He peeled my clothing away, kissing across the tops of my breast when he pushed it to the floor. Hardly fair that once he removed my undergarments that I stood naked before him yet he remained fully clothed.
I shifted my weight and folded my arms over my breasts but Orin pulled them down immediately. Orin took a step back and looked at me. Just looked at me and I let him. In that moment, I knew I never could’ve done this with Bradley like I’d convinced myself I could.
I wanted only Orin. It’d been Orin since the moment I first met him.
I swallowed hard before taking two steps toward him and reached out to clumsily attempt to undo his shirt. My fingers wouldn’t cooperate. Between the adrenaline and the linen of his shirt, I couldn’t make any progress.
Then I remembered that one of my friends had said that men didn’t want their women to have initiative and I froze. She’d said that men wanted to be in control.
His low chuckle melted every muscle I possessed moments before he yanked his shirt off his body himself in one quick movement. Tiny buttons scattered across the floor. We’d never be able to find all of those.
Somehow, Orin managed to kiss me, run his hands up my body, touching parts no other person ever had, remove the rest of his clothing and move us to the bed seemingly all at the same time.
“I love you, Orin,” I said with a breathless voice. My entire body had come alive and waited, melting from the heat radiating off him.
He relaxed me while at the same time worked me up.
His cheeks brushed against my shoulder where he’d been dropping small kisses and grazing the sensitive skin with his teeth.
His hot breath tickled my ear. “That’s why we’re here.”
I’d never seen a naked man in my life. Yet there Orin was naked before me and I was afraid to look.
Orin kissed his way down my body, building a combination of anticipation and trepidation inside of me. Wanting this with him while at the same time fearful of how it would feel and whether I’d do the right thing for him or not.
He kissed me somewhere I’d never imagined a person could be kissed. The contact made my body come alive. I squeezed my legs together against his head and tried to pull away on instinct. Orin slid his hands again up my legs to the inside of my thighs where he held on strongly. Then one hand traveled to my lower stomach where he held might and I couldn’t move away.
If I’d really wanted to get away from him, he’d let me. I knew this.
What I didn’t know was how amazing it would feel to have his tongue lap against me.
The sounds coming from my mouth as his tongue worked some kind of voodoo magic on me should have caused me extreme embarrassment. Yet somehow I couldn’t make myself feel that way.
The oddest sensation started low in my stomach. A curling, swirling tornado of pleasure that tightened my muscles and wracked my body, curling my toes. My body soared and exploded and came alive as it had never been before.
When the explosion of pleasure subsided, Orin made his way back up my body.
He kissed me again then pushed himself inside me while whispering in my ear. Sweet words I didn’t understand as I tried to grow accustomed to him being there and hoped the pain would subside.
Soon my world became full of pleasure and love to the point I thought my heart would shatter from the emotion of it.
Orin was so gentle with me.
As he touched me, I became liberated from the life I was supposed to live and had fallen firmly into the one I wanted to live. On the road to becoming the person I always wanted to be, all I could do was hang on to Orin because he would be coming with me.
In the morning, a sliver of light shined through a small crack in the curtains falling across the room as a loud wake-up call. Forcing my eyes opened, I groaned and quietly stretched my stiff neck that knotted as I slept the entire night across Orin’s chest. With a small smile that I couldn’t wipe away no matter how hard I tried, I positioned myself back against him allowing his body to warm me.
“I’m awake.” His voice quiet, not tired but soft and gentle as his fingers began to trace the length of my bare spine.
“I was trying not to wake you.”
“I’ve been awake for a while. I was waiting for you.”
I nodded because I had no idea what to say, how a proper wife would act in the morning after making love to her husband.
“Are you hungry?”
I nodded again.
“We should get dressed and find breakfast.”
As I got up from the bed, I pulled the crinkled, white top sheet with me to cover my nakedness and ran to the bathroom.
Which was silly.
He’d already seen me completely and touched me everywhere. I shouldn’t have been worried about him see me again. His gaze followed me across the room.
After washing up, putting on a lightweight dress and twisting my hair tightly into a knot at the base of my head, I returned to the sitting area where my husband already waited. He smiled when he saw me then stood and hooked up arm through his as we left the suite.
We only had a short walk to a restaurant he said he’d eaten at before. When we entered, Orin asked for us to be seated at a corner table and told me he wanted us to have some privacy. Maybe he’d knew I’d need to talk.
We both ordered eggs but he added a steak while I only wanted a couple of strips of bacon and bread with jam. Although once the food came, we hadn’t really started talking and I nibbled small bites while pushing the rest around my plate.
I glanced around the room, looking everywhere except at Orin hoping he wouldn’t notice. I should have known better. He noticed everything.
“Lizzie, what’s wrong?” He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Nothing,” I answered while continuing to stare at my plate.
“You’ve barely spoken this morning. Something is wrong.”
“Of course not,” I smiled but already felt a flush burning around my ears. His watchful eyes caught that.
“Tell me.”
“I just don’t know what is appropriate to say after… ” My gaze darted around the room. This conversation was uncomfortable for me and that flush I’d felt earlier turned hotter as it climbed onto my cheeks.
Orin smirked. “You will have to look at me eventually.”
Rolling my eyes, something I hadn’t done in a very long time since my father’s firm hand reminded me that doing so wouldn’t be acceptable from a young lady, the corners of my mouth also started turning up.
“Lizzie, we can talk about anything. No matter how intimate. Nothing is inappropriate for us.” He paused lowering his voice slightly. “Is there... did I hurt you?”
“No.” My answer came too quickly and loudly and brought us the attention of those close to us. “I mean everything is fine… there.”
He laughed at my reaction.
“Fine?”
I nodded to his frown.
“All right.” Orin reached out brushing his hand against mine. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what I’d said to make him scowl.
“So I can really talk to you about anything? It won’t shock you?” For the first time in my life I was beginning to feel like the me I wanted to be. I’d always wanted to be open and honest, authentic with someone... with Orin.
“It may shock me but it won’t upset me. There are things that could come out of that beautiful mouth of yours that would surprise the hell out of me. But I still want you to say them.”
Working up the courage to ask the question I wondered about was harder for me than probably most people. I took a deep breath, swallowed, and blurted it out.
“How did you know?”
Again his eyebrows shot up in an unspoken question.
“How did you know what to do to make me feel… ”
“Ah.” He leaned forward onto his elbows, folding his hands in front of his face. “Because I’ve done it before.”
I did my very best to steel my face into having no reaction
. I’d suspected he had but suspecting and knowing were two different things.
“The world I grew up in is very different from yours,” he said. “We’re less formal. I hope that doesn’t hurt you.”
Did that bother me? No.
Obviously, I didn’t love the idea of Orin being with another woman the way we had been together last night. However, he had a life before he met me. It wasn’t something I had the right to be angry about. But what a completely foreign idea. If one of my friends had been known to have sex with someone they weren’t married to, they’d have been disowned.
“I was raised to expect that our husbands would have some experience before getting married. Honestly, we aren’t really encouraged to expect fidelity after we are married. Men will do what men want to do.”
Anger took over his face and I wished I could read his mind.
“Lizzie, that’s something you never have to worry about. I love you and I’ve made promises to you that I fully intend to keep. There could never be anyone else for me.”
For some, those may have just been pretty words of reassurance from a new husband but I completely believed him. But Orin had always been honest with me.
“Any other worries?” he asked cutting into his steak again.
“One.”
“And that is?”
“My father. I can’t believe we did this. Can’t believe I did this. I always do whatever he asks of me and this isn’t going to end well with him.” The words tumbled out of my mouth. “I’m scared of what he’ll do when he finds out.”
Chapter Thirteen
“I’ll handle your father,” Orin said with so much determination, I believed him.
He was well on his way to convincing me that I wouldn’t have to worry about my father once we got back home. That he’d take care of me.
Yet the how he’d take care of me when it came to my father that began to bother me.
“I don’t want you to... I mean my father is difficult but I wouldn’t want him... dead.”
“I didn’t mean… ” he said quietly and lowered his eyes. “The only way I would purposely do that is if someone is hurting you.”
“I just wanted to be clear.”
Orin sighed and ran his hand over the back of his head then shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“I’m sorry you ever saw that.” He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest “Back to this “fine” business you mentioned earlier. Is that really the best word you could come up with for last night?”
“Is that why you looked grumpy for a minute?”
He nodded.
“What little I’ve been told about… being with your husband,” I said and darted my eyes around him. Looking directly at Orin as I tried to talk about something like this turned out to be more difficult than almost anything else. “Well, I was told that laying with my husband is my duty but a proper lady won’t enjoy it.”
A war raged inside me. I loved that I could speak my mind with Orin but it would take some getting used to. I had to get used to the idea that I didn’t need to worry about the back of my father’s hand to show me that what I said was inappropriate.
“And did you?” he asked. “Enjoy it?”
My plate suddenly became very fascinating. I pushed food around more than eating it, I bit my lips together and gave a small nod. It was so hard to admit.
“That’s good. It’s kind of my job to make sure you do. And you should Lizzie. This is part of our lives and it should be a good part of our lives. I expect you to tell me if it’s ever not a good part of your life. Understand?”
Again I only nodded so he’d know I understood but as I did my heart swelled a little. Yes, this was about sex with him but it showed that he actually cared what I thought and felt.
For the very first time in my life, I knew what it felt like to honestly be loved.
“Maybe I should cut my hair.” I tried changing the subject to something lighter “Something new and fashionable. Short.”
“Don’t you dare.” He smiled widely. He saw right through me.
Orin told me that he planned for only a few days in Charleston before we had to return to the real world and its consequences. He’d asked me if that was all right with me.
Another thing I have to get used to. Being asked my opinion and giving it like it wasn’t a normal thing for me.
He took me on a picnic, much like the ones we’d gone on back home, where we sat on the bank of a clear pond with weeping willows stretching toward the water. The shade offered a break from an oppressive summer heat. We lounged and kiss in ways we couldn’t before. Away from the watchful eyes of the town and my father.
Just the two of us.
On our last full day in the city, we woke up late in the morning after an even later night of me learning his body and the ways I could make him feel as good as he did me. We ate breakfast in the room and packed most of our things.
When we left home, Orin didn’t have any extra clothes with him. He bought whatever he needed our first day in the city. That included anything he thought might look nice on me, which seemed to be everything, as well as anything I showed interest in.
We didn’t make it out for lunch, instead, we took advantage of the empty room and large bed.
As Orin kissed me, he cradled my hand and guided it down his body until hitting his…
I snapped my head and hand back at the same time.
“I can’t touch your… ” I was horrified that he’d make me say it let alone do it.
“Cock?”
My face blushed and my breath caught in my chest.
“It’s called many things, Lizzie. You can find something else to call it.”
I swallowed and wet my lips. I didn’t want to call it anything. But I did sort of want to touch him. He’d touched my everywhere already. So I took a deep breath and held my hand back out to him.
Orin guided my hand over him, up and down the entire length. He dropped his head back with a groan. The sound filled me with this feeling of power. I’d never experienced anything like it. Something I was doing brought him pleasure.
Finally, he groaned, pulled my hand away, and then took back over bringing me to a state of euphoria. A state I hoped he joined me in.
Afterward, I laid on Orin’s chest, my hair fanned across my shoulder. He brushed it away to make contact with the soft skin underneath.
“Am I really not allowed to bob my hair?” I asked referring to the brief conversation from days before. I don’t know what made me think of that particular thing he’d said and at this of all moments.
“You can if you want,” he murmured into the silent room.
When I looked up at him, his eyes looked closed yet I would’ve sworn he was watching me.
“But you said... ” I pushed myself up by bracing against a hard sculpted chest.
“I love you hair long but I am not your father. I’m not going to order you around. You’re more fashionable than these half-wits chopping their hair off to prove their independence anyway.”
“Right, I’ve never been independent a day in my life.”
Orin propped himself on his elbows, pushing me off him and back onto my own pillow.
“Never been independent?” He chuckled. “You realize that three days ago you left your intended husband to run off with a man you barely know, whom your father would never approve of. Then you married him.” He brushed his thumb across my cheek. “I don’t see Olivia or any of those other girls doing that. They’ll all fall in line and marry the men of their father’s choosing.”
I watched his rant with a smile. For the first time, I filled me with pride. I had done all of those things. “I guess you’re right. I’m a rebel.”
“I’d say so.”
The next morning, Orin treated me to an endless breakfast while the hotel staff loaded our luggage.
The trip into the city had been a frantic race to get away from home before anyone noticed my absence. The ride home was the exact
opposite. Orin didn’t push the motor of his Packard as hard; his posture stayed relaxed as he shifted. His hand barely gripped the steering wheel as if he was in absolutely no rush to get home.
We meandering along bumpy roads, country paths worn into grassy fields. I’d bet we both thought about the possible trouble awaiting us back home but neither said it. I couldn’t imagine Orin being scared of anything but fear had definitely started to climb up my spine.
Father wouldn’t be happy and would react.
I’d been raised to obey the rules and to know that punishment would be handed down if I didn’t. I had been raised to feel constant fear.
But Orin… he was too strong for fear.
Then the car hit a hard bump that sent me slamming into the door. The steering wheel shook in Orin’s large hands so he gripped it tighter to regain control, the muscles in his arms flexed with the effort.
“What’s happening?” I braced myself, one hand on the door, the other on the dashboard.
“Broken tire.” Orin guided the vehicle to the side, bringing us to a complete stop. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” I pressed my palm to my chest feeling the rapid heartbeat begin to slow.
“It happens.” He took in the look on my face. “You’ve never been in an automobile when the tire’s bent, have you?”
“No,” I shook my head. “What do we do?”
He laughed easily. “Change it.”
I followed him out of the auto. He walked around the back where the spare tire was kept and began to work.
Halfway through the process, Orin stood and pulled his shirt over his head. His skin glistened in the sun with beads of sweat following the contours of his body. I leaned against the auto, bit my bottom lip and watched him work.
His muscles tightened as he moved and twisted creating that feeling I’d quickly started to recognize as arousal.
“What?” Orin squinted into the sun as he looked up at me.
“Nothing,” I shook my head.
“You’re staring.”
“Sorry.” I quickly turned my head away from him.
“No, no. Continue. I just wondered if there was a specific reason for the attention.”
I sighed. As hard as I tried, I still wasn’t totally comfortable blurting out that I wanted him in that way. “I was wondering if I’ll ever tire of looking at you.”
Moonstruck Page 8
