Callie’s hand fisted in his hair and she pulled him in for another intense kiss that went on and on.
Suddenly, Ellis grabbed her by the wrist and stepped back, his breath ragged. “You said I am the most patient man in the world, but I am afraid patience and restraint are two different things. I want you too much to stop myself if we go any further, because I want all of you.”
“I love you, husband,” she repeated. Bracketing his face in her hands, she deepened the kiss letting all she wanted to show him pour forth. “Make me your wife.”
Ellis tossed his gloves aside and Callie shivered. The anticipation of touching her sent a shiver down his spine, but she had to make the first move. “I want you to touch me. No fear and no regrets.”
She bit her lip as her wide-eyed gaze settled on the buttons of his waistcoat. Running her hand up his chest, she straightened his arms and his coat slid off to the ground. She tugged the starched linen of his cravat loose and dropped it to lie on top of the coat.
Callie freed his shirt from his trousers and stretched on tiptoes to help him pull it over his head. He could feel the hesitation in her touch, which made it even sweeter. The trace of her nails up his arms made him groan. If she only knew how rock hard the whispered contact of her fingertips made him; he throbbed against his trousers.
“Please,” the plea in his own voice surprised him. “Can I touch you?” With skilled hands, he slipped the dress off her body. He would die if he waited another second and the gap in her camisole was not wide enough. His mouth found her hardened nipple and fastened on her.
Callie gasped.
He stopped.
“No,” she protested. “Don’t stop. It feels… good.” She seemed surprised.
That was all the encouragement he needed. He scooped her into his arms, strode the few steps and gently placed her on the blanket on the ground. She watched him as he undid the buttons on his trousers and pushed them free. She looked away for only a second, but then fixed him with a heated gaze that made his blood boil. His body burned with need.
She sat on her haunches and traced the ragged scar up the side of his leg to his hip with her fingertip.
He didn’t want pity. “I am what I am. Wounded. I cannot change that.” Would she still desire him? Accept him? “Not the boy I once was.”
Callie rose to stand. “I wouldn’t want that boy. I waited for you as a man. A man who I feel loves me completely, with all of his heart.”
“Callie…” he whispered her name, emotions choking him.
“My husband.” First she pressed her palm over his heart, then dropped it to wrap her small hand around the heat of his member. He nearly lost himself. Gone were his plans for control. In its place was a man who needed a woman, who needed her.
Spencer had been right, this was what he had lived for.
Somehow, between kisses, they ended up back on the blanket, the rest of her clothes discarded.
Half-drunk with need he parted her damp curls and touched her. He caught her low moan in his mouth, as he shifted to lie between her legs and replaced his finger with his shaft. Ellis eased in an inch at a time until he hit her barrier. He gritted his back teeth against the urge to thrust in all at once and forced himself to go slowly.
But she was hot, wet and tight. Nothing in his memory had ever felt better.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
A smile touched her lips and she looked up at him with love in her eyes. “You never will.”
When he plunged forward, she moaned. Ellis never took a woman’s maidenhood and prayed that was the worst of it. He stilled for a second and touched her cheek, a little overwhelmed. “You are so beautiful.”
Callie raised her hips and took him deep, rising in time to his thrusts. The blood roared in his ears until he couldn’t think of anything but the feel of her around him.
He teetered on the edge but held back. Ellis set the slow pace until she clenched around him and cried his name. Finally, he allowed himself to experience the power of complete pleasure and poured into her.
For the next few minutes, Ellis could do nothing but lie on top of her. His heart threatened to beat out the front of his chest. Finally, he rolled to the side and pulled her close. He tucked a blonde strand of damp hair behind her ear.
“I never imagined making love could be so… delightful,” she said, her voice shaky.
He kissed the top of her head. “Because that is what it is, making love. It would not have mattered to me if you were chaste. But no one’s first experience should be one born of violence.” He trailed a finger across her bare breast, and then kissed her and touched her, finding her earlobes were extremely sensitive. He’d remember she liked that.