Page 42 of Love Me Forever
Brianna stared at him as if she were seeing him for the first time. She did not scream or turn her eyes away in fright. She did not see his horrendous wounds. Instead, she saw the depth of him. He possessed a loving heart and caring soul.
She placed her hand to his cheek. “I am not afraid.”
“Good, for I would never harm you.”
“I know that now and do not doubt it.”
“Then tell me where we take this, Brianna,” he said softly with a kiss to her palm, “for I want nothing more at this moment than to make love to you.”
He left it for her to decide; he always left her with a choice. She had made a mistake the last time she had thought she loved a man, but then her husband had hidden behind his charm. Royce hid nothing from her. He was who he was, a wounded warrior with a gentle heart.
Her choice was easy. “I would like the same.”
He went to kiss her, but she stopped him with a gentle finger to his lip. “You will disturb your wound.”
“I do not care.”
She faintly touched her lips to his. “I do.”
Her caring words heightened his passion. He had had many women over the years, and a few had expressed their feelings for him, but he never felt that any of them truly cared for him. The thought that Brianna did made him realize how very special she was to him and how very much he loved her.
He gently scooped her up into his arms. “In time you will come to know my lips on you. For now, I will show you what my hands can do.”
Gooseflesh ran over her warm skin. He had touched her so often when he tended her, now he would touch her differently. The thought excited her, and she was as eager as he to return to bed.
He removed her slippers and then eased her out of her night shift. He did not take long to shed his own garments and lay beside her on the bed. They had seen each other naked, they had slept side by side, and they had touched.
There was no unease between them, only an eager anticipation of what was to come.
She stroked his chest, loving the feel of his warm skin and the strength of his muscles. “I can kiss you,” she offered with a smile.
“Aye, you can, and I would like that, but first I wish to touch you as only a man in love can do.”
She heard him correctly, did she not? He spoke of love, loving her. She could not believe what she had heard. She had thought that he cared for her, but love? They had known each other for such a short time. Was it possible to fall in love so easily?
He tapped playfully at her nose and understood and voiced her concern. “Why question that I love you when you know you love me as well.”
“You are certain?”
“Aye, I am certain that we love each other.”
She laughed softly. “Not a doubt?”
He was serious. “Nay, not one.”
She grew serious. “Why? Why do you love me?”
With the tips of his fingers he lightly stroked her face. “Because you are you.”
She looked at him strangely, as if his words made no sense, but then his touch was doing maddening things to her senses. And she sighed with the pleasure of his fingers lightly traveling down along her neck and over her shoulders.
He attempted to answer her unasked question. “I love you for who you are, a gift that I will cherish forever.”
She felt the same of him, but she could not speak the words, for he touched her in a way she had never been touched before. His fingers drifted with a lingering slowness along her chest and over her breast. With two fingers he teased her nipple, and when it grew taut, he brought his mouth down to lovingly stroke it with his tongue. Her sighs grew to moans when his tongue began to flicker at the tight pink bud.
Ripple after ripple of pure passion spread over her entire body, and she moaned from the pleasure he gave her. He treated her other nipple to the same pleasure. He stopped after giving each nipple one last lingering lick, and she released a long sigh.
He rubbed his cheek next to hers. “I love the feel of you and—the taste of you.”
