A heat spread from his hand, bathing her in warmth. She moaned softly and felt Joseph smile against her lips. Before she knew what was happening, he'd tugged down her chemise and fastened his hot mouth on her bare breast, suckling gently, stroking his textured tongue over the sensitive peak.
She’d imagined kissing and mating, but she’d never imagined anything like this. Good heavens, it was indescribable. He wandered to her other breast, his mouth hot there while the air cooled the wetness he'd left behind. Driven to distraction with new sensations, she writhed against him. Her breath came in short gasps; her hands roamed the hard planes of his back. She was acting wantonly again, but she couldn't seem to help herself.
She didn't want to help herself.
And while she was pondering the wonder of it all, he swept off her chemise.
Leaving her bare.
She’d sometimes wondered if she might feel shy or embarrassed in this moment, but in the darkness she felt gloriously free. She pressed against him once more, feeling the ache inside her spread.
“Now?” she whispered again.
“Not yet.”
“Oh, my God, when?” she gasped, and he caught that gasp in his mouth, reclaiming her lips in a devouring caress. While she was distracted by that, he slipped his hand between her legs and parted them gently, his fingertips trailing sensuously on her inner thighs. She began to tremble. When he brushed against the curls that guarded her most secret self, she gasped again, this time in shock and fascination.
“Hush,” he whispered into her open mouth. Distracting her once more with a long, deep kiss, he slipped a finger inside her tight passageway.
Chrystabel could scarcely believe a man was touching her there, let alone moving his finger in and out of her, as he was slowly doing now. But everything with Joseph felt right. He found an exquisite spot, and waves of passion swept through her. She clutched him tighter, feeling as though her heart might burst if something, she wasn’t sure what, didn’t happen soon.
Then suddenly his hands left her, and she was aware of a flurry of movement. When he reached again to pull her close, she found he’d removed the rest of his clothes. His arms went around her, and they met, skin to skin, from their shoulders to their toes.
This, she thought, is bliss.
Down low she could feel a hardness, a hardness that made her blood race, a hardness that told her he wanted her as much as she craved him.
Her married sisters had told her about this, too.
“Now,” she breathed.
“Not yet, my love.” He kissed her quickly, wildly, then bent his head to trail his lips down her throat. A hot stab of lust lanced through her. And love. It was all mixed up together in her head, in her heart, in her body so aware she felt if Joseph just kissed her one more time she’d explode.
All at once she felt the sensations were more than she could bear.
“Now, Joseph. Now.”
He chuckled against her, sending low vibrations through her. “Slower is better, my love. We’ve a long way to go before—”
“Now.”
His mouth left her. “Don’t you like this?”
“I like it too much.” She couldn’t catch her breath, and her entire body sang with an awareness she’d never even imagined. “Please, Joseph, join with me now.”
Everything he was doing felt good, but she wanted it all and she wanted it now. She wanted it done. She wanted this first time over with.
She couldn’t stand a moment more of this sweet torture.
“Please.”
She held her breath, waiting while she felt him swallow hard. “Chrysanthemum—”
“Please.”
He hesitated. “If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure!”
“Hush. You need to keep quiet, my love. You don’t want to be caught down here, do you?”
Oh, God. She could think of nothing more embarrassing. She briefly considered calling the whole thing off, but he was kissing her again, softly, and then he began to move over her, apparently having given in.
Chrystabel’s heart pounded, excitement blending with the fear. She forgot about calling anything off. Instinctively she raised her knees. Seeming to support himself on his elbows, Joseph took her face in both hands and kissed her while he eased his way between her legs.
He settled against her, fitting there as if they were made to go together. An incredible urgency radiated from where his body was poised to enter hers. Her blood pumped faster.
He broke the kiss and froze.
“I cannot do this,” he gritted out in a fierce whisper. “I cannot do this before we’re wed.”
“Oh, I believe you can,” she murmured with a secret smile he couldn’t see. And deliberately she raised her hips, welcoming him into her and at the same time bracing for the pain.
It wasn’t as bad as she’d anticipated, but she might have cried out if Joseph hadn’t covered her mouth with his. Holding her face, he stayed still and whispered senseless endearments, raining little kisses all over her cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured.
But the pain was fading already, rapidly becoming an ache of another kind…an ache so exquisite she found herself straining against him in hope of easing it.
He kissed her mouth, and then he moved in her.
A gasp of wonder escaped her lips.
“Now,” he whispered.
She couldn’t seem to form as much as a single word.
He moved in her again, and then they moved as one in a dance as old as time, a dance far more intimate than the scandalous volta. Slowly and then faster, the feelings building to a crescendo, higher and higher until Chrystabel couldn’t quite hold back a scream.
Joseph placed a hand over her mouth as she erupted in pleasure so intense she was half convinced she was flying. Up and up, flying higher yet when she felt him go with her. Her own hands went everywhere, trying to feel him all
