Page 60 of A Soft Kiss in Summer
“You know, I only went looking for that preacher this morning because you didn’t want to be married to me.”She met his gaze and continued.“It had nothing to do with me not wanting to be married to you.”
Something in his eyes shifted at her comment and he stared at her a long moment before turning in his chair enough to see her.“I’m aware of that.I had a talk with your grandfather a few days ago.”
His smile could only mean one thing and she could only imagine what that meddling old man had said to him.
His smile vanished as he blew out a breath.“My not wanting a wife has nothing to do with you, Violet.My occupation can be dangerous.It can be dangerous for you.”
“But you could have been killed today, and it had nothing to do with you being a lawman.Bad things happen every day, Josiah.Life is too short to not live it to your fullest.You’ll spend your entire life alone waiting for something that may never be and miss out on what life has to offer.
“Do you really want to spend the next forty years sitting in the jail house as the rest of us go on living while you wait for some tragedy to take place that never does?
“I could step on a rusty nail going down the hotel stairs and die of infection by week's end and that would have nothing to do with you.Life is too short to not enjoy it while we can.”
He stared at her for a long time, his eyes moving back and forth as he looked at her own.She could tell the instant he realized what she was saying was true.
The muscles in his face seemed to relax, that hard glint she always saw in his eyes vanishing and his shoulders dropped, his body less tense.
He blew out a breath and nodded his head.“You’re right.Anything could happen to you at any given time.”
She swallowed the knot forming in her throat and said, “Then let me love you,” the words barely more than a whisper.“And maybe someday you could love me back.”
It seemed like an eternity before he moved.The scraping of the chair legs were loud in the stillness of the room when he stood.He pushed the chair away, and she didn’t move an inch as he stepped in front of her.
Her heart started pounding when he lifted his hand and brushed the back of one finger over her cheek.“You’re an easy woman to love, Violet.Only a fool would throw that away.”
Her breath caught.Did he mean that?She got the answer the next moment when he lowered his head and kissed her.
Unlike the kiss in the tub, this one felt more like the first kiss he’d given her, underneath the willow trees by the creek they were married beside of.His exploration was soft, the warm sweep of his tongue a gentle probing against her lips.
When she opened her mouth, he deepened the kiss and her limbs relaxed so much, she felt boneless.The only thing holding her up was the table behind her.
His kiss was long and soft and pulled sounds from deep in her throat.She wasn’t aware they’d even moved until her back hit the mattress on the bed.
Josiah fumbled with her skirts, lifting them out of the way to crawl between her legs, but he didn’t do much more than that for a long while.He just kept kissing her, like he’d been starved for nothing more, but those soft kisses turned heated, the hunger in them evident in the sounds they were both making and the way he was grinding himself between her legs, which inflamed her entire body, her own hips moving in slow circles for the friction alone.
He broke the kiss long enough to fumble with the buttons on her blouse and nearly popped them all off in his haste to unfasten them.
She moved his hands aside, unhooking the buttons herself, and his hand slid between her splayed thighs.
Neither of them fully undressed, just exposed what they needed to.He got her bloomers pulled down enough to expose her heated flesh and his fingers playing with her moist folds were almost torture as he slowly worked in one finger, then another, and another.
When he had her squirming on the bed, he stared at her, their gazes locked as he stilled.“Hold on to me, Violet.This is going to hurt.”
She braced herself, nodding when she was ready, and couldn’t help the tiny squeal when he pushed inside.
Josiah gave her a moment to get used to the intrusion, opting for more kisses instead, his hand manipulating her breast and nipple until the heat between them had her moving her hips in need of—something.
He obliged by pulling out of her, then sinking back in.The sensation was part pain, part bliss.
Neither said anything after that.Their kisses grew more heated and Josiah’s mouth was eagerly moving across her skin, sucking her nipples into his mouth and when she felt the first frantic clenching in her womb, she bit back a scream as the world seemed to explode around her.
It took Josiah a few more minutes to follow her into bliss, his body clenching tight against her and when it was over, he lay still for long moments before rolling to lie beside her.
They stared at one another, their breaths panted out and by the time she was able to breathe normally, she realized Josiah had done more than just bedded her.
He’d consummated their marriage.He was officially her husband in every sense of the word.
All her dreams had finally come true.
