Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.

It is M rated. After all, it is their wedding night.

Chapter Eighteen

Rhett smiled kindly as he watched the emotions play across Scarlett's face. He knew she was dreading being intimate with him and he honestly didn't blame her. Of course, she was dreading it. She had a young boy and an old man who neither one was concerned about her pleasure or enjoyment. Neither one did anything to bring her pleasure because ladies didn't enjoy relations. Then there had been him who not only didn't share his talents with her, but he had also actually held himself back. No wonder she was quite happy to give up their intimate time.

After Scarlett squared her shoulders she said, "Will you undo my buttons and loosen my corset?"

"Of course. I will be happy to play lady's maid any time you want me to."

"I will change in that bedroom, and you can change in that one."

"I will allow you to change in that bedroom, but once you have your nightgown on, I will take off my clothes in that bedroom also. We will not be changing clothes in separate rooms. Besides, it doesn't matter. You are going to see it all anyway. I don't wear anything to bed."

Scarlett's eyes got large, and she whispered, "Not even underwear."

"Why bother? I'm just going to be taking it off in a minute."

"You have to wear a nightshirt."

"No, I do not. There is truly little that I feel I must do. I told you that. I will not do things just because other people think I should."

Scarlett was horrified that Rhett didn't wear anything to bed, but at the same time she liked the fact that he didn't do things just because other people thought that he should. She slowly took off her dress, corset, petticoats, pantalets, and her shimmy. She put on one of the nightgowns she had gotten after she had buried Frank. She only had two nightgowns while Frank had been living and she burned both of them. They made her think about having relations with Frank and she wanted to blot that memory out of her head.

Scarlett called out to Rhett that he could enter the bedroom. She sat down on the bed with her back to him while she brushed her hair. He said, "What are you doing?"

Rhett knew what Scarlett was doing but he had wanted to break the awkward silence in the room. She replied while still not looking at him, "Brushing my hair a hundred strokes. Then I will braid it, so it doesn't get tangled in the night."

"Afterwards I will braid your hair. I want to run my hands through your hair."

"Really?"

"I find that pleasurable and hopefully you will too."

Then while still not looking at her husband, Scarlett got in the bed. Rhett finished getting undressed. He got in beside her. He had left the candle burning. She said, "Blow out the candle."

"I will in a minute, but I want to talk right now."

Eagerly Scarlett said, "Alright."

Rhett chuckled and said, "But we aren't going to talk all night."

Rhett said, "Scarlett, look at me." She complied. He continued, "Look at me."

"I am."

"I am the man you love. I am not your other two husbands. One was old, fat, and ugly. The other was young and inexperienced. Old Frank was probably inexperienced also. I know what I am doing. I want you to rub my shoulders, my back, and run your fingers through my hair. I want you to do all those things because it is pleasurable for me, but also so you know who you are in bed with. The man you love."

Scarlett wondered how Rhett knew that Frank had been old, fat, and ugly. She also wondered how he knew that Charlie had been young and inexperienced. That was just a logical deduction. He had been her suitor before the war so, of course, he would be young and probably inexperienced. She pushed those thoughts away and said, "I will try."

"I'm going to give you instructions as we go along, and you will do what I have instructed you to do." At Scarlett's look of horror, Rhett added, "You will not find anything I order you to do humiliating or disgraceful. I don't want to just use your body. I want to have a playmate in the bed. Alright?"

"I will try."

"Now I will blow out the candle and we will get started."

"Alright."

Rhett knew that was a mistake he had made last time. He had just accepted her behavior while they were being intimate. Not this time. He was going to push her down the road – inch by inch.

Rhett started kissing Scarlett. His kisses made her breathless. She rubbed his shoulders and back. She pulled him to her. When he placed his hand on her breast, she had not objected. Both Frank and Charlie had done that. When she felt his mouth on her nipple through her nightgown. She opened her eyes, and she tensed up. Rhett whispered, "Doesn't that feel good?"

Barely loud enough for Rhett to hear, Scarlett said, "Yes."

"Relax and let me keep on doing it."

Scarlett didn't reply, but she did relax.

When Rhett's mouth left her nipple, Scarlett sighed a disappointed sigh. He whispered, "I have to give the other one some attention too."

Rhett replaced his mouth with his hand and moved back up to Scarlett's head. He kissed her with deep passionate kisses. He then slid his hand down her stomach. The closer he got to her mound the tenser she got. He whispered, "Just relax and enjoy the pleasure my hand is bringing you."

Scarlett did. For a long time, Rhett rubbed her stomach and the top of her thighs through her nightgown. At last, he lifted up her nightgown. She was disappointed. She didn't want him to enter her yet. She wanted him to continue rubbing her stomach and thighs. After he got her nightgown out of the way, he went back to rubbing her stomach and thighs. It felt even better without her nightgown in the way. He would get extremely close to her womanhood then move away. By now she was squirming around. She was trying to get him to touch her, but he managed to avoid touching her.

Finally, Scarlett said, "Rhett…"

"What?"

"Do something?"

Rhett put his hand on her mound and said, "Like this."

"Yes."

Rhett started stroking Scarlett's mound. When he placed one of his fingers in her, she started humping his hand. He caressed her special little bud, and she was having her first orgasm. She closed her legs around his hand, but he managed to continue stroking her through another orgasm.

Rhett said, "Get on top of me."

"What?!"

"You are going to be on top. I want this experience to be completely different than your other experiences."

Scarlett moved to get on top of Rhett. He said, "Let's get your nightgown out of the way. It is interfering with our pleasure."

Scarlett allowed Rhett to take her nightgown off of her. She moved on top of him and laid there for a while. She could feel his erection pressing into her. She smiled. She would give him his satisfaction. She sat on him, and he managed to place himself inside her in the dark. Honestly, not an easy task. When she just sat on him, he said, "Move up and down."

Scarlett did. The entire time she was moving up and down, Rhett was giving her sensitive little bud just the right amount of attention. He slowly applied more and more pressure. He knew she didn't know what she needed. He hoped he was giving her enough, but not too much. When she called his name in wonder, he backed off. One orgasm was enough tonight. He let himself release.

Scarlett fell down against him and said, "I love you."

Rhett replied, "I have loved you since the first time I saw you."

Rhett knew he had. He had loved her since he had seen her on the staircase at Twelve Oaks. After all these years he had never stopped loving her. After all the pain they had been through, he had never stopped loving her. He would love her until his dying day. Hopefully, this time Scarlett would be by his side for the rest of his life.

Sleepily Scarlett said, "Can I sleep right here?"

"Of course, you can."

"Don't move. I will deal with my hair in the morning."

"I wouldn't dream of moving."

Rhett didn't even move to light his cigar. He was in heaven. Scarlett had enjoyed herself in their marital bed and she was lying on top of him. What could be better? Nothing. He took her hair and wrapped it around his throat. Where she was going, so was he.

The next morning, Rhett patiently brushed all the knots out of Scarlett's hair. She just sat there and smiled. Her husband was so wonderful. If this was how he was going to treat her for the rest of their lives. She was going to have a wonderful life. She said, "You have to stop smoking and drinking. I want you to live for a long time."

"I will stop smoking once we get back to Atlanta, but I will not quit drinking. I need to do that while making business deals."

With a sigh, Scarlett said, "Alright."

Rhett leaned forward and kissed Scarlett. He said, "But I will cut way back."

The huge smile Scarlett gave him made him feel like Apollo, the greatest of the Greek gods.

The couple had a wonderful time in New Orleans. Scarlett certainly had enjoyed playing whist. She was quite good at it. Although she would often complain about how stupid her partners were. She would finish these complains by saying, "I just know that if you were my partner, we would be winning every game."

Rhett would reply, "Probably, but I still need these men to do business with, so let's not make them mad."

Scarlett would sigh and said, "As you wish."

Which Rhett knew meant she wasn't happy with his answer, but she was going along with him because he was her husband.

To Rhett a Scarlett in love with him was amazing. There wasn't anything she wouldn't do to make him happy. He now knew why Ashley Wilkes had never been able to give Scarlett up. That adoration made a man feel like a god.

Scarlett did get annoyed at Rhett's teasing, but he was finally making her understand that he was just teasing. She accepted it, but he didn't think she would ever be happy with being the bunt of his jokes.

After the couple had been in New Orleans for two weeks, Rhett said, "Do you want to return to Atlanta or stay another week?"

Scarlett looked chagrined, but said, "I know it is awful of me, but I am having too much fun to return to Atlanta a week early."

Although the average person would have been appalled that Scarlett was going to be selfish and spend another week in New Orleans despite the fact that she knew her children were missing her terribly, Rhett was not. He said, "You haven't had any fun since the war started. That was eight years. You deserve to take this extra week. I know I deserve another week with my wife alone."

Scarlett giggled. Rhett knew that his words had assuaged any guilt she might have been feeling about wanting another week of fun for herself. He thought he deserved another week of fun also. He truly had never had as much fun as he was having with Scarlett in New Orleans.

A week later on the train to Atlanta, Rhett thought about their time in New Orleans. Every night Scarlett received sexual satisfaction and every night she was more and more eager to go to bed. Although she had not come anywhere near his member, she was freely touching other parts of his body. Every night she went to sleep while lying on his chest. Admittedly they had tried different positions, but that was how she liked to go to sleep. Sometime in the night she would roll off of him, but he would just roll over, so they were still touching.