep.
CHAPTER15
David had been with many women before. Too many, he could admit even to himself. But it had always been for his own satisfaction. Not that he didn’t take their own into consideration. He had just never, in his life, woken up with a woman in the same bed. In his arms. And worried about how she had felt about their time together.
He bent his head to Sarah’s hair, closing his eyes within it, smelling the lemony freshness of her, feeling the tickle of its softness upon his face. The thing about it was, there was no other woman like her. Certainly not within England, which was why, he supposed, he had had to wait for one from America to find him.