His Saving Grace

CHAPTER TWELVE: Moonlight Proposals







Hermione and Draco lay on her bed, Grace sleeping between them on her tummy, her legs bent beneath her and her bottom in the air. They were staring at each other in the moonlight, their hands joined atop the miracle they had created together. The moonlight flooded the bed from the window and they both were remembering that night beneath the willows.







“Marry me.” He said softly.







“Don’t, Draco.” Hermione said, her eyes tearing.







“Why not? We could have a good life together, I know it.” Draco said.









“I won’t marry you because of Grace.” She whispered, sliding her fingers from beneath his. Draco frowned and shifted from the bed.







“Let me tuck her in and then you and I are going to talk about this, Hermione.” He said quietly as he lifted Grace into his arms and carried her into her room. Hermione listened to him changing the baby’s bottom and then tucking her into her crib, reciting the little poem as he had done every night since he came into their lives.







He returned quickly and climbed back onto her bed and settled onto his side next to her, his head propped on his hand as he stared into her eyes.







“Why do you think I would marry you only for Grace?” He asked.







“Wouldn’t you be?” She asked, her brows lifted as she stared up at him.







“No, I would be marrying you for me too.” He said softly.







“You don’t love me.” She whispered. “And don’t say it just because you think it is what I want to hear.”







“I wouldn’t…I will never lie to you, Hermione. I want honesty between us.” He said, reaching out with his free hand to run the backs of his fingers along her cheek. “I would be a good husband, Hermione; I will work so hard to make you and Grace happy, just say you will marry me and be with me forever.”







“We don’t have to get married for that, Draco. You already make me and Grace happy and I am here with you now with no intentions of going anywhere.” She reached out and pushed his hair back from his face. “You would be a very good husband, Draco. I’m not rejecting you for any reason other than the fact that you don’t love me.”







“Do you love me?” He asked, afraid of her answer.







“I don’t know.” She said. “I don’t know what love is supposed to feel like. I love Grace, I love my friends…but what I feel for them is so much different than what I feel for you.”







“What do you feel for me?” He shifted closer, his hand sliding over her belly to grasp her waist and roll her over to face him, pressed along the front of him. “Please tell me, I need to hear it.”







“I love being with you and spending time with you. I love hearing you laugh and debating topics with you. I love seeing you with our daughter, seeing how much you adore her.” She said softly, not looking into his eyes but focusing instead on his mouth. “I love the way you kiss me, how good it feels when you touch and hold me.”







“You love that much about me but you won’t marry me.” Draco slid his hand along her back, resting just atop the swell of her bottom, pressing her forward so that their hips were flush and she could feel his response to her. “Let me tell you how I feel about you.”







Draco rolled her onto her back and settled himself on top of her so that he was straddling one of her thighs. He let his full weight rest against her, his forearms beneath her shoulders, his hands tangled in the insane nest of curls that was her hair.







“I can not wait for my day to be over so I can come here and see you and our daughter.” He kissed her brow above her right eye. “I tuck her in and I can not contain the excitement I feel knowing I am going to have you in my arms for the remainder of the evening.” He kissed her brow above the left eye. “I taste your lips and know there is nothing on earth as sweet as you.” He brushed his lips over the bridge of her nose. “I touch you, feel you come alive beneath my touch and I can’t wait to be inside you again.” He kissed her cheeks softly. “Your smile, your laughter, I feel them inside me, warming me from the inside out.” He kissed her chin. “And when I look into your eyes I see home, the place I belong.” He kissed her lips gently, barely brushing his lips against hers.







“Draco, this is passion and I think we have that in spades, but what happens when that fades? Do we have what it takes to keep it together, to sustain each other? I don’t want to get married and realize later that it was a mistake.” She said, clutching his shoulders and staring up at him.







“Hermione, is it because of my family that you will not marry me? Is it because of Father? Because I was a deatheater?” He asked, sadness and fear creeping into his voice. Would his past prevent him from having the future he wanted?







“No, oh no, Draco!” Her hands lifted to his cheeks and she raised her head, kissing him over and over again. “It has nothing to do with your father, he’s an arse but I can deal with him. As for you being a deatheater…your guilt over your actions is punishment enough, I will never hold it against you.”







“You mean that don’t you?” He asked, staring down at her in amazement. The witch was incredible.









“I do. We don’t have to rush anything, Draco. Please, just let our relationship develop naturally, if we are meant for marriage we will wed when it is right for us.” She said softly.









“What if I feel like it’s right now?” He asked, pressing his arousal into her hip. He lowered his mouth to the sweet spot just below her ear and sucked softly on the tender flesh.







“Draco.” Hermione hissed, her fingers sliding from his cheeks and into his hair.









“Yes, love?” He asked against her throat, his fingers untangling from her hair to pluck at the buttons on her shirt as his mouth traversed lower, his tongue dipping into the hollow at the base of her throat. She moaned softly and arched beneath him, he smirked slightly. “See, if you marry me we can consummate this relationship…every night.”









“Are you trying to seduce me into marrying you?” She asked breathlessly as his lips sucked at the soft mounds over her breasts above her bra.









“Will it work?” He asked, raising his head and arching his brows hopefully. Hermione smiled and shook her head.











“Some things never change; you still have your Slytherin tendencies don’t you?” She asked.









“You know, the qualities that make me a Slytherin aren’t all bad. Don’t judge us all by the actions of a few.” He said. “Now, are you seducible?” He asked, waggling his brows playfully.









“I’m just not ready, Draco. I want you, I really do…you can’t imagine how hard it is for me to kiss you goodbye every night when I want you to stay…but I’m scared, our first time resulted in a child….”









“I will protect you next time, I promise.” He whispered.









“The charm doesn’t always work, Draco. Perhaps I should go to a healer and start on the potion.” She said, feeling his insistent arousal prodding her hip.









“I’m not pressuring you, Hermione. I can wait as long as you want me to, forever if that is what you need though it will be a bit uncomfortable.” He smirked, smacking a loud kiss against her lips. “That was a joke, love.”









“I don’t want you to wait forever; I don’t want to wait forever.” She whispered. “I need you…sometimes it actually hurts I want you so much.”









Draco’s eyes widened and his erection jerked against her hip. His entire body heated at her soft words.









“Do you…I mean…don’t you…you know, take care of it?” He asked, his heart pounding as he stared down at the pretty witch.









“What….are you asking me if I….erm…touch myself?” She asked, blushing furiously.









“Yeah…don’t you?” He asked, his breathing becoming slightly labored.









“Not really…I never seem to get the same results as when you touch me….do you?” She asked, her face so hot she though it might burst into flames at any moment.









“Gods damn it woman.” He muttered, feeling as if he were going to explode. “Of course I do, nearly every night that I leave here unless we’ve been playing so that it isn’t necessary. But you can count on the fact that thoughts of you make my shower much more interesting every morning.”







“Draco!” Hermione flushed even brighter and pressed her face into the side of his neck.









“Why are you so embarrassed? It’s not like wanking isn’t a common practice, Hermione. Everyone does it.” He said chuckling.











“Not everyone, or at least they don’t do it right.” She said, her words muffled against his skin.







“So are you saying that when you try it you don’t…um…finish?” He asked, he had never imagined such a conversation in his entire life.









“It doesn’t feel the same as when you touch me, Draco.” She nuzzled the side of his throat, inhaling the spicy scent that always clung to her clothes and her bed when he left.









“That’s good, if it did you would be totally self reliant in that arena and you would have no use for me, and then I’d never get you to marry me.” He laughed softly, rolling off to the side and sliding his hand beneath the hem of her skirt.







“What are you doing?” She whimpered, feeling the soft caress of his fingertips against her thigh as he shoved the skirt up until it bunched around her hips.









“I want you to show me.” He said softly, reaching for her hand and bringing it down between her thighs.









“Show you? Draco, no…” She tried to pull from his grasp but he held strong.









“Don’t pull away. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t want to share with you, even this. We have so much to explore between us, so much that neither of us has experienced…” Draco threaded his fingers with hers, his palm resting over the back of his hand as he slid their hands over her lower stomach. They slipped beneath the elastic waist of her knickers and through the soft curls covering her mound. He removed his hand from hers and began tugging her panties down one side at a time until he was able to pull them free from her legs and drop them onto the floor beside the bed. “Damn, love. This is the first time I have seen you here.” Draco whispered as he stared at her pale fingers threaded through the dark curls.









“Draco, I can’t do this.” She whispered, her face red.









“Yes you can. Close your eyes and think about us.” He whispered. “Think about our lips coming together, our bodies touching, hands roaming and caressing.” He bit the inside of his cheek as her fingers began to stroke softly over the soft flesh between her legs. “Think about how it feels when I touch you there, sliding my fingers between those sweet petals and stroking.” She dipped her fingers between and touched lightly, biting her lip and groaning in frustration as she sought the pleasure she received beneath his touch.







“Not enough….I can’t.” She whimpered.







Draco was stunned that she didn’t know her own body well enough to satisfy her needs. He had read a lot about sex, the books were readily available in his father’s study as well as in the Slytherin dorms. He may not have the practical experience, but he had the knowledge. He would have thought that she had read up some herself. But then again, perhaps young witches weren’t as focused on sex as young wizards.







“Shhh.” Draco laid his hand atop hers once more. She jumped at the initial contact then sighed as he began to guide her touch, dragging her fingers over the little bundle of nerves that was sure to send her soaring. Over and over he circled her fingers around the firm little nub until she was arching her hips and moaning softly. He withdrew his guidance slowly, watching as she panted and writhed beneath her own hand.







He unfastened his trousers and pushed them down, taking his own turgid, weeping organ into his hand and stroking slowly.







“That’s so fucking hot.” He muttered. Hermione opened her slightly and looked over at him. His eyes were locked on her fingers moving between her legs, his blue eyes burning like a flame as he watched her. His cheeks were flushed, his lips slack and his eyes heavy lidded. She glanced down to see him stroking his shaft and she moaned, her hips jerking as her arousal kicked up another notch. She continued to watch him, her fingers moving faster over her sex as she grew slicker, hotter, her clit more turgid and needy.







“Draco?” She whimpered as her belly began to tighten. He looked into her eyes, saw her watching him.







“You are so fucking incredible….let go…please.” Her lashes fluttered and her eyes rolled back slightly before she arched her neck and cried out, her fingers moving furiously over her sex as she rode the waves of release. Draco groaned, his eyes squeezing tightly closed as he spilled his release into his hand.







He withdrew his wand and scourgified his hand before closing his trousers and pulling the flushed, sweating witch into his arms. Kissing her panting lips again and again.









“Gods I have never seen anything so erotic in my entire life.” He whispered into her mouth. “Watching you come undone like that is amazing.”









“I can’t believe we just did that.” She said, her body shuddering slightly with the aftershocks.









“I can’t either, but it was incredible, and nothing compared to what I want to do to you.” He said, pulling her tight against him. “You are going to marry me, Hermione Granger; I’m going to keep at you until I finally wear you down.”







Hermione didn’t hear him. She was sound asleep tucked up against him. Draco smiled and used his wand to bring the blankets up and over them. He would have her for his own one way or another; he just had to find the key to her heart.