White Hot Holidays 3: Scarlet Stockings Read online

  Tonight she recognized the fact that Gabe had been cleverly masking his actions to keep her calm. She shivered again as she stared into the hard hunger pulling his face tight. His jaw was clenched as he looked at her mouth. His gaze returned to hers and Bethany was sure that she saw smug approval for the fact that she was helpless against his superior strength. There was something deep inside her husband that enjoyed capturing her.

  What surprised her most was the answering twist of excitement that traveled through her. Her passage actually cramped in its quest to be filled by her captor. A harsh male grunt hit her ears before Gabe spun her loose. Her skirts flared out from her feet as she turned in a circle before stopping next to the kitchen wall. Bethany watched her husband with wide eyes because she had no idea what to expect of this primal form of Gabe.

  “Take your dress off.” His fingers clenched tight into twin fists as his teeth clicked against each other. Bethany looked at the doorway into the bedroom and the dressing screen that she always used to disrobe behind. Not even wives displayed their bare bodies to their husbands. It simply wasn’t done.

  “Right here, I want to watch you.” That wasn’t completely true. Gabe wanted to rip that damn calico off her body and shove her back against the wall so that he could fuck her. It amazed him to see the flash of excitement in her eyes. Uncertainty moved over her face also but she wasn’t scared of the harsher side of lust. That bit of knowledge made it more impossible than ever to hold back his needs. In a whole lot of ways, it was still their wedding night. Easing her into his embrace was his job to handle right so that she wasn’t scared off sex for the rest of her days. Society did a fine job of convincing girls that passion was dirty.

  Watch her? Oh, what a wicked idea! Bethany forgot to breathe as she looked at Gabe. The man had touched her bare body but only in the dark. His words rang with hard authority making her tremble as she faced submission to his whim.

  “Do it, Bethany, and don’t turn the wick down.” Gabe was testing her now. Seeing just how much she had meant those words about being woman enough for him. Did the madam parade her naked body in front of her customers? The gossips in town said so. Bethany reached for the top button on her dress as her temper restored her composure. Well, if a bit of bare skin was what prompted her husband to seek another woman, she would just make sure he saw all he wanted right here at home.

  It was amazing the way it felt to undress for a man. Well, for Gabe. Excitement raged through her body as the buttons on her dress parted. Gabe’s eyes followed the progress of her hands like slaves. It was an odd reversal of power—he commanded but she captured his complete attention.

  Her dress slipped over her shoulders as Bethany reached for the button holding her petticoat closed around her waist. One little twist and it slid down her thighs. Undressing was rather simple because her clothing was designed for her to get into and out of without help. Back-closing underpinnings were for women who had maids.

  “God, you’re beautiful, Bethany, Do you want to know what I did with Honey this afternoon?”

  His wife snorted at him. Gabe lifted a single finger in the face of her temper. “If I had any idea that you would act like this, I would have gone to see Honey weeks ago.”

  Bethany stepped out of her pooled skirts and propped her hands onto her hips. The posture thrust her breasts forward with her new corset helping to make sure they were high and proud. Gabe sucked his breath in as her scarlet-clad legs came into full sight. “Does that mean you’re planning on going back?”

  Gabe chuckled, the tone of her voice said he’d better think twice before telling her he was taking his time to another woman. “I got everything I needed from Honey today. The whole point was to learn what I needed to make you scream.”

  Chapter Three

  That twist of excitement gripped her once again. Make her scream? Fear edged the emotion but all that did was make it more intense. Fluid eased down the walls of her passage as her eyes dropped to the fly on her husband’s pants. Bethany just couldn’t help it. Need was pulsing through her body and she knew that what she craved was the hard contact of his cock pressed into her.

  “That’s right. I didn’t lay a finger on her but I needed a woman who would tell me exactly what part of your body to stroke.”

  “You asked a woman about me?” Bethany’s face burned with fire. People did not just ask about…well…about sex!

  “Sex is like a whole lot of things in life. Details matter.” Gabe considered the blush on her face. “Take your corset off. It’s too damn pretty for me to tear.”

  There it was again, that hint of primitive behavior. Bethany fumbled the first metal hook on the front busk as she saw the proof of her husband’s deteriorating control flicker across his eyes. She felt like cornered prey that didn’t have a prayer of escaping. If she bolted, he’d spring at her fleeing form.

  But Bethany had never shown Gabe her bare breasts. She held the edges of her corset over her body as she tried to find the courage to expose herself to his keen stare. Gabe had cupped her breasts in his hands as they made love, but he had never seen them in full light.

  “Show me, Bethany, and then I’m going to show you exactly what Honey told me about today.”

  Bethany let the corset go and Gabe hissed through his teeth. His eyes lingered over her nipples as the tender crowns tightened into little hard buttons. He was moving towards her before he thought about it. The distance suddenly too much to tolerate when she stood there displaying her breasts for him. The only thought crossing his mind was the fact that he had the right to touch her. Stroke those globes of creamy flesh and actually taste her little brown nipples. Bethany had granted him her body and only him. Right then his blood surged with the need to prove to her that she had chosen wisely.

  Gabe’s hands slid around her torso and flattened on her back. He lifted her slightly forward as he loomed over her. Her breasts ended up thrust high as he lowered his mouth and took one between his lips. Bethany cried out as his mouth sucked on the sensitive tip, sending a bolt of need spearing into her passage. Her hips actually jerked towards Gabe, lifting and offering her body for his possession. His mouth was almost too hot but pleasure spiked through her breast as he pulled her nipple deeper and she felt the tip of his tongue flicker over the little button.

  Bethany listened to her own whimper as Gabe gave her nipple a final lick and then he took her opposite one into his mouth. It was the most exquisite torment. Pleasure swept through her as his tongue lapped over her nipple but her body was burning with the need to be stretched with his length. Her fingers curled into his forearms, and the fabric of his shirt made her angry.

  Gabe chuckled low and deep as he lifted his head from her nipple. “No one ever told me that talking to a madam could be better than using her but I admit that marriage has changed my view on the subject.”

  Bethany was caught between the need to giggle and the urge to hit Gabe. It just couldn’t be right to agree in any form to her husband spending time with a madam. But the little ripples of pleasure still moving through her breasts made a liar out of any temper she might display. It was the plain truth that she liked having her nipples sucked, even if Honey was the one who told her husband to do it.

  That giggle did escape as she considered that Gabe was doing what Honey had said. What a strange picture that was as she stood bent back over his arms. One dark eyebrow rose on her husband’s face.

  “Ah, sweet Bethany, are you amused at my expense? I might have to take you in hand—wife.” Gabe frowned at her but there was a sparkle of mischief in his eyes as his hand found her knickers and gave a twist. The button on the waistband popped off sending the button against the wall. That fast she was reminded of how much strength lived in her husband’s body. He had always touched her with such tender control. Tonight Bethany was beginning to understand that letting the man inside that polished exterior touch her at his whim might just be more exciting than remaining a delicate flower while the window shades were pulle
d down.

  Gabe drew the last bit of clothing off her body and caught the full scent of her arousal. His cock gave a twitch as it sent up a hard demand to get inside her. Gabe forced his control into place. A gentle mating wasn’t what he craved and he needed trust for Bethany to enjoy the harder side of his lust.

  “Scarlet stockings. How did you know I want some for Christmas?”

  Bethany giggled again as Gabe stood up. He cupped her chin and lowered his mouth to hers again. The kiss was full of hard possession and it made her skin tingle with hope that he would back up that promise.

  “If you go to Chinatown without me again, I’m going to spank your fanny.”

  Despite the fact that she’d expected just that type of reaction to her shopping trip, Gabe’s attitude rubbed at her pride. She had managed quite nicely on her own and didn’t need him to hold her hand along the way. “I think I just might be shopping there a bit more often.”

  Gabe frowned at her before his eyes dropped to her scarlet stockings and then moved back up her body. One dark eyebrow rose. “Now Bethany, maybe you should just wait until after Christmas for that shopping. I might have a few surprises hidden away.”

  Bethany snorted at him. She propped her hands on her hips and raised one of her eyebrows. “The ones you’ll be shopping for tomorrow, you mean?”

  A huge grin split her husband’s face but his eyes didn’t stay on her face for very long. Her bare breasts drew his attention and any hint of joking fell aside as she caught the raw look of hunger that reentered his eyes when he was looking at her nipples once more.

  “Take my clothes off.”

  “What?”

  Gabe stepped forward to cup her chin and repeated his order. “Undress me, Bethany.”

  Oh, she did like the sound of that! Her fingers were already reaching for the middle button on his shirt. The top two were open and tips of black hair curled through the opening. The lamp still burned, bathing them in yellow light as she worked those buttons open. Her fingertips stole little strokes as she moved downward. The skin-to-skin contact fed her need to get closer to him.

  “The pants, too.”

  Bethany froze on his belt. She had never seen what was hiding under his fly. She had felt it enter her body but never actually seen what her husband’s cock looked like.

  A desire to do just that raced through her blood as she pulled the first button free.

  “That’s a good girl.” Gabe sat in one of the kitchen chairs and offered her one booted foot. Leaning over meant letting her bare breasts hang in his line of vision. It was an odd sort of submission. One that required her to be obedient, but his eyes would become obsessed with her body. Grasping the boot, she pulled it free and then waited for the second one to be presented.

  Gabe stood up and shrugged out of his open shirt. Bethany sighed as his skin came into view with its ridges of hard muscle and crisp dark hair. His chest was wide and it tapered into a lean waist. His pants hung on his hips as his eyes considered her study of him. Gabe hooked his hands into the waistband and pushed the pants down.

  His cock thrust out at her with nothing to bar her view. The rod was thick and crowned with a ruby head that had a little slit on top. Bethany found herself wondering exactly how it had all fit into her body. Two sacs hung beneath it and she felt her body shiver because that staff had filled her passage and she had enjoyed it.

  “Touch me, Bethany.”

  Gabe had stepped free of his pants and stood completely bare. His body was a feast for her eyes and she wasn’t entirely sure what part of him she wanted to stroke first. She placed her hands flat over his male nipples and smiled at the warm skin pressing back against hers. She spread her hands up to his shoulders and down over the muscles on his upper arms.

  “Now touch my cock.” Gabe said it in a hushed whisper, almost like he needed her to follow his instructions. Her palm itched to feel that one part of him that had always been so forbidden. The attention he’d lavished on her bare breasts was also rejected by polite society.

  But it had felt so incredible. Her hands smoothed down his body until she found the longer hair that grew around his cock. She traced her fingers through it and then hesitated at the first contact. Gabe’s breath hissed through clenched teeth, making her watch his face in wonder. The simple touch of her hand was the center of his attention and it put her in control.

  Bethany stroked the length of his cock and listened to the second hiss of his breath. She curled her hand around the staff and rubbed her thumb over the slit on its crown.

  “Jesus, Bethany! I can’t hold back when you do that.” Gabe jerked away and opened frustrated eyes at her.

  “Hold what back?”

  His face darkened. “I want to get up inside you so bad it hurts, but not soft and controlled. I want to use you hard and I just can’t ignore it any longer.” As far as confessions went it was blunt, a lot like him. Maybe that was why he loved her so much it hurt—Bethany was all smooth and polished and she made a place a home just by being there.

  “So you went to Honey?”

  Gabe snorted at her. “I did not fuck her, Bethany. She’s a workingwoman who knows a thing or two about what a female likes when a man is between her thighs. I needed blunt answers and figured Honey was the best place to get them fast. I’m interested in fucking you and making damn sure you enjoy it as much as I do.”

  It might have been the oddest sounding declaration of love but that was exactly what Gabe was telling her. Bethany felt it hit her straight in the heart because his eyes told her he meant each word more than anything he had ever said to her. The harder words just intensified the way she felt as she stared at the raw hunger blazing from her husband’s eyes. Bethany was quite sure that every member of the town church would have fainted at the word “fuck”, but men used it rather regularly when they figured there were no ladies about to overhear them. Hearing it bounce off the wall behind her told her Gabe was being bluntly honest with her.

  And that transmitted more emotion than “I love you” could ever do. Sure, Gabe had said those words to her and meant them, but there was a hard side to him that she glimpsed from time to time that frightened her almost as much as it enticed her.

  “So what else did Honey tell you about?”

  Oh hell.

  Whisky might be able to cut through a man’s resolve quick but not nearly as fast as the excitement flickering across his wife’s face. She stood there proudly as the lamplight bathed her body in soft yellow and it was the damnedest thing Gabe had ever witnessed. Her nipples were still tight and he could smell how wet she was as his cock gave an insistent demand to find out firsthand how ready she was for his possession.

  Her words stopped him as he considered one more little thing that Honey had mentioned.

  Gabe placed his hands on her waist and her feet left the ground. A wicked smile curling his lips up as he sat her right on the kitchen table. He grabbed his half-eaten dinner and shoved the plate off onto the sink counter.

  “Put your hands on the table behind you.” Complying caused her breasts to be thrust forward and Bethany pulled her hands back a second later.

  “Do it,” Gabe growled at her as he placed a hand on each of her thighs and spread them wide. Bethany gasped as her body was exposed so completely. She felt so vulnerable and putting her hands behind her would be complete surrender. Like a captive on the auction block in some Persian market. Her hands landed softly on the cold wood as excitement made her tremble. The temptation to sample what else Gabe intended was too great to resist due to her sense of right versus wrong.

  Here there was only a man and woman and the way they used their bodies to make the other feel.

  Gabe cupped her breasts and his thighs held her wide as his thumbs brushed over her nipples. He leaned down to suck one and then the other very slowly, his tongue lapping each peak before he raised his head. “Don’t move.”

  He knelt a second later and his face ended up right between her spread thighs. Bethan
y gasped and jumped but Gabe slapped his hands over the top of each thigh to hold them apart.

  “Put those hands back on the table.”

  “What are you doing?” His face was right in front of her…um…sex. She actually felt the warm brush of his breath hit the opening of her passage and pleasure spike up into her from it. Gabe chuckled as he raised one hand and placed it on her bare belly. He pushed her back while holding onto her thigh and she put her hands behind her to keep from landing on the tabletop.

  “Good girl.” His hand returned to her thigh and gently stroked the top. His breath hit her open sex again and that same curl of pleasure went into her passage once more. A little moan made its way past her lips and Gabe looked up her body at her.

  “Honey told me about one more place that a woman likes to be sucked besides her nipples.” Bethany was frozen in shock as his hand smoothed over her pubic hair and then pulled the lips of her sex further apart.

  “Hidden right here is the center of a woman’s pleasure. It’s what my cock slides against when I’m inside you.” One thick finger penetrated her passage and she cried out. The need to climax was building to an unbearable level. The walls of her body tried to clamp around that finger and hold it. Gabe pulled it free and slid it up her open slit to the top where he centered his fingertip on a little button that throbbed with delight as he rubbed it.

  Her hips bucked up off the tabletop to press harder against his finger as a deep moan left her throat. Bethany wasn’t thinking about anything except the rapture that little bundle of nerves was promising her aching body.

  “Honey called it a clit.”

  A second later, Gabe sucked that button right into his mouth. It was searing and her hips bucked frantically as she cried out. Climax was instant. There was no controlling the timing, one flick of Gabe’s tongue and she twisted as pleasure tore into her body and wrung her like a dishtowel.

  She screamed and it tore the last bit of resolve from him. Gabe pushed to his feet as he caught Bethany’s body before it collapsed to the tabletop. His cock pressed into her body in the same motion. She was so wet, he penetrated her in one hard thrust and his growl mingled with her moan.