‘Please,’ she whispered, wanting more than his fingers inside her.
That got an immediate response. He released her and rose fully above her with his palms flat to the bed, his hard shaft poised against her nether lips. ‘Please what?’ he whispered. His gaze was hot with his desire, his eyes unfocused.
‘I need you inside me.’ The words were barely discernible, but they made him groan.
Flexing his hips, he pushed into her, slipping in easily at first and then meeting some resistance. He pulled back, nearly all the way out, then resettled himself on an elbow to lie over her, grasping her beneath her hip with his other hand. The new angle lifted her slightly so that when he pressed forward again, he pushed in all the way. She gasped at the sensation of being filled as his hips came to rest against hers.
He was motionless for a moment, his breath harsh and laboured against her ear. ‘Annis,’ he whispered.
Something about her name on his lips at such a moment sent a tender pang through her chest. Her fingers buried themselves in the hair at the back of his head and she pulled his mouth to hers as she raised her hips. The low rough sound in the back of his throat as he kissed her without restraint was nearly her undoing. She felt full of him and more wanted than she had ever felt in her entire life.
His hips moved in a slow, searching rhythm that increased with the intensity of their kisses. Finally, it was too much to do both, so he broke off and buried his face in her hair as he increased his pace, his breath hot against her ear. A pressure began low in her belly and coiled tighter and tighter with each stroke. She could not get enough of him. It was not enough to be owned by him, to become his wife, she also needed to be possessed by him it seemed.
‘Rurik,’ she whispered, though she had no idea why.
He whispered back, speaking to her in his own language. The words ran together, leaving her no hope of remembering them to try to discern their meaning later. He rose over her and brought his hips against hers in a powerful thrust. She cried out at how the hard friction drove that coil of pleasure to tighten. She whimpered with her need, clawing at his shoulders in her bid for more. He obliged her and then his fingers found her where they were joined. A stroke of his thumb had her cresting a wave of exquisite pleasure as he moved within her, then hurtling over the brink with a cry. He gave a series of shorter, ungraceful thrusts and then stiffened, his own cry of pleasure filling the chamber before he fell over her.
She was amazed at the swell of affection that overcame her as he lay above her. He was her husband now and somehow that seemed all right. If he was this tender with her at night, she had hope that the daytime would be tolerable. She ran a loving palm down his back, which he must have taken as a sign that he was too heavy. He shifted and pulled out of her, leaving her aching and still somewhat needy for him.
Rolling on to his back with an arm thrown over his face, she found herself reluctant to let him go, which was silly. The deed was done. They were well and truly man and wife now. There was no need for anything more. She wasted no time in grabbing the blanket and pulling it over herself, both relieved and sad to have the initial act over and done with. Having not expected to enjoy it nearly as much as she had, she did not quite know how to face him now that the haze of pleasure was fading.
After taking a moment to regain his breath, he lowered the arm that had covered his face and looked at her, unconcerned with his nakedness. His manhood lay against him, still half-rigid.
‘Did I hurt you?’ he asked.
She shook her head. ‘Not at all.’ Try as she might, she could not prevent a blush from staining her cheeks.
It was only then that he smiled and turned on his side, raising up on an elbow to look down at her. ‘You are my wife now, in all ways.’
‘And you are my husband.’ She still was not quite certain what that meant to her or for their future, but the tenderness in his gaze as he smiled down at her was more than she had ever hoped for.
‘Do you wish to sleep?’ he asked, stroking the ridge of her cheek.
The simple touch stoked the simmering flames of desire in her belly to vibrant life. It was nearly overwhelming how she could want to experience that again with him so soon. That, as much as her own uncertainty at how things would be between them now, made her nod. Dropping his arm, he pulled her into his side. She stiffened in surprise.
‘Will you not go back to your chamber?’ she asked. Grim had always left her soon afterwards.
‘No, I sleep with you.’
The way he said it was almost as if he meant that he would sleep with her for ever, not just tonight. She did not want to ask, because whichever way he answered would leave her confused. Fatigue was already making her eyelids heavy and the pleasure he had given her made her limbs cumbersome and weighted. There had been too much change for one day. Instead of arguing, she allowed herself to relax into him and enjoy the weight of his arm across her body. He smelled the way he had that night in the
