“Why do you want to go?” His voice was still at her ear and she shuddered, loving the depth of it, his accent, he had such a beautiful voice.
“You came down and… did what you did in my room and then you left me alone.” Her arms tightened around him and she whispered, “Douglas, I’m so tired of being alone.” She pressed her h*ps against him and he ground his against her.
“You don’t have to be alone.”
“I’m always alone.” Her voice was an ache.
His h*ps were moving faster, pressing harder, she melted further into him, tightened around him.
“Julia,” his breath was shallow, “I’ll not let you go.” He drove into her, not gentle now, his heat was overwhelming her and her head reared up, her face burying itself in his neck.
“You have to,” she whispered into his ear, knowing he was struggling, knowing that she was close but he wanted her to finish before him. “Let go, sweetheart,” she urged but he held back, moving faster, driving deeper and she went closer. “Douglas,” she breathed and he gave it to her, her lips opened against his skin where she moaned as the pleasure rippled through her.
Julia came down, dropping her head to the bed and Douglas lifted his, his eyes locked with hers and she held her breath at the look in their dark depths before he rammed into her hard, twice, and then his head jerked back and she saw the chords and veins standing out in his neck as he cl**axed inside her.
For some reason, she thought watching Douglas lose control while he was buried inside her was the most beautiful sight she ever beheld and she allowed herself to glory in the fact that she could give that to him, the fierce, powerful, handsome Douglas Ashton.
She lifted her head to run her tongue along his neck as she slid her fingers in his thick hair.
He collapsed on top of her, his weight pressing her into the bed and she welcomed it, holding him tight to her with all four limbs. His breath was coming fast then but after it slowed, he shifted himself so that he wasn’t fully resting on her but he didn’t move away.
His lips brushed hers, feather light.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you; I meant to give you something.” He was talking about before, in her room and she knew it was the closest she’d get to an apology. She nodded and his hands came back to her face, rubbing the place where the tears had been.
“If you ever leave,” his voice had changed from soft to harsh, “I’ll find you and bring you back.”
She felt her stomach lurch and she didn’t know if it was with fear or happiness.
She made no reply, there didn’t need to be one with that kind of promise. She simply stared at him.
He moved suddenly, reaching out to his side and jerking down the covers. He rolled them both towards the pillows, finally disengaging from her. Then he carefully righted their position on the bed, settled her at his side and yanked the covers back over them.
“I can’t sleep here, Douglas, the children –”
“If you leave,” he repeated, “I’ll find you and bring you back.”
She didn’t know what else to say because she knew he’d be true to his promise.
It was a Douglas she’d never known before. She’d been used to his calm but now she’d heard him roar, she heard him tease and she’d heard such harshness in his tone that it felt like it was both shredding her heart and mending it at the same time.
After what happened that night, she didn’t know what tomorrow would bring. But she fell asleep with her body held closely against his side, her head on his chest, all the while thinking of his forehead pressed to hers and that unbelievably tender kiss.
Chapter Nineteen
Christmas
Julia found out quickly that Douglas’s next line of attack would be what could only be described as a “tender onslaught” mixed with “not-so-tender onslaught” both of which were very effective even if she’d be damned if she’d let him know it.
It started the very next morning after the night he’d made love to her.
He woke her by running a finger lightly down her spine, her eyelids fluttered open to see him sitting on the side of the bed watching her with sexy, hooded eyes.
He was fully dressed wearing a grey suit with a vermillion shirt and a matching vermillion tie that had grey and blue designs patterned on it.
“What time is it?” she grumbled sleepily.
He bent and kissed her shoulder. “Time enough for you to get to your own bed before the children wake,” he muttered against her skin.