by Londyn Skye
James subtly nodded in response, shaking the tears further down his cheeks.
Wanting to return his mind to the present, Lily took the bobby pin out of her hair and let her tresses fall to her shoulders. James’s mind indeed quickly refocused on what stood before him. With her body silently calling him, he easily rose to his feet without his cane. He stepped forward, ran his fingers through her soft hair, and rested his forehead against hers. Lily then untied his robe and slid it down his body.
“God, I missed the feelin’ of your skin against mine,” James whispered, slowly sliding his hands around Lily’s waist. He gently pulled her in and pressed her body flush against his. The rush of warmth made him feel as though his bruises had instantly healed. “I’s afraid I’d neva’ hold you like this again,” he confessed, tightening his embrace.
“So was I,” Lily whispered back, laying her head on his shoulder.
The transfer of heat to one another’s skin had them mutually melting. The tender caress of James’s powerful hands sent an explosion of butterflies rippling through Lily’s stomach. Lily’s warmth and softness naturally ignited a need for more erogenous stimulation in James. He descended on her lips, tenderly sucking them into his mouth one at a time, slowly savoring the flavor of each. He pulled back and glided his tongue along the curve of her upper lip before devouring them both again. The fiery way their mouths then began making love set their bodies ablaze.
With the heat in James’s body quickly rising to boiling levels, he had to force himself to pull back from kissing Lily. Panting heavily, he gazed at her, feeling disbelief that he had yet to wake up from what felt like a dream. The way Lily reciprocated the gaze proved her mind was in sync with his. Overjoyed that he was no illusion, she sensually smiled as she ran her finger across his swollen, red lips. James kissed her hand, then took hold of it and guided her toward the massive garden tub to help simmer their flaming bodies.
Normally, when they bathed together, it was James who held Lily in his arms, washing and caressing her like she was his queen. But just as James was about to step inside the tub, Lily stopped him. “Me first.” She touched his face. “I wanna take care ‘a my soldier this time.”
James smiled back at her and nodded as he helped her into the tub first. Lily then returned the favor. She held his arm to help him stay balanced as he carefully stepped inside. Lily immersed her body in the warm, bubble-filled water and waited for James to join her. He slowly settled in between her legs, resting his back against her chest, careful to keep his wound above the water. He moaned lightly when Lily wrapped her arms around him and kissed the side of his neck.
As they relaxed in the soothing suds this time, Lily began washing James’s hair, just as he used to do for her. When she was finished, she slowly ran a sponge up and down his sunbaked skin, kissing his neck and shoulders all the while. She gently cleaned his leg wound, then let him lay back and relax against her again. She suddenly let the sponge float away, slid her hands down James’s chest, to his stomach, then in between his thighs. James’s breathing quickened when Lily began gently suckling his neck while stroking his erection. She intentionally took her time, wanting to ensure his pleasure overrode his pain. The way his head fell back onto her shoulders, his mouth agape and his eyes closed, seemed proof that there was not an ounce of pain riddling his body. The sound of his manly groans so close to Lily’s ear, easily coaxed her inner lioness to come out and play. Her soft suckling immediately turned into playful bites and nips, as her stroking hand picked up pace. The deepening sound of James’s moans signaled to Lily that he was nearing eruption. With his earlobe clenched in her teeth, she quickly ceased all stroking and let her man’s body calm from a rolling boil back into a simmer. “Can’t wait to feel this inside ‘a me,” she whispered seductively, finally letting go of his erection.
Another guttural grunt escaped James as his rock-hard appendage suddenly protruded from the water, proving he could not wait either.
Lily devilishly smiled at the pulsating toy that awaited her. She kissed James’s neck, then slid out from behind him and exited the tub. James stayed put for the moment and watched her with his mouth agape. His eyes remained pasted on her as she provocatively dried herself. She then intentionally turned around and slowly leaned down to dry her legs, placing the most treasured part of her body directly in James’s line of view. After so many torturous years without her, James literally began to drool over the glorious sight. “My God,” he moaned, momentarily frozen in wide-eyed wonderment.
Desperate to reunite with his beloved woman, James’s hardened flesh began mercilessly throbbing. The overpowering need to bury himself between her thighs caused him to effortlessly rise and step out of the bathtub, like he had two perfectly good legs. His hands were quickly drawn to Lily’s posterior cheeks, like metal to powerful magnets. He slid them from her buttocks, up her back, and onto her shoulders. At that moment, it was all James could do to refrain from slamming himself inside of Lily and unleashing his seed in a single stroke. With the ounce of willpower he had left, he quickly turned her around and devoured her lips, kissing her like his hunger for her would never be satiated. The fervor of his prolonged kiss left Lily’s insides pulsating just as mercilessly as the brick hard erection pressed against her pelvis.
“Did you miss makin’ love to me?” Lily breathlessly moaned, after breaking the intense meeting of their lips.
James pulled back and gazed at her, his eyes suddenly brimming with tears. “I missed everything about you too, Lily … absolutely everything,” he whispered, caressing her face.
Not expecting such a reply, Lily’s eyes instantly misted with tears as well. She took James by the hand and guided him back into the bedroom. His limp seemed far less noticeable with his woman by his side, leading them back to the first place they had ever made love. Hand in hand, they made their way up the two steps of the stage-like platform where the king-size bed sat. Considering his condition, Lily let James lie back on the bed first. He laid there gazing up at Lily’s nude body through a set of mesmerized eyes while gently caressing her buttocks. The awestruck look on his face was equivalent to a man witnessing an angel materializing before his eyes. “Forgive me for starin’,” he said. “I’m afraid to blink. I keep thinkin’ I’m gonna wake up from the most glorious dream of my life.”
“It is a dream … one that’s finally come true.” Lily leaned down and gently kissed his lips. “And my body has the most glorious way to prove it,” she whispered, her lips grazing his.
Her words alone had James’s stones nearly threatening to erupt. “Prove it then,” he moaned.
Lily smiled seductively, sat down on the bed, and gently ran her hands down James’s abdomen. Her eyes trailed down his body, gazing in disbelief that her man was close enough for her to touch in such a way. It was a simple act that she had prayed to do for years. Knowing his body as well as she did, she easily noticed the amount of muscle and weight that was now gone from James’s frame. The way his rib bones were now visible underneath his skin made it clear that he had willfully endured years of malnourishment. Fresh tears began to sting her eyes as she surveyed the minefield of bug bites, fading bruises, and scars in various stages of healing. When she glanced down at the catastrophic damage on his leg, her tears surged forward, gushing like a broken dam. In Lily’s estimation, his battered, marred body served as permanent evidence of what James was willing to go through in her honor. It further strengthened her resolve to do whatever was needed to take the utmost care of him during his time of need, and for the rest of his life for that matter. From home cooked meals prepared with love to restore his vitality, to offering the love of her body to restore his virility, Lily was ready to give James anything he needed. With all that Ryla had taught her, she knew that the euphoric pleasures of her body would by far be the most important for a man who needed healing, and the reassurance of his woman’s love.
With that in mind, Lily climbed in bed and hovered above James. One soft kiss at a
time, she then began her quest of expressing her eternal love and gratitude for all that James had sacrificed on her behalf. Her tears began christening his skin as she gently pressed her lips to his wounds, praying that something so simple could help heal them. Whether her intimate affections had that sort of power or not remained a question. But the love James felt every time her lips touched his body was undeniable. As Lily’s lips roamed his body, the delicate sensations began to stir his emotions again. Rather quickly, the pillow beneath him found itself saturated in the moisture of his tears, his entire body equally saturated with the overwhelming feeling of being immensely loved by his woman. For nearly five years, James feared that the chemistry, friendship, and bond that he had with Lily may have been destroyed by their time apart. But one tender kiss at a time, his insecurities began to fade away. His fears melted away altogether when Lily kissed her way up his body and her lips finally met his. The soft slow way her mouth passionately caressed his left no doubt that her love had not faded, but had intensified.
Just as the intimate meeting of their lips came to an end, Lily carefully lowered her pelvis toward James’s waist. She was gentle with her movements, fearing she may inflict more pain on his healing body. But her fears were unwarranted. James was completely oblivious to the aching in his leg while gazing up at the stunning goddess atop him, about to sit gracefully on her throne. She gazed at him in return, now suddenly feeling as though she, too, was experiencing a glorious dream. She now felt the need to convince herself that the dream of being reunited with the love of her life had indeed come true.
“I’ll be gentle … I promise,” she whispered.
James smiled at the memory of saying that to her while she lay in that very spot before they made love for the first time, when potential pain was at the top of her mind. “I trust you,” he replied, reciting her same response from all those years ago.
“If you need me to stop, I will,” she smiled, restating yet another promise James had made to her that night.
With his throbbing rock hard flesh now just a hair’s breadth away from her heavenly kingdom, James looked Lily in her eyes and softly wiped her tears away. “There’s no way in hell I’d want you to stop,” he stated with emphasis, his burning want for her causing him to modify her original reply.
Lily smiled at his response. “I didn’t think so,” she seductively replied, leaning down to gently kiss his lips again, her heavenly entrance now grazing the tip of his aching erection.
After so many years of dreaming, fantasizing, wishing, and begging God to be with his beloved wife again, here she was now slowly sliding him inside of her. As James’s erection began to part Lily’s velvety folds, her breath suddenly caught. She broke their kiss and let out a raspy moan when the feeling of his rigid flesh instantaneously set her insides ablaze. The pleasure jolted her body to sit straight up, driving her pelvis down with force, instantly burying James inside of her. The sudden intense sensation caused an explosion of pleasure to tear through James’s entire body. After years of extreme intimate deprivation, he had absolutely no strength to hold back. The very second his body was reunited with his beloved woman, he erupted inside of her. The glorious sound of him singing Lily’s name caused her core to immediately begin a succession of powerful spasms. The pleasure ricocheting in every corner of their bodies, composed a perfectly harmonized duet of moans. After the heightened pleasure seceded, Lily collapsed down onto James, and their moans quickly transitioned into a sentimental duet of weeping. James wrapped his arms tightly around Lily and let her body melt against his skin as they wept. For minutes, they stayed locked in that loving embrace, both sobbing tears of euphoria over a surreal moment that proved, in the most magnificent way, that a four-year long dream had indeed come true.
When Lily’s tears finally ceased, she sat up and gazed down at the man she was overjoyed to be reunited with again. “Let me know when you’re ready for more,” she said, playing with a tendril of his hair.
“Then you may as well not even botha’ gettin’ up,” James replied, caressing her cheek.
When Lily felt his body suddenly answer the reason for his statement, she seductively smiled and passionately kissed him, eager to send him soaring back to the pinnacle of ecstasy.
Chapter Thirty
With his eyes frozen open, Harrison’s decapitated head came to a halt near James’s foot. James had run in a full-on sprint to defend his friend from being slain from behind with an axe, but his attempt was futile. He dropped to his knees and let out a blood curdling scream as he looked into the lifeless eyes of his best friend. James then suddenly heard his name being called repeatedly, but the sound transmitted through his ears like he had heard it underwater. He looked in the direction of the distorted sound to find Lily quivering on her knees, a blood-covered sheet wrapped around her body, tears coursing through the mud on her face. James looked down at Harrison’s head again, then jumped when he heard the sound of a cannon. He plugged his ears, looked to the left again, and saw Lily still mouthing his name. James screamed her name in return and suddenly tackled her before the confederate soldier behind her could sever her head with his axe as well.
“James! Please stop! You’re hurtin’ me! Please!” Lily screamed.
But James remained on top of her, valiantly trying to protect her from death. He looked over his shoulder to be sure the soldier was no longer a threat, but the fireplace was the only thing in his sights. He then quickly turned toward Harrison’s head again and saw nothing but a pillow.
“J-James, it’s j-just a dr-dream … pl-please, you’re h-hurtin’ me,” Lily whispered, tears now running in streams down into her ears. She had been jolted awake by the deafening sound of James screaming at the top of his lungs. She had scurried to the far end of the bed, her heart pumping a mile a minute. Confused by the sight of James acting out a nightmare, she had called his name repeatedly to calm him down, only to be tackled by him seconds later. She now lay there trapped underneath him, being held so tightly she felt as if her bones were about to snap.
Breathing hard, James continued to frantically look around, trying desperately to differentiate between a hellish nightmare and reality. Once the confusion cleared, he looked down at Lily again. Tears began to well in his eyes when he realized that the only reality was that he had unintentionally hurt her. Smothered by guilt and embarrassment, James quickly got off her, sat on the edge of the bed, and dropped his face into his hands.
For the previous three days, there was not a single soul in William’s house who had any desire to deal with the weight of the past four years. There were no talks of war, loss, separation, and tragedy. Everyone had distracted their minds with food, wine, and spirits, to celebrate the joys of being reunited as a family again. But this current issue was now too much for James to ignore. The daytime hours were like heaven, but the nights were beginning to turn into hell for him. Every night, gruesome dreams of war had him thrashing and screaming in his sleep. Lily had woken him up and soothed him on every occasion. But this was the first time he had physically attacked her. James was now extremely disturbed by his own bizarre behavior. After attacking Lily, his uncontrollable night terrors now felt just as debilitating as his leg wound. The emotional impact was clear to see by the way he sat slouched in humiliation on the edge of the bed, unable to even look at Lily.
Lily quickly scooted up behind him for comfort. She softly ran her hands down his shoulders, wrapped her arms around his waist, and laid her head on his back. “I’m here. It’s okay,” she whispered.
The very second Lily’s soft hands caressed his body, James felt his misery start to melt away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he whispered.
“I know. It’s okay,” she reassured him, as she continued to caress his skin.
James grabbed hold of Lily’s arms and pulled them tighter around him. “You got me through every dark moment ‘a my life ova’ the last four years, Lily. In times that I didn’t think I could carry on anymore, I’d
hear your music in my head. I’d see your face. I’d even dream about you when I needed you the most. Without even bein’ there in the flesh, you kept me sane … you kept me alive. Thoughts of you kept me believin’ that we’d see our way back togetha’. And now, feelin’ your touch like this again…” He kissed her hand. “Makes me feel like I can conquer anything. Just like always, you make me wanna be the best man I can be for you. But…” He let go of Lily’s hand and lowered his head again.
“But what? Talk to me,” Lily prompted.
“I’m startin’ to question if that’s possible anymore. It feels like somethin’s terribly wrong with me. It’s like my mind is broken, Lily. At any given moment some days, it’s like I suddenly can’t tell what’s real and what’s not. I can’t control it. Sights, sounds, dreams, anything can trigger it. And I’m petrified to let you keep seein’ this side ‘a me. I’m afraid it’s gonna scare you off.” He swallowed hard to get the lump out of his throat. “And I’d be devastated if I lose you ova’ this. I honestly think I’ll give up and die if I have to spend anotha’ minute of my life without you again. But I’m scared my mind is too damaged to eva’ be the sort ‘a man you deserve … one you can be proud of.”
Lily got off the bed and dropped down to her knees in front of James, so he did not have to hold his head up to look at her. She held both of his hands as she gazed up at him with tears in her eyes. “I know we have a long, tumultuous road to navigate to conquer nearly five years of healin’. Both of us are foreva’ changed in some ways. But one thing that hasn’t changed an ounce is how much my love for you continues to grow. So, at this very moment, right here, right now, as you are…” She touched James’s face. “I am and always will be proud of you as a man, as my best friend, and as my husband. Afta’ what you just did for me for the last four years, I would neva’ eva’ have the audacity to walk away from you. I’ll do whateva’ I have to to help you ova’come that fear and reassure you that I’ll always be here for you. So, me leavin’ you is a fear you can let go of right here and right now, okay?”
