Page 88 of If the Slipper Fits
She gazed up at him, understanding his unspoken need. “Make love to me.”
“Are…you…sure?” He gritted out the words, his face glistening with a feverish sheen.
“Make love to me,” she repeated softly.
A strangled whimper sounded in his throat and, with one slow thrust, he sank himself inexorably inside her.
She flinched as the unexpected pain pierced her core, but did not push him away. She sensed if she did, even a little, he would withdraw from her completely.
She wanted this. Wanted him inside her, wanted to be claimed by him, if only for tonight.
“Anna,” he breathed against her lips, her name a plea. He cupped her face and kissed her with a tender desperation that reached inside to capture her very heart.
His hips pumped into hers. Slow. Deep. Stretching and filling her. “You. Feel. So. Good.”
Everything in her gloried in his raw delight, somehow easing the sting within her. Her body softened, welcoming him, stretching to accommodate him. Her hips responded to his rhythm as if with a will of their own, lifting in a tempo matching his.
“Mine,” he whispered. “Mine.”
An exquisite tightness coiled inside her. She clutched at him, lips parting in awe.
He kissed her, whispering praise and nonsensical words against her lips until, with no warning, glorious pleasure unfurled inside her, swift and lush, like an exotic flower, coming to sudden full bloom.
She’d wanted—needed—to hold him close, to feel him inside her, to be claimed by him. But this burst of dazzling sensation filling her felt like their souls joining. The ecstasy of emotion overflowed from within her and she sobbed out his name.
Her cries seemed to unleash something in him. With an exultant roar, he reared up. His hips pistoned into hers, faster, harder, deeper. A hoarse groan sounded in his throat a moment before he tore himselffrom her body and threw himself face down onto the mattress beside her.
Anna could only lay there, tingling with the aftershocks of their lovemaking, utterly awed. She wanted to giggle. To cry. To plaster herself onto Caden and profess…her love.
She loved him.
His lovemaking had knocked down all her walls. She was that love-addled girl from long ago all over again, vulnerable and bared. For tonight, at least, she couldn’t bring herself to care.
“Mmm. You’re too far away. Come here, minx."
He wrapped one steely arm around her and dragged her close, his hard body cocooning hers. One-handed, he grasped the bedcovers, somehow crumpled at their feet, and slung the mass atop them. Soon warmth from his body enveloped her, turning her boneless.
Replete, exactly where she ought to be, she closed her eyes, and slept.
***
Caden slept, too—for all of ten minutes. Then his eyes snapped open as the enormity of what he’d done slammed him into full wakefulness. His heart pounded so hard the rush of blood in his ears threatened to deafen him. Sweat dampened his brow and trickled down one temple.
And the soft, sweet smelling woman using his arm as a pillow sighed and snuggled closer, wriggling her soft bottom into his groin—which brought that part of his anatomy instantly awake, as well.
He considered sliding his arm free and vacating the warm bed. But, no. Gritting his teeth, he determined to suffer through his inconvenient arousal rather than wake her. His cock twitched with approvalat his decision and he bit back a groan—or laughter—he couldn’t say which.
He needed to think. With his head.
One truth resounded inside him with the force of an anvil striking hot steel. He’d certainly proved his point. He was a cad. He’d taken advantage of her, again, gratifying his own selfish need to claim her as his. And, oh, how very satisfying the claiming had been.
He should have resisted his carnal urge. Should have shuffled Anna back to bed and refused to engage in the emotionally charged conversation until he had himself under control. Only, when it came to Anna, he had no self-control, and now the damage was completely, irrevocably done.
Which brought him to a second, unalterable truth. They’d have to marry.
The thought filled him with…peaceof all things, which made no sense at all. Hadn’t he spent much of the night owning up to just howun-marriageable he was?
Irrelevant, at this point. Marriage it would be, as soon as he could manage the thing. Not that he had any notion of how to be a decent man, much less husband. But, perhaps he could make himself into the right sort of man. For Anna’s sake, he’d try.
