Read Chapter 12 before you continue…
“Elaina?”
He did not sound gratified as she had hoped. He did not even sound happy. Mostly confused. Elaina mentally rolled her eyes. She had been all but dancing naked before his eyes since he had arrived, he was staying over, and everyone was asleep. What did he think she was going to do with this opportunity – be a good girl?
“Surprise?” she ventured for airy but anxiety laced her voice nevertheless.
“I wasn’t expecting you,” he admitted the obvious sheepishly.
Sheepishly? She was standing in only one tiny piece of underwear beneath her oldest, flimsiest, most formfitting shirt and he was feeling sheepish? Part of her was losing her nerves – the part that was not busy feeling embarrassed and more than slightly resentful that he was not overcome with passion.
“I just thought,” she began and then stopped. She obviously thought too much. She was not the kind to inflame the senses of men; she was good old Elaina, one of the boys. Those stolen kisses in the stables, in the middle of the lake, etc. – those must have been about the moments. What red blooded American male could resist a soaked bedraggled cowgirl in the middle of the lake?
Elaina fumbled behind her back reaching for the doorknob, ready to make a hasty retreat, her proverbial tail between her legs since obviously nothing else was getting between them tonight. “Never mind what I thought. You go back to sleep.”
Matthew was on her before she managed to turn the knob, his palm firmly keeping the door pressed shut. “Where do you think you’re going?”
She felt him. All of him. Squeezing out whatever air that remained in the space between their bodies. Suddenly, she needed the air, the space. As his hands slid to her waist to hold her in place and his hips pushed against hers, she had a flitting moment for a startled intake of breath before his mouth crashed down on her. He nibbled on her lips, angled his mouth for better access, and chased her tongue with his, until she could not tell apart whether she was panting for breath or had stopped breathing altogether.
She had a vague impression of having his hands grab her behind her thighs, being lifted up against him and having her legs wrapped about his hips. Next thing she knew, she was lying on her back, her hips were thrusting up to meet his, only she could not access him like she wanted to. She laughed into his mouth and he stopped kissing her, raising his head to stare at her with a bemused expression, a second time in less than five minutes.
“Not the reaction I hope for from a girl when I’m having one of the best make-out sessions of my life,” said he, in a way of objection.
Elaina giggled again. “You’re wearing underwear,” she said as though it explained it all, running her hands over his boxers-clad bottom.
Matthew conceded with a nod. “Well, I wish I could say I’m usually quicker at dispensing my attires in such hours of need, but you haven’t even been here for five minutes. I prefer to give these situations more grace period.”
Elaina shook her head. “It’s not that. I had thought you were naked under the sheets.”
Matthew’s eyes darkened with desire. “A condition that can be quickly arranged.” He made to move out of her arms to do as he promised but she stopped him.
“Then I thought you didn’t want me here. That maybe I was foolish to come over.”
“How could you think that,” replied he, his brows furrowed with disapproval. “Of course I want you here.”
“But you obviously weren’t expecting me.”
“I was expecting Hayden.”
“Hayden?” Whatever she would have expected him to reply, this was not it.
“Yeah,” Matthew smiled ruefully. “I fully expected him to put up a watch post outside my door.”
Elaina looked at the closed door. “Did we lock it?” Now that he mentioned it, she would not be entirely surprised if her eldest brother did come bursting in.
In one fluid motion, Matthew was off the bed and beside the door, soundly clicking the lock into place. He was back before she could properly register the air cooling her skin where he was momentarily absent. “Where were we? Oh, yes. I was about to tell you how glad I am you’re here.”
“You were?”
“Yes. You’re not Hayden.” Matthew kissed her earlobe, gently suckling the velvety flesh.
“How gratifying to be considered more desirable than my brother,” she managed to choke through. His hands were moving over her and the nerves that arranged her thoughts into coherent sentences and supplied them to her mouth seemed to have stopped functioning effectively.
“Oh, entirely more desirable,” he agreed. His mouth had traveled to her collarbone, where he nuzzled kisses, igniting whispers of fire on her skin with his whiskered chin. She arched her neck to give him more access and he moaned his approval.
“I’m glad you think so,” she whispered before tangling her finger in his hair and guiding his mouth for a deep searing kiss. Even without enough experiences to compare with, she knew he was a tremendously good kisser and she was hungry for all his executions.
She was vaguely aware of his hands moving down the front of her shirt, dexterously unclasping each button as it went. As he parted the fabric, he broke their kiss to raise his head and take his first look at her. She had not worn any bra so the night air chilled her nipples to taut tips. Or maybe it was the way his eyes ravaged her bare flesh. More even than the idea that she lay literally naked before his eyes, the reaction of her nipples made her feel exposed. She raised her arms to cross them over her body until her each hand rested on the opposite shoulder.
He groaned his protest, taking her hands and gently moved them away and continued to feast his eyes upon her, a single shaft of blue moonlight assisting his prospect. “You’re so beautiful,” whispered he finally, his voice laden with heady desire. “Perfect. I’ve never seen anything so perfect.”
Elaina wanted to weep. She wanted to believe she could have such powerful effect on someone as sophisticated as he, but was unsure if it would be wise. Her awareness for such validation warned her that people said what they needed to in order to acquire what they wanted, but she could not help but believe him. After all, she was here and he was going to get lucky even if he did not say she was lovely. So she let him look and basked in the glory of his desire.
But soon he wanted to do more than look. He wanted to touch and kiss and worship and when he placed mouth on her and bit into her, worrying her nipple with his tongue, she lost any grip she had on her insecurities and gasped with the pleasure he bestowed upon her. At last, she knew desire – and it was splendid. “Oh, Matthew!” cried she.
Matthew hushed her immediately with a swift kiss on her lips and her breasts felt abandoned. “Sorry, darling,” he whispered. “As lovely as it is to hear my name on your lips, we will have to be quiet for your family’s benefit.”
She nodded her agreement, swallowing her renewed sensuality as his hands continued pleasuring her where his mouth had left off. Her nails bit into the flesh on his shoulders where she braced herself to remain as quiet as possible. But when his hands traveled lower on her belly and his fingers inched their way beneath her panties, her restraints failed reason. “Matthew!”
He was immediately there to quiet her, to swallow her cries with his kisses. He released her mouth to look into her eyes. “Let me make you feel good,” he implored.
Elaina felt flushed with a sudden shyness. His hands were there and this was really happening. But she wished she could be more sophisticated about it, so she nodded her consent.
His eye hooded with lust and he claimed her mouth again, plunging his tongue into her as his hand resumed its exploration. His hands plundered into her feminine core, taking courage from the wanton reactions writhing through her body, refusing to break connection, plunging on until she raised her hips, seeking the unknown he was promising. And deeper his fingers delved within her, while his thumb circled and teased her most yearning spot. His tempo increased to swell her needs and then decreased to make her want more, until she could not take it anymore and she shattered in his arms into thousands of pinpricks of light. And through it all, he kissed her, soothed her cries, stoked her fire, and finally, cajoled her back to earth where she lay in the afterglow of his devotion.
She took her time to settle her breaths and calm her heart. She could sense him hovering above her, watching her, but it was a while before she could open her delirium-drowsed eyes. She smiled lazily and said hello.
“Hi,” he replied. He looked inordinately pleased with himself. Perhaps even slightly smug, but she did not care. She just enjoyed her first orgasm with a man and it was everything anyone ever hyped it to be and even more. Tonight’s result far exceeded anything she experienced in her past while experimenting alone under the sheets. The man should be pleased with his performance.
In fact, he should receive some positive reinforcements. “You did good.”
Matthew chuckled deep in his throat and the sound stirred her newly awakened senses again. “I’m ecstatic that you approve,” said he. “Are you up for a bit more?”
“Yeah, we need to take care of you.” She made to get up, fully ready to learn how to please a man.
Matthew stilled her with his hand, pushing her back into the bedding with his hips. “Let’s not forget that you only enjoyed a sneak preview of what’s to come.”
Elaina’s pulse jumped. “Really?”
“Well, of course. That was just the appetizer. The main course still awaits and I think we should sneak in a bit of dessert before dawn, too.”
“Oh. We should get started then, we don’t have too much time before sunrise.”
A mischievous smile tweaked the corner of his mouth, the kind she had come to associate as his trademark. “Your wish is my command,” he murmured before his head descended to her mouth again.
Read Chapter 14!
The Romantic Quill 