She smiled. “I meant — about the shoes. I could keep them on.”
The thought thrilled him. He couldn’t deny it. But he worried about her comfort, and there would be plenty of time for other, more playful moments.
“I shouldn’t have let you navigate the cobblestones in such high heels.
It had to be painful. No shoes tonight.”
He caressed her feet slowly, running his thumb up and down the arch of her foot, a move designed to relax but also to arouse her. She began to whimper; it felt so good. She wondered briefly how his thumb would feel on other parts of her body, and a shiver coursed up and down her spine.
Gabriel paused. “You’re quivering. We don’t have to do this.”
“It’s a pleasant kind of quivering,” she murmured.
He continued to caress her feet for a few minutes before his hands ascended the backs of her calves to rest behind her knees. His magical fingers teased the hidden erogenous zone, almost making her cry out. She couldn’t keep her eyes open as her breathing came quicker.
He knows a woman’s body the way…somebody knows something. What was I saying?
In truth, he knew her body better than she knew it herself, which was a regrettable state of affairs. Nevertheless, she trembled as she thought of what delights awaited her when he actually moved his hands a little higher.
As if he was reading her mind, he ceased his attentions to her knees and moved his hands up to her thighs, pressing and parting them slightly so he could run his thumbs up and down, pausing before coming to the tops of her stockings. He was trying his best to take his time, making sure that she enjoyed every movement, ensuring that he skipped nothing.
“Gabriel, please don’t sit on the floor.” She reached her hand out to him, and he kissed it.
“The whole evening is a gift. Simply accept it.” A smile tugged at the edge of his oh-so-perfect lips. “St. Francis of Assisi would approve.”
“But I want to make you happy too.”
“You’ve already made me happy, Julia. More than you know. Would it help if I confessed that I’m nervous too?”
“Why would you be nervous?”
“I want to please you. I haven’t been with a virgin since I lost my virginity and that was a long, long time ago. We’re going to take this slowly. I want you to relax and be as comfortable as possible. And if you’re ever — uncomfortable, I want you to tell me. Immediately. Can you do that for me?”
“Of course.”
“I care for you — you’re precious to me. And one of the most precious things to me is your voice. Please tell me what you want, what you need, what you desire…” His voice grew raspy on the final three words, and an involuntary tremor passed through Julia’s body.
She leaned down to press her lips against his. “What I desire is for you to stop kneeling to me, Gabriel. So get up off the floor.” She tried to look fierce, but he simply grinned at her.
Hello, Tiger…
“Give me a minute, and I’ll be right back.” He disappeared into the nearest washroom, and Julia could hear the sounds of the water running in the sink.
He returned momentarily to find her standing up and reaching around to the back of her dress. His hands immediately moved to cover hers.
“I’d like to do that.” His voice was husky.
He unzipped her dress slowly, staring deeply into her eyes. Then he gently pushed the green silk off her shoulders. It made a sighing sound as it floated to the floor, as if it too, had been seduced by him.
Julia stood in an ivory satin slip, whose hem ghosted the top of her gartered black stockings. Gabriel gasped at the sight of her, for she looked like an angel. A brown-eyed angel with dark upswept hair against creamy white skin, wearing an ivory slip over black lace under things. A juxtaposition of virtue and the possibility of eros.
He reached out an explorative finger to touch one of the garters. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
Julia blushed. “I know you didn’t want black, but truthfully, I wasn’t expecting you to see me in these. I thought I was going to change.”
“Hey.” He gently lifted her chin and caressed her colored cheek. “You are stunning. And I never said I didn’t like black. But if you want to change, I’ll wait.”
He gazed down at her expectantly, but she shook her head. She’d waited long enough. She ran her hands up and down his powerful chest before pulling him toward her by his tie. She kissed him deeply and slowly unknotted it, trying to be as sinuous as possible, sliding it around the back of his neck and dropping it unceremoniously to the floor. She attended to the buttons on his shirt, making short work of them and placing it and his t-shirt on top of his tie. While he stood before her, half-naked, she pressed her mouth to his chest, wrapping both arms around his upper back so she could feel the muscles in his shoulders and lower down.
“I can feel your heart beating,” she whispered.
“For you,” he said, with a smoldering expression.
She smiled as she touched his abdominals and waist. His skin was warm, much warmer than hers, and oh, so inviting. Unbuckling his belt and unfastening his trousers was slightly nerve wracking, but he placed a steadying hand over hers and helped her when they refused to cooperate.
When he stood in front of her in his boxer briefs, having already kicked off his shoes and socks, she took a deep breath, waited for his nod, and pushed his underwear over his hips.
She took a step backward to admire him. She licked her lips and grinned. Widely. Gabriel was gorgeous.
It was probably genetic, or maybe it was a gift from the gods, or a combination of both, enhanced by his diet and exercise. But as her eyes wandered over his muscular body and well-defined abdominal muscles, something inside her warmed and melted. She felt heat rushing to her womb and farther down, especially as she noticed the V that extended from his hips. He was a modern version of Michelangelo’s David, but with far finer proportions and unspeakably beautiful hands. Perhaps it was in poor taste, but she was more than a little smug when she realized how much larger he was than him.
Karma… her conscience cheered. She fought back a giggle, biting her lip roughly so that she didn’t behave like a schoolgirl in reaction to her momentous discovery.
Gabriel noticed her strange reaction but said nothing. He suppressed a smirk, telling himself that it was probably not the right time to joke with her about his size. He didn’t want to overwhelm her, and he knew damn well how good he looked, particularly now as he strained at attention.
All because of her.
“May I?” He came closer and ghosted his fingers over her hair, pausing for permission.
She assented, and he began to remove the pins, one by one, spilling her curls onto her shoulders. Julia closed her eyes and drank in the feeling of Gabriel’s fingers running through her hair. It reminded her of the day back at Richard’s house when he played hairdresser.
He untangled each curl lovingly, crown to end, until her tresses hung about her face like a dark curtain. He grazed the curve of her neck before his fingers found the straps of her slip. He pushed them over her shoulders.
Julia stood in a black lace bra, black lace boy shorts with attached garters, and black sheer stockings.
Erotic perfection paired with the blush of innocence.
She was truly lovely. But she was nervous under his watchful gaze. She didn’t like being stared at for long periods of time; it made her self-conscious.
So he gathered her to him and kissed her until he felt her shoulders soften.
“Julia, I would like to see all of you,” he whispered.
She nodded, and he took his time removing her stockings, releasing the catches and slowly rolling them down her legs, pausing briefly to fondle the backs of her knees again. Her labored breathing in his ear assured him that he was doing it correctly. Then he stood behind her and pressed kiss upon kiss across her shoulders before gently unfastening her bra. She pulled it forward and dropped it at their feet, thinking to herself how sexy their clothes looked together on the floor.
He took a moment to cup her breasts from behind, bringing his body flush with hers. He caressed her lightly, brushing her nipples with his thumbs as he opened his mouth to pay homage to the skin beneath her ear. Then he slid his hands to her ribs, pausing to rub them up and down before hooking his fingers in the material at her hips. He continued teasing the skin beneath her ear with his tongue as he removed her panties.
Julia was finally, gloriously, nude.
He hugged her around the waist and moved her to face him, noting the way her eyes were bent to the floor, her plump lower lip worried between her teeth. She started to fidget with her hands, and Gabriel knew she was only a moment away from covering herself.
“You are a goddess.” He freed her lip, pushing his thumb softly to the curve of her mouth before he lifted her chin. His eyes swept across her deliberately from head to toe and back up again so that she could see his admiration.
“When I am an old man and I can remember nothing else, I will remember this moment. The first time my eyes beheld an angel in the flesh.
“I will remember your body and your eyes, your beautiful face and breasts, your curves and this.” He traced his hand around her navel before dragging it lightly to the top of her lower curls.
“I will remember your scent and your touch and how it felt to love you. But most of all, I will remember how it felt to gaze at true beauty, both inside and out. For you are fair, my beloved, in soul and in body, generous of spirit and generous of heart. And I will never see anything this side of heaven more beautiful than you.”
He enveloped her in his arms, kissing her repeatedly with light kisses, trying to communicate with his lips how much he loved her. He fingered the diamonds in her ears and placed his mouth to her earlobe. “Having seen you naked, I should demand that the only thing you wear in my presence from now on are these earrings. Anything else is superfluous.”
Julia pressed a quick kiss to his lips before moving to recline on the bed, peeking over at him shyly. Gabriel had to take a deep breath and release it in order to get his bearings, for the sight of Julia naked and inviting was almost his undoing.
“Why don’t you lie on your stomach, darling? I’d like to admire your beautiful back.”
She smiled and rolled over, folding her arms and resting her head on them so she could continue to stare. He hovered above her, a pleased look on his face as he pressed a kiss to each shoulder blade.
Just like my favorite black-and-white photograph, she thought.
“You’re breathtaking, Julia, from all angles. A true work of art.” He traced a finger down her spine, pausing as she shivered under his touch, then he smoothed a hand over one of her lower cheeks.
“You changed the music,” she mused, recognizing Matthew Barber’s romantic song And You Give.
“You inspired me.”
He picked up a small bottle of sandalwood and satsuma scented massage oil and placed some of it in his hand, warming it, and began to rub her shoulders. Julia closed her eyes and sighed.
“Just feel.” Gabriel kissed her cheek and continued his gentle movements, traveling down her back unhurriedly until he was exploring the two dimples above the curve of her peerless derrière.