9. Gareth

Alittle whimper sounded from inside my bedroom, and the fear of Serenity having another nightmare had me pushing through the door.

I stopped two steps in, another of her soft whimpers locking up every muscle I had.

My eyes adjusted to the darkened bedroom, only a few slivers of moonlight bleeding in through the slatted blinds over the windows across the room. The lines of silver draped over the bed, illuminating Serenity…

Her eyes were closed, her pink lips parted open as she moved on the bed, a hand buried beneath the silk of her shorts.

Jesus fucking Christ.

The blood ran hot in my veins, and I knew I needed to turn around, needed to get out of there before she noticed I’d come into the room. This was private. An intimate exploration on her behalf, and goddamn, it was sexy as hell, but…

I turned around as slowly as I could, ready to head quietly out the door like I’d never been here. I’d jump into a cold shower and shock the hauntingly tempting images out of my brain?—

“Gareth,” Serenity whispered.

I turned back around, thinking she’d spotted me, an apology already forming on my lips?—

“God, Gareth,” she moaned this time, and my cock instantly hardened.

She was thinking of me?

I swallowed hard, allowing myself to look over her again, this time with more of a primal gaze, like her saying my name had been an invitation.

Fuck, she was perfection. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the taste of her on my lips since our first night in this house. Since I’d thoroughly distracted her.

She rocked into herself, lifting her ass off the bed to meet her hand with more force, just like I’d told her to over a week ago.

My knees about buckled.

“Yes, Gareth,” she said.

“What are you thinking about over there, angel?” I finally broke.

Her eyes snapped open, her motions abruptly stopping as she spotted me, now at the foot of the bed.

I held her stare, surveying the flurry of emotions crossing her face. Embarrassment was there, shock for sure, and then something smoothed out, and she…

Fuck me, she started moving her hand again.

“You,” she said, almost like a challenge. “I’m thinking about you.”

Goddamn.

“Thinking what, exactly?” I urged her, my voice rough as I tried to keep it together. I braced my hands on the bedpost, using it to keep me right where I was.

She sighed, still moving against herself.

“I’m thinking…” She hesitated a moment. I wasn’t about to push her, but I was hanging on by a thread. “I’m thinking about how good you would feel inside me.”

A low growl rumbled in my chest.

“Serenity,” I pleaded.

“I’m thinking about how you made me feel alive our first night here. How just looking at you sometimes can make me ache in all sorts of ways,” she continued.

“Angel,” I groaned.

Her breath caught as she continued to explore herself. “I’m thinking about how badly I want you. It’s like I can’t breathe unless you touch me. And it’s not because you’re my husband or because you’re protecting me. I’ve felt like this since the moment my hair got caught in your cufflinks at the poker game. Since you held me to free it. I’ve wanted you since then. And it’s only gotten worse. I’m achy, Gareth. And stretched tight. Nothing I do is as good as what you do to me.”

Fuck me. She’d wanted me before she called in the favor?

“I’m thinking you feel the same way,” she said. “And I wish so badly, even if it’s just this once, that you’ll show me what it’s like to be in a normal relationship…to be wanted and desired in the way married couples do.”

Every inch of my ice-cold resolve cracked with her words.

How could I deny her anything?

I’d wanted to claim her as mine since the second she’d walked into my life, and it’d only gotten worse the more I got to know her. There was a courageous, compassionate, fierce woman underneath the shy, guarded exterior she was forced to display to the world, and I loved that she trusted me enough to be herself.

She felt safe enough with me to ask for what she wanted.

And I’d been an asshole denying her at every turn.

I didn’t want to pretend like this was just a favor anymore. Pretend I wasn’t a selfish bastard who didn’t want to consume her the way she consumed my every thought. I’d never been the perfect gentleman, and I’d never be the man worthy of her affection, but in this…I could give her this.

Couldn’t I?

Slowly, I unbuttoned my shirt, sliding it off before tossing it behind me. I dropped my pants next, pride pumping through me at the little hitch in Serenity’s breathing as she watched me lose my boxer-briefs.

My cock sprung free, all hard and on display for her.

“You see what you do to me?” I asked, fisting my length for emphasis. I climbed onto the bed, dipping down to kiss her exposed thigh, then her soft stomach, and higher until I reached her lips.

I took my time with her mouth, feeling her tremble beneath me.

“We don’t have to do this,” I whispered, drawing back enough to meet her eyes. “You’re in control with me, angel. Tell me to stop, and I will.”

“I want you, Gareth,” she whispered back, arching her hips. The silk of her shorts grazed the tip of my dick, and I shuddered. “I’m ready. I trust you. And I know you think I can’t handle you, but I can. Whatever you need from me. I want to give you everything you want.”

Fuck me, this woman. She saw me to the core, knew me so well in such a short amount of time.

“You’re sure?” I asked again, needing utter clarification. It didn’t matter that she’d been begging me to fuck her since before we got married. She was a virgin. I didn’t take that shit lightly.

“I’m sure,” she said without a hint of hesitation.

She reached down between us, using both hands to touch me. I thrust into her soft, delicate hands, barely holding back a groan because it felt so damn good.

“But,” she said, and I immediately locked my body in place above her.

She continued exploring the length of my cock, her touches curious and sweet.

“But?” I asked.

“I don’t know if what I do will be…good for you.” There was an air of worry in her tone that about broke my fucking heart.

I thrust into her hands again. “Everything you do is good for me, Serenity,” I said. “You’re way too good for me, in fact.”

“Stop,” she pleaded.

“There is nothing you could do that would be wrong,” I assured her. “And besides,” I continued. “You’re with me. Don’t you know I’m going to take care of you?”

Excitement flashed in her eyes, and I dipped down, capturing her mouth in mine.

She’d consented, she’d assured me she wanted this, and I was done denying her. It wasn’t in my nature. I was shocked as hell I’d held out this long. There wasn’t anything in the world I wouldn’t do for Serenity, and that fact probably should’ve terrified me, but at the moment, all I could feel was need.

I kissed her until she was breathless, then I moved down to her breasts, first sliding off her top to give me full access. Her shorts were next, leaving her completely bare to me, and I lifted off the bed just enough to get a good look at her.

“Fuck, Serenity,” I said. “You’re so damn beautiful.” I told her that last time, but she needed to hear it again. She needed to know how damn amazing she was every chance I got.

My pulse thrummed hard in my veins, my cock twitching as I worked my kisses down to her pussy. I was more than ready to sink into her, to pump into her until she trembled around me, but this wasn’t the time for quick and hard.

I needed to make sure she was ready.

I licked her from opening to clit, lapping up her flavor like a starved man. I groaned against her warm flesh, relishing the taste of her desire on my tongue. She was already wet, her fingers having started what I would now finish.

She jolted slightly as I teased her swollen clit with my tongue. “Sensitive, angel?” I asked.

“Yes,” she breathed the word.

I grinned and did it again, lighter this time. She arched into my mouth, needy for more.

So I gave it to her.

I pumped my tongue into her sweet pussy like I would with my cock, thrusting it in and out until she was gasping. Then I sucked her clit into my mouth with just the right amount of pressure?—

“Gareth,” she sighed, her fingers in my hair as she came on my tongue.

My heart pounded against my chest, desire slamming through me at the way she came undone under my mouth.

I kissed her inner thighs, taking my time as I worked my way back up to her mouth.

“Please,” she begged, reaching for my cock. “I need you.”

I shuddered above her, those words almost breaking me. “I need to make sure you’re ready,” I said, trailing my fingers over her breasts, teasing her nipples until they were peaked.

Moving lower, I dragged my fingers through her slit, and smiled down at the little jolt of her hips from my touch. She was drenched, but I wasn’t exactly small. I needed to make sure she was prepared. Plus, it was too much fucking fun making her come in as many ways as possible.

I slipped a finger inside her, kissing her gasp away before I added another one, stretching her. Slowly, I pumped them inside her, dragging them in and out as I memorized every flutter, every arch of her hips, every unintelligible moan.

“Gareth,” she moaned after only a few moments.

I dragged my thumb over her clit. “Already?” I asked, grinning against her lips.

“Yes,” she breathed. “I’m?—”

I curled my fingers inside her while pressing my thumb down. Her words cut off into a moan as she clenched around me. She arched into my hand over and over again as she came.

“I…you’re…God, your hands. Your mouth.”

I kissed her quickly before rolling slightly, grabbing a condom from the nightstand and putting it on.

“Tell me you’re sure again,” I asked as I settled between her thighs.

She reached up, cupping my hands with her face. “I’m sure,” she said. “I want you. Gareth, please.”

I reached down, guiding my cock through her slickness, dipping in just an inch before pulling out.

“More,” she demanded.

“Fuck,” I groaned. “I’m trying to go slow.”

“You’ve been going slow for over a month,” she said, almost aggravated, which was adorable as hell.

I swirled my cock around her clit, and she forgot whatever argument she’d been building up to. I teased her entrance too, testing all of my internal restraints as I slid in an inch or two and then pulled back again, repeating the dance until we were both strung tight, sweat slicking our bodies from the anticipation.

Serenity widened her hips, arching them as I teased her until I sank in farther than before. She gasped, and I held still, watching her every reaction. The last thing I wanted to do was hurt her.

“More,” she said again.

I sunk in another inch, holding myself as still as possible so she could adjust to my size.

“More,” she demanded.

I watched her face, sinking in until I bottomed out inside her. My muscles shook with the effort it took to hold still. Fuck, she was slick, silken heat around me.

Her brow pinched, but she breathed deeply, her pussy fluttering around my cock as her desire thrummed through her.

And then she arched her hips, moving against me with a little gasp of pleasure that snapped everything inside me.

I slid an arm beneath her, holding myself up with the other so I could watch her face as I slowly pulled out and pumped into her again.

“Omigod,” she sighed. “You feel so good.”

I did it again, loving the way her lips fell open with each stroke I delivered.

“You’re so fucking amazing, Serenity,” I groaned, pumping into her. “Look at you, angel.” I raised up higher so she could look down her body to where we connected. “Look at how well you take my cock. Like you were made for it.”

“I like the way that looks,” she said, her nails digging into my chest where her hands were braced as she watched me fuck her.

“You like that?” I asked, grinning with pure male pride at the lust churning in her eyes as she watched my cock slide in and out of her. “You like watching me fuck you, angel?”

“Yes,” she sighed. “God, yes.” Her nails dug into me a bit harder, the pain adding to the pleasure coursing beneath my skin, and I thrust into her harder than I meant to.

I instantly slowed, checking myself as I looked at her.

“Again,” she gasped. “Do that again.”

“Serenity—”

She dug her nails into me again, and I obeyed, pumping into her harder.

Her head fell back, a pleasured whimper escaping her lips.

So I did it again.

Her pussy fluttered around my cock in the best fucking way.

“Goddamn, angel,” I groaned, pumping into her harder and faster with each confident urging from her.

“Gareth,” she whimpered, and I covered her mouth with mine, kissing her as hard as I fucked her, loving how slick she was around me, my wife’s pleasure building and building again.

I thrust into her, making sure the angle I held her at gave her swollen, sensitive clit all the attention it needed. And after a few more pumps, she clenched around me so hard I lost all control, her orgasm drawing mine out right along with hers.

“Fuck,” I groaned, lightning shooting down my spine as I came harder than I ever had before. I kept pumping, working her through the aftershocks until we both were breathless.

She raked her fingers through my hair, her lips parting but no words coming out.

I grinned at her, kissing her quickly before I pulled out of her as gently as I could. I rolled off the bed, returning in moments with a towel, gently cleaning her up before settling back down beside her.

“That was…” Her voice trailed off, her eyes bliss-drenched and just this side of sleepy. “Better than I ever imagined.”

My chest puffed up at that declaration, and I never knew those words could be so affirming for me. I loved making her happy. Knew I wanted to keep making her happy.

Which meant I was in a heap of fucking trouble.

Serenity curled up next to me, and after several minutes, her breathing evened to a deep sleep. I scooted out of the bed, knowing sleep would be far from catching me, and headed to my home office.

I picked up the phone, dialing Dante’s number.

He picked up on the second ring, despite how late it was.

“You in trouble?”

“Not the kind you’re thinking,” I admitted.

He sighed, waiting.

“For the first time,” I said. “I’ve broken my word. There’s no going back now. Triple the efforts against the Irish.”

“No shit?”

“No shit,” I said. “Find the price, Dante. Whatever they want for her freedom. I’ll pay it.”

“Fuck, little brother,” he said. “Are you in love with the Irish Princess?”

I swallowed hard. “Find it for me, will you?”

“I’m working on it.”

I blew out a breath. “Whatever you need, let me know.”

“Will do,” he said. “Be smart. Be safe.”

“Always.”

We hung up, the action feeling like I’d just given the go-ahead to start an all-out war.

But Serenity was more than fucking worth it.