Page 108 of How the Belle Stole Christmas

Cornelius made quick work of his boots and britches, discarding them, not caring where they fell in his desperation to be free.

All he could think of was becoming one with her.

Nothing else mattered. All he cared about was her.

It was just him and her, no one else. If one night was all she could give him, then God help him he would take it gladly.

Joining her on the bed, his fingers trailed up her calf, his nails teasing her soft flesh.

Her nipples pebbled, her body quivering in need.

He kissed her knees, his lips trailed up her thigh, his tongue teasing, savoring, worshipping.

The scent of her sex was spicy as it assaulted him, his member torturing him as he pressed against the feather-filled mattress.

He tried to control himself as his mouth continued to the apex of her thighs.

The curls of her sex greeted him as he found her wet and ready for him.

The first taste of her on his tongue was pure bliss. She was a goddess, and Cornelius would worship her as long as humanly possible.

She arched her back, her cries of ecstasy a balm to his aching soul. She gripped his head, guiding him to where she wanted him most as he teased and licked. He captured her little nob with his tongue causing her to cry out. Her thighs trembled around his head.

The erotic sounds that came from her lips sent need pulsing through him, all the way to his hard member. He ignored his own suffering, kissing and sucking her flesh until she was begging for more.

Shaking hands caressed up her pliant body, finding the hard peaks of her nipples begging for his touch.

“Cornelius!” Imogen cried out, her fingers gripping his head, holding him in place. “I-I’ve never experienced such a thing in a hundred years!”

He chuckled at her odd comment before plunging back in between her thighs. Her spicy taste fueled a fervor he wasn’t aware existed within himself.

Pinching her hard nipple with one hand, he inserted a finger with his other, finding her impossibly tight.

A thunderous cry of pleasure filled the room, her body quaking with the weight of her release as she practically rose off the bed. Her thighs squeezed around his head, threatening to break him with their strength. He kissed each one, her abdomen, then the swell of her breasts.

Imogen pulled him to her, lips trailing all over his face in frantic little kisses. “More.” Her demand was followed by wild kisses that nearly undid him. she demanded. Her lips pressed against his before she kissed him wild and unhinged.

“Darling,” he panted around her frantic kisses. “Darling,” he tried again, cupping her face with his hand. “Have you ever been with a man before?”

She blinked up at him several times, the lust dimming slightly in her green eyes before she shook her head. “No.” She craned her neck, lips grazing the stubble of his jaw. “Only you. It will only be you for the rest of my existence.”

Only him.

He would be the first and only man to ever be intimate with this angelic goddess of a woman.

Cornelius captured her mouth with his. Framing her face with one of hand, he caressed the soft skin with his thumb.

His heart pounded in his chest as he teased her sex with his manhood, fighting to control the urge to plunge into her heavenly depths.

That would not do. Not only was she an innocent, but Imogen was also precious and dear to him. She deserved to be worshipped and adored like the woman he loved.

“I love you,” he whispered against her lips before slowly sliding into her wet heat.

Her eyes flew opened, round and wide as a saucer, her mouth parted on a gasp. He pressed his forehead to hers, waiting as her body adjusted to the intrusion.

“Oh God, Cornelius,” she called out, tightening her hold around his neck.

“I’ve got you, darling. I’ll always have you, no matter what,” he whispered the words, the truth of them cementing them together forever.

Slowly, like a summer wave rolling over the shore, he began to rock, his movements unhurried but devastating in their intensity. Each measured thrust sent fire spiraling down his spine. The sweet agonizing torture of her wetness, the unyielding embrace of her sex was nearly his undoing.

She was exquisite. The unrelenting intimacy was something he had never experienced in his life. He loved this woman and would do everything in his power to convince her to stay with him, to be his wife, forever.

“Please, Imogen, don’t go,” he begged against the hollow of her neck. “Stay with me.”

A lone tear escaped, rolling down his cheek. This was what he’d missed his entire life.

Love.

He kissed her, long and unrelenting, until the world narrowed to the heat of her lips beneath his. His movements increased with the fervor of his confessions. She clung to him, her nails biting into his shoulder. The sting deepened the delicious torment that sent his blood roaring in his veins.

Imogen’s breath was warm against his mouth, mingling with his own as her sex tightened around him. Every slow drag of his lips on hers was a confession he could not voice. Her cry of euphoria blasted around the large chamber as she moved with him, her body rising to meet his in a frantic waltz.

The hold around his neck tightened as he plunged deeper, stilling as his own release crashed over him like a thunder splitting the heavens, fierce and absolute.

Their mouths never parted. Her body trembled in his arms as he held her tight. She was his anchor in a world that he had no control of. For the first time in years, the curse was nothing. He was simply a man with the woman he loved in his arms.

Her pleasure, her laugher, her tears, all of her filled the empty cracks of his weary heart and made him whole. Cornelius was lighter. The curse lifted from his chest, and hope filled him anew.

Rolling to his side, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, his body now weary, eyes heavy with sleep.

Imogen curled her naked body around his, pressing a light kiss to his chest. “I love you,” she whispered. “I’ll always love you, Cornelius.”

He tried to believe in her words, but before he succumbed to the darkness of sleep, a thought seared through him, jagged and merciless. You are worth more dead than alive.

It was the last thing he thought before sleep claimed him completely.