“Thank you, Arthur.” She glanced at him from behind her spectacles, which she now thought of as jewelry, despite herself.
She studied her hand clasped around the bell, enveloped by his hands. “What’s this for? You must know I have things like this. Unless there’s something special about this one that I’ve missed?”
“Nothing special except for the fact that it is the first gift you received from your husband.”
“You mean besides a bruised shin?” She neglected to notice that she didn’t contradict his hopeful claim.
He chuckled. He had such a warm laugh. She imagined listening to it every evening. It didn’t seem such a terrible thing.
“It’s for your Glider, Blue.”
“My Glider?”
“Yes, you can ring it to announce yourself when you’re coming around a corner. It should help in preventing at least a few potential mishaps.”
Bridget was frozen in time and place. What a ridiculous cliche to think until it happened to a person. She had never before felt completely unable to move or think in any direction.
A bell. For her Glider. So she could be free. Be herself fully. In marriage.
It was too good to be true, wasn’t it?
But what of love?
And because Arthur was not frozen in time and place, he picked up the conversation.
“I love you, Blue. I was not able to say the words when I proposed. Like a fool. But it was my first time. Some things take practice. Though I hope to get it right this time, since I’m not planning to do it again.” He inhaled deeply. “I love you. From the moment I saw you, wild and free, I was drawn to you. There are some things in life I can’t explain. Love is one of them. I will spend my life seeking out life’s great medical mysteries and pursuing knowledge, but love is one of those things I cannot explain. So I have resigned myself to the fact that I’m in love with you. The past seven days have been horrible. I’ve been waiting for your reply. When none came, I knew I had to challenge myself to understand you better. Flowers were not the way to your heart. Freedom is at your heart. I want you to be free. To be yourself. And I can only hope that your full self can one day come to love me. I will devote myself to that result. To have you and your heart.”
And that was the incontrovertible evidence she had been waiting for. The bell. The speech. The man.
She stood up and placed the bell on her night table. When she returned, she placed her index finger on the notch of exposed chest just below his throat. Skin to skin contact was the experiment. The hypothesis was heat. The result was an inferno. Taking over her entire body.
Gently, she pushed him to fall backward on her bed. And she crawled over him, yanking up her night rail as she straddled him.
“Ask me again, Arthur.”
His grin was larger than life. “Lady Bridget Harrington, with all my body, heart, and mind, I love you. Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” She smiled back at him, “But only because I love you.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a deep kiss. It was a warm meeting of mouths, of minds, and of hearts. His hands were tangling themselves in her night rail, so she reached down and tugged it over her head.
“Sweet stars, you are gorgeous.” His hands ran down her nipples and they puckered in response. She could feel heat swelling between her legs, anticipating him.
“Undo these,” Bridget pointed to his falls and before she could make her next request, he was jutting out to greet her.
“Yes, that looks good.” She said as she licked her lips. “I think I must have that.”
“God, Bridget, I will see you come apart in my arms again, my love.”
“Only in your arms, Arthur,” her breathing was coming in heavier. She bent down and trailed her tongue along his staff, loving the bounce she caused in him. Then he was pulling her toward his mouth, and she sidled her core up to his cock. His hands and his tongue on her body had been otherworldly, she couldn’t imagine how other parts would feel. The moment contact was made, she moaned, deep, guttural. As if coming home. As if feeling everything she needed was right there. With him.
“Take your pleasure, Bridget. Find it and take it.”
So she did. She rubbed herself on his pulsating member until she couldn’t take it anymore. “I need you inside of me, Arthur.”
He fisted his cock and held it as she lowered herself down onto him. She could feel herself breaking apart and coming together all at the same time. Clasping him from every possible angle, her hands, her mouth, her cunny. He arched his hips up and she found the motion he suggested was exactly what her body craved. Instinct took over and she rode him over and over again until he was hitting her in a spot she never knew existed. In all her experimentation, only he could reach her here.
“Don’t stop,” she pleaded.
