Perry groaned loudly and pulled out. “You will have much more time to play later. If I do not bury myself inside you immediately, I will perish.”
With a coy smile, Charlotte lay her head on the pillows. “Of course, my naughty earl.” Though not thoroughly satisfied with her exploration, she would allow him to have his pleasure. There would be time to discover the ways in which she could taste him later.
He brought his mouth to hers once more, dropping soft kisses and then hungrier, more demanding ones. He hovered the tip of his cock along her heated, slippery slit.
“Feel how perfectly sweet you are for me. Such a good wife,” he spoke roughly. “So ready.”
“Perry, please,” she pleaded, arching her back to press herself against him. Her nails dug into his back, palms caressing his heated skin.
“With pleasure, my countess.” His breath hitched as he nudged her entrance.
He took his time, easing into her slowly, allowing her body to adjust to the fullness. Though she was no untouched maiden, it had been a long time since they had been intimate. Parting her legs wider to take him fully, she wrapped them around his waist as he ventured deeper.
Still trembling with the remnants of her orgasm, Charlotte squeezed around him, stretching to take him completely. Arching her hips to meet his, he pulled out and moved back inside her withgrowing urgency. He grew even harder inside her, her body humming in pleasure with each of his deep strokes.
“Lottie, you feel better than you ever did in my dreams. So tight,” he grunted, each thrust pushing her body to the brink.
Though it seemed impossible, a tension gathered in her core once more as he angled himself to hit an especially sensitive place inside her. His cock rubbed against her each time he slid out, then back in, stoking a fire within. Her breath came in soft gasps as her body heated beneath him. He lifted himself up to savor a few deep strokes, and Charlotte whimpered as his fingers slipped between them, teasing her little bundle of nerves until she could bear no more.
“Perry…” His name was a breathless plea on her lips. The tight coil inside her exploded at the myriad of sensations, and her body rose to meet his again and again, desperate for more.
“You’re so beautiful when you come for me,” he muttered against her neck as Perry picked up his pace and plundered each bit of pleasure from her depths. Her passage squeezed around him, milking and tugging on his cock as their sweat-dampened bodies pressed together. His guttural moan wrenched the air as he pounded into her, filling her body with his own hard-earned release.
Her lungs gulped air as though she were drowning. And perhaps she was drowning, for whatever was igniting between them was all-consuming. Breathtaking. Charlotte studied her husband, marveling at what they had just done. Together, they had attained heights of pleasure she had never expected or known. Their love no longer seemed like a memory; whatever was burning bright between them was fresh, powerful, and irresistible.
She brushed his hair from his forehead, the tenderness of the feelings he stoked within her almost painful in their depth. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips as his hungry gaze took her in. Something deep and irrevocable lingered in his eyes, and she knew the sentiment was echoed in her own.
When did one ever get to rewrite the story in their own life? A long time ago, she decided that their love story had ended. Somehow, it had been revived, and now the end was nowhere in sight. It was eternal.
Running the palm of her hand along the heated skin of his back, she marveled at having him in her arms again. Perry hummed with pleasure at the touch and lifted his head to drop a kiss on her lips.
Lifting himself up on one arm, he brought his thumb to stroke along her bottom lip, his eyes studying her intensely. She offered him a dazed smile and breathed deeply, as his hand traveled to caress her neck, then her breast.
Her body contracted against him still inside her, and Perry gave a soft grunt.
“I don’t ever want to leave your body,” he admitted, rolling his hips to press inside her once more. Charlotte gave a small gasp as his length hardened within her.
“Perry, it’s so soon.” She pressed a hand to his chest, damp with the evidence of their exertions. Regardless of her words, her slippery core heated at the sensation of him moving within her once more. Her body had no choice but to surrender, the longing for him insatiable.
“Lottie, it is only the beginning,” he said with a smirk as he rolled his hips. “We have much lost time to make up for.”
Chapter Forty-Three
Perry marveled at how one could be on top of the world and yet, at his lowest point, at the same time. He hummed a light tune as he strolled to meet his guests in the office, his mouth flattening at the seriousness of the upcoming topic of discussion.
His brother wasted little time in his recovery and arranged for all three of them to meet at Wildwood the afternoon following the ball. After the events of the night before, Perry very reluctantly pulled himself from his wife’s arms. Well, he had attempted about three times, but her plush lips and morning tumbled hair beckoned him back to bed every time.
The stark certainty that he was in love with his wife resounded within his chest. He knew the moment he awoke with her in his arms, his body sated, and his heart full. This wasn’t a whim that had suddenly seized him after a night of passion. The resignation to his fate wasn’t a submission to the demands of his honor. Everything about marrying his Lottie was right. It gave him the peace he never knew he had longed for. It was the continuation of a love story that had been left unfinished all those years ago. He was here to write the next chapters of their life, and it wouldn’t be thetragedy he had originally thought. Their story was so much more than that. It was destiny. She was the missing part of his whole. From the moment they met, their souls had spoken to each other. Words of undying love and devotion, words of scorching passion. It hurt to be away from her back then, and it would destroy him to ever lose her now. When he happened upon her at Fermoy, his entire world had righted itself. The pull toward her was irresistible.
He had always been in love with his Lottie.
She was the reason his first marriage was ill-fitting like an overly tight waistcoat. Nothing would ever feel right compared to the easy intimacy and friendship that existed between him and Lottie. His wife captivated him like no other. He was deliriously happy they had come together again, even if it took a bullet and a bit of persuasion for everything to fall into place.
Lottie had his heart in her clutches, and he was determined to see this life out with her. For longer than whoever was trying to kill him might like.
“Brother, you look a right mess,” Perry noted as he strolled into the library, where Michael stood serious and brooding, leaning an arm against the fireplace. “I am terribly sorry for what they have done to you. I wish it had been me.”
Beau availed himself of a dark blue velvet chair. His purple bruises were much more pronounced in the afternoon light. The crack in his lip had closed, but it was marked with some swelling.
