The best part of waking up... (NC-17)
The room was quiet but for soft sighs and panting breaths as she moved above him. It was something she'd learned from Joscelin, this leisurely, thorough lovemaking. Even now there were moments when his fingers would press firmly into the flesh of her hips, slowing her movement, a reminder that there was no rush, no need to speed toward the inevitable conclusion.
The journey was as important as the destination, and they had all the time in the world.
Romy's eyes were trained on her husband, the expressions that none but she was privy to fascinating her. She loved the dark twinkle that shined in his eyes as his hand trailed up her torso to tweak a taut nipple and bring a gasp to her lips, the raw emotion that danced across his visage when she moved just right. She loved to watch his hands on her, their work-roughened pads raising gooseflesh in their wake. Moaning quietly as their bodies came together again, Romy bent to catch Joscelin's lips.
Grinning against her mouth a moment - she just made him happy - Joscelin twined a hand in her hair, bringing her closer still to taste fully, thoroughly. He loved to kiss her, loved when the sounds she couldn't hold in filled his mouth, loved when she paused from the kiss because she was overwhelmed by other feelings - yes, just as she was now, trembling as she neared the edge of her pleasure.
Forever. He could do this forever with her.
Growling into her mouth as her muscles began to clench around him, he suddenly flipped their positions so that he was above her, lips tracing down her throat as he grabbed her thigh and sped the roll of his hips. Grazing his teeth to her skin, a feral smile touched his lips as he felt her nails on his back; she loved that, and he loved giving it to her.
Her back arched, eyes fluttering shut as Joscelin brought her to the brink of bliss, then sent her toppling over. There was nothing better than this. The thought passed hazily through Romy's mind as her fingers dug into her husband's back, urging him on as she rode the wave of her orgasm. "I love you," she breathed, the words faint and airy as they fell from her lips.
It undid him every time, hearing those words fall from her lips as he made love to her, and he responded, his own proclamation breathed against her skin even as he splayed his palm at her lower back to lift her hips, letting his teeth nip at the soft juncture of neck and shoulder. It had never been something he overly enjoyed - the spices of pain, great or small - but he was finding it was something his wife enjoyed, very much.
Sucking in her breath, Romy clutched at him as her head rolled back in ecstasy. The whisper of pain as her husband bit her, marked her, claimed her was intoxicating, pulling a cry from her mouth that filled the air around them. Romy had always thrilled at this sort of intimacy, belonging to someone even when it was only for a little while. She didn't need it with Joscelin - he had her heart and she his - but the thrill was no less when he left a visible memory of his touch on her skin.
She knew he was approaching his own fall. She felt it in the urgency of his movements, the tension spreading through his muscles. Moving with him, Romy welcomed each thrust as her lips found his again, eager to give him the release he chased.
It was her surrender, body and heart, that pulled Joscelin over the edge, hips rolling into hers almost a little too roughly - though he knew she liked that too - and he half moaned, half growled his pleasure into her mouth as a shudder went down his spine and he spilled himself inside his wife.
Joscelin lowered her gently to the duvet, his forehead resting against hers even as they both labored to find their breath again, and though he was barely touching her now with any part of their over sensitized skin, their bodies were yet connected.
Several minutes passed like that until their breathing was even, and Joscelin shifted to nuzzle along her jaw, down the soft skin of her neck. "Good morning, love," he murmured, smile curling his lips though she could not see it.
"Only good?" she queried with a giggle, shivering as the light touch tickled down her neck. "I'd rate it a little higher than that myself, my love, but good morning just the same."
Romy loved that they played and teased, their relationship built on friendship and respect as much as passion. It was a far cry from the marriages she'd been exposed to growing up, where everything was calculated and no more real than the men she'd 'dated' had felt for her. As he slowly pulled away, rolling onto the bed with a typically cheeky grin, Romy fitted herself to his side, sighing happily as Joscelin tugged her close.
"You're divine, the epitome of all things beautiful and lovely," Joscelin grinned against her temple, arms coming around her as he held her in the cradle of his body. "To taste you is to taste the sweetest of nectar, the purest spring water. To feel your skin is know the softest touch, the smoothest warmth, and to see your face as you lose yourself to me is to know that heaven truly does exist."
His lips were pulled into a full smile as he pressed another kiss to her temple. He was waxing poetic at her slight tease, but all that he'd said was quite true despite. Joscelin loved his wife, and still felt a fool at times that it'd taken him so long to see what was right in front of him.
"Yes, good all the same," he agreed, breath fanning against her skin around his grin.
Her cheeks were flushed a deep pink as she buried her face against Joscelin's neck. Romy wasn't prone to shyness or excessive humility; she knew she was a beautiful woman and she'd received many compliments over the years. It was the sincerity in his voice and the emotion she could feel even through his playful tone that made her bashful. She'd never known you could be grateful for a person until Joscelin.
As she settled again, comfortable and happy in his arms, she looked at her husband quizzically. "Joscelin? Have you been in love before?"
She was surprised to find the question didn't bring any uneasiness in herself. It was simple curiosity, a desire to know her husband better. Whatever he'd felt in the past, he'd chosen her forever.
"No," he said easily, hazel-green eyes finding hers. It was an unexpected question, though not an unwelcome one. Joscelin didn't mind sharing himself with Romy, though he was silent a long moment as he let his thoughts drift back. He'd never been a person to dwell on the past, though his mind ticked back, back to the women he'd been with over the years. "Though we didn't officially date, I saw you more than I've seen any one woman since Adriana back in '88. We were handlers at the Aenos Reserve in Greece. Neither of us ever had a thought of love though," he mused, thoughts distant on his youth, the gypsy handler Adriana.
More than a year after leaving Britain for the continent, away from his Father and pureblood expectations, and away from the pain of losing Theresa, his almost sister, Adriana had been the first woman he was with. Bishop had withdrawn wholly into his budding career as a Hit Wizard following his fiancée's death, and Joscelin had left.
Romy's lips curled into a tiny smile. Even if she wasn't jealous, it was nice to hear that she'd been special among the women he'd known even before there were intentions for more than a friendship. She'd known Joscelin had a history as something of an aficionado where women were concerned. He'd said as much the night they met. Romy could throw no stones in that area, not given her own history. She preferred to think that they'd just been very thorough in making sure they knew who the right one was when they found it.
"Did you 'not date' anyone else since you came back to England?"
Joscelin's eyes twinkled at his wife. "No, there was no 'not dating' with anyone else," he said, thumb brushing over her skin as he flashed her a smile. "Not after I met you, and you were the first woman besides my sister I spoke to after I came back from the continent, and the only I've looked at since."
"You know," Romy started with a laugh, "you're really very good at the whole reassurance thing. It almost makes me wish I wasn't so certain you love me just so I could get the full effect." Dusting soft kisses across his chest, she sighed. "Sadly, I'm completely confident in your affection, so I guess I'll never be able to appreciate that talent as it should be appreciated."
"I disagree, oh love of my life," Joscelin said, grinning as he cupped her cheek, thumb brushing over the curve of her lip. "It just means I've done at least one thing right."
He pressed a kiss to her mouth, lingering when she opened for him, but pulled away before desire stirred again. There was much they didn't know about each other, and though Joscelin had often wondered at her past, he'd not broached the subject as of yet. They were sensitive subjects for most people and he'd figured that the time would present itself when it was right.
Now was the time and he looked at her thoughtfully a long moment after releasing her lips before asking, "and you, have you been in love before?"
He wondered, too, if she'd been with anyone while he'd known her - no, he knew she had and it still made him glower internally a bit, but he understood the feeling better now. Jealously then, slight uncertainty now, but mostly possessive protectiveness these days. She was his.
Such questions would wait for their proper time, however.
With a shake of her head, Romy smiled as the various men with whom she'd spent time passed through her mind. There were a few she'd been quite fond of, but none that filled her heart the way Joscelin did. Of course, love was never something she'd sought either. Most of her lovers were only that, men she slept with casually. The only one who'd really enjoyed her company on a personal level was Beckett.
Her expression soften slightly as she thought on her knight in tarnished armor. "I haven't," she said, meeting her husband's eyes, her mien open and sincere. "I think I could have loved one man though, had either of us been looking for that kind of relationship. It's better we left it as we did, though."
He knew she was being open and honest with him, but Joscelin couldn't help the dark streak of jealously that zipped through him at the softening of her features for another man. It was over and she was his now, but not every fiber of him agreed with this logic. The baser instincts were hard to quiet, but he pushed them away.
Instead he forced himself to keep his features calm and open. He wanted to talk to her, have her feel as if she could continue to be open to him, always. "Why's that, love?"
She felt more than saw a brief change in Joscelin, and Romy cupped his face with her hand for a moment as she considered her answer. The days when she'd believed he was perfect, a pillar of constant strength and reason, were gone. Romy knew her husband was a man with flaws and weaknesses like any other, but it still surprised her at times that she could affect him without meaning to.
"Beckett and I had lots in common, but it was all based in the negative things in our lives. We were both too damaged to lift each other up. We might've been happy, but not in a healthy way."
As she looked into the hazel eyes she knew so well, Romy's deep browns lit up with her love for him. "You make me want to be the best person I can be. I love knowing you're proud to have me as your wife, and you inspire me to keep going on days when I feel like hiding under the covers. I hope I'm able to make you feel something similar. Beckett deserves that, too, and I couldn't have given it to him. He couldn't have given it to me, either."
It was selfish, perhaps even mean-spirited of him towards this Beckett, but Joscelin was buoyed by her words and that dark beast inside of him was satisfied.
It was humbling, too, to hear the honesty in her words. He was far from perfect - the battle waging inside of him was evidence enough - but it awed him a little that he affected her that much. He and Gwen had always been very, very close, but this was a whole new kind of relationship, a taste of which he'd never had before and it was both settling and exhilarating at the same time.
"You make me want to be everything I see in your eyes," Joscelin finally said, thumb brushing over her cheek, hazel-green eyes intent on her. "The man who you believe I can be."
Leaning into his touch , she smiled softly. "You're already everything I could want, and the only man that has my heart. I've done a lot of stupid things, but I've never been one to miss an opportunity to improve my situation. Loving you made my life better in ways I'd never even dreamed."
"Back at you, love," Joscelin murmured. Grinning suddenly, he turned on his back, bringing her with him and smiled up at her, eyes twinkling. "Want to show just how loving me has made your life better?" he asked, hands skimming down her sides to grip her hips.
A Cheshire smile spread across Romy's face as she peered down at him. "Oh yes, allow me to demonstrate," she replied breathily. As she shifted, breath catching as she slid over him again, she sighed, "Pay very close attention now."
Summary: Jos and Romy talk about former lovers and how their lives have improved together. That last bit comes with a hands-on demonstration.
The journey was as important as the destination, and they had all the time in the world.
Romy's eyes were trained on her husband, the expressions that none but she was privy to fascinating her. She loved the dark twinkle that shined in his eyes as his hand trailed up her torso to tweak a taut nipple and bring a gasp to her lips, the raw emotion that danced across his visage when she moved just right. She loved to watch his hands on her, their work-roughened pads raising gooseflesh in their wake. Moaning quietly as their bodies came together again, Romy bent to catch Joscelin's lips.
Grinning against her mouth a moment - she just made him happy - Joscelin twined a hand in her hair, bringing her closer still to taste fully, thoroughly. He loved to kiss her, loved when the sounds she couldn't hold in filled his mouth, loved when she paused from the kiss because she was overwhelmed by other feelings - yes, just as she was now, trembling as she neared the edge of her pleasure.
Forever. He could do this forever with her.
Growling into her mouth as her muscles began to clench around him, he suddenly flipped their positions so that he was above her, lips tracing down her throat as he grabbed her thigh and sped the roll of his hips. Grazing his teeth to her skin, a feral smile touched his lips as he felt her nails on his back; she loved that, and he loved giving it to her.
Her back arched, eyes fluttering shut as Joscelin brought her to the brink of bliss, then sent her toppling over. There was nothing better than this. The thought passed hazily through Romy's mind as her fingers dug into her husband's back, urging him on as she rode the wave of her orgasm. "I love you," she breathed, the words faint and airy as they fell from her lips.
It undid him every time, hearing those words fall from her lips as he made love to her, and he responded, his own proclamation breathed against her skin even as he splayed his palm at her lower back to lift her hips, letting his teeth nip at the soft juncture of neck and shoulder. It had never been something he overly enjoyed - the spices of pain, great or small - but he was finding it was something his wife enjoyed, very much.
Sucking in her breath, Romy clutched at him as her head rolled back in ecstasy. The whisper of pain as her husband bit her, marked her, claimed her was intoxicating, pulling a cry from her mouth that filled the air around them. Romy had always thrilled at this sort of intimacy, belonging to someone even when it was only for a little while. She didn't need it with Joscelin - he had her heart and she his - but the thrill was no less when he left a visible memory of his touch on her skin.
She knew he was approaching his own fall. She felt it in the urgency of his movements, the tension spreading through his muscles. Moving with him, Romy welcomed each thrust as her lips found his again, eager to give him the release he chased.
It was her surrender, body and heart, that pulled Joscelin over the edge, hips rolling into hers almost a little too roughly - though he knew she liked that too - and he half moaned, half growled his pleasure into her mouth as a shudder went down his spine and he spilled himself inside his wife.
Joscelin lowered her gently to the duvet, his forehead resting against hers even as they both labored to find their breath again, and though he was barely touching her now with any part of their over sensitized skin, their bodies were yet connected.
Several minutes passed like that until their breathing was even, and Joscelin shifted to nuzzle along her jaw, down the soft skin of her neck. "Good morning, love," he murmured, smile curling his lips though she could not see it.
"Only good?" she queried with a giggle, shivering as the light touch tickled down her neck. "I'd rate it a little higher than that myself, my love, but good morning just the same."
Romy loved that they played and teased, their relationship built on friendship and respect as much as passion. It was a far cry from the marriages she'd been exposed to growing up, where everything was calculated and no more real than the men she'd 'dated' had felt for her. As he slowly pulled away, rolling onto the bed with a typically cheeky grin, Romy fitted herself to his side, sighing happily as Joscelin tugged her close.
"You're divine, the epitome of all things beautiful and lovely," Joscelin grinned against her temple, arms coming around her as he held her in the cradle of his body. "To taste you is to taste the sweetest of nectar, the purest spring water. To feel your skin is know the softest touch, the smoothest warmth, and to see your face as you lose yourself to me is to know that heaven truly does exist."
His lips were pulled into a full smile as he pressed another kiss to her temple. He was waxing poetic at her slight tease, but all that he'd said was quite true despite. Joscelin loved his wife, and still felt a fool at times that it'd taken him so long to see what was right in front of him.
"Yes, good all the same," he agreed, breath fanning against her skin around his grin.
Her cheeks were flushed a deep pink as she buried her face against Joscelin's neck. Romy wasn't prone to shyness or excessive humility; she knew she was a beautiful woman and she'd received many compliments over the years. It was the sincerity in his voice and the emotion she could feel even through his playful tone that made her bashful. She'd never known you could be grateful for a person until Joscelin.
As she settled again, comfortable and happy in his arms, she looked at her husband quizzically. "Joscelin? Have you been in love before?"
She was surprised to find the question didn't bring any uneasiness in herself. It was simple curiosity, a desire to know her husband better. Whatever he'd felt in the past, he'd chosen her forever.
"No," he said easily, hazel-green eyes finding hers. It was an unexpected question, though not an unwelcome one. Joscelin didn't mind sharing himself with Romy, though he was silent a long moment as he let his thoughts drift back. He'd never been a person to dwell on the past, though his mind ticked back, back to the women he'd been with over the years. "Though we didn't officially date, I saw you more than I've seen any one woman since Adriana back in '88. We were handlers at the Aenos Reserve in Greece. Neither of us ever had a thought of love though," he mused, thoughts distant on his youth, the gypsy handler Adriana.
More than a year after leaving Britain for the continent, away from his Father and pureblood expectations, and away from the pain of losing Theresa, his almost sister, Adriana had been the first woman he was with. Bishop had withdrawn wholly into his budding career as a Hit Wizard following his fiancée's death, and Joscelin had left.
Romy's lips curled into a tiny smile. Even if she wasn't jealous, it was nice to hear that she'd been special among the women he'd known even before there were intentions for more than a friendship. She'd known Joscelin had a history as something of an aficionado where women were concerned. He'd said as much the night they met. Romy could throw no stones in that area, not given her own history. She preferred to think that they'd just been very thorough in making sure they knew who the right one was when they found it.
"Did you 'not date' anyone else since you came back to England?"
Joscelin's eyes twinkled at his wife. "No, there was no 'not dating' with anyone else," he said, thumb brushing over her skin as he flashed her a smile. "Not after I met you, and you were the first woman besides my sister I spoke to after I came back from the continent, and the only I've looked at since."
"You know," Romy started with a laugh, "you're really very good at the whole reassurance thing. It almost makes me wish I wasn't so certain you love me just so I could get the full effect." Dusting soft kisses across his chest, she sighed. "Sadly, I'm completely confident in your affection, so I guess I'll never be able to appreciate that talent as it should be appreciated."
"I disagree, oh love of my life," Joscelin said, grinning as he cupped her cheek, thumb brushing over the curve of her lip. "It just means I've done at least one thing right."
He pressed a kiss to her mouth, lingering when she opened for him, but pulled away before desire stirred again. There was much they didn't know about each other, and though Joscelin had often wondered at her past, he'd not broached the subject as of yet. They were sensitive subjects for most people and he'd figured that the time would present itself when it was right.
Now was the time and he looked at her thoughtfully a long moment after releasing her lips before asking, "and you, have you been in love before?"
He wondered, too, if she'd been with anyone while he'd known her - no, he knew she had and it still made him glower internally a bit, but he understood the feeling better now. Jealously then, slight uncertainty now, but mostly possessive protectiveness these days. She was his.
Such questions would wait for their proper time, however.
With a shake of her head, Romy smiled as the various men with whom she'd spent time passed through her mind. There were a few she'd been quite fond of, but none that filled her heart the way Joscelin did. Of course, love was never something she'd sought either. Most of her lovers were only that, men she slept with casually. The only one who'd really enjoyed her company on a personal level was Beckett.
Her expression soften slightly as she thought on her knight in tarnished armor. "I haven't," she said, meeting her husband's eyes, her mien open and sincere. "I think I could have loved one man though, had either of us been looking for that kind of relationship. It's better we left it as we did, though."
He knew she was being open and honest with him, but Joscelin couldn't help the dark streak of jealously that zipped through him at the softening of her features for another man. It was over and she was his now, but not every fiber of him agreed with this logic. The baser instincts were hard to quiet, but he pushed them away.
Instead he forced himself to keep his features calm and open. He wanted to talk to her, have her feel as if she could continue to be open to him, always. "Why's that, love?"
She felt more than saw a brief change in Joscelin, and Romy cupped his face with her hand for a moment as she considered her answer. The days when she'd believed he was perfect, a pillar of constant strength and reason, were gone. Romy knew her husband was a man with flaws and weaknesses like any other, but it still surprised her at times that she could affect him without meaning to.
"Beckett and I had lots in common, but it was all based in the negative things in our lives. We were both too damaged to lift each other up. We might've been happy, but not in a healthy way."
As she looked into the hazel eyes she knew so well, Romy's deep browns lit up with her love for him. "You make me want to be the best person I can be. I love knowing you're proud to have me as your wife, and you inspire me to keep going on days when I feel like hiding under the covers. I hope I'm able to make you feel something similar. Beckett deserves that, too, and I couldn't have given it to him. He couldn't have given it to me, either."
It was selfish, perhaps even mean-spirited of him towards this Beckett, but Joscelin was buoyed by her words and that dark beast inside of him was satisfied.
It was humbling, too, to hear the honesty in her words. He was far from perfect - the battle waging inside of him was evidence enough - but it awed him a little that he affected her that much. He and Gwen had always been very, very close, but this was a whole new kind of relationship, a taste of which he'd never had before and it was both settling and exhilarating at the same time.
"You make me want to be everything I see in your eyes," Joscelin finally said, thumb brushing over her cheek, hazel-green eyes intent on her. "The man who you believe I can be."
Leaning into his touch , she smiled softly. "You're already everything I could want, and the only man that has my heart. I've done a lot of stupid things, but I've never been one to miss an opportunity to improve my situation. Loving you made my life better in ways I'd never even dreamed."
"Back at you, love," Joscelin murmured. Grinning suddenly, he turned on his back, bringing her with him and smiled up at her, eyes twinkling. "Want to show just how loving me has made your life better?" he asked, hands skimming down her sides to grip her hips.
A Cheshire smile spread across Romy's face as she peered down at him. "Oh yes, allow me to demonstrate," she replied breathily. As she shifted, breath catching as she slid over him again, she sighed, "Pay very close attention now."
Summary: Jos and Romy talk about former lovers and how their lives have improved together. That last bit comes with a hands-on demonstration.