Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Evangelina ran her fingers along the intricate patterns of white lace that made the garment. Her maid had helped her cinch and situate everything where it ought to be. This confection was more demure than the black one had been, the white made especially for her from scratch by Madame Seraphine so that Evangelina looked like an angel fallen to earth. Her maid had gentled her hair into smooth curls that were still tight and a bit wild, but had a full shape to them as they fell around her shoulders and slipped down her back. Evangelina breathed slowly, letting the picture of herself and her imaginings of how Zeke would react give her confidence.

Zeke had, after she pushed to be included, been careful and clear about making sure his wife was in on every part of the planning and discussion of what was to come. Still, he blunted his words, coating with a light dusting of sugar the worst realities. Evangelina knew he was trying to protect her, and she appreciated the chivalry, but for the first time, she was seeing the possible downsides of a fairytale prince.

Her body ached for the kind of loving he had given her on their second night together. Evangelina knew she had nothing to complain over. Everything had been divine since the dam had broken between them in the DeRoche’s house, but since that night, it hadn’t been nearly as south of heaven as she wanted. He was soft and good and slow with her, but she wanted whatever it was she sensed he held back when he took her in his arms. The next day was the ball, and God only knew what would happen there. Tonight, Evangelina had long decided, she would have her husband and he would have her.

Turning, Evangelina reached for the handle to the door of the small dressing chamber off her husband’s room and pushed into the bedchamber. She wore no robe, nothing to block her from his sight, and so she stopped just inside in order to allow the effect to wash fully over him. Zeke was reclined on their bed, his head bent over a sketchpad, working diligently. Standing there awkwardly for several moments, Evangelina huffed, stalking over to him with little, infuriated stomps on her path.

Evangelina snatched his book from his grasp and slammed it down on the table. “You’ve been treating me like a child in our bedroom.”

Zeke’s eyes widened. “I promise, I don’t behave like this with children.”

Evangelina rolled her eyes dramatically. “Take me seriously, Zeke.”

“I am.”

She came closer, placing her hands on his thighs, leaning into him. “You’ve been tender with me. Gentle.”

His jaw ticked as his eyes roamed her body, suddenly seeming to become aware of what she was wearing, or the lack of it.

“Yes,” came Zeke’s tight response.

“Do you like gentle, Ezekiel?” she ran her hands slowly higher, making his muscles bunch under her touch.

“Yes,” he ground out.

“Always?” Evangelina asked, one of her hands dipping between his legs.

Zeke jerked, her touch electric, and he was far too distracted to lie. “No, not always.”

“Do you think I’m made of glass, Husband?” Evangelina gripped him, and Zeke heard the rush of blood in his ears. “I promise, you will not break me.”

“You’ve been through…” his breath caught as she began to move her hand along his length, shaping him. “A great deal. Several ordeals, in fact. I don’t want to push you.”

Evangelina pried his knees apart and stepped close between his legs, bending herself to press her chest to his, for him to inhale the rosy scent of her, to feel the heat of her breath as she kissed his neck, feather light.

“I want to be pushed, Zeke.” She squeezed, and he saw stars.

He drew in a violent breath – Zeke was fairly sure he hadn’t inhaled since she’d started this. That was the explanation for his lightheadedness. It had to be.

“With what happened last time…” Zeke started, stammered, then tried again. “I made you cry, Eva.”

She pulled back, looking down at him a long moment. “It was what I needed, Zeke, and I am glad it happened. Do you doubt me?”

“No,” he choked out. “But you’re so young and have been through so much–”

“In the last few weeks,” Evangelina cut him off, suddenly stepped back from him, nearly making him cry out at the absence. “I have been more frightened, more vulnerable, and more alive than I have been in the rest of my life put together. I have been married, kidnapped, bedded, and am about to be an accomplice to murder. And here I stand.”

She held her arms out beside herself in illustration. Zeke looked her over. Good lord but she was beautiful; he’d always known that. He’d always felt the deep pull of attraction below his belt, and felt the tug at his heartstrings that she was in danger, that she needed him, even that she wanted him. Now, though, Zeke could not help but see her altogether differently. This small, delicate, lovely creature was a force of nature. And in all the terror and the pain, she had not turned bitter. She was still sweet, playing games and laughing easily, gentle with her mother and his own, understanding of his moods and his work. Evangelina was not naive, not anymore, but she was good, and it made something twist inside Zeke until it snapped. He felt whatever cage in which he’d kept his spirit spring free, and the thing left him to go to her. He could do nothing else but follow.

Zeke rose, coming toward Evangelina. He reached out with both hands, twining their fingers together and drawing near to her. Swallowing hard, Zeke looked down at the miracle of creation who was in his arms.

“I love you,” he said.

“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh, Zeke! Thank you!”

Suddenly, she threw her arms around him and leapt against his frame. He picked her up hugging her close as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. His heart hammered in his chest as she peppered him with kisses, as he waited for the three words he wanted so much to hear from her. But they didn’t come. Evangelina worked her lips along his jaw, to his mouth. She practically leveraged his lips open with hers, and he met her there. His hands worked down, scooping her bottom and forming her to him. But he could feel his heart aching in his chest. Zeke would love her with all his being, there was no help for it, and she would simply like him. It was enough to shatter him.

“What’s wrong?” Evangelina pulled back.

Zeke shook his head. “Nothing.”

Then he moved to kiss her again. Evangelina squirmed out of his grip, surprisingly hard to hold onto. She stepped back, giving them a distance of a couple feet.

“What is it?” Evangelina demanded.

“It’s nothing,” Zeke ran his hand through his hair.

“No, it’s not,” Evangelina counted. “Come now, tell me. We’ve just been through this; you can’t shut me out, and I don’t just mean when we’re plotting vengeance. Now tell me, Zeke.”

Zeke blew out a breath and let the words come rushing with. “I just thought you might say it back but if you don’t feel it I understand and I would never want you to say it just to make me feel better so please don’t ever do that. It’s all right. Really.”

He hadn’t realized he’d dropped eye contact during that little speech until Evangelina put a finger under his chin and lifted his face to hers.

“Oh my love,” she breathed. “Did you think I didn’t feel the same?”

Zeke clenched his jaw. “You didn’t say…”

Evangelina shook her head. “I am so sorry. I thought it was obvious. I didn’t even think you would question…Zeke…”

He watched as her hands, tiny and sweet, dragged down his chest. She ran her fingers along his ribs and to his back, drawing their bodies together in an embrace. Evangelina laid her cheek against his sternum, hearing the powerful thud of his heart under her ear.

“I loved you the first time I saw you,” she whispered. “I loved you when you were my partner for your sister’s parlor game, and when you walked with me in the gardens. I loved you when you danced with me, when you spoke to me, when you laughed with me. I loved you when you offered me your hand to save me like every knight I’d ever read and dreamed about. I loved you when I said our vows and loved you when you didn’t bed me, when you rescued me, and when you finally made love to me. I have loved you with every word, every breath, every ounce of my being, since the moment you walked into my life. I was falling for you, madly, from the first, and there was never any chance for me.”

Suddenly, Zeke scooped her up and carried her toward the bed. She gasped, letting all her apprehensions fall away as he held to her, a long moment of weightlessness before he set her down on the edge and stepped back.

“You don’t want gentle?” his voice was almost dangerous in the low, visceral tone that shot through Evangelina’s anatomy and coiled in her core.

She simply shook her head.

“You want me to treat you like a woman?” Zeke fairly growled.

She nodded.

He prowled toward her once more, sinking to his knees with grace. His large, beautiful hands splayed across her thighs and began working up the sheer skirt, bearing her legs inch by inch. Her breaths came fast, her heart thundering in her chest. He nudged her thighs wider, then dipped his head. Zeke bit softly at the inside of her thigh, then harder, sucking, until she wanted to cry out. Then he relented, soothing the spot with his tongue like a kitten. She felt herself growing molten at the center, responding to his attentions.

He touched her, licked her, caressed her, everywhere but where she needed it most.

“Up,” he ordered.

Evangelina stood, and Zeke quickly removed the attire that had begun to drive him utterly mad. In a moment, she was naked in the full light of a dozen candles, and Zeke was fully clothed. It heated her cheeks, making her flame with embarrassment, and far more, with arousal. He reached out, cupping her breast, pinching the tip until she gasped.

“Too hard?” he asked.

Evangelina shook her head, confused by the reaction of her body. It hurt, but not in the way a pinch hurt on her arm. It hurt in a delicious, aching sort of way, echoing the ache between her legs. It was delicious torture.

“Do you want pleasure, my dear?” Zeke asked, his voice rumbling down her spine.

“Yes,” Evangelina whispered.

“Good,” he rounded his hands along her back, his fingers caressing her spine, before cupping her backside and drawing her up. He spread her thighs with his own, sliding her against him until she was pressed tight to his body at every place. “There you are.”

Evangelina gave an inarticulate whimper as he began to work himself against her, his hands clamping on her hips, moving her in equal and opposite motion to him. Her face flushed violently, her hands fisting the front of his shirt. She could feel the pleasure building, so fast, so hard, it made her gasp. When she was close, Zeke dropped back on the bed, bringing her down to straddle his knee.

“A woman should know how to find her own pleasure,” Zeke growled, giving her access, letting her hips go.

Evangelina moaned, her hips going on, the rhythm ramping up. She was too far gone to be self-conscious, her black, tight curls spilling around her face, her mouth open for the sharp pants of breath that was all she could manage, her pupils blown big and her eyes half-lidded. She was the most beautiful thing Zeke had ever seen. Evangelina crashed against him, her face buried against his shoulder, her hips jerking with the echoes of her finish that wracked through her in delicate, intimate spasms.

Zeke tossed her down then, laying her flat on her back as she attempted to catch her breath. Quickly, Zeke freed himself of his clothing and dropped onto Evangelina, carrying his weight on his elbows as he positioned himself between her legs. She opened her knees wider, lifting them in silent, clear invitation. Zeke bit back a curse at her eagerness, and reached down to guide himself in. One long, smooth stroke, and he was buried to the hilt. Evangelina gasped, clutching at his shoulders. He gave her a moment, let her adjust, before he began to move.

“Please,” she whispered. “Please.”

“What?” he asked her, stilling as he looked down at her face, flushed and soft.

“Don’t stop,” Evangelina trailed her fingers down his back. “Don’t ever stop.”

He didn’t; he didn’t think he could. She was perfect, her body, her mind, her heart, her very soul, was everything to him. Evagelina reared up when he sparked something in her, and he slowed, backing away from the pleasure he knew she was finding. He moved her onto her stomach, lifting her hips to allow her to take him deeper. And Zeke did take her, over and over again, until all she saw was stars behind her eyes and one bout of pleasure melted into the next. He moved her, again and again, until she was not sure where her body was and where his was, their limbs a tangle, her anatomy contorted at unearthly angles that managed to send hot sparks of pleasure through her entire being.

“All right?” he asked, sometime in the center of this cacophony of feeling.

“Yes,” Evangelina gasped, her head back, her hair splayed across his faintly damp chest as he entered her from behind while lying on his back, her body splayed atop his.

Her muscles spasmed with effort, trying to hold onto him, onto the ecstasy, as it built hight and higher in her. She was so close, hovering at the edge of it until desperation made her start to thrash and claw at him.

“Easy,” Zeke whispered into her ear, changing their positions again. “Don’t get overstimulated.”

Evangelina let out a desperate, confused sound, words simply not working. Everything about this man was overwhelming in the best way, and she wanted nothing else but to be pliant in his arms, to do exactly as he wanted from her. It was a strange thing, how being out of control had hurt so much when it was taken from her, but the giving of it freely was a release like no other.

“Come here,” Zeke’s voice was graveled and beautiful as he somehow managed to be lying opposite her, his head by her hip, in only a delirious moment.

His hand, so large and beautiful, splayed across her hip as he opened her legs. Zeke drew her over him so that his mouth hovered just below her center. His tongue flicked out, lapping at her, and Evangelina shouted, not caring how loud, not caring who heard. She felt like she was dying, and yet felt like she would die if he ever stopped. Zeke’s hands gripped her thighs tight, tugging her down so that she was pressed tight against him. Evangelina’s body maneuvered to accommodate him as he moved from slow, sensual movements to something that felt like she was being devoured. Her hips gyrated in time with his exploration, and Evangelina found herself sprawled along his body.

His cock arched up, dark against his belly and glistening, the head just by her lips. Evangelina’s mouth watered, the curiosity overwhelming, until she let her tongue flick out. A strange, salted tang that was not entirely unpleasant filled her senses, while Zeke went utterly still. Pushing on, deciding that he would certainly tell her if she was doing something wrong, Evangelina opened her lips and fashioned them around him. Zeke let out a guttural, half-strangled sound as she did, and Evangelina pulled back, unable to keep her smile away.

“Do you like that?” she asked, hearing the coquette in her voice she’d never gotten to be in a ballroom.

She’d never gotten to tease a man, to juggled her beaux, to be the center of attention of an entire ballroom of gentlemen. But what did that matter when Zeke was hers to tease, hers to bring to the edges of pleasure and go over with him? When she was the center of not only his attention, but his world? He loved her, and that thought more than all the others spurred her on as she bent, sucking softly like he was a sweet candy.

“Yes,” Zeke gasped, the word tearing from him before he pressed himself back to his own task.

Pleasure rippled across Evangelina’s body like goosebumps, but she refused to lose focus as she slid her tongue and lips all over him. She felt his moan vibrate against her core, and with a snap like lighting under her flesh, Evangelina was going to explode. In a movement so sudden, so fast and so graceful, that Evangelina was hardly aware it was happening, Zeke had her on her back again. Her legs wrapped around him as he slid into her with ease, taking up her climax right where he’d left it. Evangelina’s whole body shook with leashed pleasure.

It was unearthly, otherworldly, and it was hers.

When at last she shattered and could take no more, Zeke looked into her face and he came with her, spilling himself deep and hard into her womb. Evangelina sculpted him with her hands as the muscles of his body quivered in release. He was art and artist at once, a living statue, made of warm stone, and able to bring her to life with his skilled touch.