His confession was music to her ears. “And you came back for me.”
Neal nodded. “I couldn’t stay away from you. Perhaps I should never have left you.”
“We were both too young.”
“Your feelings back then weren’t as strong as mine.”
His tone was light, but his claim gave her pause. His feelings had been deeper than hers. “Does the past matter, if it leads us to right here?”
His answer was to kiss her. He was already aroused.
So was she.
And they knew the answer.
In fact, Thea didn’t think she’d ever wanted a man the way she wanted this one.
They didn’t waste time with removing the rest of their clothing. Neal had loosened her dress enough that it fell in a heap at her feet. She stood before him in nothing more than her petticoat and stockings. She slipped out of her shoes, kicking them out of the way.
He mimicked her, kicking his off as well. She liked this new lightheartedness around him. This was the way it should be between a couple—notrecriminations and nitpicking, the way things had quickly become between her and Boyd. In fact, she didn’t think they’d ever laughed together. Everything had been so troubled right from the start.
She wasn’t going to make that mistake with Neal.
Thea gave him a small push onto his bed’s cream counterpane. He reached for her as he fell, and she landed on top of him. Neal rolled them both over so he was on top.
“Finally,” he murmured. “I have you where I want you.”
His shirt was of the finest lawn and felt smooth against her skin. His hair curled around her fingers. “I pray you never let me go—”
“I won’t.”
She searched his eyes. The shadows were gone. In their place, she saw love. He might have been afraid to use the words, but he loved her. He had always loved her, even before she had thought of loving him.
Thea kissed him, arching her body against his, then slowly relaxed, moving her hips against his. She liked the feeling of his weight upon her. She craved the texture and smell of his skin, the warmth of his body.
They wasted no time removing the last of their clothing. There were few words between them. They were not needed.
Neal raised over her. Thea ran her hands up his strong arms, over his shoulders and down his back as he slid himself deep within her.
Thea gasped at the glory of his body filling hers. She wasn’t the only one caught up in this moment. Neal leaned over her. “This is good. So good.”
She could have agreed—if she’d been able to speak, and then he robbed her of all conscious thought when he began moving.
There was nothing new to the mating of a man and a woman. Thea was no virgin, yet he made her feel as if thiswasthe first time.
Their bodies were meant for each other. Instinctively, she knew what pleased him. He seemed aware of exactly what she wanted. She’d never made love with such intensity, such passion.
Any barriers still left between them were being destroyed through their desire.
Neal’s breathing quickened. His movements took on purpose. She lifted her hips, wanting all of him.
White-hot need had driven their coupling the night before. It now gave way to something deeper, finer. A spiral of sensation began forminginside Thea, winding tighter and tighter until she didn’t think she could breathe, let alone think—
The intensity of her release astonished her. It was as if she’d been moving toward a precipice and, having reached it, let herself hold for one heated beat before falling into bliss. Wave after wondrous wave of completion, of satisfaction, caught her up and wouldn’t let her go.
Neal experienced the same. He cried her name.Hername. Then she experienced his release. She could feel it in the innermost of her being. He filled her in a way she’d not known before. Her body was his vessel, and as they were both caught up, together, in the magic of this moment, she at last realized what it meant to be “one” with another.
One. Together. For always.