Page 47 of Courting the Duchess
But no.
There was no mistaking the way Alaina’s glittering sapphire eyes gazed up at him, the caress of her hands on his shoulders, the tantalizing press of her erect, mouthwateringly pink nipples against his bare chest, the teasing graze of her soft abdomen against the throbbing ridge of his straining erection.
“Please, Sterling,” she breathed. He could do nothing but stare down at her in awe, both their souls laid as naked as their bodies.
His heart stuttered when he witnessed a flicker of insecurity and, not willing to allow her even that iota of it, he smoothly swept Alaina into his arms, holding her high against his chest, savoring the feel of her soft skin against him more than he had anything else in his life. He was certain she could feel the heavy pounding of his heart, but he cared not. If anything, he wanted this woman to know what she did to him—what she’d always done to him, and how he’d never stopped wanting her.
Despite their history, despite everything they’d put one another through these past several weeks, all of this had served only to draw them together more powerfully. For his part, Sterling was done fighting, done being held at arm’s length and experiencing the bitterness that came along with it. He wanted to begin his life with this woman in earnest.
While it was tempting to say he wanted to forget the past eight years and start over, this would be a disservice to what they’d both endured and who they’d both become. Sterling had cared deeply for Alaina when they’d married, but this woman in his arms was more mature, more headstrong, and more outspoken in ways that infuriated him and made him step back and appreciate everything about her. He could love her with everything he had, if only she’d let him.
And, as he laid her in the center of his mattress, her long golden locks fanning out like an angel’s halo and her blue eyes heavily lidded with desire, he found he wanted her even more than he had in even his wildest, most desperate, most feverish of dreams. His frame of reference was unfortunately rusty, but he instinctively knew she would surpass everything he’d dared hope. She’d already proven to be that and so, so much more.
He knelt beside her, drinking in every inch of her ivory skin, her long, lean legs and those utterly perfect pebbled nipples, more delectable than he could have imagined. His body trembled with nerves and desire. He needed a moment; he had to fight to regain some of his composure lest he do her a disservice. He took a shuddering breath and scrubbed his hand over his face, muttering her name as both a curse and a benediction. He wanted to spend hours learning everything about her body, practicing ways to drive her as unhinged as he felt inside.
“Sterling?” Alaina’s soft voice cut through his admiring perusal.
“I want to do this moment justice,” he finally said.
“You have already pleased me,” she replied with a shy smile. He could now say with confidence that her blushes swept down her face, her throat, and the perfect flesh of her breasts. It was glorious.Shewas glorious.
“I want to please you more. I want to commit all of this to memory to revisit again and again. I want it to be the last thing that crosses my mind when I take my final breath.”
“So melodramatic of you.” She smiled, but her humor faded when she read the sincerity in his eyes. Alaina reached up one small hand to him, welcoming him into her arms, and he was undone.
Carefully, he covered her body, fitting them together like two long-lost pieces of the same puzzle. The underside of his arousal glided against the smooth flesh of her stomach and thighs, and he barely bit back a groan. His body was long past finished with waiting and he’d imagined this moment with such vivid intensity for so many years that he could only pray he didn’t make a fool of himself. To spend before he even got inside her would be the worst sort of embarrassment.
Instead, he took his time, dropping languorous kisses to her lips, savoring her sweet flavor, inhaling the scent of her hair and skin, his chest swelling with pride when she tilted her hips for him. Accepted him. She was untutored and eager, both qualities that added another notch to Sterling’s long list of things about his wife that drove him mad with desire.
He reached between them, his fingers seeking and then finding the part of her he most ached to touch, to taste, to possess. She sighed against his lips, her knees falling open as he stroked her. She was so wet for him, so ready from her earlier climax. She felt like the hot, honeyed nectar of the gods. His mouth watered for her; his body trembled. How could she make him feel so weak and so powerful at the same time? He’d never known such a juxtaposition was possible, but there they were. She might have been the one lying prone, but Alaina had him at her mercy.
He wanted this to be good for her—no, better than good. He wanted this to somehow be the beginning of his making up for abandoning her. He wanted this to be transcendent, the true start of how he’d spend the rest of his life worshiping her and making Alaina realize just how much he cared. Though his body screamed for release, his muscles twitching with need and his cock throbbing with desire, weeping with it, he was determined to take his time.
Sterling slid down her body, slowly running his tongue along the virgin flesh on the underside of her breasts, memorizing the flavor of the sweet musk of her skin. His hand dipped lower to caress her folds, pressing the heel of his palm to her pearl. Already sensitized from her first climax at his hands, Alaina quickly responded to the steady rhythm and pressure he applied, making her shake with need. She gasped and undulated against his hand, moving in time with him, tangling her fingers in his hair and holding his mouth to her breast as he laved the puckered tip, kissing and nipping, licking and suckling, strumming her to impossible heights all over again. He loved the sounds she made; he loved how uninhibited she was with him—how she trusted him with her body and her pleasure. Sterling’s cock throbbed painfully with every one of her gasps. His jaw clenched as he clutched futilely at the last shred of his sanity, slipping through his hands like water. Her moans and gasps continued to work him higher until he was forced to grind his pelvis against the bed to try to relieve some of the maelstrom overtaking his every nerve.
Her body gave and gripped his fingers as he slid two, then three inside of her. She was impossibly tight, but her liquid arousal eased the way. God, if she felt this unbelievable on his fingers, he could only imagine how she would feel riding his cock…
Unable to take it any longer, Sterling took his member into his hand, running the head through her slick folds, groaning at how good it felt—how goodshefelt—and positioned himself at her tight entrance. He looked back up her body to her flushed, elegant face, reveling in her passion-hazed gaze—something primal roaring with triumph from the knowledge that he’d given that to her—and began to flex his hips. Slowly. Gradually. Holding his breath as she allowed his intrusion inch by excruciating inch, he paused only when he felt her body tense. His arms trembled with the restraint he employed and it took everything in him not to give into the tingling at the base of his spine begging for release.
“It’s alright,” he shakily reassured her, placing a kiss upon each of her tightly closed eyelids. His body screamed to thrust home and pound into her, finally claiming his wife as his, but he held it at bay.
“I can’t—” Alaina panted and flinched. She was too tight and he, too large. He’d hoped not to cause her pain, but it was now evident that it was inevitable.
“You can,” Sterling reassured her before he took a deep breath and lowered his chest to hers, bracing his forearms on either side of her head. He began peppering gentle kisses across her face even though his every nerve was wracked with luscious agony. He steadfastly held his hips still to allow her to accommodate his girth. He felt her relax in increments as she returned his kisses, wrapping her arms around his neck, twisting her fingers in his hair, and running her nails across his scalp.
She held him there, meeting his lips and teeth and tongue with her own. They took turns suckling and nibbling, trading erotic sighs and moans. Finally, Alaina’s thighs fell apart, but still, she was too tense. Sterling reached between them once more and caressed where their bodies were joined. He circled her clitoris, working her arousal toward its peak once more with careful strokes and plucks. She whimpered and moaned his name, her body teasing his cock, pulling him deeper, beckoning him home until, finally, Sterling could take it no more and he breached her maidenhead, fully seating him to the hilt. Alaina gasped in surprise, but it quickly melted back into passion as he began to move.
Sterling reveled in the possession, the way they fit together, the way they completed one another. She was so wet for him, slick with the nectar of her arousal, and it eased his way. Every ripple of her inner muscles was the most divine torture, holy and hellish all at once. He ground his hips against hers, trailing his hand along her thighs and encouraging her to wrap those long legs of hers around his hips.
This is what he’d waited for…this night with Alaina in his arms. She was astonishingly gorgeous, brilliant, and his in every way. Just like he was hers.
Nothing could measure up to Alaina.
No one could measure up to her.
The profound relief at finally having her in his bed, of having her welcome him with open arms, of claiming her from the inside out was nearly overwhelming. She overtook every one of his senses—made the rest of the world disappear.
“Yes,” he growled, burying his face in her floral-scented neck. A delighted curse slipped from his lips when she tilted her hips just so. What she lacked in experience, she made up for in pure instinct. “God, Alaina,” he groaned. She felt so good, so right, so safe.
