The Seduction

by Shay Savage

  Though he had done much the same in the arena after he had chosen me, I cried out in surprise and covered my mouth with my hand. Branford chuckled softly as he carried me to the bed and lay me on my back before crawling over the top of me. He kissed me again, gripping the side of my head as his tongue explored my mouth. He paused, slowed, and then stopped. His eyes remained closed as he took several deep breaths before opening them and smiling down at me.

  “I want you so much,” he whispered, and I could not deny the intensity of his words. They both thrilled and terrified me. “Since the moment I laid eyes on you…when I pulled you close to me on my horse…I wanted you then. So beautiful, so soft…”

  He sucked my lower lip into his mouth, tracing the edge of it with his tongue before releasing me, only to kiss me deeper as his fingers went to the lacings at the top of the nightdress. Obviously, there had been no need to lace it up, for the laces were removed only moments later. He didn’t pull it open though. He just lay his hand on my shoulder, his fingers teasing softly under the edge of the cloth.

  “Touch me.” His voice was pleading.

  I placed my hand on his shoulder, splaying my fingers out against his warm flesh. It didn’t stay there long, though, as Branford’s fingers wrapped loosely around my wrist, and he pulled my hand down off his shoulder and across his chest. He brought it all the way down to his stomach where I could feel the lines of muscle I had admired earlier as well as a light sprinkling of hair across his skin.

  “Touch me,” he repeated, and rolled over onto his back, bringing me over to my side. He held my hand flat against his abdomen as we moved and then released my wrist, placing his fingers atop my own. He started pushing my hand lower, and I felt the fabric of his white linen pants against the tips of my fingers.

  As his intentions became apparent to me, I felt my breath catch in my throat. He wanted my hand on him—he wanted me to touch that strange, masculine part of him that was meant to open the way for me to bear his children.

  “Touch me, Alexandra,” he said again. “Please, I won’t hurt you…just touch me.”

  I had felt it before—pushed up against my stomach at times when he was full of desire and need. But to do this…to actually touch his male flesh with my hand? I felt a cold shiver race between my shoulder blades, and if his hand had not been on top of mine, I probably would have pulled away. At the same time, I found myself strangely intrigued. What would it feel like in my hand? What would it look like? I had never seen a man without his clothing and had never given much thought what he looked like underneath. Earlier, Branford had told me he wanted to see me—to see me bare. It was something he desired, and I found myself wondering what he looked like as well.

  “You don’t have to, Alexandra,” Branford said. I looked up to meet his gaze. His lips turned up in his half smile. “But I am your husband, and at some point, you will become fairly familiar with it.”

  I knew I had to be blushing a deeper crimson than I ever had before. Branford chuckled softly and then brought his lips to my forehead.

  “Whenever you want to,” he said. “It’s not going anywhere, I promise.”

  “I just…I mean…I never…”

  “I should hope not,” Branford said with mock indignation. “I would be quite affronted if I ever heard of any man getting close enough to you to show you such a thing.”

  I smiled, and then a giggle escaped my mouth. I turned my face into Branford’s chest since his hand prevented me from covering my laughter with my fingers.

  “Do you want me to help?” he asked quietly.

  “Help?” I could barely hear my own voice. Without another word, Branford used his hand to push mine lower. I felt the edge of his trousers at first, and then my fingers came into contact with the very end of him, round and bulging under his clothes. He didn’t pause but continued to move my hand lower until my fingers rested on top of it with only the thin linen separating my flesh from his.

  I closed my eyes and pressed my teeth against my bottom lip. Even through the fabric of his pants, I could feel the heat of him in my palm. I heard Branford’s shuddering breath, and he moved my hand all the way down to the base and then back up to the tip. It was warm, and it was hard, and it was…huge.

  There was no way…no possible way…it couldn’t…it couldn’t…

  “Of course it will, my wife,” Branford said softly. I had no idea I had spoken aloud. “Your body is made to accept me into you. God made us this way to join together, to bring forth children and to bring each other pleasure. It is His gift to us.”

  The top of my hand went cold as he released my fingers and brought his hand to my cheek. He kissed me softly, and when I opened my eyes, he was staring at me.

  “I want to touch you,” he said. “I want to feel your skin in my hands—feel your warmth, your softness. I want to kiss your mouth, your neck, the hollow of your throat. I want to kiss your shoulder, where I…where I hurt you. I want to kiss your breasts and suck them into my mouth while my hands explore your body. I want to make you feel like you never have before.”

  I trembled at his words, and I felt that spot between my legs begin to tingle. Branford’s hand began to push back the front of my nightdress, opening it fully and removing the laces from the holes where they once held my clothing closed. My mind was spinning as he reached the end of the ties and fully pushed away the fabric of the dress, and it fell back from my shoulders.

  “So beautiful,” he murmured before he kissed my mouth again, his tongue pushing between my lips and colliding with mine. He kissed me deeply, over and over again before he moved his mouth to my chin, across my jaw, and up to my ear. He sucked the lobe into his mouth a moment and then blew warm air across my skin. He rolled his body to the side, pressing his hard length against my hand, and I started to pull away, but he grasped my wrist again and held me in place. His lips were against my hair as he took a deep breath through his nose and let it out slowly.

  “Your hand feels so good there,” he said so quietly I could barely hear him. He let go of me and raised himself to his knees, once again pulling me with him. My hand fell away, feeling quite cold. As I knelt on the bed facing him, he placed his lips against my throat. He ran his hands up my arms, from my wrists all the way to my shoulders. He carefully avoided the mark on my shoulder, but as his fingers moved past it, he kissed down my neck and over to the mark. He brushed it softly with his lips as his eyes squeezed shut for a moment. He pushed the sleeves of my nightdress down my arms and over my hands, pulling them free once again. He caught my wrist in his hand and brought my arm out in front of my body.

  In the dim candlelight, the bruises on my arm were hardly visible, but he found them anyway. His eyes narrowed, and his brow creased as he examined them, and then he kissed them gently with the same strained look across his face.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered in the darkness. “Never again, Alexandra. I swear.”

  I cupped his face. The rough stubble of his beard felt good against my palms.

  “I know,” I said. He sighed and looked into my eyes again. I tried to hold his gaze unwaveringly though it was difficult to look him in the eye for so long. My mind told me to look away from him—I was being disrespectful—but as I watched his gaze soften and his slight smile return, I knew it was what he wanted.

  “Lie down,” Branford said softly. He gazed intently at me as he moved forward slightly. He kept his mouth against my throat as I lay down on my back, his hands guiding me slowly to the mattress. Once I was situated, he stroked my body in one, long movement—from my shoulders, down my chest, over my breasts and down to my stomach. My muscles tightened involuntarily, and I heard my breath hitch. I felt warm air from his mouth over the skin of my shoulder, across my collarbone, and then to the pebbled flesh of my nipple. He sucked it into his mouth as I moaned quietly. My legs shifted of their own volition, trying to find…something.

  It felt as though his fingers were dancing over my skin, and I soon found my body sh
ifting under him, wanting more of his touch. He moved his lips to my other breast, first sucking and then blowing cool air over the tip, causing me to shiver.

  “Do you like that?” he asked quietly. I nodded quickly, afraid of what might come out if I opened my mouth. “I’m going to kiss you lower now.”

  My mind reeled as he moved to the valley between my breasts before kissing in a straight line down to my navel, where he dipped his tongue, and I shivered again. I closed my eyes and felt his mouth reach the edge of the fabric where the nightdress’s laces ended. I stiffened, nervous again, but he only kissed the place where the clothing met my skin—traveling from the middle of my stomach, over to my hipbone, then all the way to the other side. He kissed my navel again and then slowly made his way back up my body until he captured my lips with his.

  I gasped for breath as he finally released me though he did not appear to be finished. He trailed up my jaw and sucked the lobe of my ear.

  “Your skin tastes so good to me,” he whispered. His hot breath coated my throat. “You keep moving your legs, my wife. Tell me what you feel there…between them. Tell me.”

  “I…I don’t know,” I whispered. The strange tingling increased, obviously reacting to his words and touch.

  “Do you like the way it feels?”

  “Yes.” I moaned. He moved his hand slowly down my arm, over my elbow, and down to my wrist. “But it…it feels…”

  “How does it feel?” he asked when my own words eluded me. He caressed the curve of my hip over the top of the thin material of the dress.

  “Do you want me to touch you?” Branford’s words echoed through my ears as his mouth sucked gently at the skin of my neck. “Like you touched me? Do you want me to give you more of what you’re feeling there now?”

  “Yes.” My voice actually squeaked. My body tensed in anticipation though I did not know for what. Branford moved his hand to the front of my thigh, making slow circles with his thumb and warming the skin below the cloth. I felt him shift, and his thumb was suddenly there, at the apex of my thighs, and I heard myself cry out.

  “Let yourself feel it, Alexandra,” he whispered with his mouth close to my ear again. “Don’t think…just feel.”

  The first two fingers of his hand crept slowly between my legs, stroking downward and pushing the cloth into the creases of my sex. They stroked up and down as his thumb continued in a slow circle around the top. He pushed a little harder, and I stifled a cry as my hands came up and gripped his shoulders.

  “There you go,” he said. His voice sounded deep and husky. “Don’t fight it…hold me as tight as you wish.”

  I was starting to pant, and I felt tiny drops of moisture at the back of my neck. His other hand caressed my breast, mimicking the movements of his thumb over the nipple, and I gasped again. My nipples started to tingle as well, much like the feeling between my legs but not quite as intense. At the same time, the feeling lower down began to intensify, and my hips tilted up against his touch, and I could feel wetness there between my legs as his fingers continued to move with me.

  Branford cupped his hand a little lower though the pressure from his thumb remained constant. He curled his fingers, pressing firmly but gently into the fabric at the top of my legs. My panting increased, and I felt wetness trickle down my neck. The strange tingling began to steadily intensify until I started to whimper steadily under my breath, and my hips started moving in time with his ministrations.

  “Just feel it, Alexandra,” Branford whispered in my ear. His lips made a line of open-mouthed, wet kisses down my throat and back to my breasts. He sucked one into his mouth again, and I gasped, my whimpers turning to cries. “Let it happen…just let go…feel my touch on you…”

  His teeth grazed my nipple, and the shock of the sensation took the building feeling between my legs and magnified it a thousand-fold. I heard myself scream incoherently though I may have been trying to call out his name. My fingers dug into the skin on Branford’s back, and I may very well have left marks on him as the shuddering, cascading, incredibly staggering sensations collided throughout my body from that one, small spot underneath Branford’s thumb. I raised my shoulders from the bed, crying out again as another wave rapidly shook through me. My legs clasped together, holding his hand firmly between them, and spots of color danced around my tightly closed eyes.

  My body released one final shudder, and my head dropped down against the pillow. Branford released my nipple, and he trailed soft kisses up my chest to my throat and finally my mouth. He kissed me slowly and then wrapped his warm arms around me and rolled onto his back, taking me with him. I settled my still stunned body up against his and tried to relax as his hand roamed over my back. I felt his lips press against my hair, then cascade down my jawline and back up again. He kissed the spot behind my ear before speaking softly.

  “That is what you desire from me.” His breath was warm but still sent shivers through my arms and legs. “If at all possible, I want to be able to give that to you every night for the rest of forever.”

  And that is when I learned why husbands and wives went to bed so early.

  ~End Book 2~

  Order Book 3—The Consummation today!

  Author’s Notes

  Alexandra is finally starting to figure it out! Are you looking forward to “the deed” as much as I am? Stop by my facebook group and let me know!

  Preorder Unexpected Circumstances Book 3—The Consummation on Amazon today!

  More Books by Shay Savage

  Surviving the Storm Series:

  Surviving Raine

  Bastian’s Storm

  Evan Arden Series:

  Otherwise Alone

  Otherwise Occupied

  Uncockblockable (a Nick Wolfe story)

  Otherwise Unharmed

  Isolated

  Irrevocable

  Stand Alone Works:

  Transcendence

  Offside

  Worth

  Alarm

  Commodity

  Kandace and the Beast

  Specimen

  Novella Collection:

  Savaged

  Caged Trilogy:

  Takedown Teague

  Trapped

  Released

  Unexpected Circumstances Series:

  The Handmaid

  The Seduction

  The Consummation

  The Shortcoming

  About the Author

  Shay Savage lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her family and a variety of household pets. She is an accomplished public speaker and holds the rank of Distinguished Toastmaster from Toastmasters International. When not writing, she enjoys spending her weekends off-roading in her bright yellow jeep, watching science fiction movies, masquerading as a zombie, and participating as a HUGE Star Wars fan and member of the 501st Legion of Stormtroopers. When the geek fun runs out, she also loves soccer in any and all forms—especially the Columbus Crew, Arsenal, and Bayern Munich. Savage holds a degree in psychology, and she brings a lot of that knowledge into the characters within her stories.

  Website: http://www.shaysavage.com/

  Webstore: http://www.shaysavage.com/#!merchandise/cw7q

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShaySavage7289

  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5160667.Shay_Savage

  Twitter: @savage7289

  Blog: http://shaysavage.blogspot.com/