Elise Winslow.
She’d expected to feel relief and excitement to be called something other than Elise Klassan, but she didn’t. She felt uneasy. She felt uncertain. She felt unworthy of the title and terrified that she’d said yes to something as enormous as marriage. It made her heart flutter uncomfortably as she nodded at the officiant in thanks and let Preston pull her from the room, through the building and down the steps of the civic building.
In the cab ride back to their apartment, Elise sat with her back against Preston’s chest, trying to find comfort in the familiar—his arm around her shoulders, the delicious scent of his starched shirt and mild aftershave. This was Preston, not some anonymous stranger. Preston, whom she loved. Preston, who took care of her, and was kind to her, and supported her ambition.
She tried to talk herself out of her misgivings, making a list in her head of why marrying Preston today was the right decision for her life. Topping the list was her genuine love for him and his devotion to her. So, why was she worried? What was making her feel uncertain and introspective rather than confident and excited?
“I can’t wait to get you home,” he whispered close to her ear, his lips grazing her skin and making a heavenly shiver run down her back.
Sex.
Her mind sputtered to a stop.
She was about to have sex.
Hmm. Maybe that was it.
They were going back to his apartment…as husband and wife. There were no more barriers between them. No moral conundrum. No further fit of conscience. In the eyes of God and man, she was his wife.
Which meant she was about to have sex for the first time.
Her body relaxed against his as she considered this.
Was that it then? she wondered with a growing sense of relief. Was sex the source of her uncertainty and sudden jitters?
Without giving herself time to weigh the thought in her mind, she quickly decided it was. Of course it was.
It made perfect sense. She wasn’t worried about their whirlwind courtship, or the fact that they’d never met each other’s families, or the fear that their marriage would somehow interfere with her career, or the reality of meshing her wildly dissimilar life with Preston’s…no. She was simply apprehensive about what they were about to do in his—their—bed. That was it. That had to be it.
Except, whispered the no-bullshit part of her brain, you don’t seem very uneasy about sex. In fact, for the first time since saying “I do,” you seem…like a bride. Excited.
But she was already so focused on the fact that she was about to lose her virginity, the stark, intimidating realities of merging their lives together were blessedly pushed to the wayside. And as she shifted her thoughts, the knots in her stomach unwound and the lump in her throat relaxed. The tension that had been building up in her body over the last hour disappeared, and her belly started fluttering with excitement.
Anxious to stay in the moment and avoid any more troubling thoughts, she turned in his arms and said, “Kiss me.”
Preston licked his lips before sealing them over hers and plunging his tongue without warning into her mouth. He tightened his arms around her when she sucked on it strongly, shifting in her seat until her breasts were crushed against his chest. She wasn’t sure how he managed to pay the cabbie without releasing her mouth, but they ran into his apartment building still kissing frantically.
Preston backed her up against the wall of the elevator, grasping her backside and forcing her pelvis against his as he groaned into his mouth. She stood on her tiptoes, her arms wrapped around his neck, the sensitive points of her breasts longing for the wet heat of his mouth licking and sucking on her. The very idea was so erotic, she rocked her hips into his, meeting his tongue with frantic caresses while strangled sounds of pleasure, that sounded nothing like her normal voice, escaped from her throat. She raked her hands through his hair, frustrated that they were still technically in public and she couldn’t get closer to him.
Still kissing her, he unlocked the apartment door and pulled her inside, kicking it closed behind them and pushing her up against the back of the door. Elise kicked off her heels and slid her hands under his jacket to shove it to the floor. His fingers moved nimbly to the zipper at the back of her dress, releasing it in a quick, smooth whoosh and pushing the straps down her arms.
Drawing back to look into his beautiful eyes, she grinned at him, dropping her fingers to his shirt and unfastening the buttons as quickly as she could. As Preston shrugged it over his shoulders, Elise reached back and unclasped her bra, letting it fall to the ground on top of his discarded shirt.