Julia inhaled quickly and shook her head.
“Shall I start here?” He leaned forward to trace her lips with the barest touch of his tongue.
“Or here?” He caressed her breasts before letting his mouth take over, licking and teasing them. She closed her eyes and gasped at the sensation.
“What about here?” His finger slowly encircled her navel before he fluttered his mouth across her abdomen.
She moaned and tugged at his hair. “All I want is you.”
“Then have me.”
She kissed him, and he responded by enjoying her mouth slowly, setting a gentle, languorous pace. When he felt her heartbeat quicken, he took her left foot in his hand and began to remove her shoe.
“Don’t you want me to wear them?” she asked, looking down at him. “I bought them for tonight.”
“Let’s save them for later, when we christen the wall.” Gabriel’s voice was a throaty whisper.
He slowly removed her shoes and spent a few moments massaging her feet, paying special attention to her arches. Then he pushed her to the center of the bed and reclined beside her.
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
He gave her a soft kiss on the lips. “I’ve waited a long time to hear you say that and to know that you mean it.”
“Of course I mean it. The past is behind us.”
“Then let’s make up for lost time.”
Tenderly, he began using his hands to touch and to tease, his movements deliberate but passionate. He added his mouth, nipping and sucking to the tune of her sighs. His heart swelled in gladness at her sounds and the way her body writhed from side to side under his touch.
When her hands moved up and down his back urgently, finally coming to rest on his backside, he spread himself atop her, bringing their bodies into perfect alignment.
Staring down at her, he whispered, “Behold, thou art fair, my love; thine eyes are as doves…Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy mouth is comely.”
Julia reached up to press their lips together before she responded. “Don’t make me wait.”
“Are you inviting me inside?”
Julia nodded as a flash of heat raced across the surface of her skin. “My husband.”
“My brown-eyed angel.”
His tongue played with her mouth as their bodies melted into one another, and soon they were one, their collective sighs muffled by teeth and tongues.
Gabriel’s rhythm was slow at first, like the patient lapping of waves upon a beach. He wanted this experience to last forever, for in that moment, as he gazed into the wide and loving eyes of his wife, he realized that their previous experiences, exciting as they were, paled in comparison with the sublimity of their current connection.
She was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. She was his soul mate and his wife, and all he wanted was to bring her joy. He was consumed by his adoration of her.
Julia traced his brows, wrinkled as they were in concentration, his eyes now shut tightly.
“I love that look,” she murmured.
“What look?”
“Your eyes closed, your eyebrows furrowed, your lips pressed together—you only look like that when you—come.”
He opened his eyes, and she saws sparks in their sapphire depths. “Oh, really, Mrs. Emerson?”
“I’ve missed that look. It’s sexy.”
“You flatter me.” Gabriel sounded embarrassed.
“I want to have a painting or a photograph of that face.”
He frowned playfully. “A picture like that might be too much.”
Julia laughed. “This is coming from a man who decorated his bedroom with naked photographs of himself.”
“The only naked photographs in my bedroom will be of you, my exquisite wife.”
His rhythm increased, catching Julia by surprise.
As she panted out her pleasure, Gabriel buried his face in her neck. “You’re so enticing. Your hair, your skin.”
“Your love makes me beautiful.”
“Then let me love you forever.”
She arched her back. “Yes, forever. Please.”
Gabriel moved apace, his lips playing across her neck, sucking and drawing the skin lightly into his mouth.
In response, her hands grasped his hips, pushing and pulling until she was close, very close.
“Open your eyes,” he gasped, moving more quickly.
Julia gazed up into the dark but tender eyes of her husband, so alive with passion and true affection.
“I love you,” she said, eyes widening and closing as the sensations overtook her.
This time, Gabriel didn’t close his eyes as his brows furrowed in concentration.
“I love you,” he breathed with every movement, every glide of skin against naked skin, until they were both sated and still.
Chapter 58
Just before sunrise, Julia awoke with a start.