“I love the man holding my hand. So much,” she whispered with teary eyes, “and I want him to come back to me in one piece.”
I knew it was time. Time for us to be close and put away all the doubts we’d both carried around for far too long. Time for us to learn what we had to lose by not being together, and making us both see how we couldn’t live without it for another second.
“Look into my eyes when I tell you that I’m coming back. I will. I’ll be gettin’ off a plane and scanning the crowd for my Cherry Girl to come running up to me, where I can pick her up and hold her very close, and know we’ll never have to be separated again.”
She nodded imperceptibly, her eyes still glassy and beautifully blue in the candlelight across from me. “Promise?”
“With everything I’ve got in me.”
I saw her visibly soften in her seat, the tension lessening some, and wished we were alone and not in a room with others. It’s time to take her upstairs and love her completely.
I whispered so only she could hear. “I need to be with you now, and we can make all these worries and fears about all the bad things that frighten us, just disappear,” I spoke with my lips up against her hand and my eyes on hers. “We can make it all go away for tonight.”
“Yes, please.” A single tear slipped down her smooth cheek as she nodded her agreement at me from across the table.
I got my answer and it was all I needed.
We held hands all the way up to the room, passing by museum-worthy portraits, which were at least eight feet tall, mounted on the stairwell, and artwork of amazing forms and variety. I couldn’t really take in what was around me though. I only cared about the girl beside me.
Once the stairs were behind us, I swooped her up and carried her the rest of the way. I wanted her weight in my arms. I wanted to carry her to the place where we would be together.
“You’re going to hurt your back by hefting me around.”
“Not a chance of that happening, beautiful girl. You’re a feather. My arms love the feel of carrying you, so I think you’d better get used to it.”
My Cherry blushed for me, looking shy and mouth-watering just by being her sweet self. “Put your arms around my neck,” I said.
She complied with my request, her small hands sliding up around me to hold on firmly. It felt like heaven. I dropped a kiss on her while holding her up, somehow managing to get the door open and thankful for old fashioned doorknobs that weren’t locked from the outside. I didn’t want to let go of her mouth as I fumbled with doors and locks to get us situated inside, and finally into some privacy. I needed the connection. I felt a growing desperation to complete us, like, if I waited another day it would be too late to claim her as mine, that somehow she would be lost to me.
I reluctantly set her down on her feet, steadying her until she found her legs. She looked up at me with hooded eyes, and kicked off her shoes.
I pushed mine off as well.
She bit down on one side of her lip in a way that made me so hard, I let out a groan. “You’re so damn sexy when you do that.”
She didn’t respond except to start unbuttoning my shirt. Those perfect white teeth of hers biting down on her pink bottom lip, just about had me losing my business before we got started.
“I love sky blue. It’s my favorite colour, you know.” She finished the buttons and pushed my shirt off my shoulders the rest of the way. “It looks good on you, too.”
“I love the way you take my shirts off me, and I’ll be sure to wear this colour for you again.”
“Your turn,” she said, presenting her back to me.
I reached for the zipper on the back of her dress and took it down, sliding the silky straps off her arms. With nothing to hold it up, it dropped down to the floor the second I let go. She turned back around to face me in nothing but her knickers and bra. Sky-blue lace. Matching set.
Gods help me.
My eyes were still admiring, when I felt Elaina’s hands on my belt, and then the tug on the zip of my trousers. I kicked those bastards off so fast, that they flew across the room, the belt crashing into a table leg with a clank. Not much separating us then, just a few bits of cloth, and maybe a little temperance of being careful to do our first night right. The noise of my belt crashing notched up the passion a bit, and sort of gave the green light for everything we were about to do.
Worked just fine for me. I was desperate. I could go slow later and take my time making love to her all night. Oh, I would no doubt, but now…now I just needed to be as close as it was possible to be with her. I needed to feel Elaina naked—skin on skin with me, and that was pretty much it.
The two scraps of pale blue lace were all that she had on and even that was too damn much. I wanted my fantasy vision from earlier. My Cherry Girl completely naked in front of the window.
My mouth found its way to her skin, anything I could reach—her neck, her throat, her shoulder, her ear, her mouth—as long as I was touching her, kissing her, all was fine.
Getting her bra unhooked was a challenge because my bloody fingers didn’t want to cooperate, and I wasn’t willing to destroy such a pretty garment, but if it came down to a battle between that lacy bra and me, then hell if I was going to be the loser. I tugged again, still with little success, when she stilled my hand and took a step backward. “Let me.”
I watched as she reached her hands around behind her back, and worked some magnificent magic. The damn thing came unhooked.