The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett [357]
“Push harder,” she said. “I want you so much I don’t care if it hurts.”
She felt him push. It did hurt, more than she had expected, but only for a moment, and then she felt wonderfully filled. She looked at him. He withdrew a little and pushed again, and she pushed back. She smiled at him. “I never knew it was so nice,” she said wonderingly. He closed his eyes, as if the happiness was too much to bear.
He began to move rhythmically. The constant strokes set up a pulse of pleasure somewhere in her groin. She heard herself give little gasps of excitement every time their bodies came together. He lowered himself so that his chest was touching her nipples and she could feel his hot breath. She dug her fingers into his hard back. Her regular gasps turned into cries. Suddenly she needed to kiss him. She buried her hands in his curls and pulled his head to hers. She kissed his lips hard, then thrust her tongue into his mouth and moved faster and faster. Having his cock in her cunt and her tongue in his mouth drove her out of her mind with pleasure. She felt a great spasm of joy shake her, so violent that it was like falling off a horse and hitting the ground. It made her cry out loud. She opened her eyes and looked into his eyes and said his name, and then another wave took her, and another; and then she felt his body convulse, and he cried out too, and she felt a hot jet spurt inside her, and that inflamed her even more, so that she shook with pleasure again and again, so many times that she lost count, until at last the feeling began to fade, and gradually she went limp and still.
She was too exhausted to speak or move, but she could feel Jack’s weight slumped on top of her, his bony hips on hers, his flat chest squashing her soft breasts, his mouth close to her ear, his fingers entwined in her hair. A part of her mind thought vaguely: That’s what it’s supposed to be like, between men and women; that’s why everyone makes so much fuss about it; that’s why husbands and wives love one another so much.
Jack’s breathing became light and regular, and his body relaxed until it was completely limp. He was asleep.
She turned her head and kissed his face. He was not too heavy. She wanted him to stay there, asleep on top of her, forever.
That thought made her remember.
Today was her wedding day.
Dear God, she thought, what have I done?
She began to cry.
After a moment, Jack woke up.
He kissed the tears on her cheeks with unbearable tenderness.
She said: “Oh, Jack, I want to marry you.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” he said in a voice of profound satisfaction.
He had misunderstood her, and that made it even worse. “But we can’t,” she said, and her tears flowed faster.
“But after this—”
“I know—”
“After this, you must marry me!”
“We can’t marry,” she said. “I’ve lost all my money, and you’ve got nothing.”
He raised himself on his elbows. “I’ve got my hands,” he said fiercely. “I’m the best stone carver for miles around.”
“You were dismissed—”
“It makes no difference. I could get work on any building site in the world.”
She shook her head miserably. “It’s not enough. I have to think about Richard.”
“Why?” he said indignantly. “What has all this got to do with Richard? He can take care of himself.”
Suddenly Jack looked boyish, and Aliena felt the difference in their ages: he was five years younger than she, and he still thought he had a right to be happy. She said: “I swore an oath to my father, when he was dying, that I would look after Richard until he becomes earl of Shiring.”
“But that could be never!”
“But an oath is an oath.”
Jack looked nonplussed. He rolled off her. His soft penis slipped out of her and she experienced a sense of loss like a pain. I will never feel him inside me again, she thought sorrowfully.
He said: “You can’t mean this. An oath is just words! It’s nothing by comparison with this. This is real, this is you and me.” He looked at her breasts, then he reached out and stroked the curly hair between her legs. It was so poignant that she felt his