Page 112 of Texas Destiny
“A question?” He smiled warmly. “God, I hope you like my answer.”
His lips swept down to cover hers, his mouth hot, his tongue exploring hers as though he’d never kissed her before when he’d actually kissed her through the winter and the beginning of spring. She had come to know his kisses intimately, but they’d never promised all that he seemed to be promising her now. The kiss promised no end … only a beginning.
Groaning deeply, he trailed his mouth along her chin, nibbling as he went until he pressed his mouth against her ear. “Remember how I wanted to touch you?”
“As my husband, you have that right.”
“Only if it’s what you want.”
“How could you possibly think I wouldn’t want you to touch me?”
“Good, ’cuz I’m gonna touch all of you.”
He moved his large hands up her sides and cupped her breasts, his thumbs circling the sensitive flesh until her nipples hardened. Moaning, she collapsed against his broad chest. He slipped his arm beneath her knees and lifted her against his chest. She had never felt more at home than she did as he carried her to the bed and gently laid her on the thick feather mattress, stretching his body alongside hers.
She loved the length of his body, the breadth of his shoulders. She trailed her fingers over the scars that ran along his face. “Can you feel that?”
“Barely.” He took her hand and placed it over his beating heart. “But I feel that.”
Then his body was covering hers, flesh against flesh, warmth against warmth. His mouth blazed a trail of kisses along her throat, traveling lower to circle the crest of each breast. She scraped her fingers through his hair until a leather strip barred further exploration. “Do you mind if I remove this?” she asked.
He lifted his gaze, and she watched as his Adam’s apple slowly slid up and down. “If you want,” he said in a strangled voice.
“I love everything about you, Houston. Everything.”
“Even the ugliness.”
“That’s just it. I don’t see any ugliness when I look at you.”
He closed his eye as she untied the leather strip and gently removed the patch covering his face. He released a ragged breath before lifting his gaze back to hers.
“I think you’re handsome as sin,” she said softly.
He buried his face between her breasts. “You can’t love me that much.” “I love you more.”
“Oh, Lord.” Houston thought he might weep. That’d be one hell of a manly action on his wedding night. His father would tan his hide—
Only his father wasn’t here, and he wasn’t the man his father had wanted him to become. But he was the man this woman loved.
She accepted his weaknesses and his scars, inside and out. The tears burned his throat, burned his eye as he raised his face from the soft pillow of her flesh. “I haven’t got the words to tell you how much I love you, but I’m hoping I can show you.”
He called on the skills he’d acquired while working with horses, hoping to tame her passions, bend them to his will, to her desires. He skimmed his hands along her body, from her shoulder to her tiny bare toes. Shadows waltzed over her flesh in rhythm to the dancing flames within the hearth. He relished the sight of her skin glowing beneath his fingers.
Years ago, he’d stopped dreaming, and when he began to dream again, all his dreams revolved around her. The feel of her beside him, beneath him, around him.
He fought against rushing to have all that he wanted, forcing himself to gift her with the patience he gave his horses. She meant so much more to him than his horses. Without her, they were nothing more than animals. With her, they were a dream waiting on the horizon, a dream they would touch together.
He kissed her deeply, inhaling the scent of magnolias that would forever remain in his bed. Then he began to trail his mouth over her flesh, following the path his hands had blazed earlier.
He heard her sigh like the soughing of the wind. He took his time, allowing her to grow accustomed to the feel of his mouth on her breasts, suckling, taunting, before he trailed down to her thighs.
Slowly, leisurely, he kissed her intimately, passionately until she quivered beneath him. “Houston? I need—”
He swirled his tongue along her sensitive flesh. “I want you to buck for me.”
“Buck for you?” Amelia rasped, her fingers pressing against his face. “Oh, God.” Sensations she’d never known existed swept through her: lightning flashed and thunder rumbled as he created a tempest within her body. Her entire body curled as tightly as her toes, and then the storm exploded, raining pleasure and rapture throughout until she did buck like a wild mustang.
She opened her eyes to find him gazing at her, a smile of pure joy etched across his face. “You know there are some mustangs that can’t be broken, but they’re always worth the ride.”
