Behold the Commodore in all his repressed sexiness!
This chapter is rated M for adult situations.
Chapter 20
Elise had just finished bathing and was in the process of brushing her dried hair when a knock sounded at her door.
"Come in daddy." She called quickly glancing over her shoulder for a moment, fully expecting her father.
"Your father just went to bed. May I come in?" Came James's voice instead.
"Commodore!" She exclaimed as she whirled around in surprise. She hadn't expected for him to come until tomorrow morning.
"I didn't mean to startle you." He said as he took a step forward. His mouth went dry at the sight of her.
"I'm still a little jumpy is all. What can I do for you Commodore?" She asked as she took a step backwards.
"Commodore? What happened to James?" He inquired and doggedly took another step toward her.
He watched as Elise ignored the question and turned her back on him as she resumed brushing her hair.
"Elise? Love?" He asked in confused voice.
"Oh, for God's sake. I can't take this long and drawn out. If you're going to break it off with me would you just get on with it? " She replied in a tone of full of anguish and began brushing her hair even harder.
"Break it off...what are you talking about?" He wondered.
"I can take a hint Commodore. The way you shook me off after Andrew had been shot said enough." She answered with a small tremble.
"You're emotions are running high love, which is completely understandable, you've been through more than some of my officers. You've got it all wrong though. I shook you off because your father was watching and his opinion means a lot to me. You're a lady in every sense of the word and you deserve to be pursued as one. I wanted to do this properly." He replied and placed his hands on her shoulders to turn her around and face him.
"Do what properly?" She asked, hope flaring in her.
"Elise, I love you. More than anything. You made me believe...in life, in love, in fate. I was supposed to find you. I see that now. In finding you I found me." He said and watched her eyes tear.
"Oh, James...I love you too. So very much." She replied on a happy sob.
"I was so afraid I would never get to tell you that. I've never been as terrified as the moment I realized you were gone." He confessed and gathered her close.
"I never had any doubt that you would come." She answered breathlessly as he pressed a kiss to her temple.
Elise could feel him holding back and found that knowledge irritated her. If he was going to love her then he would have to love her completely and learn how to relinquish his precious control...and trust her with it. She'd only seen him lose it once but she knew even that one time was still a controlled loss of control. She wanted to see him almost wild.
His emotions bubbling under the surface were almost tangible and Elise knew this was the moment to push him and make him shatter that unbreakable restraint. Words of love would not be what demolished it. No, it was appealing to his sense of honor and respect...and getting him good and mad.
"Even at the lowest point, when Andrew was touching me, I knew you'd rescue me." She whispered and felt him tense.
It wasn't as if she were lying, everything she was going to tell him as the absolute truth. She was simply telling the truth to get a desired result.
"He touched you?" He demanded predictably.
"Yes. He had me tied to the bed." She gave a shudder and met his angry green eyes. "But I kicked him off of me."
"Good for you for fighting him off." James told her softly as he shifted to stroke her hair.
"I don't know. That only angered him." Elise continued with a faraway tone, delighted that it was unfolding so well.
"What did he do?" He asked sharply as he pushed her away slightly to look into her melancholy eyes.
"He hit me." She said.
"Oh, love. The things you've had to endure." He replied as he tugged her close again, anger and hatred for the wretched Lord Devereaux flowing through his veins.
"It's alright James. The thought of you kept me full of hope and life." She said as she stroked a hand down his cheek tenderly, feeling his resolve crack.
"When I found your note, I didn't know what to think. It made it sound like you didn't believe in me." He admitted torturously and turned his back on her.
"I was in a hurry and worded it badly. You don't know how I hated myself for that. I believe in you and trust you unquestionably. I should never have went to Andrew's." She replied, knowing that was the phrase that was going push him to the edge.
"No you shouldn't have. I was hurt. Hurt that you believed Devereaux could help you and I could not. Then when Bright came to Netherfield to tell me of your abduction...I was petrified. Did you even think of what I would go through?" He said as he rounded on her, his temper flaring again.
He was yelling at her out of pure relief. Relief that she was alive and unharmed. Relief that she had found her father. Relief that she was here with him and relief that she loved him. Shouting was absolutely ludicrous yet seemed the most natural thing.
She simply stood there, gazing at him with soft , loving, apologetic eyes as she let him lament and he felt his unwavering control implode.
He launched himself at her so hard that the force of the impact sent her reeling backward until the wall steadied her, he planted a hand on either side of her head, successfully trapping her as he wedged his body against hers. All she managed was surprised 'oomph' before he took her lips in a zealous kiss. A kiss that was furious, vehement, and exquisite.
James nipped her bottom lip hard and she let out a groan, every nerve in her body humming with awareness. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed closer when he deepened the kiss, his tongue plunging into her mouth and his fingers sinking into her hair.
He kissed her until she was breathless and trembling, the only thing that was keeping her from sinking to the floor was the fact that she was sandwiched between James's body and the solid cabin wall. His arousal was pressed firmly against her belly and she felt a thrill of feminine power shoot through her. He wedged a knee between her legs so that she was straddling him, her heat pressed against his muscular thigh.
She knew he would be a force to be reckoned with when he lost his control but nothing could have prepared her for this. Gone was the soft, gentle, pliable James now it was naught but rough urgency, desperate passion, and hungry demand. It was exactly what she wanted from him, needed from him, had been longing for from him since their first kiss aboard the Defender, and she returned it with ardent fervor. He had been caged far too long.
She was dizzy from the heady sensations and finally had to tear her mouth away to draw in some much needed air but James didn't stop his passionate onslaught. He kissed his way up her jaw line to her ear, where he stopped to nibble on her lobe before dipping his tongue into the shell of her ear. She gasped as her eyes rolled back in her head, her skin tingled and her bones melted.
His lips traveled down the curve of her neck until they came to the fabric of her nightgown. He suckled her nipple hard through the thin fabric and she moaned loudly as he shifted his attention the other peak.
Elise felt him pulling on the cloth impatiently and then heard it rip with the force of his tugging. He looked at her hotly and unapologetically as he captured her bared straining nipple with his teeth. She gazed into his face and found is eyes were a deep jade green of hazy passion.
Every scrape of his teeth, every suckle of his wicked mouth had her stomach clenching. She wanted him as naked as she was and she wanted him now. Her femininity was blooming as it rubbed against the leg of his breeches but when his hands trailed down her stomach and his fingers teased her cored nerves she lost all patience for finessing her. The friction was driving her insane.
She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and worked the buttons on his shirt until it joined his jacket in a heap on the floor. She began trying to work the pants down but he was pressed too close and her movement was too limited.
"Lose the breeches." She hissed as his fingers continued to brush her center, suddenly afraid that she was going to collapse.
He promptly obeyed and kicked them off to join the rest of his clothes before he resumed his intimacies to her delicate folds. The tables were unexpectedly reversed and it was his turn to hiss when she reached out to stroke his throbbing iron velvet shaft. They shared hot open mouthed kisses as they rubbed wildly, uncontrollably for a few moments before Elise finally tried to break away and lead the way to the bed.
"Too far." He said with a growl and spun her back around.
James grabbed her thighs, lifted her to wedge her against the wall and plunged into her with one swift stroke. She cried out in titillated surprise and clung to his shoulders as she wrapped her legs around his waist, meeting him thrust for thrust as he set a demanding pace to their frenzied lovemaking.
Her back smacked roughly into the wall and a guttural moan tore from her throat with every deep plunge. He drove into her with such force that her vision had gone hazy with the delirious pleasure. She could feel her muscles clenching and her body trembling as she approached her climax before it fully hit her. She spasmed and screamed out his name as an inexplicable sob tore from her chest.
He was a few strokes behind her when he gave a primal roar and went rigid as he found his release buried deep inside her. She leaned forward to nip his neck and shoulder before sagging back against the wall.
Still joined, he held her there and pressed his forehead to hers as he gazed into her eyes until he slipped out of her. Their ragged breath the only sound in the silent cabin.
He pressed a gentle kiss to her already kiss bruised lips before setting her down on shaky legs. Unable to support herself, she simply sank to the floor, he followed suit and pulled her close as she continued to fight off shock waves of pleasure.
She was speechless, spent and utterly content. No words could do justice to the feelings coursing through her so she remained silent. James was a force to be reckoned with indeed, she thought.
While Elise mused to herself over her silent triumph, James mused over the loss of something he had considered so precious. He had lost his ever present control. It wasn't as scary as he thought it would be, not when it was Elise Gold that he had shared it with.