Reasons for Contract Marriage - Chapter 174

After lightly wetting her lips with her tongue, Brianna pulled her face away from his. Then she spoke to him, who was looking bewildered.

“Then, I will stay by your side. If you truly need nothing else but me.”

She had given a man bound by duty and responsibility to his family and to a dead friend the chance to free himself from it. She had left his side, and she had demanded divorce.

If he were to share a future with her, he might never have an heir, and the title of Duke Carlisle could pass to another relative instead of his own descendant. He might also spend his entire life tormented by guilt for keeping by his side the woman loved by his dead friend.

“But I love you too, so I will no longer give you up.”

In all her life, she had never desperately wished for anything. She had only vaguely imagined a modest life, that someday she would meet someone and form an ordinary family.

That was why, when she accepted Lucius’s proposal of marriage, a part of her heart had trembled with fear. She always thought that, since it was only a temporary position, when the time came, she would have to quietly step aside.

But if the reason he married her was not a contract, not a responsibility toward a dead friend, but love—because of that, she no longer had any intention of giving up.

Brianna caressed Lucius’s face with her fingers. The hand that touched his cheek then brushed along his high, sharp nose and his strong, masculine jaw.

This man, as beautiful and noble as a statue, now belonged wholly to her.

Something she could greedily take, something that was hers alone.

At that realization, her heart swelled, and tears flowed down her cheeks. When her trembling fingers reached his neck, Lucius caught her hand.

“Brianna, what you just said…”

“I, I already tried to confess to you a long time ago. That I love you. So I tried to give you my father’s watch…”

For a moment, his eyes widened.

“Watch?”

Brianna sniffled as she continued, “I wanted to give you what I treasured most. While looking for a pen to leave a note with the gift, I found that letter.”

Lucius drew in a sharp breath. “Then, even back then…”

“Luce, I didn’t just sit still and do nothing. When I realized my feelings, I gathered all the courage I could. I tried to kiss you first, I tried to confess to you first…”

Brianna swallowed back the sobs that kept rising. And perhaps, she was finally delivering to him the confession she might have already made long ago.

“It’s late, but I’ll say it now. Lucius, I love you too.”

Brianna cupped his cheeks in her hands. And with a tear-streaked face, she smiled brightly.

“I too, far longer than you think, have…”

Before she could finish, her words were smothered by Lucius’s lips. He urgently parted her lips and pushed in his tongue. Devouring her as though he would take away even her breath, he spoke against her lips.

“Say it again, Brianna.”

Brianna spread her arms and wrapped them around his neck. Then she whispered to him with all her heart.

“I love you, Lucius.”

“You love me? Truly?”

Brianna nodded again and again.

“I love you. The one I love now is you, Lucius.”

The moment she said those words, he let out a low groan. Freezing for an instant as if all his movements had stopped, he then began showering Brianna with kisses again.

This time, it was not just kisses. He spread Brianna’s legs wider and grabbed the hem of her dress, lifting it all the way up at once. Then, sliding his hand between her thighs, he tore at her undergarments until they came off.

In an instant, her undergarments fell away. With one hand, he held up the dress so it would not slip back down past her knees, while with the other, he hurriedly fumbled at the buckle of his trousers.

“Damn…”

Perhaps because it was difficult with only one hand, he kept fumbling clumsily, muttering words close to a curse. It was the first time he had ever shown such impatience.

“I, I will do it.”

In surprise, Brianna reached out her hands to help him. Already, what was hidden beneath his clothes was so swollen that it looked as though it might burst.

As Brianna touched the buckle, Lucius rubbed his face against her neck. Hot breaths laden with desire poured onto her nape and chest. Whenever her hands faltered for a moment, his teeth nipped lightly at her neck as though urging her to hurry.

At his urging, Brianna’s hands moved more quickly. She finished unfastening the half-loosened buckle and undid the buttons beneath it. At that, his hardened member sprang out with a thud beyond the confines of his clothes.

“Brianna, touch it with your hands.”

Contrary to his words, he was already guiding her hand onto his manhood. Brianna belatedly realized that this wasn’t the right place to be doing such things, but she couldn’t bring herself to refuse his desperate plea.

Brianna carefully wrapped both hands around him. Even with both hands, she could barely cover its size. Astonished anew, she stared in silence at the organ veined with thick, dark lines. Though she had once taken it into her mouth before leaving his side, it was the first time she had stroked him with her hands like this. She couldn’t even fathom how she had once dared to take it into her mouth.

“Ah…”

As she applied slight pressure with her hands, his face contorted with raw pleasure. Come to think of it, it was also the first time she had seen him in the throes of desire. Until now, she had been too overwhelmed by the pleasure he gave her to notice his expression.

Brianna tightened her grip slightly, then slid her hands up and down along the length. With her caress, his member twitched and grew hotter, and each time it did, Lucius’s expression changed—sometimes furrowing his brows, sometimes parting his lips to gasp for breath. None of it looked foolish. It was so alluring it seemed to entrance her. She could finally understand why he always tried to look at her face when they made love.

When she squeezed the shaft that had grown as hard as stone, Lucius let out a strangled groan. Bracing one hand against the desk as he endured her touch, he suddenly pushed her shoulder and laid her down. Just before her head could hit the desk, his long arm caught her, cradling the back of her head.

“Sorry, I cannot hold back any longer…”

No sooner had he warned her than the dress was pushed up to her waist. At the same time, a heated length drove into her. As his manhood forced its way into her tight entrance and filled her in one thrust, Brianna gasped, letting out a cry that seemed to steal her breath.

Though he buried himself to the hilt in one motion, Lucius held still instead of moving right away. Feeling her body tense, then tremble, he asked carefully.

“Does it hurt?”

Unlike his rough actions just before, his voice was tender, and his large hand gently caressed her back. Soon his lips pressed soft kisses all over her face.

It was the first time he had entered her without enough foreplay. Until now, he had always taken excessive care to prepare her before joining their bodies.

There was a dull ache, and the sudden penetration was overwhelming, but soon her body adjusted as though it had always known his. Brianna let out a faint sigh and wrapped her arms around his neck. Then, with her legs, she locked around his waist.

“I am fine, you can move now.”

He began to move. At first, slowly, but soon his thrusts turned fierce. Having already been driven to his limits, he couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Ah! Ahh!”

Brianna clung to him, moaning uncontrollably. She forgot entirely that they were in the study, where servants could come and go at any moment. She even forgot who she was. The intense sensations drove her to cry out again and again, her voice rising almost like screams.