The Bride: A Sequel to Hwarang: The Saga of the Sooks Book #7

Chapter 15: Fervent Hope for the Future

"At long last, my love, I have you to myself," Yeo Wool murmured softly as he turned towards Sam Sook after lighting the lamp on the side of their bed.

The expression in his eyes made her stomach dip. And she briefly reconsidered their sleeping arrangements tonight. But she had promised him that she would join him in that big bed of his. And it was big. She stood for a moment looking down at it. Then she swallowed. And her eyes grazed his again.

"Are you nervous?" he whispered. Instantly picking up on her discomfort.

"I...no. Yes. I don't know." She heaved an exasperated sigh. "I feel so foolish!"

"When was the last time that you slept in a bed with a man?" he queried quietly.

Her eyebrows flew up. "Goodness! What a question?"

"Did I offend you?" he asked, surprised.

"No! No. I just...can't remember," she admitted reluctantly. "Se Ho was sick for so long...it must have been...five years ago?" Then she frowned. "I did lie down with him from time to time after he got sick. But we never even kissed. There was nothing intimidating about it at all."

"Intimidating?" Yeo Wool gasped. "Am I intimidating?" He stood frozen. Staring at her.

And Sam Sook lifted her gaze to meet his again. She shook her head. "I do not think, Yeo Wool, that you could be intimidating even if you tried."

She crossed the room towards him. Her heart thumping in her chest. She was nervous. But it wasn't because of Yeo Wool. Or, at least, not due to fear of what he would do. She was afraid of her own responses. That she might rush into something for which she wasn't ready. But...wasn't that silly?

She had been raped once. That was true. But before that, she had enjoyed a healthy sex life with her husband. Even if it hadn't been full of explosions and passion.

But when Yeo Wool kissed her, she felt the heat of his ardor. And the fervency of her own. And it puzzled her. For she had never responded to Se Ho that way. Of course, she'd been pitifully young when she'd first married him. And, though he had been kind to her, he had lacked any sort of heat. His attention towards her could more accurately be described as affection. Never fervor. No craving for her. Just a gentle regard.

His response had been just what she needed. By that time, she'd become afraid of men. And any passionate response would have terrified her. But Se Ho's tenderness had comforted her. He had slowly and patiently led her along to deeper levels of intimacy. But she had never felt for him what she now felt for Yeo Wool.

And the intensity of her feelings now startled her.

"I'm glad to hear it. I will certainly not try," Yeo Wool asserted strongly.

Sam Sook smiled at him then.

"What's troubling you, my love?" he queried as he studied her odd expression.

She crumpled her brow. "I'm just...not sure what to do with them."

"With whom?" he quizzed her.

"With all the feelings you stir up in me."

He quirked two very dark eyebrows at her in surprise. "And just what feelings do I stir up in you?"

She glanced at his bed. And he got the drift. And worked very hard to bite back a satisfied grin.

"You stir the same feelings in me," he admitted. Then wondered at the wisdom of that honesty.

"I do?" she gasped.