Neal Patchett had been right in that at least. The pill was not bitter to swallow, but the water it had gone down with had been rancid. The only way to rid his pride of the aftereffects of the blackmail was to plan a suitable measure of justice for the man.
Dash did not want to ruin him completely. Neal was now family, but he would learn a necessary lesson about pride.
As Tess took the first step forward, all thoughts of vendettas and lessons faded from Dash’s mind. It filled with the primitive need to mate with his woman.
This woman.
Tess.
Her eyes were dark with conflicting emotions. It was the fear that kept him rooted, waiting for her to come to him. She was so beautiful in her cobalt blue silk gown. It swept the floor as she walked and it pleased him she had not opted for the traditional white for their wedding night.
He liked this indication of the fire within her. The hottest part of a flame was blue and when she was in his arms, she burned that hotly.
She stopped two feet away from him. “I’m nervous.” She said.
This he had not missed. “There is no need for you to be, Tess.”
“What if I don’t satisfy you?” she asked. Doubts swirled in her lovely eyes. “I’m not like Olivia and the rest. I’m completely without experience.”
She said it like she was admitting the gravest sin, but the words had a devastating affect on his libido. He had to touch her or go mad.
Forcing himself to gentleness, he reached out and put his hands on her shoulders and brushed his thumbs over her collarbones. The fine bones felt fragile under his strength.
“Your innocence is a gift you give me, not a shortcoming you must apologize for.” How could he erase the doubts? He wondered, “I am honored to be your first lover, Tess.” She still looked painfully unconvinced, so he continued. “I do not want you to be like Olivia. It will please me to teach you all I want you to know.”
Her eyes widened at that. “Teach me?” she repeated.
“Yes.” He replied.
Understanding warmed her eyes. “You like that. In some ways, you’re a total throwback, aren’t you? You really like the idea of being my first lover.” She asked.
He didn’t deny the charge. He felt primitive with her. “Your only lover.” He corrected and grinned at her.
She nodded. “My only lover.” She said, and she swayed toward him, her lips soft and inviting. “Then teach me, Dash. Make me yours.”
Her words and the anticipation in her gaze splintered the final thread of his control. He pulled her into his body with less finesse than an oversexed teenager. She didn’t seem to mind; her entire body melded to his and her arms came around him in a hold as fierce as his own.
Covering her mouth with his own, he demanded instant entrance. He got it, penetrating her sweet moistness with all the need tormenting him. In the back of his mind was a voice telling him to slow down, to savor her sweetness, but the primal yearning of his body did not listen. Her tongue shyly dueled with his and small, feminine hands moved to cradle his face while she twisted her satin clad body into him.
Groaning, he swept her up into his arms and marveled at the passion exploding from her small body. She was frightened no longer. It was as if his first touch had dispelled her every concern.
He laid her on the bed and stepped back, his breath coming like an Olympic runner’s after the triathlon. Damn! She was perfect.
She leaned up on her elbows, the tight points of her nipples making shoals in the material. “Dash?”
“If we do not slow down, I will hurt you.” He said. That knowledge was enough to temper the desire raging in his body. He would not hurt her. She was too small. Delicate. He had to be careful.
She sat up and stripped her nightgown down her arms, baring breasts flushed with arousal. Then she extended her hands to him. “Come here, Dash. Please.”
Was this wild wanton his wife, the sweet little Tess that blushed when he spoke too frankly? Her beautiful green eyes were dilated widely; her small body trembled. “I don’t want to go slow.” She added.
“It is your first time.” He replied.
“I know.” She drawled out the word. “And I don’t want the chance to get scared again. When you touch me, nothing exists for me but you.”
He felt a smile come over his face and suddenly his need for satisfaction was almost wholly sublimated by his desire to show her what it felt to be made love to by a man who knew how to savor a woman.
“You will not be scared, baby. You will beg me for my possession and I will give it to you only when you want it more than the air that you breathe.”
Tess shivered at his words, her tongue flicking out nervously to wet her lower lip. She was back to feeling fear despite his assurances, or maybe because of them. It was a sensual fear born from the heated expression in his dark brown eyes. Tonight, there would be no stopping.
He leaned down and tasted her lips. “You are sweet, Tess. Like candy.” He said. “My wife”
His wife. She loved the sound of that and her lips clung to his, but he pulled back to sit at the end of the bed.
Her eyes had closed during the kiss, but opened again. He was looking at her feet. “Dash?”
He lifted her right foot into his hand. “You are very small, Tess.” He said.
“And you aren’t.”
His hand swallowed her. His eyes dared her to imply that was a bad thing while his fingers moved against the sole of her unexpectedly sensitive foot. She didn’t feel like laughing though.
She wasn’t feeling ticklish, she was feeling excited and more so by the second. She moaned as he brushed his thumb over her arch. He smiled and did it again. And again. And again. Then lifted the foot to kiss the instep and she moaned again, this time several decibels higher. What was he doing to her? Feet were not erogenous zones. Were they?
“You smell of wildflowers.” He said.
“Bath salts,” she panted.
He rubbed his lips along her arch, not kissing so much as caressing. “You’re soft like silk.”
He flicked his tongue out and licked. Her toes curled and air hissed out of her lungs on a shattered gasp.
“There are over seven thousand nerve endings in your feet.” He said.
“R-really?” she asked breathlessly and then cried out as he pressed between two of her toes and she felt the reaction in a totally different part of her body.