One week later 

Melissa stood before Elijah with her back to him. Her hair was tucked artfully over one shoulder to expose the back of her wedding down. Heart racing as she felt him undoing the lacings, she gritted her teeth, determined not to ruin the moment by speaking.

They had done plenty of that in the last three months, planning the wedding, convincing others that their match was a good one, fending off the gossip-mongers determined she had somehow cast a spell over him.

Tonight was the first night, their night, the very first night of the rest of their lives, and she was determined not to let her thoughts, her fears, or anything else get in the way of that. 

Feeling her silken gown slip off her shoulders, she stepped out of it, turning in nothing but her stays and stockings to face her now husband. 

He looked just as handsome as he had that morning standing at the other end of the chapel aisle. And just as he had then, he had an awestruck look up his face. 

“How did I ever get so lucky to have such a beautiful wife?” 

She smiled at the comment, and before she could give some witty response, he slipped the palms of his hands over her cheeks and cupped her head, his fingers buried in the roots of her hair as he pulled her into him. 

The way he kissed her sent fire coursing through her veins. Her heartbeat skipped, and she felt weak at the knees, knowing he was the only thing holding her up. 

Attempting to ground herself further and pulsing from head to toe with desire, she grabbed the buckles that held up his britches and made quick work of removing them. 

With every kiss he placed on her lips, she removed a garment, his cravat, his waistcoat, his shirt, his undershirt, and even his undergarments until he stood naked before her in all his glory. 

Pulling back just enough to admire the sight of him, Melissa’s heart stopped. She had felt his manhood through his britches many a time over the last few months but never had she imagined it would be quite so grand. 

Big, bulging, and visibly throbbing, she knew there was no turning back, though for just a second she feared she had made a mistake. 

It had been so long, and she had not been expecting him to be nearly so hung.  Yet, the moment he kissed her ever so tenderly, all her fears were immediately washed away. Elijah would never hurt her. It was a fact she had known from the moment she laid eyes upon him, an odd sense of respect she had felt between them when all others looked at her with disgruntlement or even disgust or refused to acknowledge her at all. 

And, not for the first time, she realised just how foolish she had been ever to try to steel her heart away from him.

Finally, giving in to the desires that had been surging through her for several months now, Melissa gripped hold of his manhood with her bare hand and stroked gently up and down the shaft. 

The moment her hand started to move, Elijah gasped with surprise and pleasure. Instinctively, her hand tightened on his member and with some urging, she forced him backwards towards the fireplace of the master bedroom – now theirs. 

The days had begun to turn cold, but this night, she would not be cold. She was determined of that. She would share the most perfect sensual moments with her new husband, ensuring their marriage was started the correct way, laid bare before each other and with great love in their hearts. 

And so, she urged Elijah down onto the sheepskin rug before the fireplace, never letting up until she had come to straddle him. The desire barely restrained on his face made her smirk down at him as she laid her hands upon his muscular chest, her sex hovering just shy of his rock hard, throbbing manhood. 

 And finally, she spoke. “I grow weary of caring for others. For one night, I wish for you to care for me.” 

Hooking his arm around her waist, Elijah flipped their positions and came down on top of her. “Your wish is my command.” 

Elijah’s mouth travelled down over her body. He kissed every inch from forehead to lips, from lips to nipples, taking them into his mouth with firm suction before travelling further south still. 

As he went, Melissa’s back arched like a feline’s. She practically purred with pleasure. 

When his tongue lapped the sweet nectar between her thighs, she gasped and tilted back her head. 

Closing her eyes against the firelight, she trembled beneath his mouth, her hands buried in the roots of his hair to hold him in place. 

Ripple after ripple of pleasure rushed through her, and when Elijah braced her thighs with his hands, pinning her down beneath his devouring mouth, she knew that all she could do was lose herself in the ecstasy. 

By the time he eased off, and his body slipped back atop hers, she was barely conscious, lost in a haze of pleasure so blissful that she felt she might babble if she so much as tried to say a word. 

Instead, all she could do was gasp as he reached between their bodies and used his hand to guide his manhood deep inside her. 

Several seconds passed with his member growing still inside her and she held her breath, feeling every inch of him stretch her wide. 

“Relax,” Elijah breathed into her ear, and it was only then she realised she had tensed up. The moment she did as he said, the discomfort subsided and excitement filled her once more. Slick with desire, she welcomed him, tilting her pelvis up to meet him, and then he started to thrust. 

They worked together, their bodies moving in unison. Their gasps, groans, and moans became a symphony all their own, and Melissa fought to hold onto the tightening sensation in her insides. She clenched tightly, savouring every second of the pleasure that was building within. 

And when she could take it no more, she threw back her head and screamed, feeling her insides squeeze his manhood so tightly that she feared it had to be painful. 

“Melissa!” 

The name was ripped from his lips as though he were crying to God himself, and Melissa’s own pleasure only increased as she felt him still, his seed deep inside her. 

Pure, unadulterated joy overwhelmed her then and tears pricked her eyes as Elijah dropped down onto the floor beside her. He pulled her into his arms immediately, encouraging her head to rest upon his chest. 

It was only a glance at the clock on the mantelpiece that told her they had been in the room for well over an hour. Though every moment had been pure pleasure, and she was one hundred per cent sated, she couldn’t help wishing it had lasted longer. A part of her knew that eternity in that kind of pleasure could never be enough. 

“Well,” Elijah gasped, stroking her hair back from her face as he tried to catch his breath, “I must say, I fear you shall need to mix me up one of your tonics.” 

“Whatever for?” Melissa asked, panic rising in her throat. She pushed herself up onto her elbow to look down at him, part of her terrified she would find blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. 

Had she been wrong all those months ago? Was the man she loved dying all over again? 

Cupping her face in his hand, Elijah leaned up and kissed her feverishly before he whispered against her lips, “I am going to need something special if I can keep up with you, especially after that.” 

The dazed tone of his voice suggested that his mind had been blown almost as much as her own. 

Leaning down to kiss him in return, Melissa admitted, “I do happen to have a few remedies for such things.” 

Unable to help herself, she slipped a hand down his abdomen, feeling every inch of his muscle before she gripped hold of his slick manhood once more. “The trick is to push right on through.” 

“Curse you!” Elijah snarled, his entire body tensing and the tone of his voice suggesting his pleasure as she rubbed up and down his shaft once more. “They were right about you; you truly are a spellcaster.” 

Melissa might have been greatly offended if the words came from anyone else. Instead, she was blissfully happy and feeling more than a little naughty. 

Rolling back up on top of him, Melissa straddled the viscount again and gently dug her fingernails into his pecs as she leaned down to kiss him. 

As she did so, she buried his manhood within her once more and whispered against his lips, “Now it is my turn to take care of you.” 

When she pulled back, riding him with her hips rocking back and forth, she could not take her eyes off the elation on his face. The love and pure intimacy that spread between them as their gazes and bodies connected caused Melissa to realise that all that had come before had been more than worth it. 

All that would come after would be a happy consequence, and should something go wrong, she knew she would savour every memory they had made together, especially this moment as she saw the pure, unbridled admiration in her husband’s eyes as he gazed back at her. 

It was a look telling her that no matter what she did, he would always accept her. Even more determined than ever to pleasure him, Melissa clenched her insides, clenching her entire body as she did so, and when she felt his seed spill inside her again, she knew her greatest achievement had yet to be accomplished. 

Her life would be complete when she felt his seed quickening inside her. She could say then without a doubt that she had pushed past the point of no return, that finally, she had taken her friend’s advice and simply allowed herself to be happy. 

And as she lost herself in a haze of sex, sweat, and arousal, she heard her husband gasp, “Even if you are a witch, I love you with all my heart.”

Afterwards, the two laughed like only a couple in love could do. Dazed and elated, Melissa would fall asleep in her husband’s arms, caressed by the sheepskin rug that would become her favourite place to make love simply because it was the first place she had truly given herself – mind, body, and soul – to the man who had finally allowed her to live again. 

And as they rested there once more, with the fire burning down to embers, she whispered, “You believed it was I who gave you your life back all those months ago, but the truth is, it was you and not I who saved a life that day.” 

Silently, she told herself as she rested peacefully in his arms, listening to the sound of his dosing off in sex-induced exhaustion,  It is better to love and to lose than to never have this at all.

Though she knew he would not hear her, she found herself whispering, “Thank you.” 

THE END

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