Nobody's Lost (Rescue Me Saga #5)(71)
My bride.
Her smile warmed his heart, and he carried her across the threshold for the first time as husband and wife. He might just carry her into the house every time. Any excuse to have her in his arms.
When he started to set her on her feet, she hugged his neck even tighter. “I do believe there’s one more threshold we need to cross.” The smoldering look in her eyes left no doubt what she meant.
He kicked the door closed, turned to click the deadbolt in place while still holding her, and proceeded to his bedroom. Their bedroom. This first night would be special. He’d prepared the room for her before leaving this morning for Albuquerque. The waning daylight would make the candle glow perfect. He’d light them while she was in the bathroom doing whatever it was women did on their wedding night.
Not much else he had to do but strip and hang up his uniform.
When they entered the bedroom, he set her on her feet and turned the dimmer switch to give just enough light to see. Turning back to her, he lowered his mouth to hers once again for another taste. His hands stroked down the back of her lacy dress, and he cupped her ass, pulling her against him.
Megan looked so sexy in the form-fitting dress. She’d kept some traditions herself, not letting him see the dress she’d chosen when she and Marcia had gone shopping yesterday. When she walked into the clerk’s office, he hadn’t been able to keep his gaze off her.
“Before we go to bed, I want us to spend some time in the sauna together. Just one more symbolic way of shedding the past and starting our new life together.”
“Just let me get out of these clothes, unless you’d like to watch me strip.”
His cock throbbed to life. “Watching might be…enlightening, too.”
“Ah, but we’re going to turn the tables. First, I get to watch you take off that stud-muffin uniform.”
“Hey, respect the uniform.”
“Oh, I respect this uniform very much, as well as the man wearing it.” She reached up and fiddled with the hook and loop at the collar of his blouse a while before finally releasing the tight closure. “Man, it’s good you didn’t have to fight in this thing. No wonder you stand so straight and tall in it.” Her fingers moved down to the first gold anodized brass button.
He had no desire to stop or help her, which would bring this to an end sooner than he desired. No, he planned on enjoying tonight at her pace, and if this is what Megan wanted to do, she’d damn well do it. Besides, the smiles she flashed him were not sweet and innocent at all, but sultry and sexy instead. The woman went after whatever she wanted—and she wanted him.
Holy f*ck! How did I get so lucky?
For days, he’d worried about tonight, given that he would be her first lover, but as with everything else, Megan just charged in without succumbing to fears.
She’d once said she could tell he would be a gentle lover. No doubt, given how quickly she took to kink, the rough stuff would come later. But tonight, he would be slow and gentle.
Even if it kills me.
*
Megan worked her way down the line of buttons on the front of his jacket. His white crew-neck undershirt peeked out as she reached the halfway point. Her heart beat harder, and a current seemed to flow through her fingers and up her arms as she touched the uniform in such a personal way. She’d always thought Patrick’s uniform looked good on him, but Ryder’s…well, as much as she enjoyed seeing him in it, she couldn’t wait to see him out of it.
When she reached the white belt and its brass buckle, she squeezed the two ends together and it popped open. She grabbed the belt before it fell and tossed it on the bed before spreading open the jacket and drooling over the pecs stretching the white t-shirt.
No longer wanting to wait to see his bare chest, having only seen hints of it under his vest during their forays into kink, she pushed the jacket down his arms. Wanting him to see she could control herself, she carried it over to the closet and hung it up. When she turned, she watched Ryder untuck his undershirt and pull it over his head. The bulge in his trousers told her he was as turned on as she was.
She returned to him and reached for his web belt, quickly opening and dispensing of it as she had done the jacket belt. Next came the hook-and-loop closure, and she reached for his zipper.
He grabbed her hand before she could unzip them. “My turn.”
Her breath caught in her throat. The thought of his hands on her made it difficult to breathe. With his index finger, he motioned for her to turn around. He wound her hair around his fist as he had done their first night in this house. Her nipples peaked and a strange sensation low in her abdomen left her longing for his touch.
He lifted her hair and pressed his lips to her neck. She moaned and tilted her head to give him better access.
“Breathe, Baby.” His whisper tickled her skin. He twisted her hair and draped it over her shoulder before kneading the muscles in her neck. “Relax for me.”
How could she? His touch set her body on fire. Her body never felt so alive. When his hands stopped moving, she drew a ragged breath and waited to see what he would do next.
The sound of the dress’s zipper being pulled down and the pressure of his hand against her back sent a shiver coursed the length of her spine that had nothing to do with the chilly air in the bedroom. For the first time, she noticed the candles arranged on every surface in the room except the bed. On the bed were dozens of rose petals.