Listed: Volume III (16 page)

But
Emily had cried out for a different reason. Her cry had been pained, and she
was shifting restlessly, biting her lip, and looking away from him.

“Is
it bad?” he asked, the stab of guilt and concern bringing him down from the
edge of exquisite pleasure. “Baby, is it bad?”

“No,”
she said, tossing her head slightly. “It’s okay. Just give me a minute.”

Paul
didn’t want it to just be okay for her, and he was horribly afraid that it was
much worse than okay. She wasn’t meeting his eyes.

He
started to pull out, instinctively unwilling to do anything that would cause
her pain.

“No,”
she gasped, “Don’t you dare! I just need a minute.”

Her
outraged tone distracted him enough to keep him from doing anything. He just
held himself still above her and tried not to think about how incredibly good
she felt around him.

To
his surprised, she gave a choked giggle.

He
blinked down at her.

Her
face soft with affection, she said, “It’s kind of uncomfortable, Paul, but it’s
already starting to get better. No need to look like I’m being tortured. You’re
very impressive, of course, but you’re not
that
big.”

He
shook with involuntary laughter. “Don’t make me laugh,” he warned her.

It
wasn’t an idle warning. He felt tension tightening in his groin, so he forced
the amusement back under control.

Instead,
he leaned down to kiss her lips gently. He stroked her lips with his tongue
and, when she opened for him, he very gently slid his tongue into her mouth.

It
didn’t take long until her tongue was fluttering to meet his. Then her hands
lifted to his shoulders. And then to tangle in his hair.

He
groaned into her mouth at the stimulation from her fingers, combined with the
feel of her body relaxing around his erection. She’d felt almost painfully
tight before, but now she felt pliant, clinging, responsive.

The
pressure of desire swelling up in him again, he tore his mouth from Emily’s.
“How is it?’

“Better,”
she gasped, wriggling a little beneath him, “Good.”

He
muffled a groan and kissed her again. And this time he combined the kiss with a
rocking motion of his hips. Not real thrusts, since he was still afraid of
hurting her, just rhythmic little pushes against her.

Even
the slight friction as he moved inside her felt so good he moaned into her
mouth.

She
moaned too. Her fingers started to dig into the skin at the back of his
shoulders. Then she jerked her head from side to side.

He
pumped a little harder, still not making real thrusts. His skin was wet with
perspiration, mostly from the effort it was taking to control himself. Part of
him wanted to fuck her for real, wanted to thrust hard and fast, wanted to
claim her as his in the most primitive of ways.

But
the rest of him rose up in defiance against anything that might hurt her.

Emily’s
body was changing beneath him. She’d grown softer, hotter. Her motion became
eager, in uneven bursts of erratic pumping that stopped and started, as if she
were trying to process a flood of new sensation. She started clawing lines down
his back.

The
combination of relief, pleasure, pain, and inconsistency was almost torturous
to Paul, firing through his body and coalescing in the throbbing of his
arousal. He gave a few uncontrolled thrusts into Emily’s body, harder than he
would have made on purpose.

She
cried out in either pleasure or surprise. He didn’t think it was pain.

“Fuck,”
he muttered, biting his bottom lip in an attempt to distract himself from the
climax that had almost overwhelmed him. He froze inside her, looking away from
her with a twist of his neck.

“No,
Paul. I want…I need…”

“I
know,” he said hoarsely, barely managing to hold it together. He was shaking
now. Emily would be able to see it. “I know. Let’s try it this way, baby.”

He
readjusted and used one hand to cup herass, easing it up and then guiding her
motion as he started to thrust with a faster, steadier rhythm.

“Yeah!”
Emily arched her back and followed the rhythm he’d initiated, matching his
thrusts with her own. “Good.”

He
grunted in affirmation, overwhelmed by relief brought on by the now consistent
rhythm and the rising pleasure from his motion with Emily.

She
was moving with him now, and the friction was so good he could barely contain
it. She still clawed at his shoulders and back, but that sign of her desire for
him only made it better.

Paul
stared down at her. Her hair was tousled messily around her face. Her cheeks
were deeply flushed. Her blue eyes were almost wild with urgency, pleasure, and
something else. She was beyond talking now, and she was rocking eagerly.

It
was because of him. For him. With him.

Paul
was grunting, the sounds forced out of him to the rhythm of his thrusts, as
everything felt so good, so right, so needed.

Sex
had never felt like this before, not even with women he’d believed himself to
care about. He had no idea how to explain it, but his whole being blurred over
in a wave of feeling and sensation.

His
speed accelerated, as the whole universe started to crest. He stared down at
Emily through the haze of a rising orgasm.

Her
face was twisting now, and he felt little tremors run through her whole body.
She was about to come. He could feel her.
Emily
.

Emily,
who just last year he’d believed to be a clever but mostly irrelevant part of
the neighborhood. Who had been the only person brave enough to agree to testify
against his father. Who had proposed to him a marriage of convenience that had
turned into anything but.

Emily,
with whom he’d jumped out of a plane, seen the Pyramids, and ice-skated. Whom
he’d nursed through fevers and had to bully into spending his money.

Emily,
whom he had to save from dying.

Emily,
who was his wife.

She
arched up dramatically and froze for just a moment, her mouth opening in a
silent cry. Then her body shook with her orgasm.

It
was too much for Paul. He gave a few last pushes into her clenching body and
felt his balls, his whole body tighten down. Climax sliced through him, the
pleasure of release making him choke out something uncontrollably.

The
ripples of pleasure lasted longer than he’d expected, and he was completely
leveled when the last of them finally passed.  His elbows buckled, and his body
fell down on top of Emily in an embarrassing collapse.

Emily
didn’t seem to mind. She wrapped her arms around him and clung to him,
occasionally shuddering or whimpering in the aftermath.

She
was soft and supple and warm and strong beneath him, and Paul couldn’t seem to
pull away. He couldn’t believe how much having sex with her had taken out of
him. He couldn’t seem to speak, but she didn’t seem to be capable of it either.

After
a minute, she started to gently stroke his back.

He
roused himself enough to lift his head and stared down at her.

Her
eyes were soft and fond and replete. He imagined his looked the same.

He
could feel a gush of their mingled fluid. She might have bled. He needed to get
up and make sure she was all right. Instead, he leaned down to kiss her, rather
clumsily. She kissed him back, just as exhausted and disoriented as he felt.

Paul’s
body felt fully sated for the first time since they’d gotten married. All of
his muscles had softened, relaxed, until he could barely support himself. His
head dropped again, his face buried in the hollow of Emily’s neck. He pressed a
few more kisses against her neck.

“Are
you okay?” he finally managed to articulate, worried his weight was too heavy
for her, worried that she would be sore, worried that now that her physical
desire was satisfied she’d realize this wasn’t really what she wanted.

She
felt so small beneath him. She was so incredibly sick. She had only a few
months left to live, if the doctors were to be believed. It felt like she could
be so easily broken.

“Yeah,”
Emily breathed, stroking his hair again. “It was so good. Are you okay too?”

“Yeah,”
he muttered. “I’m good. So good.”

It
was only partly the truth.

He’d
gotten exactly what he’d wanted, and it had been better than anything, but Paul
had realized something else that would change everything.

He
loved her—he
loved
her—and she was going to die.

Listed
is completed
and will be published in six volumes on the following schedule. Each volume is
roughly 28,000-35,000 words (around 90-120 pages). Beginning in Volume III, it
will include adult sex scenes.

Volume I:   February 8, 2013 (with free promotion
days)

Volume II:  February 15, 2013 (with free promotion
days)

Volume III: February 22, 2013 (with free promotion
days)

Volume IV: March 1, 2013

Volume V:  March 8, 2013

Volume VI: March 15, 2013

About
the Author

Noelle handwrote her
first romance novel in a spiral-bound notebook when she was twelve, and she
hasn’t stopped writing since. She has lived in eight different states and
currently resides in Virginia, where she teaches English, reads any book she
can get her hands on, and offers tribute to a very spoiled cocker spaniel.

She
loves travel, art, history, and ice cream. After spending far too many years of
her life in graduate school, she has decided to reorient her priorities and
focus on writing contemporary romances. For more information, please check out
her website: noelle-adams.com