Leaning back nearly in his lap, ...

Ainea looked so absolutely deliciously beautiful that Paul almost lost his resolve.

Almost ...

But not quite.

For a time he sat there with her like that, the two of them looking into each other's eyes, finding there whatever it is that lovers see. For a time, that was enough. However, the trials and expenditures of energy that they both had made in the last day again caught up with them. Feeling safe and secure, they were drifting off to sleep when Paul started and sat up straight. Leaving the now-puzzled Ainea lying on his legs and against his chest, he raised his arms and stretched hugely.

Then, in what seemed to her to be one fluid movement, he was up, had scooped her up in his arms, and was already several steps on the way toward her bed. Arriving there before she could protest, he deposited her gently, and spread the quilt up over her. He tucked her in all snug, and then sat on the edge of the bed to lean over and kiss her. It was a long, slow kiss, one that he would not have dared if she had not been clothed and then further protected by the bed cover.

It started as a direct, soft pucker, which then spread into tiny nibbles against her lips, and then progressed to his tongue searching against her strong teeth for a way to get to hers. At last that barrier went away and the kiss became firm, established, and filled with gentle love. His quested, hers replied and then searched in its own turn.

His hand was at the back of her neck, stroking her hair, tangling itself in that luxurious mane, and helping her to support her head as he tried to get across the message that he loved her. At last he parted his lips from hers, leaving them both gasping and dazed. With a soft whisper, he told her of his feelings.

"Loving thee is going to be so wonderful. I mean, it already is, but loving thee as thy husband ... that will be extraordinary!" He nearly laughed at the comical expression on her face as she tried to quiet the chaos that kiss had caused and at the same time process his declaration of how much he adored her. Before she could quite manage it, he had risen and gone to his own bed. There he sat, looked at her as she gazed at him with a speculative look that only women who just have realized they have won can have, smiled, and then snuffed the little torch.

As he pulled up his own covers in the darkness, he heard her gentle reply.