Something Old, Rebecca Connolly [ebook reader for laptop TXT] 📗

Lily pulled away without warning, sending Thomas off-balance and stumbling a little to follow. She slowly stepped back, her breathing ragged and shallow, her hair streaming from its once delicate hold, her eyes dark as obsidian. Another step back, then another, until their fingers were barely touching.

He begged her not to part entirely, not to leave him like this, though his lips refused to utter the words, to give voice to them. He couldn’t bear to say…

Then they were gone, and she backed farther toward her room, exhaling sharply as she turned for the door. She turned the handle, the creak of the hinges tumultuous in the dark and silent corridor as the door swung fully open. She glanced over her shoulder at him, not quite meeting his eyes, then stepped inside the room entirely, leaving the door as wide open as it could go.

One heartbeat passed, then two, then Thomas was moving on a haggard gasp of breath, entering the room on long strides and shutting the door firmly behind him.

Chapter Seventeen

Never had slumber been quite so restful, nor waking been so untroubled. Lily felt herself sigh as she awoke, surprised that there was no light in the room or through the windows. She was not a deep sleeper, but there did tend to be some semblance of morning when she awoke regularly.

She rolled to her back, taking a moment to breathe softly and reflect.

Gentle fingers brushed at her brow, making her eyelashes flutter and another soft sigh escape as she turned toward them. “I thought it was a dream.”

“If it was, then I’ve had it as well,” Thomas murmured, his fingers trailing over her brow again and again, twisting in a tendril of hair and twining it about his finger. “And if it was, then I cannot say how I came to be here in your bed.”

Lily smiled, reaching up to stroke his cheek and his jaw, where the stubble had barely begun to grow and scratch. “That part, I remember well, so it must not be a dream after all.”

He laughed very low, the sound rumbling against her hand. “No.”

He leaned down and kissed her very slowly, her body curling toward his with a familiarity that startled her. How could it be familiar when they had never before shared something like what had passed between them? How could her body know what her mind did not? How could she immediately be brought back to what had spent hours, weeks, and years building within her?

“I feel as though I am growing greedy,” she whispered when her lips parted from his. “With every kiss, I find I want more.”

Thomas nuzzled against her gently, slipping his arms around her and pulling her against his chest. “Oh dear, oh dear, whatever shall we do about that?”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something.” She exhaled happily and closed her eyes as she rested upon him, hugging herself close.

“I daresay I shall.” He kissed her brow, his hands moving slowly up and down her back. “And you’re not alone in that, you know. I find it hard to believe I ever went without kissing you, now that it has become more and more a habit. I fear it will become my obsession.”

Warmth coiled within her stomach, and she found herself pressing her lips to his chest beneath her, humming as she did so. “Obsession is not healthy, darling. Moderation is surely the key to satisfaction and happiness. Won’t you concede that?”

“Perhaps,” he returned, his hand moving to her hair and threading within it. “But if you think I’m not making up for lost time in kissing you, sweetheart, you are entirely mistaken.” He grinned and tilted her chin up to brush his lips over hers in a shadow of a kiss, making her shiver with its delicious friction. “I intend to give you every single one that I missed.”

Lily sighed dreamily and nodded at that. “I believe I might be amenable to that.”

“Good.” He kissed her again, breaking off before she expected with a laugh, bunching her hair in his hand. “I don’t know about you, love, but I’m famished. Perhaps we should have stayed for supper at Helwithin.”

Coughing a laugh, Lily propped herself up on an elbow beside him. “Stayed? You were bolting out of there as though the building had caught fire.”

He matched her pose, raising a taunting brow. “Me? What about you? ‘Make haste’ has never had a more perfect example in the existence of the phrase.”

“You were running your very own footrace.”

“You were fleeing as though you had committed a crime.”

Lily narrowed her eyes, the impulse to laugh bubbling up inside her, but she forced herself to contain it. “It would seem that we were both desperate to get away, wouldn’t it?”

Thomas reached out and toyed with the end of the nearest lock of her hair, which tugged something in the center of her stomach. “Indeed. We were rather eager. Almost as though it had been building up all these years.”

“I rather think it had,” she murmured, her fingers toying with the hair at his chest. “We were overdue.”

“That is putting it mildly.” He leaned forward and kissed her brow for a long moment, sighing against her skin. “Right, I mean it now. I’m truly famished, and if I’m to be of any use to anyone, I need to eat something.”

Lily giggled softly and raised her face just enough to brush his jaw with her nose. “It’s the middle of the night, Thomas. What sort of use are you thinking you must be?”

He gave her a scolding look. “Now, now, wife. Focus your attention, please, and consider your wishes for food.”

On cue, her stomach growled furiously, and she clamped a hand over it in embarrassment, rolling to her back as she laughed. “I think I must be hungry after all.”

“One might say that, yes.” He chuckled a low laugh and loomed over her just long enough to kiss her deeply. “Wait here. I’ll go down and fetch us