he levered himself down, resting on his forearms, never breaking away from her eyes.
“Okay?”
She smiled. “Very okay.”
“You’re beautiful, Ash. So very beautiful. So innocent and perfect and mine.”
His. The possessive growl in his voice thrilled her and sent another cascade of pleasure through her body.
“Yes, yours,” she whispered.
“Tell me how close you are. I want to make sure you’re with me. I can’t hold off much longer.”
“Then don’t.” Her voice shook. She was nearly beyond the ability to think much less speak. Her body was taut. Her senses were shattered and she was so very close to losing all control. Just one touch. One more touch …
He gathered her close and thrust again. And then again. He forced her thighs farther apart, plunged deeper and she lost all sense of herself.
She cried out his name. Heard him murmur close to her ear. Soothing. Comforting. Telling her beautiful things she could barely make sense of. She was spiraling at a dizzying speed, faster and faster until she closed her eyes.
It was the single most beautiful, spectacular sensation she could imagine. She’d wanted wonderful, but this far surpassed even her most erotic fantasies.
When she regained at least a modicum of sanity, she was firmly wrapped in Devon’s embrace and his mouth was moving lightly over her neck. For that matter she was on top of him. Her hair was flung to one side while he nuzzled at the curve of her shoulder, moving up and down to just below her ear and back to her shoulder.
She raised her head to stare down at him, still feeling a little fuzzy around the edges. “How did I get here?”
He smiled and slid his hands over her naked body. They stopped at her behind and he squeezed affectionately. “I put you here. I like you covering me. I could get used to it.”
“Oh.”
He raised one eyebrow. “Speechless? You?”
She sent him a disgruntled look but was too wasted to follow up with any sort of admonishment. Okay, so obviously she was speechless.
He chuckled and pulled her down against him. She settled over him with a sigh and he rubbed his palm over her back, stroking and caressing as she lay draped over him like a wet noodle.
“Did I hurt you?”
She smiled at the concern in his voice. “No. It was perfect, Dev. So perfect I can’t even find the words to describe it. Thank you.”
He lifted a strand of hair and lazily twined his fingers around it. “Thank you? I don’t think I’ve ever been thanked by a woman after sex.”
“You made my first time special,” she said quietly. “It was perfect. You were perfect.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I’m glad.”
She yawned against his chest and cuddled deeper into his hold.
“Go to sleep,” he murmured. “I want you to sleep here tonight.”
Her eyes were incredibly heavy, and she was already drifting off when his directive registered in her consciousness.
“Want to sleep here, too,” she mumbled.
His fingers stilled in her hair and then his hands wandered down her body, bold and possessive. “That’s good, Ash, because from now on, you’ll sleep every night in my bed.”
Three
Devon woke to the odd sensation of a female body wrapped around him. Not just wrapped but completely and utterly surrounding him.
Ashley was draped across him, her legs tangled with his, her breasts flattened against his chest, her arm thrown across his body and her face burrowed into his neck.
He … liked it.
He lay there a long while watching the soft rise and fall of her body as she slept soundly across him. She was really quite beautiful in an unsophisticated, effervescent way. She lit up a room when she walked in. You could always pick her out of a crowd. She was extremely … natural. Perhaps a bit too exuberant and unrestrained but in time with the proper guidance, she’d be an excellent wife and mother.
He ran the tips of his finger lightly up her arm. She was pale. Not so pale she looked unhealthy, but it was obvious she wasn’t a sun bunny, nor did she indulge in salon tanning. Perhaps what he liked most about her was that she looked the same no matter when he saw her. Though she wore makeup, she didn’t wear so much that she was transformed into someone completely different when they went out.
Glossy lips and a touch of coal to already long, lush lashes seemed to be all she did, but then he was hardly an expert on women’s gunk.
But she didn’t seem fake. At least not that he could tell. Yet. Who knew what the future would bring. He liked to think she wasn’t an accomplice in this ridiculous plan of her father’s even when he knew it was best for all parties involved to know the entire story from the start.
The selfish bastard in him liked the idea that she felt affection for him, free of machinations. If her words from the night before weren’t merely a result of being overwhelmed in the moment, affection was perhaps the wrong term. She’d said she loved him.
It both complicated the matter and gave him a certain amount of satisfaction.
While he may approach the marriage as a matter of necessity, convenience and a chance at a successful business venture, the idea that she would be coming into the marriage for the same reasons bothered him immensely.
It made him a flaming hypocrite but he was happy for her to want him because she desired him and yes, even loved him.
First, however, he had to get the preliminaries out of the way. One of which was making their upcoming nuptials official. She didn’t know it yet, but she would become Mrs. Devon Carter.
He carefully extricated himself from the tangle of arms and legs, but he needn’t have worried because she slept soundly, only wrinkling her nose and mumbling something in her sleep when he slipped away completely.
He pulled on his robe and glanced back at the bed. For a moment he was transfixed by the image she presented. The sun streamed through the window across the room and bathed her in its warm glow.
Her blond hair was tousled and spread out over his pillow. One arm shielded most of her breasts from view, but there, just below her elbow, one nipple peeked out. The sheet slid to just over her buttocks but bared the dimple just below the small of her back.
She was indeed beautiful. And now she was his.
He dug into the pocket of the jacket he’d discarded the night before to retrieve the box with the ring in it and then quietly left the room. When she awoke, he’d put into place the next part of his carefully orchestrated plan.
Ashley stirred and stretched lazily, blinking when the sun momentarily blinded her. She kept her eyes shut for a moment, simply enjoying the warmth and comfort of the sumptuous bed. Devon’s bed.
She sighed in contentment. As virginal deflowering went, that had to top the list of all-time most awesome. How could it possibly have been any better? A wonderful night. Romantic dinner for two. Devon staring at her with those gorgeous eyes and murmuring that she would now be his. Oh, yeah, perfect.
Then she realized that he was no longer in bed with her and she opened her eyes with a frown. Only to see him standing just across the room. Staring at her.
He was clad in a robe, though it dangled loosely, open just enough that she could see his bare chest. He was leaning against the doorway to the bathroom and he was simply watching her. For some reason that sent a giddy thrill up her spine.
Then a flash of color caught her eye