“These are lovely.” He pressed his lips to each dimple.

Julia flinched, so Gabriel paused. When he continued, she began to relax. After what seemed like an hour, he was whispering in her ear, coaxing her to roll over. She felt as if she was floating on a cloud. She blinked up at him, a lazy smile spreading across her face.

He reached down to nuzzle her nose with his as he moved over her, one leg between hers and one leg to the side, his elbows resting near hers.

“You’re gorgeous,” he whispered, lowering himself until their bodies whispered against one another. Then he slowly began to press angel-soft kisses up and down her neck and across her collarbone while he continued his massage of the front of her body with one hand.

Julia loved the way her breasts brushed up against his hard chest and the feel of his taut abdomen against her softness — the way his strong hand slid beneath her bottom, pulling her against his hips.

“You don’t know how much I desire you,” he murmured against her neck. “How sexy you are.” He nuzzled the dip at the base of her throat, pausing to trace it with his tongue.

Without warning, Julia arched off the bed and cried out in pleasure.

Her hands found his back, and she began tracing the muscles, coming to rest on his hips, pushing down on them.

“Not yet, love.”

He worshipped her with his mouth, with lips, with the gentle nip of teeth, unhurriedly adoring his beloved’s body. She tensed when he kissed her hip bone, tasting the skin with his tongue before drawing it into his mouth.

“What’s wrong?” he murmured, as he nuzzled across her lower abdomen from one hip to the other.

“No one has ever…” She stopped, embarrassed.

He grinned wickedly against her hip, plying it with kisses and working her flesh with his tongue. Of course he never did this for you. In addition to being a motherfucker, he was also a fool.

“Sweetheart, spread your legs for me.”

Her eyes were dark and slightly cautious, but she complied. She watched as he gazed at her appreciatively, his eyes darting up to meet hers.

He smiled and gently began to pet her with his fingers. Julia moaned.

He touched her lightly at first, testing her with one finger, moving carefully. Then he stretched her with two fingers, curling them upward as his thumb began to rub tiny circles. He never took his eyes away from her face, watching for any sign of discomfort, listening to her breathing speed as his curled fingers found her spot inside. He bowed his head in admiration, bringing his lips to the top of her inner thigh, teasing her before taking the flesh into his mouth and sucking with abandon, while continuing the movements of his hand. It was an extraordinary combination.

Julia’s body bowed off the bed as she came with a cry so loud it approximated a scream. He continued touching her, but lessened his suction until she thrashed and tried to close her legs. He brought his mouth up to hers and kissed her tenderly.

“Thank you,” she whispered, feeling feather-light. It should be a crime to have such gifted fingers…and what a mouth…

“Did that please you?”

She nodded, breathing heavily, her eyes a little wild.

He doubted that the senator’s son had ever found her spot, and the thought made his chest swell with pride. He was looking forward to introducing her to all of the places on her body that he could bring pleasure to, one by one. He dragged his finger from her neck, circling a breast, and down to the place on her thigh where there was now a fresh mark. He pressed the newly colored skin lightly.

“Does it hurt?”

“No. But how — ?”

“This part of your thigh is very sensitive. Someone who is selfish or rushed would ignore it and touch here first.” He moved his finger to pet her lightly between her legs.

She was still sensitive from her orgasm, and so she jumped. He withdrew his hand and traced her thigh again.

“Julia, the only thing that redeems my previous experiences is that I can place what I’ve learned at your service. The only woman I’m interesting in pleasing from now on is you.”

She reached up to touch his face, and he leaned his cheek against her hand, closing his eyes. She pressed her thumb against his mouth, feeling his full lower lip, and tugged him forward into a passionate kiss. He responded by placing his body over hers, and her heart quickened, thinking the moment of their union was imminent.

Once again, she grasped his beautiful behind, urging him closer. He smiled patiently and pushed back on one arm. “This isn’t a good position.

I need to move you.”

“I thought — me underneath you, isn’t that right?”

“It’s the worst position to lose your virginity in,” he explained, planting baby kisses across her shoulder.

“I think I’ll like it.”

Gabriel pulled back. “Not for your first time; it would be too easy for me to hurt you without realizing it.”

Hurt?  she thought.

His heart stuttered at the worry that flitted across her eyes. He placed his hands on either side of her face. “I am not going to hurt you, Julianne. I am not a teenage boy. I’m not him. I’m going to be very, very gentle. That’s why we can’t do it like this.”

“Why?”

“The angles. My weight on top of you, even if I’m distributing it to my knees. Gravity. If you’re on top, you can control the movements, the depth of penetration. I’m giving the control to you. Trust me,” he breathed, kissing her ear.

He continued to caress her, murmuring adorations against her smooth, almost translucent skin. Then he wrapped his arms around her back, lifting her from the bed and switching positions so that he was flat on his back and she lay on top of him.

As she rested on his chest, he whispered Dante’s words to her in Italian:

“Color di perle ha quasi in forma, quale convene a donna aver, non for misura; ella è quanto de ben pò far natura; per esemplo di lei bieltà si prova.

De li occhi suoi, come ch’ella li mova, escono spirti d’amore inflammati,

che fèron li occhi a qual che allor la guati, e passan sì che ‘l cor ciascun retrova: voi le vedete Amor pinto nel viso,

là ‘ve non pote alcun mirarla fiso.”

Gabriel praised her beauty and her goodness, comparing her to a pearl and declaring that Love, itself, was featured in her visage. Julia whispered her thanks for his beautiful words, stilling so that she could hear his heart beat under her ear. She was overwhelmed to think that she held this person, this man she had loved for so long, in her arms. She couldn’t stop touching him, tracing every muscle, every sinew of taut perfection. She traced his eyebrows, the indentation above the center of his sensuous upper lip, his sideburns, his ears…

He reached up to kiss her, tracing her lips with his tongue and drawing her plump lower lip into his mouth. For a few moments there was skin on skin, two naked bodies flush and prone. Julia’s hands continued to explore Gabriel’s form, his face, his chest, his hips. She began to stroke his erection softly, hesitantly, pressing kiss after kiss to his neck and throat as she worked him with her hand.

He growled in her ear, signaling his pleasure. A surge of confidence propelled her to stroke him more surely, quickening her pace as she brought her lips to his chest, kissing his pectorals and his tattoo. He was panting now.

“Let me worship you with my body, Julia,” he rasped, not wanting his impending satisfaction to take place in her hand.

She released him as he grasped her thighs, gently coaxing them apart so that they rested on either side of his narrow hips. She felt him beneath her, lifting of his own accord between her legs. She shifted slightly, and a worried look shadowed her lovely face.

Gabriel placed his hand on her heart. The little beating thing inside her spluttered frenetically at his touch and sped up. “Are you all right?”

She leaned forward, allowing her hair to hang about her face like a screen.

He reached up to push her hair behind her shoulders so that he could see her better. “Please don’t hide. I want to watch you.”

Julia bit her lower lip and looked away.

“What?”

She shook her head.

“Sweetheart, now is not the time to be shy. Tell me.”

She stared at his chest, trying very hard not to look at the dragon as it mocked her with its permanence. “This isn’t how I imagined it,” she whispered, so low he had to strain to hear her.

“Then tell me how.”

“I thought you’d be… over  me.” His banner over me is love.

“I like being on top, I won’t deny it, but you’re very small, sweetheart, and very delicate. I’m worried that — ”

“I know I made you wait a long time, Gabriel.” Her voice was just above a whisper. “It will be all right if you can’t be careful with me. If you need to be…aggressive.”

Her remark disturbed him deeply, for behind the words he recognized not her voice but Simon’s. Of course that’s what she thinks — that’s how  he 

treated her. Men are dogs with no self-control, and she’s just a plaything for their sexual release.  The idea sickened him, but he fought to keep revulsion from showing on his face. He placed his hand on her cheek and gently stroked her.

“Julia, I love you. If I were the kind of man who would be aggressive with you because you made me wait, then you shouldn’t be going to bed with me. You’re a person, not a toy.

“I don’t want to use you. I want to please you. So much.” At this he gazed up at her with large, dark eyes, dropping his voice to the merest whisper.

“I want you forever, not just for tonight. So please, let me do this my way.”

He begged her with his eyes to take him at his word. He didn’t want to have to explain why  he was concerned and what kind of outcome he was studiously avoiding. There would be time enough for that in the morning.

“All I ever wanted was for someone to love me,” she said, quietly.

“You have that now.”

He moved his mouth to her breasts, holding one gently in his hand while he nuzzled the other. They were perfect. Perfect in weight and size, natural and pretty. Rosebuds and cream. He thought back to the night he’d first seen one, peeking out from behind her purple robe in their hotel room in Philadelphia. How he’d longed to take her into his mouth. He flicked her with his tongue, licking softly, and gently drew on her nipple, feeling it peak still further in his mouth.

Julia threw her head back, making inarticulate noises. Gabriel measured her reaction carefully. He wanted her to be aroused, and if she orgasmed by this alone, so be it. It would make what followed much, much easier.

“Let go, love. You don’t have to fight it,” he spoke to her other breast, as he offered it his attention.

Julia shuddered at his words and began rocking against him, eyes closed, sliding back and forth. Within a few minutes he felt her tighten and release, her posture sagging as she finished. She opened her eyes, blinked, then smiled down at him almost languidly.

And thank you very much for orgasm number two…