Grace Goodwin - The Virgins - Complete Boxed Set

Instead of helping me into my drawers, he forced me to lift one foot, then the other, for them to come free. Holding the white undergarment before him, he said, “I’ll keep these.”

“But—”

“You won’t forget me as you finish your work.” With all the gentlemanly manners I’d imagined from a noble lord, he lifted my hand to his lips and placed a soft, lingering kiss on my palm, his caress right on top of the birthmark. Heat swirled through me at the odd gesture and I nearly swooned, dizziness swamping me.

I would have stumbled, but he stood to his full, towering height. “I’ll see you later, Cassie. I will come to you tonight, in your dreams, and you will see my face this time as I fuck you. Tomorrow, you will be in my arms again, I promise you.”

He stood and stepped back, let me go back to the house for my evening chores. I did not mind the tasks, for once, for I was well satisfied and had a handsome man—a well-skilled lover—to think about.

And that night, alone in bed, he did find me in my dreams. I awoke once again with my nightgown bunched up about my waist, but this time my hand was between my thighs and two fingers were inside me. I’d never, never , done something like that before, but I was so wet, so empty that I stroked myself to another orgasm, my hips shifting on the bed. I wanted more than my own touch, for it hadn’t been Maddox’s fingers deep inside me in the dream, but his… cock.

In the dream he’d said he would come to me today, take me in his arms and make me his forever. He’d stroked me with his cock and I’d let him, wanted everything he had to give me. And now, awake and aware of all that had been said, I had no doubt whatsoever he would follow through on his promise to hunt me down and fuck me until I begged for release.

I promised to find you, to claim you, to make you mine. He’d even said he’d mate me. That was the one word he spoke that confused me. Mate. Not wife, not lover, but mate.

I was a woman, not a wolf.

Once I woke, sleep would not return and I feared I might never rest again. When dawn threatened, I climbed from the bed and dressed quickly, deciding against my favorite blue day dress because it would remind me of yesterday, of him .

I only owned two dresses, and slipped into my faded green-and-yellow work frock before tiptoeing down the back stairwell, careful on the fourth step not to step on the spot that creaked. Going out the back door, I closed it quietly behind me, then I breathed.

My work shoes were next to the back door and I slipped my feet into the familiar leather. The sky was still dark, but the birds were chirping and I knew dawn was close. The cool air felt good on my heated skin, my damp thighs, although it did nothing to cool my eagerness for Maddox. I didn’t understand it, this… this frantic need to be with him, to touch him, to know he was near.

I should hate myself for my weakness. While I was a widow, I should have some decorum, some level of virtuousness despite what I’d shared with Charles. Far from innocent, I had somehow transformed to a wanton, letting a stranger do what he wished with me—Maddox had certainly been the dominant one—to find my pleasure. It was inexplicable. Truly. But I didn’t care. For once in my life, I was just feeling, just living, not wondering what others would think or focused on doing what was best in order to survive. For once I was exhilarated, for Maddox wanted me.

Not one of the women I knew in town spoke of dreaming about sharing a bed with a man before they married. I’d never heard one hint of the idea. While the married women did not often speak about what occurred in their marriage beds, they did talk. Yet, not one had mentioned sharing such wicked dreams. No one ever talked about dreaming about a man and having him appear, as if by magic. And most of all, no one had ever talked about their man being so skilled with his hands, his mouth and his cock. They’d mentioned lying still and bearing it, not getting so wet that I could hear my own desire, pick up the scent of it in the air as Maddox used his fingers and tongue to bring me to climax.

No one had ever mentioned doing that behind their chicken coop. I put my fingers to my lips to stifle a heady giggle.

To complicate and confuse me further, Maddox had said he’d dreamed of me, too. I could understand having someone appear in a dream, for I’d had dreams of Mrs. Anderson after her death and she had not come back to life. That wasn’t uncommon, dreaming of the people one sees each day. But Maddox had dreamed the same dream, had described it in some detail and it had matched mine.

While I wanted him in my bed, I knew that was the line I could not cross, for Mr. Anderson and the others would easily know of our illicit interactions. I could not be here when Maddox woke. I could not stare into his blue eyes over the breakfast table and pretend to be unaffected or deny what had occurred behind the chicken coop. Surely what we’d done would be painted on my face for all to see. I needed to get away, clear my head before I was forced to confront him again.

Stepping off the back porch, I walked through the damp grass. Glancing back at the house, I wondered if he still slept, if he wore his clothes to bed or if he was as naked as in the dream that still lingered in my mind? Long, lean muscles, smooth skin with a smattering of soft hair. I knew how he felt, how he smelled, how he tasted, for I’d put my lips on his body before he’d flipped me onto my back, nudged my thighs wide and worked his thick manhood into me.

The sensation had startled me awake and now I needed to escape the dark desires riding me, urging me to sneak to his room and—

Shivering—and not from cold—I refused to finish that thought, instead dashed toward the creek, my palm still tingling, heated from the touch of his lips.

Maddox

My mate was running away from me as if I were a predator and she my prey. I watched her slip out of the house and onto the back porch. I knew nothing about my mate, her beliefs or her customs. Hell, I only knew about Earth from what the ship’s systems had offered and those weren’t completely accurate. The Montana Territory was wild and rugged, barren and desolate, oddly beautiful. It was nothing like the elegant and ancient cities of Everis. My civilization was millenniums old, our culture and traditions unchanged in hundreds of years. On Everis everyone had a place, a destiny determined by birth or tradition, our cultures thousands of years beyond the primal acts of war, or tribal thinking, fighting for resources or survival.

On Everis, none went hungry. None were ever abandoned or alone. We were one of the oldest planets in the Coalition, our culture and customs stately and respected.

The rugged unpredictability of this place kept me constantly on edge, and with both my enemy and my mate here, I struggled to adjust. Even with Cassie, I felt off-kilter for she was not what I had expected. She did not know who or what she was.

I gripped her dainty drawers in my hand. When I’d slid them down her thighs, the fabric had been damp with her arousal, had touched her pussy, and still held her scent.

Slipping from my place atop the roof of her home where I’d spent much of the night standing guard watching for Neron’s approach, I followed her, my footsteps silent in the tall grass. I had to watch over her, protect her, even from things she did not know existed.

She ran from me, from the intensity of our mating bond, and yet I could not feel regret that I had slipped into my mate’s mind as she slept. I knew the way to her mind now, could enter her dreams at will. The physical contact we’d shared just hours ago made it easier for my mind to find hers, for my fantasies to pleasure both of us as we slept. Physical contact was too banal for what I’d done to her. Seeing her pussy for the first time, licking and sucking on her wet pink folds, making her come against my mouth was… transcendent. I knew her taste, her scent, the sounds she made when she came. No matter where I was in the future, I would never sleep alone again, and neither would she. I would join her every night until we were mated and from then on. We were one, our minds already linked as I longed for our bodies to be.