Page 31 of On a Midsummer Night
After a moment, Beth opened her eyes, her irises blown wide.
“Are you ready, love?” Henry bit back a groan as he rubbed his cock up and down her wet slit. “Are you ready to be mine?”
Her smile was tender. “I’ve always been yours.”
Unable to form words, Henry held her gaze as he notched himself at her opening and pushed inside. She was impossibly tight, and Henry almost came right then. He hoped he didn’t leave her with bruises where he clutched her hips, and it was only his deep desire to bring her as much pleasure as possible that kept him from losing his head. His gaze was pinned to Beth’s expression for any sign of pain or discomfort at his shallow, measured thrusts while her body gripped the length of him in paradise.
Clenching his eyes shut as he swallowed convulsively, clasping the battered remnants of his self-control with his last bit of sanity, Henry eventually looked down at Beth and paused when he saw her eyes were tightly closed. Pink infused her cheeks, her teeth nestled in her bottom lip.
“Beth, love, are you well?”
Her eyes blinked open. “I need–I need you to”—and lunging forward, her nails sank into his ass—“move.”
With a stifled chuckle, Henry obeyed. Drawing his hips back, he snapped them forward again, observing with avid eyes the place where they were joined. The sight of his darling Beth taking him so beautifully turned his movements desperate and erratic, tension coiling at the base of his spine. Henry’s fingers sunk into the flesh of her waist as he stroked into her, marveling that the stunning and fiery woman who had lived so brightly in his memory for so long was now nestled beneath him, welcoming him into her core with moans and undulations of her hips. She wanted him as much as he wanted her.
Henry lost himself in Beth’s body, whispering nonsensical platitudes in her ear as his hips surged against hers, flicking his tongue across her nipple, grasping her ass to adjust her position so he could hit that spot that made her eyes roll into the back of her head. His orgasm loomed like a tidal wave threatening to decimate him, but Henry was not ready to go under until she did. Massaging two fingers around where his cock split her open, he gathered their shared wetness and used it to tease her swollen nub. Beth gasped, and he swallowed it with his kiss.
“Come for me, darling,” he growled, grinding his pelvis as he thrust into her.
Like a shooting star, Beth obeyed, hips jerking as her channel squeezed him mercilessly. And helpless in her thrall, Henry followed after her, certain he would never, ever be the same.
Chapter Ten
Beth wasn’t sure what awoke her. The voices of gentlemen returning to their rooms after a boisterous night at the gaming hells? Cats fighting in the alleyway? All she knew was that her eyes snapped open and blearily focused on unfamiliar ceiling. Where was she? Her pulse immediately kicked into a sprint, but before panic took hold of her, an arm slid around her waist and pulled her flush with a broad, warm chest.
Henry.Her body knew his and immediately turned languid and heated at his touch. His embrace brought forth a cascade of vivid memories from hours before, and Beth blushed to the roots of her hair. As if sensing her embarrassment, Henry buried his face in the crook of her neck and kissed the sensitive valley there.
“We’ll have to leave soon,” he murmured against her skin. “I don’t want to risk you being seen. Oliver would never forgive me if you were exposed to scandal.”
“Oliver can sod off,” she grumbled before sighing when he snagged her earlobe between her teeth.
“He cares about you.” The arm about her waist tightened. “And seeing as how I’ve recently won his regard, I’d rather he not know how thoroughly I debauched you tonight.”
“I believe it isIwho debauchedyou.” She reached to squeeze his thigh. “I arrived here with the express purpose of having my wicked way with you.”
His tone dropped to a purr. “And you were very wicked indeed.”
Beth sank her nails into his flesh and pushed her bottom more firmly against him. “If sharing my body and engaging in carnal pleasures with the man I love is debauchery, I would sin again and again for eternity.”
His lips pressed to her temple in the most chaste of kisses, even while his arousal nudged into her thigh. Suppressing the urge to rock against it, Beth bit her cheek in an effort to focus.
“My virginity belonged to no one else but me.” Beth craned her head to meet Henry’s eyes. “My choice was freely made, and I would hope Oliver would respect that.”
Umber-colored eyes turned soft as they gazed down at her. “You are a singular woman, Beth Dalton. Is it any wonder I could not forget you?”
She lifted her chin and wiggled her shoulders in a faux display of modesty, fighting back a smile when Henry’s deep chuckle rumbled his chest behind her. Turning her head to look at him, Beth paused when a familiar sight snagged her attention.
It was a landscape she knew well.
After silently extracting herself from his embrace, Beth padded across the room to where a gilded mirror hung on the wall. Catching a glimpse of her reflection, she smoothed wayward strands of hair and twisted the entire mass into one long cascade over her shoulder. It would be impossible to erase the pink in her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes, so Beth didn’t try. Instead, she glanced at Henry over her shoulder as she plucked the card from where it had been tucked into the mirror frame.
She held up the card for him to see. “Where did you get this?”
Henry stared at it, unblinking. “I saw it at that bookstore where I met with you and your cousin. It reminded me of my father. After everything”—he swallowed—“I knew he would think it beautiful. He always loved beautiful things.”
A knot formed in her throat, and Beth paused until her rioting emotions had calmed. “I’m touched you think it beautiful, for it’s mine.”
His brow crinkled. “What do you mean?”
