you’re wondering why I’m here.” Her voice was calm and even.
“The thought did cross my mind,” he admitted with a wry smile.
She took a deep breath. “I wanted to apologize…for running you off so quickly last night. The truth is…you frightened me.”
“Frightened you?” he echoed, leaning back into the window frame and propping up one knee. He needed to hear her out, let her say whatever she needed to say.
“More than a bit,” she continued, smoothing her hands down her skirts repeatedly. “I’d never…” Her cheeks turned a charming shade of pink and she dipped her head. “I’d never experienced anything like that before and I…it frightened me.”
A frown marred his brow. What exactly what she saying? “You told me you weren’t innocent.”
“I’m not… I wasn’t.” Her blushed deepened, but she lifted her head to meet his gaze. “But what happened between us last night…was unlike any of the times before.” She finished by expelling her breath again as if she’d just made a distressing confession.
“I feel the same,” he said quietly, hoping to make her feel comfortable by admitting the truth as well.
She nodded and folded her hands together in her lap. Her blush had not completely vanished. “I don’t know why I acted so strangely when you asked about my brother,” she said next. “I suppose it’s because I’ve never really spoken about it with anyone before.”
He nodded too and slowly moved to sit next to her on the mattress. He tentatively reached out to lay his hand atop hers on her lap. “I understand, Marianne.”
“Have you ever lost anyone close to you?” she asked.
A vision of a night many years ago flashed through his memory, but he steadfastly shook it away. “No one close to me has ever been murdered,” he answered. “Last night you said you can’t talk about it.”
“That’s right.” She nodded.
“Can’t or won’t?” he prompted.
She lowered her chin to her chest. “Won’t…or at least I didn’t want to then.”
“You don’t have to now if you still don’t want to.”
She lifted her chin and he could see tears shining in her eyes. “My brother was shot, killed in the war.”
Beau nodded. “I see. I suspected as much, but when you said he was murdered, I wondered about the details.”
“He was killed in the war,” she repeated, staring straight ahead at the wall, unseeing.
Beau squeezed her hand. “I can see it’s difficult for you to talk about. I’ll walk you back to your room.”
She shook her head and met his gaze. “I don’t want you to walk me back to my room, Beau.”
He swallowed hard. “What do you want me to do?”
Marianne stared unseeing at the wall for several moments. She looked frightened, alone. He moved closer, pulling her to his chest for a hug. He wanted to hold her, soothe her. He caressed her arms, her back. He smoothed her hair before placing a chaste kiss on her cheek. All the while, he murmured words of comfort.
She turned her face up to him. “Kiss me again.”
He pulled back and searched her features. “Are you certain?”
She nodded. “Yes. When you touch me, everything else fades and there’s only you. Only pleasure.”
Beau went slowly at first. He lifted one hand to her neck, pulling her closer to his mouth as his lips descended to hers. But the moment their mouths met, Marianne didn’t allow him to be gentle. Her tongue pushed its way between his lips, and she began ripping at his shirt.
Only moments passed before they were both naked on the cot and Marianne laid down and pulled him atop her. “Make me yours again, Beau,” she breathed.
Beau’s hand moved between her legs to ensure she was wet and ready for him, but unlike last night, he didn’t spend time stoking the fire inside of her. They both wanted this fast and hard and he was prepared to give it to her.
He pushed her legs apart with his knee then slid inside of her, waiting for only a second to ensure she was settled, before sliding out and pumping into her again and again. Her head moved back and forth fitfully on the pillow. The tiny groans coming from her throat were nearly his undoing.
When she grabbed his buttocks and squeezed, that was it. Beau pumped into her again and again until he was on the precipice of one of the fastest, most fulfilling orgasms of his entire life. He pulled out of her swiftly and came on the mattress beside her hip, his breathing nothing