The Apprehension (Unexpected Circumstances #6) - Shay Savage Page 0,7

in my touches for a moment only. “But I need more. I need to be inside of you.”

He shifted himself lower and groaned loudly as he pushed himself inside of me, burying his length completely within my body with a single stroke that left me crying out his name.

“Every time I am inside of you,” he whispered, “it feels like I am exactly where I am supposed to be. It is like no one else exists except us when I am here. I belong here.”

For a long moment, he held himself tight against me and did not move. He slipped his hand down my back, resting his fingers just above my backside as his mouth began tasting my neck and jaw. I stroked the curve at the base of his back, down the top of his thigh and back again. I tilted my head to capture his mouth with mine, leading the kiss to deepen it as I wrapped my legs around his waist. I felt his hand sneak between our bodies and gasped when his fingers found their goal.

“Please…please…” I heard myself begging as Branford rocked slowly against me, allowing the tension to build up gradually and maddeningly.

“You feel so glorious,” he whispered into my ear. “I love feeling you come apart around me. Do my fingers please you, my wife?”

The tip of his finger circled that sensitive area right above where we connected. Branford’s hips bucked slowly against me as his finger probed and touched. His lips went back to my jaw, then captured my cries as I tilted my hips against his and felt my body shudder around him. I gripped his shoulders and pulled him to me as his movements hastened. He reached down and slipped one arm under my leg, holding it high against his shoulder as he moaned with each thrust into me. His pace quickened, and his hips met mine in quick, forceful strokes. Only a moment later, he was crying out for me as I felt his release deep inside my body.

He kissed me again.

“I love you,” he murmured against my lips, “so much…my wife…”

“My husband,” I whispered back. “My king…my Branford…I love you…”

He rolled to his side and brought me with him. With our arms wrapped around each other, I watched Branford’s face as his breathing slowed and his heart began to beat a more regular rhythm. I traced over his jaw with my fingertips, feeling the rough stubble that had grown there since morning.

With a long, deep sigh, Branford closed his eyes and pulled my head to his chest.

“I love you, Alexandra,” he said quietly. “I have failed you regardless but no more. I will be at your side, making sure you do not come to harm. I will not entrust my most prized possession to anyone else to guard. Never again.”

His arms tightened around my shoulders for a moment.

“There are times and places where I am not welcome,” I reminded him. “There are traditions…”

“To hell with those traditions,” Branford said simply. “I will not be parted from you.”

I thought about this for a minute.

“What if I go to the chapel to speak with Father Tucker?”

Branford cupped my cheeks and tilted my face to his.

“You have something you must confess?” he asked. I could see the wry humor in his eyes.

“Perhaps,” I said, and I smiled through my blush. “I do sometimes have…lustful thoughts.”

“Do you now?”

I nodded.

“Who is in your lustful thoughts?” Branford’s hot breath danced around my ear. “For if it is anyone other than me, I will have him drawn and quartered immediately.”

“Branford!” I cried out. “What a horrible thing to say!”

He only shrugged.

“It is the truth of the matter,” he said.

“It is a good thing only one man invades my thoughts.”

“Hmm…”—his mouth brushed over mine—“and who would that be?”

“You,” I whispered. “Only you…ever…”

“Good.”

He rolled back on top of me, and his knees pushed my legs apart as he entered me again. His movements were different as was the look in his eyes as he claimed me again and again that night. There was no desperation or rush, only the two of us wrapped up in each other.

We were protected—the army of Seacrest would join with Silverhelm and shield us from any attack. We might not be prepared to go to war, but we would be able to defend ourselves and would no longer have to bow to pressure from Hadebrand. Edgar had been shamed in front of the other nobles, and word of his part of the