Page 88 of The Odyssean Duke

“Please, I want you,” she said.

Stephan unfastened his trousers, revealing his manhood. Evelina curled her fingers in his hair and tossed her head back, as he lined himself up to her entrance and pushed inside her. Pleasure consumed her, Evelina’s muscles quivering.

Stephan kissed her breasts again and pulled her chemise down, exposing her hard, pink nipples. He drew one into his mouth and worried it between his lips as he moved against her, his movements steady and even. Stephan was always so careful with her.

Evelina moved with him, so familiar with his body that she knew how to keep pace with him. Pleasure grew inside her core, pleasure at being filled. Pleasure at being loved.

“You are magnificent,” Stephan said.

He gazed at her like she was a goddess. Evelina let out a small laugh and grinned at him. “I know,” she quipped.

Stephan chuckled, his eyes alight with good humor. Then, he lowered his head and trailed kisses along the side of her neck. “Are you not going to tell me that I am magnificent, too?” he murmured.

“Not yet.”

Stephan quickened his pace, and she eagerly moved with him. Her thighs quivered as she pursued her pleasure. Stephan went onto his forearms and bucked against her, riding her in earnest. Evelina’s hands twisted in the bedlinens. She had found that she enjoyed watching him reach his pinnacle, in watching all his muscles grow tight and in seeing the warmth that came to his face.

“I will have to provide evidence to the contrary, then,” he said.

“Oh, yes!” she cried.

Stephan reached between them and fingered that wonderful place at the top of her folds, and Evelina’s hips jolted upwards. Her breath was fast and hot, and she achieved her release without warning. It swept through her like a summer storm, without warning and strong. She gasped at the exquisite feeling, and Stephan moved still, working himself in and out of her.

“Oh, Stephan!” she exclaimed.

“Am I magnificent yet?” he growled.

She let out a breathless laugh. “Yes. You are. You are!”

Stephan chuckled and renewed his efforts to achieve his own release. Evelina groaned, her body eager for more of everything—more pleasure, more affection, morehim.

“I love you,” she said. “I love you so much.”

“And I love you,” he said.

His thighs quivered, and his hands grasped her hips. Stephan’s breath was fast and heavy, and he tipped his head back, a ragged moan tearing from between his lips. Evelina’s toes curled as his warm seed filled her. She closed her eyes, filled to the brim with an exhausted bliss. Perhaps, Evelina would not leave her bed for the entire day. Maybe she would simply pull the bedlinens over her once more and sleep until the sun set and rose again.

“I do not think any woman in the world could give me as much pleasure as you do,” Stephan said, as he withdrew from her.

Evelina propped herself up onto her forearms and gazed up at him. She knew why he had said that. Ever since their reconciliation, Stephan had said things like that a lot. To hear him speak, Evelina was the most wonderful, passionate, perfect woman who had ever lived. He treated her as if she was Helen of Troy, incomparable and worth launching a thousand ships for. Evelina was not that woman, but she knew why Stephan said it.

He knew that her first husband had preferred the company of courtesans, so Stephan had resolved to make certain that she never felt neglected again.

“I should hope I am the only woman to ever give you pleasure,” Evelina said, knowing quite well that she was.

“Of course, my sweet.”

Stephan drew her into another kiss, this one soft and loving. Evelina sighed against his mouth, basking in the joyful tiredness that always followed a congress with her husband.

He rolled onto his side and lay beside her, his blue eyes light like the sky on a sunny day. “I love you so very much,” Stephan said. “It seems impossible to love you anymore, but there are still times when I find new ways to love you.”

Evelina rolled onto her side, so she could face him without craning her neck. “And you,” she said. “I—I can scarcely believe how quickly everything occurred.”

Stephan nodded. “Although I have heard others who fell in love more quickly. Murrayton swears that it was love at first sight for him.”

“How romantic.”

“Very,” Stephan said, chuckling. “But I quite like our love story, my dear wife. You have always been an unconventional woman. You deserved an unconventional path to love.”

Evelina smiled. “And I married an unconventional man,” she said.

“So you did.”

Evelina thought of the baby growing in her belly—Stephen’s baby—and she moved closer to him. Stephan enveloped her in his strong, loving embrace, and Evelina closed her eyes.

Unconventional or not, Evelina would not trade this moment for anything in the world.

The End?