The floating feeling took on a whole new meaning as Elias lifted her off the floor. She was too lost in him to really notice, hold tightening instinctively. All of their waiting, the patience and restraint had served its purpose, Daff knew, but she was relieved to have to exercise none of those things tonight. They had all night tonight and Daff wanted to take her time, to savor every minute.

A whine nearly escaped her parted lips when he set her back down, though she was amused by her new vantage point, she was not thrilled with any distance between them. Thankfully she didn't have much time to protest, letting her head fall to the side at the feeling of his lips on her neck and a hand in her hair again. There was a rush of want through her veins, pooling in her chest as her heart skittered to an erratic beat.

Daff bit her lip to contain the sigh and the following grin. Her fingers curled into the fabric of his jacket briefly, unable to contain the sharp inhale at a particularly sensitive spot. She was trying to keep some of her wits about her and not get completely lost in the sensations, but it was admittedly difficult. Sliding her hands down, Daff worked clumsily at the buttons of the jacket. Finally she managed to get them undone, slipping her palms underneath to get it out of the way, letting it fall wherever it may. One layer down, many go to.

On that train of thought, she found his hand at her waist with one of her own, leaning back as she moved up another stair. Her other hand went to pull her skirts up and out of the way as she pulled him with her up the quick flight of stairs. That was all she had the patience for though, even the short hallway would have to wait a moment as she pulled him in for another kiss.

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   Elias Grimstone

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Daffy had managed to free him of his jacket and tugged him up the stairs – though admittedly he had protested little to either – but the kiss at the top of the stairs was rather trying when it came to his desire not to rush her into anything.

So he didn’t pull back from the kiss, but without breaking off tried to manoeuvre them a few paces over, reaching past her to push open what had to be the bedroom door – or, no, damn it, that was a bathtub – distractedly, Elias tried again with the door on the right and was better rewarded for it. He nudged the door open wider with a foot and pulled her in with him, running his hands along her sides before looking for the fastenings of her dress to get her out of it. “Daffy,” he said, hands slowing before his own keenness could get the better of him. “If you’d rather take things slow –” just say; stop me; it’s alright.

Elias had been patient enough with any prospect of this for long enough, so – he could manage his expectations here, if he had to. Daff had teased him about falling into bed before, and there was nothing about her now to suggest she was especially nervous about this, but – although she had had past heartbreak, and might have quietly done this all before – he imagined there was still a good chance that she hadn’t.

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   Daffodil Grimstone

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look ANOTHER beautiful bee!set <3

Daff giggled at their stumbling down the hall whenever she had the breath to. Neither one of them seemed apt to let go for anything as simple as finding the bedroom door and she had to laugh at the first wrong turn. It was a good thing she still had her skirts in one hand or she would have fallen somehow as they finally made their way through the right door. The last thing they needed was a twisted ankle or to go falling to the floor.

Feeling the heat of his hands through the layers of her clothes, Daff thought it might be time she shed a layer or two. Then he paused and she caught on to the undertone of what he meant. Daff softened; still willing to be patient if she needed him to be; Merlin she loved him. So— "No," she insisted in a firm whisper, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair. Blue eyes searched for his in the dim light of the room and she smiled softly. "I want to share all of this with you, just you," Daff added a little more seriously. This was a piece of her only he would get and she didn't want it any other way. They had practiced patience for far too long now and Daff didn't want to make him wait anymore. They had all night, all week, a fortnight, a lifetime, to spend this time together, just the two of them, in any way they wanted. Daff wanted to dive in headfirst, no more hesitation.

The buttons on the back of her dress ran square down the middle and though there weren't that many of them, she still couldn't reach by herself. Daff turned slowly in his grasp and pulled her hair over one shoulder, looking back him over the other and then down playfully before catching his eye again; a clear invitation. There were far too many layers to get through, but they had to start there.

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   Elias Grimstone

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At first when her expression softened, he thought Daffy was relieved he had spoken, was going to agree with him – but between the no and her wide-eyed look and the earnestness of her tone, he felt her certainty. Elias smiled back broadly, honestly; a smile that kept spreading until it was a grin crinkling the corners of his eyes.

It was what he had wanted to hear, and he felt any last tension ease from his shoulders. Monumental as the night might feel, there was a certain lightness too – and as she looked over her shoulder, her eyes were sparkling with an echo of that teasing earlier from the wedding, when his own impatience had been all too clear to him.

“Well then,” he murmured fondly, thankful that her buttons seemed straightforwardly arranged; he eased them undone without trouble, still doing his best to be unhurried about it as he shrugged the dress off her. But he was close enough to smell the sweet lingering echo of the flowers that had been in her hair underneath the salt air on their clothes from the journey, and the room seemed warmer (or was that just the country?) with each layer they removed. Nevertheless, Elias took off his own waistcoat and put his hands to Daff’s waist to start doing away with her underskirts.

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look ANOTHER beautiful bee!set <3

Relieved that put an end to any hesitations Elias might have had, and by the loss of the weight of her dress, Daff sighed and toed off her shoes beneath the layers of petticoats. Her feet did still ache a little bit, but losing the shoes helped and clearly it wasn't a concern at the moment. There were far more layers to this outfit than she would have ever cared to wear normally, but after Elias untied her skirts, Daff reached back to undo the ties of the corset digging into her skin; that could certainly go. Once it was loose enough, she unhooked the front and tossed it into the growing pile of clothes on the floor. That was a tomorrow problem too, and Daff smiled taking a deep breath for the first time all day. Stupid torture devices.

With everything untied and loosened, Daff was able to step out of the skirts as they pooled on the floor around her. Just a soft new silk chemise and some other base layers left; it occurred to her that she probably ought to feel bashful about this, but the flush on her cheeks had nothing to do with embarrassment or uncertainty. She ran a hand through her hair, ruffling up the loose strands and trying to get out any lingering tangles, tossing it back over her shoulder and out of her face once more. Amused to find he'd lost another layer of his own, Daff stepped back toward him around the skirts on the floor and tugged him closer by the front of his shirt; now he was the one who was overdressed.

Her playful pull on his shirt had loosened it a little, but Daff used both hands to fully untuck it before starting in on the buttons. She looked up at him with another mischievous smile, hands sliding beneath the fabric experimentally up and over his shoulders, feeling the heat in her fingertips. With that out of the way too, she leaned in, pressing closer, looking to regain the spark of a few minutes ago by pressing a line of gentle kisses from his jaw to his lips. She knew what to expect, obviously, but she was still a little hesitant to lead the way, further than this at any rate and so left that up to him.

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Between Daff’s confidence and her composure and the easy way she shed her corset, he still almost had the sense she wasn’t new to this... but then she had said just you, so perhaps it was just her sureness in it. That, and the carefree way she had about her – like she couldn’t be shaken from it; like she was never anything but perfectly herself.

And he had done this before – not for a while, but here and there over the years – although never with someone he had known half so well, or cared for so deeply. Certainly never with someone he had loved. So it – felt almost new to him. He kicked off his shoes as she worked at his shirt, Daff’s mischief contagious until she started kissing him again, her lips maddeningly soft against his skin. That was enough to make Elias lose any patience he had had again, and so he guided her down onto the bed, stepping out of his trousers and joining her there.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured – and if he had thought it of her earlier, walking down the aisle in that dress, it was even truer now. She was so beautiful it almost made him nervous. But he did away with the last of her layers, hands skating over her thighs as he slid off her drawers and pulled the chemise off over her head. He leant in again, yearning to feel her body properly against his – but for the moment, he pressed his mouth to her neck again, trailing his way over her collarbone as his hand moved to her breasts.

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   Daffodil Grimstone

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look ANOTHER beautiful bee!set <3

Daff grinned to herself at the compliment, giving him that knowing sort of look; he was full of lines like that and though she didn't always agree, she wasn't about to argue with him. He was biased and she was fine with it. If there was a time to be bashful about anything, now was it, but she could only bite her lip again as she eased back onto the bed, watching him carefully. She tried not to think about it too much, thankfully it was much easier to focus on the feeling of his hands on her legs and the sliding of fabric over flushed skin; though the exposure to the cool air in the room did little to quell the fire.

There was the briefest of urges to try and cover up, but Daff reached out to him as he joined her, hands roaming curiously instead, testing the feeling under her fingertips. Her body curved naturally toward his, one leg curling against him, even as her head fell back to the pillow. His hands were a little rough, but in the best way possible, the contrast against her skin left her breathless. Everything was new now, almost intoxicating, the rush of the feeling of skin on skin, hands wandering over parts of her body that had never been touched like this. It sent a shiver of a thrill right through her, body arching toward the sensations. She gasped, hardly audible as the burn of desire built up along with each breath.

Wanting to make sure she didn't get too caught up and before they got much further, she ran her fingers through his hair, one brushing against his cheek to get his attention. "I love you," she whispered, realizing that ache was just as prominent as everything else and she needed to tell him. That she got to spend the rest of her life saying it and living it was not lost on her, even in this moment, maybe especially now and she wanted him to know just how much that meant to her.

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   Elias Grimstone

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He had always been more a craftsman than an artist, so he had put his hands to use and had almost gotten lost already in the sensation of touching her, palms and fingertips tracing along the soft contours of her waist and hips and thighs, when she brushed his cheek and caught him unexpectedly with that. Not the words – not the words so much as the well of emotion in it.

“Daff,” Elias murmured, as if in answer, fighting the physical urgency long enough to pause and return her gaze, the of course I know unsaid but implied. Don’t you know I love you too? He could almost feel the weight of it living in his chest, the love for her, and he didn’t know how he could fully express it to her in words. (It was not the worst problem to have, going forwards.) “That’s lucky,” he said instead, his eyes and his smile both alight, “because you did just marry me.” He had to be teasing, because he didn’t know how else to compete with that, with all Daffy’s eloquence and openness.

“And I love you,” he added anyway, because his earnestness was bound to spill back out in spite of that; and he leant down to kiss her again for a moment, as if to impress the words on her by it. But their closeness was sending him a little wild now, so he couldn’t bring himself to wait; he slid his hand down between her legs and then shifted carefully over her to better position himself. If this was her first time, he would have to do his best by it, gauging her discomfort as they went; but, conscious of his own heart racing as well, he cast Daffy another small smile. “Try to relax,” he breathed, as he pressed into her and began to move.

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look ANOTHER beautiful bee!set <3

The laugh that escaped was breathless and she couldn’t help the little roll of her eyes. It was a good thing one of them wasn’t too caught up. She could see it underneath his expression and thankfully the teasing cadence kept things light, because she felt lucky and grateful and a little overwhelmed by it all now. ”Yes, lucky me.” She mumbled against his lips after he kissed her again, sending her heartbeat racing once again. Daff felt a little wound up, giddy with the desire that swam through her veins.

Fortunately she wasn’t the only impatient one. Everything got a little lost in the next few movements; a gasp at his wandering hands, smothered by pressing her lips together; a little nod even though her body tensed anyway; dark eyes on him the whole time as she tried to hide the wince at the initial pang of discomfort. She’d known it was coming, but still squirmed a little until the tenderness gave way to something else entirely.

It was hard to put words to the sensations that erupted through her body as she did relax into the rhythm and she tried not to think about any one thing too much. Her lashes fluttered closed, head falling back to the pillow, hands roaming anywhere she could reach, the pads of her fingertips digging in slightly. Her breath came in soft pants, punctuated by a gasp or sigh, her body reacting for her, arching toward his every now and then. She felt like she was racing toward a finish line, but couldn’t see it. The feeling winding up tighter and tighter until she thought she might reach the edge and tumble over completely. "Elias," it came out in a ragged whisper, without her meaning it to, but it felt right anyway, even if she had no follow up.

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“Lucky me,” he murmured back, but he thought it might have been lost to a hitched breath and lost to the moment, as their bodies began to lead the conversation. It was hard to sink into the feeling when he could feel the tension in her, so he was – too conscious, at first, of every movement; but when her discomfort seemed to ease, he gave himself over to it. And then all he was conscious of was the softness of her thighs, the way she arched towards him, her head thrown back, the sound of his name in her mouth, his own climbing desperation. “Daff, I –” he gasped against her, as he finished.

Elias didn’t know what else he had been going to say, except I love you again. Saying it once, twice, more, didn’t feel enough. As he relaxed onto the mattress beside her, damp with sweat, he pushed a strand of hair off her forehead, to have a better view of her expression. At first all he could do was smile at her, spent and a little dazed. Eventually, though – because he wanted to be sure she had enjoyed it – he asked a variation on a question he had asked earlier, back when they’d arrived. “How are you, now?”

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look ANOTHER beautiful bee!set <3

It was a flurry of sensations that peaked without her fully knowing where anything was going to land. Nobody’s description had done any justice to the contentment and satisfaction lingering in her limbs as she came back down from the high of everything up until now. As Elias settled in next to her, she curled toward him, stretching out her body loosely, loath to surrender any contact now that she didn’t have to. Hopefully he wouldn’t get sick of her being in his space from here on out.

Smiling softly at him, she caught his hand as he brushed her hair back, pressing a kiss to his palm before she tangled her fingers in his. A long list of things came to mind in response to his question, each more mushy and sentimental than the last, but nothing adequately summed up the emotions settling into her chest. She sighed quietly that led into a breathless chuckle, "I am absolutely wonderful, you?" Daff had been so caught up in all of the newness, following his lead blindly, that she hadn’t even been able to think about if she was doing anything right or wrong, but it had all felt natural and easy and she hoped it was always like that.

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“Yes,” Elias agreed, helpless to her as she caught his palm and kissed it and curled closer, because wonderful just about covered it. “I am too.” He tucked an arm around her, not certain whether this was overstepping, but he was too tired to be self-conscious of it now. He had grown too used to sleeping alone. Sleeping alone; working on his own; living alone. But – all that had changed now. This was the cusp of it. He was looking forward to it, Elias knew for certain now. He was glad to think of all the days ahead where they could come home to each other. They weren’t home yet, but tomorrow – tomorrow he would get to wake up with her, so tomorrow would be just as perfect as this.

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   Daffodil Grimstone

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look ANOTHER beautiful bee!set <3