Saving Sarah (2 page)

Riley watched her as he had for so long. He’d always had his eyes on Sarah and the old man had known it. Riley had been angry when Duckett brought her into town to be part of the bride lottery. He knew she hadn’t killed the vile bastard she’d been stuck with as a father, and he knew the sheriff knew it as well. He’d been ready to throw her over his shoulder and fight off anyone who tried to stop him when the crazy son of a bitch had unfolded the paper Sarah chose and read Riley’s name from it.

Riley had almost faltered. He knew he hadn’t put his name in the drawing. And yet there was no doubt that it was his name Duckett had called. And who was he to question how such a gift had been given to him? He’d never figured on getting married, not with his past occupation as a Texas Ranger or his current job as sheriff’s deputy.
 
Neither occupation usually allowed for family, or, hell, even long life expectancy for that matter. But if marriage was the only way he could have Sarah then he would take it.

He glanced across the room at his wife. His wife. And marvelled again at how beautiful she was. Her red hair was in a braid down her back that hung below her waist, and he couldn’t wait to unravel it and feel her hair on him, around him, brushing over his chest, his thighs, his cock. He almost groaned aloud at the thoughts racing through his mind. He felt his body tighten further with desire and need.

He must have made some small noise because Sarah looked up, her green eyes showing her uncertainty. He knew she was afraid, but he had no choice. He had to bed her, claim her fully before someone questioned his name in the lottery. Someone had to have noticed that he never put his name on one of those little papers. Sarah was a beautiful young woman, and he’d seen mobs formed over less. She had to be his and no one else’s.

She appeared so small almost a foot shorter than his six-foot-one-inch frame. But her chest filled out the blue gingham dress she wore, and he couldn’t wait to see her out of it. Her pale skin was the perfect contrast to the fire of her hair with just a dusting of freckles across her face that made him wonder if she had them on other parts of her body. Her waist was small, easily spanned by his hands. Her green eyes dominated her face, easily the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen.

Her hands worked the buttons on the dress so slowly that he thought he might embarrass them both if she didn’t hurry. He’d waited so long, wanted her for what felt like an eternity. And now, tonight, he would finally have her. Every delectable inch of her. His. She was his now for the rest of their lives. He prayed they would live a long time. Heaven knew that he would never get enough of Sarah.

He kept his pants on even after he unfastened them. No sense in scaring her further with the sight of his hardened cock. He knew it was flushed with his desire, could feel the swelling of his balls as the last of her clothes finally fell to her feet. He caught his breath. Sheer perfection. That was what she was. He did groan this time, loud and long. He prayed he could keep his control long enough to make sure he didn’t hurt her more than was normal for a first time.

More than anything he wanted her to enjoy their lovemaking, to desire sex with him. He wanted to make it more than good for her.

“Come here.” His voice was gruffer than he intended, but his body was so filled with lust that he was lucky to still be able to speak in coherent words at all.

She was afraid. He could see it in her eyes, but still she straightened her shoulders and moved across the small space towards him. It tugged at his chest the way she faced whatever came her way with courage and a strength that he had rarely witnessed in men much less a young woman.
 
There was fire in his Sarah. He’d always known that there would be. He hoped that he would be able to ignite the flames higher and not put them out for good.

She stopped just in front of him, and it was all he could do to keep his hands from reaching out and touching her. His eyes touched briefly on the curve of her shoulder, the full globes of her breasts, the softness of her stomach, the red curls that covered her mound. They all called to him begging for his touch.

“Undo your hair.”

She looked surprised by his request but there was no hesitation as she reached back for her braid to do his bidding. Her firm breasts lifted with her arms as she reached back to pull the tail of her braid over one shoulder, and he couldn’t mask the hungry sound that left his throat. His hands lifted of their own accord until he held that glorious weight in his palms. His thumbs reached up to rub across the pink puckers of her nipples, and his mouth watered with anticipation.

Sarah gasped and trembled beneath his touch. But she didn’t pull away. Her hands had stilled on her hair. She seemed as lost in the sensations of his hands on her flesh as he was. She felt perfect, her skin soft and warm. His thumbs continued to rub her hardened nubs, back and forth, before circling around them.

“Finish your hair, Sarah,” he whispered to her. He couldn’t wait to see all that fiery colour swirling around them. That was her crowning glory, and he wanted to bathe in it, wanted to feel those curls all over his body.

She hesitated another moment, a shudder wracking through her body, before letting her hands continue to unwind the braid. She worked quickly until finally it was finished. She shook her head gently, and her hair fell in waves to lick at the top curve of her buttocks. Some poured forward over her shoulders, slipping over and around her breasts and his hands. She was beautiful, everything that he had known she would be. And if he didn’t feel her skin on his, taste her flesh with his lips and tongue soon then there would be no gentleness in his touch. His lust was too strong, too powerful and consuming to wait much longer.

“I need you, Sarah.” His voice shook with that need. “I’ve wanted you for so long. Tell me you’re not afraid. Tell me that you won’t hate me. Because, God help me, but I can’t go much longer without feeling you on my skin.”

Sarah caught her breath. His fingers on her breasts were like nothing she had ever known. Sensations were rippling through her body, so many new vibrations under her skin that she felt strange, her body heavy. Her breasts ached for more of his touch, for more of anything that he would give her. And between her legs she could feel a liquid slicking her thighs. She ached there to.

She knew the basics of what was going to happen between her and Riley. Her mother had been sure to tell all her daughters when they turned thirteen about the happenings between a man and his wife. But that talk had been long ago. And knowing what was supposed to happen and experiencing it were two different things. She was scared, of what he was making her feel and of what she knew he expected from her. But a part of her was eager as well. She was a very lucky woman to be experiencing her first time with a man like Riley James. Funny thing was that when she had dreamed of her first time, he was the man who always filled her fantasies. How was that for a twist of fate?

“Sarah.”

His groan pulled her from her thoughts, and she realised that she had not answered his plea. She reached out tentatively towards his chest. A soft moan left her lips when her hands found purchase on his flesh. The hair was rough against her palms, and the thought of how it would feel against her nipples had more moisture coating her sex and thighs. She let her hands slide up his chest to his shoulders, and she pushed his opened shirt off and down his arms so that he stood in just his unfastened pants and stockings. He looked so rugged and masculine.

“No, I won’t hate you,” she whispered, moving closer into him. “I’ve thought about my first time, Riley. I’ve dreamed about it. And, in every fantasy, it was always with you.”

Her confession barely left her lips before he crushed her to him, his lips staking a claim, possessing her. He swept her up into his arms never breaking the seal of his mouth over hers. She barely registered the cool feel of the bed beneath her back before the heat of Riley hovering over her consumed all of her attention. Somewhere along the way, he’d shed the rest of his clothes so that nothing kept his flesh from hers.

He was hard and thick where he rested against the inside of her thigh. She could feel him there, larger than she had imagined, but his kiss possessed her to the point that rational thought was beyond her. How could one man unleash so many conflicting emotions in her? She felt fear and anxiety, but it was all overshadowed by a need for something more, something that would change the person she was.

His hand stroked over her flesh until his fingers reached the curls between her legs. She was embarrassed by the moisture that coated her and now him. But the groan that left his lips made her think he enjoyed the dampness there. His mouth left hers to blaze a trail of heat down her throat to her collar bone. His teeth nipped at her flesh, and his tongue touched every inch of skin on his mouth’s journey. His lips hovered over her breast. His tongue glided around the puckered centre, and her breasts grew tighter, heavier, until she felt a tingling that streaked a trail straight to her womb. She wanted his mouth there, wanted to feel his lips close over her nipple and suck greedily from it as a babe would its mother. Was it so wrong to desire such a sinful pleasure? Did it make her a whore to want such things even if they were from her husband?

A scream tore from her throat as he bombarded her senses with too many sensations. His mouth did what she wanted and closed tight over her flesh sucking greedily from it. His teeth nipped at her then his tongue soothed and enflamed before the suction began again. It seemed to pull an imaginary string that linked her engorged nipple to her secret woman’s place where his fingers were doing naughty things that felt so right.

His fingers spread the lips of her pussy wide so his thumb could stroke over the swollen bud of her clitoris. He applied a gentle pressure that had her arching into his touch, screaming from the pleasure that wracked her body. One finger slipped inside, rubbing against the walls of her channel, stretching and teasing her. He caressed until the finger was deep inside her then he wiggled it, igniting a blistering heat that felt like it might kill her. In and out he glided his finger, thumb never stopping its sensual attack on her pleasure bud. His mouth moved from one breast to the other until both felt swollen from his attention.

Something was happening. Something scary and unnerving. It felt as if she were close to bursting, a pressure growing tighter and tighter in her womb until she felt she might splinter into a million pieces if he didn’t stop what he was doing. And yet it felt so good that she never wanted him to stop what he was doing. And then he did. His mouth left her breasts, and she cried out at the loss of Riley’s mouth against her. He caught her glance for a moment, and she felt drowned in the passion that lit his eyes. He wanted her. And, right or wrong, she wanted him more and more with every breath she took.

He bent his head and his tongue flicked over her stomach, dipping into her belly button before journeying further down her body. Then the ultimate pleasure was taken from her as his thumb left her.

“No,” she cried but the words had barely left her mouth when he was there. His mouth closed over her bud, sucking on it as he had her nipples. It was too much. The invisible cord pulled taut then snapped sending her not falling but flying, soaring through the air in a million pieces. Her hips arched into his face, her hands fisted in the covers on the bed. She threw back her head, her mouth open as incoherent sounds left her. Never had she imagined such pleasure could be found in the marriage bed.

Slowly, she came back to herself, a lethargy consuming her body that made her wonder how any woman could handle such satisfaction on a daily basis. And oh how she prayed that Riley would want such devilment daily. She felt him shift above her, felt his mouth and fingers leave her. He used his hands to press her legs wider, to push her knees up and out, opening her still further to him. His shaft pressed into the opening where his fingers had just been and slowly he began to push inside her.

This was it. This was the moment that Riley had been waiting for. He had Sarah’s juices on his face, on his tongue, and he had never tasted anything sweeter than his wife. She had exploded for him, holding nothing back from him. It was what he had always hoped for in a wife, on the rare occasions when he thought of taking one. He wanted a woman that was unafraid of the pleasures a man could give her, could share with her. He’d seen the passion in Sarah’s eyes but even he hadn’t imagined how uninhibited she would be.

He glanced down at her, taking in the relaxed posture, the flushed glow of her skin and knew that, from this moment on, he was hers as much as she was his. He pushed her thighs wide and eased his body up over her. Without thought, he manoeuvred her knees up and out spreading her as wide as he could without hurting her. With one hand he braced his weight up while he reached down with the other to guide his shaft to her opening. She was wet, so wet from his oral ministrations that he prayed it would not hurt her too badly. He’d never bedded a virgin, but he’d heard stories and would give anything to spare her the pain that was inevitable with a woman’s first time.