"Mr. Carson?"

"Yes?" he looked up from his paper.

"I've been wanting to ask you something." She paused, waiting for his acknowledgement. "I waited until after we were married because I didn't want you to think it would have swayed my decision one way or the other."

"Hmm," he said, smiling as his face showed that he was trying to imagine what her question could be.

She smiled back at his playfulness and asked her question.

"Would you like for us to be lovers?"

Her head tilted to the side, indicating her inquisitiveness. She looked softly at him. She'd planned the words carefully. Her preface would tell him that she was open to both of his possible answers. Her unfailing gaze would convey her calm trust in him. The only sign of her nervousness was a number of small white splotches on the skin of her hands where her fingers pressed the blood away from one another.

He noticed.

Maintaining his thoughtful gaze on her eyes, he deliberately folded his paper and set it aside.

"Would you?" he responded.

She laughed.

"A stalling tactic if ever there was one!"

Not quite able to manage a laugh, he smiled sincerely at her before answering,

"Yes. I would."

His eyes flitted from her face to her lap, knowing that her grip on her hands would tell him which answer she'd been hoping for.

Pink flowed back into her fingers as they released their hold.

He sighed with relief.

"Well then," she said calmly. "Don't you think you ought to kiss me?"

"Yes I do," he agreed.

They could have been discussing the cost of butter.

"Come here," he reached a hand to her so that she would join him on the sofa.

"Why don't you come here?"

"You're in a chair!"

"So?"

"A chair for one. I'm on a sofa!"

"I must say all this hedging has me doubting your determination."

"Mrs. Hughes," he purposely called her by her maiden name, happy to continue their banter.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Try again," she ordered.

"Mrs. Carson," he smiled roguishly.

"Better," she said.

He stood and walked to her. With his hand out, he said,

"Elsie."

"Yes."

"Yes, what?" he asked as she took his proffered hand.

"Yes, everything."

He reached for her other hand and pulled her up to stand in front of him.

"You're quite short, you know," he said in a low voice.

"Says the man who has hit his head on every door frame in Downton Abbey."

"It will probably be a great strain on my back to kiss you," he said in a falsely worried tone.

"You're a strain on my nerves, Mr. Carson," she replied archly.

"We should look into a stool for just this purpose," he said thoughtfully while his hands slid up and down her back.

"A smarter man would have suggested laying me down to kiss me."

His playfulness faltered then as he dropped his head to look at her.

She lifted her eyebrows as if to say, 'Well, what are you waiting for?'

He picked up her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed her palm.

"My darling wife," he began and her heart leaped at the unexpected, and clearly sincere, endearment. "It pleases me greatly to know that you will always get the better of me."

She had to clear her throat before answering him as his lips on her palm seemed to have a paralyzing effect on her voice.

"You should be very happy in our marriage, then."

He hummed his agreement and released her hand so that he could touch her face.

And they kissed. First once, then again, and again, until she was winding her arms around him and stretching up on her tiptoes.

When his tongue sliding along her bottom lip didn't immediately get the response he wanted, he pulled his head away and ordered,

"Open your mouth."

"Wh-" she didn't have time to ask anything before he was at her lips again and she obeyed without thought, shocked when he thrust his tongue inside of her mouth. She felt an idiot, but knew he didn't mind her inexperience.

After a few minutes of the kind of kissing she had thought only existed in novels, she began to feel weak in the knees. While she was pressing kisses to his neck, she said in a tone of voice he'd never heard from her,

"Are you going to kiss me in the sitting room all night long or are you going to take me to bed?"

He smiled at her invitation and led her by the hand to their bedroom. He stopped once along the way to push her up against the wall and kiss her forcefully while pressing his hands against her corseted breasts, giving her a clear idea of his plans once they'd gotten to their bedroom.

He turned on the light in their bedroom and sat on the end of their bed. He looked hotly at her and said,

"Will you undress for me?"

Her eyebrows shot up and she asked, "You want to watch me undress?"

"Oh, yes," he said with a sigh. "Very much."

"All right," she laughed. Her surprise made it sound suspiciously like a giggle.

She reached for a button on her dress, then frowned and said,

"You should take your shirt off, too."

"I want you to do that," he answered plainly as he stared at her hands. They were currently resting at the buttons that would uncover her breasts.

She paused as she took a moment to appreciate the power he was giving her. Honestly and bravely he was telling her how much she affected him.

And then she began to undress. Not quite as efficiently as she might have done when she was alone. Perhaps she lingered at the ties of her corset when she saw how he readjusted himself on the bed. And she didn't usually stretch like that after she'd taken off her corset. If she were alone in her room, she would have no need to emphasize the fact that her chemise outlined her breasts and allowed the color of her nipples to show.

"Christ," he swore when she seductively pushed her breasts toward him.

She walked to him then, making sure he was aware that she noticed the erection straining his trousers. Stepping between his open legs, she said,

"Touch me."

His hands instantly went to her breasts. Her head fell back and she clutched his arms. He pressed them, he massaged them, he ran his fingers and his thumbs over her nipples. He asked her softly what she liked and she answered him with whispered, 'yes' and 'right there' and 'oh, god'.

"Let's take this off," he murmured, reaching down to the hem of her chemise.

She smiled and instead of taking the gown off over her head, she released the straining tie near her breasts and let it fall to the floor.

It had the profound effect on him that she had hoped it would.

"Jesus Christ, Elsie," he rasped. "Jesus."

"What about him?" she asked breathlessly.

He looked up from her breasts to her flushed face and said with a shake of his head,

"Nothing. Not a damn thing."

And he reached for her hips to bring her close enough so that he could latch onto her breast.

"Fffuck!" she moaned. "That's – yes...I had no idea...don't stop...don't..."

He pulled her down to straddle him and she pressed herself against his erection. He groaned in frustrated appreciation.

"If you don't stop that, I'm going to finish right now," he growled.

"We don't want that," she agreed and reached down to undo his belt buckle. When she freed him from his trousers, she reached down to stroke him through his boxer shorts. His hips jerked and he moaned in ecstasy.

"Do you like that?" she asked. Something about her tone, not trying to be seductive, but genuinely anxious to know, aroused him more than anything she could have said.

"God, yes," he groaned. "Don't stop."

"Would it be better without your shorts?" she asked.

Rapidly, he reached down to remove them. She helped him, removed the rest of her own undergarments, and then she stopped to stare at his hardness. She'd never seen a naked man in this state, and it was an awesome and intimidating sight.

"Would it hurt—can I touch you?" she asked, unembarrassed and unafraid.

"Yes, Elsie, but—not too much or I'll come too soon. I want to be inside of you the first time."

She nodded. "Yes, I do too. Just tell me."

He nodded, proud of his brave and forthright wife. Of all the possibilities he'd imagined of their wedding night, the two of them speaking candidly about their shared desires was not one of them. He threw a prayer of thanks towards heaven and asked forgiveness for all of the times he had taken and would soon be taking the Lord's name in vain.

Her hand wrapped firmly but gently around him. It fascinated her. Like steel wrapped in silk. She fluttered her fingers over him and she wondered at the almost overwhelming desire she felt to wrap her lips around the swollen head. Was that normal? Would that hurt him? She'd no idea. So she asked.

"Can I put my mouth on you?" she looked to him with an inquisitive brow.

Shocked, he looked down at her and his cock twitched in her hand at the thought of her lips wrapped around him. She noticed and gave him a surprised and amused look. He smiled back as if to say, 'Yes, it will do that.'

"You want to?" he croaked.

"Yes," she paused. "I don't know why. I just do. Would it hurt? Is that something people do?"

He had to take a deep breath to stop the orgasm that nearly came. She still stroked him as she spoke and he had to force himself to speak coherently.

"Yes. It would be amazing, wonderful. It is something people do, though I've never experienced it."

"Oh, good," she said. "I was beginning to think I was awfully strange. I'm glad I'm the first to do it for you. And the only," she added as a pleased afterthought. She ran her fingers over him once more and said, "Are you ready?"

He nodded, unable to speak.

And she bent her head to him and placed her lips on the head of his cock.

"Fuck!" he grunted.

She didn't take her lips away, though she did look up to see his hands clenched in the bedsheets. She slid her lips down and took the head of his cock into her mouth. He groaned. It was better than he could have ever imagined it. Even in his most erotic dreams, it hadn't been close to this. And then she started swirling her tongue around him and he was no longer capable of thought.

She marveled at the power she had over him. She loved that she could do this to him with just her mouth and her hands. She loved the hot, silky feel of him against her tongue.

"Shit," he swore. "Stop, Elsie, stop. Christ, I can't hold it…"

She was over him in an instant, one hand on his chest, supporting her weight, and the other hand reaching for his hardness to guide it inside of her. She shuddered at the strange, new sensation as she slid down onto his throbbing cock. She had to sit still for a moment until she could control the tremors and he was grateful. It gave him extra time to hold in his release.

She opened her eyes to look at him.

"What should I do?" she asked him. Her words were punctuated with the pauses caused by her intermittent and involuntary convulsions around him.

He groaned at her beautiful openness with him. His hands were pressed firmly into her hips and he said,

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to move," she answered instantly.

At those words, he grunted as he thrust up into her. She cried out as she felt him pressing exactly against where she throbbed and ached to be touched.

"Ah, God!" she yelped.

He stilled again.

"Like that? Is that…" she was losing her ability to think clearly.

"Yes," he answered. "Yes, move how you want to move. It will be right."

And she trusted him. So she moved her hips forward as she'd been aching to do ever since she'd taken him inside of her. And her reward was instant. In both the sensation that coursed through her from her center and in the response he gave at her movement.

Back and forth she slid her hips, gaining speed and courage. She learned which way to position her body to put the pressure where she wanted it.

And as the momentum built, she could feel her orgasm building quickly. In time with her

movements, she stuttered,

"I…I'm…I'm…going…" and she cried out her release.

"Yes, yes, my god you're beautiful," he encouraged her with his words and his hands guiding her hips.

When she would have collapsed on his chest, he sat up to hold her upright and flush against his chest. He used his hands to thrust her hips down onto him and her cries continued. Every second seemed to bring some new and astounding experience. Only a few thrusts after her orgasm, she could tell by the way he tightened his grip that he was about to reach his own release.

She whimpered.

She could feel the pulsing of his cock inside of her and she couldn't help but thrust her hips into him. She would have to ask him later if she should hold still while he came inside of her. But for right now, she let her body lead her as he moaned, clutched her tightly, and buried his face in her neck.

They collapsed into a heap on the bed. There was only heavy breathing for a few moments before she looked at him and started to laugh. He joined her immediately and pulled her close.

"I don't know much about it," she wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes, "but I think we did very well for our first time."

He rubbed his face and nodded, waiting for his laughter to subside.

"Well," he seemed to think on it, "I have some notes for you," he said.

She smacked his shoulder as hard as she could in her position and laughed as she said,

"You ass!"