He stared down at her. “Aye, wife. I do.”
Oh, how she loved hearing him say that. She could barely believe she was his wife, despite the ring on her finger and the matching one on his.
He cupped her face in both hands and kissed her again. This time it was not gentle or slow, but deep and rough, full of need. His lips were hard and insistent and they woke an answering need in her.
Shifting closer and pressing herself against the hard contours of his chest, she went on tiptoes and kissed him back. She wanted him. Oh heck, how she wanted him! They had spent last night apart as was tradition and although it had only been one night it had felt like a lifetime. Now she ached for him. Ached to feel his body on hers, his hands against her skin, his breath on her neck.
The kiss deepened, their lips coming together in a clashing frenzy, Deryn’s tongue slipping into her mouth and finding hers in a tangled dance. Heat boiled up from the space between her legs, and her thoughts scattered. Deryn’s hands swept down her shoulders to the small of her back where they rested, pressing her against him.
He walked her backwards until her calves bumped against the edge of the bed. Then suddenly they were ripping their clothes off, eager to get at the flesh that lay beneath. Now they were both naked, bodies pressed together as they kissed. Deryn shifted his head, his kisses moving down her neck and Maddy threw back her head with a hiss as ripples ratcheted across her skin. She ran her fingers down his back, grabbing his buttocks and then running her hands over the smooth contours of his back.
Deryn’s kisses traveled lower, across her shoulders, across the base of her throat and down to her breasts. He took one nipple in his mouth, pinched the other between his thumb and forefinger, and caressed her with both his tongue and his hands.
Maddy gasped in pleasure. In response, Deryn ran his fingers down her side, a gossamer-light touch that made her shiver in anticipation, then moved his hand to the spot between her legs. Maddy moaned, shifted her legs wider. The hard pad of his thumb found her nub and began to gently rub, whilst his first two fingers dipped into the dark heat between her legs.
This was too much. Too much. And yet, it was not enough. She wanted more. Always more. She put her hands on his shoulders, her fingers clutching him hard as he worked her, stoking the fire that burned in her abdomen until it blazed, sending fire racing along her nerves from the tip of her head right down to her toes.
But still it was not enough.
Sensing her need, as he always seemed to, Deryn straightened. His eyes were dark, filled with a deep, consuming desire that matched her own. The sight of it drove her already heightened senses up a notch.
“Mine,” he breathed. “Ye are mine. Nobody else’s. Ever.”
He pushed her gently down onto the bed. The covers were so luxurious that Maddy sank into them but she barely noticed. Her attention was fixed on her husband standing over her, on the play of candlelight across his abs and belly, of the rise and fall of his chest, of his auburn hair falling across his shoulders and the distinctive white streak that ran through it, on his rigid manhood standing out proud from his body.
She swallowed. His. Yes, she was his. Now and forever. Just as he was hers.
“Mine,” she said, echoing his words. “You’re mine and nobody else’s.”
“Always,” he said softly. “Always.”
He knelt on the end of the bed and gazed down at her, his gaze moving across her body as though trying to memorize every inch. Then he laid his hands to either side of her head and leaneddown. His hair brushed her face, his breath grazed her cheek, warm and intoxicating.
She felt him nudge her knees apart and she was only too happy to oblige, spreading herself wide for him. He dropped his weight on top of her, pushing her into the bed and the feel of his warm skin against hers was electric. He shifted, tilting his hips and the tip of his manhood trailed along the hot skin between her legs, making her gasp. She grasped his shoulders as she felt him begin to slide into her, slowly, oh so slowly, inch by beautiful inch.
And then he was there. Inside her. Filling her. Right where he was supposed to be. He held himself still for a moment, his body quivering slightly, and Maddy didn’t move, savoring this feeling, trying to imprint it on her mind so she would never forget.
Then Deryn began to move. He ground his hips, thrusting into her deep and slow. Maddy met every movement, her body shifting in perfect symmetry with his. Deryn’s lovemaking was passionate, powerful, and stronger than anything she’d ever experienced.
Gradually, his movements increased, his thrusts becoming deeper and faster as his own passion grew. Maddy screwed her eyes tight shut, trying to keep a hold of herself as their bodies came together in a frenzy that made the bed creak and the canopy above shake.
But she couldn’t hold on. She was drowning in sensations. In emotions. Inhim. Waves of ecstasy rippled outward from where they were joined, traveling along her nerves, her skin, raising the hairs along her arms and sending goosebumps prickling along her limbs.
She heard herself moaning, mewling. Heard Deryn growling deep in his throat, a rumble that reverberated through her chest. She was being lifted now, up, up, up on a wave of ecstasy. She threw her head back, arching under him as the wave reached itspeak. She teetered there for a second before she went crashing down the other side into an orgasm that ripped a hoarse cry of pleasure from her lungs.
Deryn gasped her name as he found release but Maddy barely heard him. She was drowning, drowning, drowning, unable to think or move for the sensations that flooded her body.
And yet slowly, finally, after a thousand years, it started to ebb. She could breathe again. She could think again, and she opened her eyes to find Deryn looking down at her. There was still that dark desire in his eyes but now it was tempered with something else—satisfaction.
“My wife,” he said. “My love. That was...incredible.”
She didn’t have the words to answer him so she just lifted her head and kissed the end of his nose. Her limbs felt heavy, lethargic with contentment. Deryn rolled onto his side on the bed and pulled her close, making lazy circles on her hip with one hand and propping his head on the other.
“These architect skills of yers,” he said after a moment. “Do they extend to that thing ye mentioned that traps sound?”
She looked at him quizzically. “You mean sound-proofing? Why?”
“Because unless we want the whole valley to hear what we are doing, I think it wise to look into it. I intend to make ye moan like that every night.”
