Forever Wife Read online

  She sputtered and blustered and snorted. Slightly annoyed, he flipped her over onto her tummy, delivering several very hard, very sharp swats to her gorgeously rounded derrière.

  “Ow! Cut that out!”

  After another set of sharp smacks he rolled her back over, and then wagged his thick index finger in front of her nose as he leaned over her. “I want that well understood, Elizabeth. I’ll spank you whenever and wherever I want, and I’ll try not to miss it when you’ve broken a rule. But I’m going to tell you now that if I find out that you knew you’d done something wrong and you just waited for me to discover it, you’re going to get twice the punishment you would have otherwise.”

  Suddenly her sense of indignation rose to the forefront. “Hey, what gives you the right to spank me at all!”

  He caught her eyes with his. “Because I love you to distraction, that’s why, and I’ve watched you grow up with no rules and no consequences to your actions. But that ends here and now. You will have set rules and if you break them, there are going to be very serious consequences, delivered by me.”

  Liz preferred to discount the latter part of his speech in favor of concentrating on what she wanted to hear. “You - love me?” she asked, true unadulterated wonder in her tone, as she needed to be reaffirmed yet again.

  Vidar, who had been gearing up for an argument with her about the fact that her little butt was going to find itself getting tanned every and any time he decided she needed it, switched gears with amazing aplomb. “I do. And I always have, practically from the moment of your conception, through birth, and when I first held you in my arms, I knew that you were special. I watched you grow up into the beautiful woman that you are.”

  He kissed her with infinite gentleness, and she returned it in kind. But when he pulled away, she was biting her lip again, as if there was something she desperately wanted to say to him.

  Liz could barely believe what was happening between them, and it made her question her sanity, and the sanity of telling him that she felt the exact same way he seemed to. She wasn’t sure whether it might be better to wait before she made her grand confession, although he had had the courage to bare his soul to her, and she really felt it was only right that she do the same.

  “I - ” she began, in a voice barely above a whisper.

  Vidar pressed a tender kiss to her lips, then gave her his full attention.

  “I – love you too,” she blurted out all at once. Then she couldn’t seem to stop talking. “I don’t think it’s been quite as long for me as it has been for you – I don’t know when I started loving you as a man, and not as a beloved Uncle or Godfather. But somehow, somewhere… eventually –”

  “You’re sure it’s not just a crush?” he asked, holding his breath for her answer, barely able to hope that he was wrong, and she truly did love him back.

  Liz shook her head, a mischievous smile playing about her lips. “No, you annoy me entirely too much for me to be infatuated by you.”

  He couldn’t help but chuckle. He felt as if the sun shone on him for the first time in his life. Everything looked a thousand-fold brighter. Their time on the island had filled a need. They had made love like love-starved orphans, but no words of their devotion had left their lips. This time it was going to be even better.

  She loved him! Nothing had ever felt so right to him, as if he’d known, somehow, deep down, that this was how it was supposed to be, but had been much too afraid to hope for it. He would have settled for her obvious attraction to him, but this . . . this was a gift from Heaven, and he only hoped he could live up to it… and that she could accept who he truly was.

  They had cleared one major stumbling block, one of the biggest, but there was still an enormous one in front of them. He just had to count on the idea that, when he finally told her his secret, she wouldn’t run screaming from the house, never to be heard from again. It had been centuries since he had told anyone, and that hadn’t gone very well. But somehow, deep down, from the very beginning he had felt that Elizabeth was different. Maybe she would be the one who could accept him as he was, to love him in spite of their differences.

  He just hoped that what he had to tell her wouldn’t cause him to lose her for good.

  Chapter Eight

  Vidar shoved those negative thoughts to the back of his mind. He couldn’t think about the possibility of losing her now, when he’d only just found her again, and she’d shyly confessed that she felt the same way about him as he did about her. It was more than he could ever have wished for.

  This time when he reached for her sweatshirt, he kept her eyes locked with his, seeing her worrying her bottom lip and looking very hesitant, but she didn’t make a move or say one word in protest as he tugged the sweatshirt up and over her head. That action, even as slow and careful as he was in doing it, removed the scrunchie from her bun, allowing long locks of blonde hair – several shades darker than his own – to tumble down over her shoulders and onto the pillow behind her.

  Vidar couldn’t stop himself from running his big fingers through it. That was something he had wanted to do since he could remember. Her hair always looked so soft, and it was, like a blend of gossamer and silk together. As tender as that made him feel, it also made him vow to himself that sometime in the near future, he would use his grip on her long hair like a set of reins as he took her from behind, controlling her with it as he pleasured himself within her.

  But that was later. Right now, he dedicated himself to making sure that the shadows he’d seen earlier in her eyes did not reappear, although as he drank in the sight of her gloriously naked breasts, he began to wonder if he had the necessary control. He was in physical pain from the need of her, and Vidar in pain was a very dangerous thing.

  He vowed that he would make sure she was with him every step of the way as his mouth ducked down to slowly take possession of one of those impudent nipples, which he was gratified to note were still stiff and hard. At first he teased her a bit, flicking and sipping at each bud, adjusting his movements to the unconscious clues she was giving him about how aroused she was, in order to maximize her pleasure.

  She seemed to be quite a bit further along than he would have imagined, for which he was eternally grateful. Liz arched her body to offer him more each time he began to suckle, but he denied her what she wanted and continued to taste and tempt himself as well as her, until he was moments away from orgasm.

  Pants. He was still fully dressed. Without leaving her, just leaning a bit away, he removed his shirt and undershirt, then unbuckled his belt to shinny out of both his pants and his briefs at the same time, flinging them somewhere, anywhere, away from them.

  He’d watched her closely when he’d undone his belt, causing the usual clinking of the buckle, and she had absolutely no reaction to it. He resolved that she would before long, though. His dress belts were a little too thin for his preference, but the ones he wore with jeans on the weekend were just right for the purpose he had in mind. He intended that the sound of him sliding his belt through its loops would make her remember the feel of it cracking against her tender flesh.

  Her jeans were disposed of with much more ease than his own, until they, too, were no more than a ball of material on the floor of her bedroom.

  Once she was naked, Vidar leaned back a bit, sweeping his eyes over her in pure admiration. “Damn, you’re even more beautiful than the last time I saw you, woman.”

  She blushed and there was no way to avoid him seeing it, of course, as it tinged her skin pink all over. “I’m far from beautiful.”

  When he leaned forward, she thought he was going to hug her, but instead he reached around, over her hip and swatted her a good one, smiling at her outrage. “I don’t want to hear you talking about yourself like that, understand?”

  There was that blasted finger being waved in front of her nose again.

  On impulse, she moved her head just slightly and managed to clamp her front teeth down on it. Not hard, not enough to break t
he skin or even mark him – much. But more than enough to get her point across.

  All she got for her efforts was a thundercloud look from him and a raised eyebrow. “I would consider my next move very carefully if I were you, young lady, and think about whether I ever wanted to sit comfortably again in my lifetime.”

  It was hard to snort with the tip of his index finger in her mouth, but she managed to convey her derision at his threat anyway. Before she got a chance to even think about releasing him, though, he’d reached out with his left hand and caught one of her nipples between his thumb and the edge of his first finger, squeezing it firmly between the two, so that she knew he meant business.

  When Liz opened her mouth to voice her unhappiness about his choice of retribution, he reclaimed his finger – but didn’t let go of her nipple.

  “Hey, cut that out! I let you go!” she whined, at first trying to pull herself out of his grasp, but reconsidering that strategy when she realized that he wasn’t going to let go that easily, and she wasn’t going to be able to manipulate him into it.

  Vidar pinched just a touch harder, twisting his captive slightly to the left. “Well, let that be a lesson for you to remember. In our relationship, it’s rarely going to be tit for tat.”

  He let go at that, just as she began to moan and roll her eyes at his feeble pun.

  Vidar wasn’t going to allow himself to be distracted by her histrionics. He had a goal in mind, and set about arranging himself as efficiently as possible on the bed. It was a smaller bed than he was used to, and he just resigned himself to the fact that parts of him were going to hang over.

  Liz was still moaning over his lackluster attempt at humor when she felt him part her legs and press his wet, warm open mouth over her clit, flicking the end of it with his tongue. She arched her hips against him.

  Every sentient thought completely left her head, and all she could think about was what he was doing to her, holding her legs wide apart with a hand on either thigh, not allowing her to slide back as she originally attempted to do once she got over the shock of what he was doing.

  “No, baby. You’re not going to get away from me that easily,” he barely removed his mouth to whisper gutturally, and she could feel every word of that threat against her most sensitive core.

  Vidar was in heaven. He had dreamed of doing this for so long that he could barely believe he was finally able to indulge himself the way he wanted with her. She tasted of sunshine and pure, clean woman and he found the scent deeply intoxicating, to say nothing of the way she keened with every movement of his lips and tongue.

  All of which went directly to his near-bursting cock, to the point where he wasn’t sure just how long he was going to be able to do this; the need to be inside her – to lay claim to her in the most primitive way possible – was becoming overwhelming.

  But he wanted to bring her to ecstasy before he joined their bodies. He wanted to hear her scream with pleasure and know it was because of what he was doing.

  So he let the fingers of his right hand trail slowly down her inner thigh to that secret entrance to her body, where it was met with a copious baptism of her own natural lubricant. She was very close, he could tell.

  Liz was close all right. Close to passing out just from the realization of where they were and what they were doing. Ever since he had first made love to her on the island, this was all she had thought about. This was why she hadn’t been able to sleep at nights. And then, finally, when he came back to her, he was angry with her! He spanked her! And put her to bed, and they did not make love. She had begun to think that maybe the island had been a fluke. Maybe it had been some sort of erotic test and she had failed.

  But there was no ignoring how attuned her body was to each and every touch of his hands, his mouth. She felt as if she had absolutely no control over herself whatsoever, and instead of being frightened or even just a little nervous about being in that state, it instead only compounded the peak of arousal he was relentlessly driving her towards. She couldn’t move – he was too much of a large presence where he was, and besides, the way he was positioned she couldn’t move her legs to do anything except drape them over his shoulders. And he showed absolutely no signs of stopping – just the opposite. When he reached up to begin plucking and pinching her nipples, she thought she was going to die from sensation overload.

  She could feel the build up starting, the one that would bring her to a point of no return. It, too, was completely out of her control, building sensation upon sensation until, with one, maybe two more flicks of that thick, rough tongue of his over the most sensitive spot on her body, she found herself hurled over the edge and into the abyss of ecstasy. Vidar held her tight as she shuddered and shook and grabbed for his hands, gripping them so hard he thought she was going to break his fingers as she rode the wave of paradise, growling and moaning and grinding herself against his face as he coaxed every last sensation from her body.

  Then he took his place between her legs – his rightful place, as far as he was concerned – and pressed the tip of his cock against her entrance, guiding it to the point where it met her body’s natural resistance.

  He looked up at her, and she was a sight to see – a golden goddess spread out against the sheets, breasts heaving with every breath, eyes closed . . . she looked well and truly sated. But he wasn’t done with her yet.

  “Beth.”

  She barely stirred. Maybe her breathing calmed a bit, but that was not the response he expected from her.

  “Beth, look at me. I want you to watch me as I take you. Open your eyes, love,” he coaxed, barely able to hold on until she obeyed him.

  They were going to have to work on obedience, and as quickly as possible, he could see.

  Liz opened her eyes slowly, but her vision was blurry and out of focus. He was asking her to do something, but she was having a hard time comprehending what he was saying.

  “Look at me.” Less coaxing, more commanding.

  She finally found her way to his eyes. “There. Don’t look away from me, Beth. I want to see your eyes as I make you mine.”

  His words finally made sense; she caught her breath as if his mouth was still licking avidly at her clit. She did as she was told, more because she didn’t think she could look away from him rather than any sense of obedience.

  He plunged into her full bore, all the way up to the hilt, then smothered her face in kisses. He couldn’t tell whether she was uncomfortable or not, because she didn’t seem to be reacting at all. She was very stiff beneath him, and her face wore a startled, almost frightened look, but she wasn’t crying or screaming or indicating in any way that she was in pain.

  Because he simply couldn’t manage to hold back any longer, he was already plunging into her when he asked rawly, “Beth, are you all right?”

  To his great surprise, he felt her lift her hips to meet his thrusts as she reached up and cupped his face in her hands. “Yes. How could I possibly ever be any better?”

  Her words made his cock jump within her, and, although he did his best not to be too aggressive, he wasn’t sure he accomplished his goal because it had just been too damned long. Too many nights thinking about just this moment, too many long, languorous and all too real dreams about having her beneath him, on top of him – any way he could possibly have her.

  When he finally allowed himself to release within her, Vidar thought he was going to explode himself, from the pure ecstasy of it. Nothing in his life had prepared him for the reality of how this felt, and he wasn’t at all certain he was going to survive it.

  When it was over, when the spasms that were so pleasurable they were nearly painful died down, he couldn’t help but slump down on top of her. His arms just wouldn’t – couldn’t – hold him any longer. He’d never feel so weak and yet so invincibly strong at the same time.

  She wore him out completely, more so than he had ever been worn out before. And it felt damned good.

  Suddenly, though, he remembered that he need
ed to be careful of her back, and he hopped off her like a scalded cat, afraid he’d done her harm or setback her recovery or something awful like that, because Lord knew that just about the time he laid his mouth over her privates, nearly every intelligent thought left his head and he functioned pretty much on instinct from then on. He hadn’t considered her back one bit in anything he’d done to her, but he guessed he had to rely on her to tell him if something he was doing was hurting her.

  But still, he felt terribly guilty for not being more conscious of her situation. And he couldn’t even promise her that he wouldn’t lose his mind totally again, the next time they made love. In fact, he was pretty damned sure that he was going to become completely brain dead again. Such were the heights she drove him to.

  He’d never experienced anything like that with any other woman, and he knew now – more completely than he had suspected – that she was his true mate. His forever mate.

  Again he asked, “Are you all right?” solicitously, hoping she would give him something to do for her to assuage the guilt he was feeling. He was running his hands all over her, as if feeling for broken bones.

  “Yes, I’m fine. Are you all right?” He looked nervous or discombobulated or something that was completely out of character for him, and it made her more than a bit concerned about him.

  “I didn’t hurt you – your back, I mean?”

  “No, my back’s fine, thank you.” Liz was already trying to slip off the bed in pursuit of her clothes. She was feeling more vulnerable than she ever had in her life – even more than when he had the heart of her in his mouth. She didn’t know what she’d done, exactly, but he’d suddenly jumped off her as if he’d received an electrical shock, and now he was several inches away – not offering to cuddle or even just a hug, after what she’d just let him do to her. What they’d just done together.

  “Stop.”

  She barely had one foot on the floor, but was loathe to give up the ground she’d gained in distancing herself from him. If he was going to hurt her and get up, saying something trite like he’d call her some time, and it looked very much as if he was, she wanted to be fully clothed when he did it. He’d said some wonderful things to her, and she would always cherish them in her heart, taking them out and replaying them in her mind on the inevitable cold, lonely nights ahead.