Skull and Dagger

“Frank...” Annabelle whispered softly as he set her back down on her feet next to the bed.

An almost giddy smile crossed his face then. “My wife,” he breathed into her hair, inhaling the fragrant scent of wildflowers that always lingered about her.

“My husband,” she agreed, shutting her eyes tight and wrapping her arms around him as she leaned on him for support.

Frank felt the shiver run through her - whether of fear or anticipation or a combination of both, he could only guess - and reminded himself that, despite her passionate nature, she was still a fluttering virgin. This was all new to her, and he was going to do everything in his power to make it an experience she would never forget.

“Hush, my love,” he whispered soothingly against the golden crown of her head. “We’ll go real slow and easy-like, OK?”

She nodded jerkily against his shoulder, cheeks flushing slightly in embarrassment over how nervous she was.

He gently cupped her chin in his palm and tilted her head up for a quick, gentle kiss. “No worries, love,” he practically purred. “I’m gonna be so gentle, gonna make you feel so good...” His lips brushed hers again.

Now, the kissing she knew and enjoyed. Her hands trailed up into his hair, tousling it until it turned wild and curly. She used her leverage to pull him down deeper into their kiss, savoring the sweet taste of him on her lips.

His tongue flicked out against her mouth, and she parted her lips in response, allowing him to thrust deep inside of her. He let out a little moan at her wet heat and began stroking his tongue against hers sensuously, drawing her into their lovemaking.

She eagerly responded, unable to resist a duel as always. Her tongue lunged into his mouth; his parried. A quick repost, and the he was on the attack again, plundering her mouth with a passionate intensity that made her dizzy.

Feeling her relax against him, he slowly began to caress her body. His hands drifted from their solid grasp of her waist to gently trace the curve of her spine. She shivered again, but this time he had no doubt that it was in response to his feather-light touches. His hands became bolder, one index finger tracing over the bare flesh at her collarbone, outlining her throat, before sliding along the collar of her dress...

She gasped when it dipped between her breasts, always astonished at how needy the flesh there was for his touch. He was palming her lightly now, while his other hand not-so-subtly began to unfasten the complicated array of hooks and laces that held her gown in place.

“Wanna feel you,” his lips murmured against hers before trailing up her cheek to nibble at her ear. “Want you to feel me...”

She was all too eager to comply with the latter. Her lips found his throat as her hands drifted down between them. She felt the hard lines of his chest through the thin fabric of his shirt and sighed at the raw muscular power beneath her fingertips. Truth be told, she had been known to slip inside the silken fabric in the past, glimpsing more of his bronzed skin than any decent woman should. Now, however, she wanted to learn exactly what it was that indecent women enjoyed so much...

His shirt fell aside at her persistent touches, revealing a torso just as spectacular as all the Greek statues she’d seen, only more so because this flesh pulsed and trembled beneath her wandering hands. She leaned against him once more, then, her cheek resting against the bare muscle of his chest. If anything, the skin-on-skin contact made her body tremble with desire for him even more...

With nimble fingers, he finally opened the back of her dress. The fingers of one hand worked on her corset, while the other traced the newly-exposed flesh. He could feel the pent-up tension in her body grow and quickened his pace, stripping her from her garments with ease. “That feel good, princess?” he continued to whisper to her.

Her fingers skated over the defined muscles of his stomach. “Mmm...” she agreed.

“Well, this,” he announced, lifting her up off of her feet so that her dress and the vast majority of her undergarments fell to the floor in a heap, “is gonna be even better...”

She flushed slightly at that. His efficient disrobing had bared her breasts to the warm sea air, and now they were flattened against his chest, molding against him. If she had thought the heat of him was burning before, now it practically branded her flesh, wiping away her fears and anxieties, making her just want more...

He carried her over to the bed and laid her back on it before covering her body with his own. Their legs still remained covered, but he had enough delightful newly-exposed flesh to keep him more than satisfied for the moment.

Her arms wrapped around him, pulling him down into her heated embrace, feeling the strong muscles of his back... And then she lost all modicum of control when his mouth descended upon one of her mounds, engulfing it.

Frank smiled against her soft, supple flesh when he felt her thrash beneath him, desperately seeking further contact. He suckled on her gently at first, like a newborn babe, but then began biting and twisting harder as her hands in his hair urged him on.

Annabelle cried out and held on tight as his tongue did the most amazing things to her sensitive rosy bud. Her other breast was not neglected as he kneaded it slowly in his palm, his thumb flicking over the hardened tip. “Frank...” she whispered in delight as all the wondrous tingles in her nerve endings trailed right down to the juncture between her thighs. “Please...” She spread her legs for him in anticipation, remembering his touch from earlier with growing desire.

He looked up at her with a roguish smile then, obviously pleased by her responsiveness. “Want more, do you?” he whispered seductively, rising up on his forearms so that he towered over her slight form.

She nodded numbly.

“Are you sure?” he pressed, enjoying teasing her.

She scowled up at him. “You haven’t managed to remove my boots yet,” she threatened lightly.

“Hmm, better go see to that, then,” he agreed, sliding back down her body. He took each of those dangerous feet into his lap in turn, slowly unfastening the laces of her boots and pulling them off of her dainty feet.

“I’m not a delicate flower,” she informed him impatiently. “Get on with it.”

He laughed at that, caught her in his arms, and kissed her breathless. “We’re going to have such a marvelous life together,” he decided. “Never a dull moment, eh?”

She nodded, still panting heavily from the intensity of his kiss.

“Looks like I‘ve finally found a way to shut that smart mouth of yours,” he said with a triumphant grin. His hands slid down her remaining undergarments, pulling them off and leaving her body bare beneath him.

She instinctively moved to cover herself up, never having thought before that a man would see her like this. She looked up at him, inquiring, when he halted her hands’ motions.

A look of pure awe crossed his face as he drank in his wife’s nude form for the first time. “You’re so beautiful...” he whispered breathlessly. “So perfect, so...beautiful...”

“Looks like I’ve finally found a way to shut that smart mouth of yours,” she couldn’t help but retort.

“God, I love you!” he groaned, tackling her back onto the bed once more.

“And I you” she exclaimed.

His still-clad thighs slid in between hers, but he ignored his throbbing arousal for the moment. He wasn’t a schoolboy anymore, and he was going to do this right... Carefully, his fingers encircled the nub of her womanhood, making her gasp his name and causing the wetness there to pool further.

She buried her face in the crook of his neck and clutched his body to her, feeling a strange tightening sensation begin deep within her at his persistent strokes. This wasn’t like before, the quick release of need; this was a slow, oven-hot fire being stoked within her belly, rising to inferno intensity...

His first finger slipped within her, penetrating her soft folds. Her inner walls clamped tight down around him, not yet stretched. Just the thought of that tight passage surrounding him made him nearly lose it, and he gasped raggedly into her hair, fighting for control.

His finger slid in and out of her several times, letting her grow used to it, until his middle finger slowly joined it. Her body accommodated the increased invasion after several more strokes, growing more open, preparing to welcome him inside...

Three was a strain, and he peppered her face with kisses, distracting her from the pressure within her.

She hissed at the unaccustomed stretching between her thighs, but it was a good kind of stretch. And knowing that it was him, that he was kissing her, loving her, whispering sweet nothings in her ear... She relaxed around him and easily took in his pinky as well when it came...

And then ecstasy began to wash over her as he began moving inside her, touching, caressing... She wasn’t even aware when his free hand moved to undo his belt buckle, she was so absorbed in the pleasure he was giving her.

She only opened her eyes when his hand pulled away, letting out a little whimper of protest.

“Shh, love,” he soothed her, stroking her hair. “We’ll be together soon...”

She glanced down at him then, her cheeks flushing at her first look of the portions of male anatomy that had always been oh-so-inconveniently covered up on the statues. Elizabeth had discussed the mechanisms with her before, true, but nothing could’ve prepared her for the actual sight.

His shaft stood out from his body, long and proud, nestled within his curls. She had always feared the sight would scandalize her, but she quickly discovered that it was not at all unappealing. In fact, her body reacted instinctively to the sight, as if she had been awaiting it all her life.

He bent down to kiss her, and she savored the feel of his lips, dimly aware of his hips settling between her spread thighs, the tip of his manhood just brushing her wetness.

“U’ll be gentle,” he assured her in a voice husky with desire, “but there’ll be a moment of pain...”

She nodded in understanding, tenderly stroking his cheek as their eyes locked.

Slowly, he pushed in, one inch at a time until he came up to the barrier with her. “Ready, love?” he whispered.

She bit her lips and nodded. He felt so good so far and...oh god! She cried out when one hard roll of his hips sent him all the way inside, ripping her virgin barrier asunder. There was a quick flash of pain, and she felt her eyes water in response.

“Oh, lov, sweetheart, don’t cry,” he whispered raggedly, kissing away the lone tear that spilled down her cheek. “That’s it, love, I promise. No more pain, only pleasure. It's gonna be so good for you, Belle. I‘ve got so much to show you...” During his impassioned pleas, he trailed kisses all over her face while fighting to keep from thrusting roughly in and out of her. She fit him more snuggly than even he had imagined, and it was heaven and hell at the same time. Heaven for being sheathed within her at last, and hell for having to keep still, for not being able to lose himself within her at once...

Annabelle felt the pain fade as he kissed her. His lips finally landed on her own, and she kissed him back fervently, letting her love for this man wash over her. Any discomfort she had felt was disappearing now, and in its place was the most curious sensation... She wiggled her hips against his experimentally...

And, involuntarily, he thrust in deep.

Her eyes widened. Not curious, good!

He watched for her reaction anxiously, unsure of how ready she was.

“A-Again!” she stammered.

His hips moved slowly at first, thrusting in and out of her tentatively. With each push, her cry of “Again!” came a little faster as her own hips surged up to meet him, increasing the intensity of their coupling.

His hand caught under her thigh, lifting it up to give himself greater leverage. She caught onto his hint and wrapped her legs around his waist, moaning into his mouth when the new position allowed him to pierce even deeper within her.

“L-Love you!” she gasped out when their lips finally separated for several shallow breaths of air.

“Love you so much...” he agreed, once more caressing the body beneath him. His hips drove into her at a slightly different angle each time, searching, searching...there!

“Frank!” she screamed, her hands fisting in his hair, clutching it roughly.

He struck the sweet spot within her several more times rhythmically until her cries of pleasure became too much, and the last of his control snapped. Their bodies and lips fused as he spilled his pleasure and love deep within her womb.

She cried out at the same time, his name on her lips, as the world swam and shimmered around her, until there was nothing left but him and mind-blowing pleasure he brought her.

Falling down from the pinnacle together, they collapsed in a mass of tangled limbs, both finally sated and content. It was quite some time until either stirred, and even then it was only so Frank could roll off of her and come to rest at her side.

She snuggled her back against his warm chest and let out a happy sigh. “That was...exquisite,” she breathed, still in awe of the intensity and intimacy of the experience they’d just shared.

“I’ve never felt anythin’ like it,” he agreed. And it was true. Despite her inexperience, no other woman had ever inspired such passion in him. Lazily, he draped his arm over her waist, holding her to him.

Annabelle placed her hand over his. “We’re well-matched, aren’t we?” she commented.

“Well-matched and very well-mated,” he whispered against the curve of her throat.

She smiled and glanced down to where her hand covered his larger one, their twin gold bands rubbing together slightly as her thumb stroked his wrist. “I never thought I’d find this,” she confessed softly, turning in his arms to face him. “My father never wanted me, and I scared off all my suitors... I had rather sworn myself to the life of a spinster. I never thought a man could-”

“How could I not?” he insisted, cupping her cheek. “How could I not see your strength, your beauty, your stubborn pigheadedness, and love them?” His lips softly brushed her forehead.

“Mmm, made perfectly for me,” she decided, running her fingers through his already-tousled bed hair.

“Right from the same mold,” he concurred.

She looked up at him...and broke out into uncontrollable giggles.

“What?” he demanded, confused.

“Hair! Spiky!” she managed to get out between chuckles.

He gave her a mock-offended look as he straightened out his brown locks. And then a wicked grin lit up his face. “Like the spikes, do you, love?” he practically purred. “Well, I‘ve got a big one for you...”

She gulped as she felt the truth of his statement press hard against her stomach. “Good,” she announced, pulling his body atop her once more. "Now"