With a low growl, Jamie lifted her effortlessly into his lap and Elise responded by wrapping her legs around his hips, straddling him. Gasping at the sensation of it all, she gripped his shoulders and leaned back as Jamie trailed the tip of his tongue along the soft mound of her breast and up to her nipple. As his mouth closed on the hard bud, licking and teasing, she had to screw her eyes shut and suck breaths through her nose to steady herself.
Dimly, she was aware of the world around them—of the hammer of rain on the roof and the hiss and crackle of the fire—but they were distant details, peripheral, unimportant. The only thing that mattered was the man before her and the insane sensations he was coaxing from her body.
But it wasn’t enough. She wanted more. She wanted all of him.
She relaxed her thighs slightly, lowering herself until she felt the hard tip of him pressing against the heat between her legs. He shuddered beneath her.
“Jamie,” she whispered into the small space between them, trying to tell him what she wanted.
His eyes came up to meet hers and the world went still. Something exhilarating and terrifying burned in his gaze. Love. Jamie Donald, this strong, stubborn, infuriating, wonderful man loved her.
And, most terrifying of all, she loved him back.
She leaned close, her lips brushing against the shell of his ear. “Make me yours.”
His eyes slid closed and he moaned deep in his throat. Then he was moving, his big hands gripping her hips, positioning her right where he wanted her. Elise felt the tip of him brush against the heat between her legs and she bit her lip, a low moan escaping her.
Slowly, staring into her eyes the whole time, Jamie pushed her down onto him. The shock of the sensation sent a ripple through her, a sweet, sharp jolt that made her catch her breath. All of her awareness was drawn to that one point where Jamie was slowly, deliciously sinking into her.
She could feel him trembling, holding back, giving her time to adjust to the size of him. But she didn’t want time. She needed to feel him as deep as he could go, as hard as he could go.
“Jamie,” she gasped. “Please…”
His hands tightened on her hips, holding her steady as he began to move, rocking gently inside her. Elise cried out, arching against him as pleasure, hot and liquid, shot through her veins. She dug her fingers into the knotted muscles of his shoulders as she rode him, each thrust of his hips rising to meet her as she ground against him.
Their tempo increased, their bodies becoming slick with sweat, the scent mingling with the rain-soaked earth, the damp wood of the cottage, the smoky tang of the fire.
Elise threw her head back as the sensations threatened to consume her. She clung to him, her fingers digging into his shoulders, her nails scraping across his bare skin. He waseverywhere, in every breath she took, every beat of her heart. She could feel the heat of him, the strength and hardness of his body.
Then suddenly, he shifted position. Grabbing her hips, he drove himself deep and held there as he threw an arm around her back, tipped onto his knees and over, laying her on her back and following her down.
He was on top of her now, his weight pressing her down, and her breath hitched at the delicious intensity of it. His face was shadowed, his eyes darkened with want and need.
“Elise,” he whispered against her skin, the words tumbling out in a heated rush. “I love ye.”
A tremor coursed through her. She wanted to say it back but before she could find the words, he was moving again, driving into her with a fierceness that left her gasping.
It was too much. It was everything.
The sound of their lovemaking filled the room until even the sound of the rain was drowned out. He thrust into her again and again, his rhythm unrelenting, and each thrust threatened to set her ablaze. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, his breath hot as he muttered words she couldn’t quite make out.
The pressure building inside her was sweet and torturous in equal measure. Her heart pounded in her chest, her breath coming in short gasps, her skin tingling where his fingers dug into her flesh.
Then her climax exploded over her and her world shattered into a thousand glittering pieces. Her body spasmed, tightened, and then released in a flood of pleasure that left her trembling and gasping beneath him.
Jamie’s body had gone taut as a bowstring, the rhythm of his thrusts growing more erratic. His teeth grazed her shoulder, biting down just hard enough to make her gasp, and then he wasgroaning against her skin, his whole body shuddering as he too found his release.
After a moment, he sagged on top of her. Elise enjoyed the weight, the feel of him. It made her feel warm and safe and protected in a way she never had been before.
She wrapped her arms around his sweaty back and held him close, never wanting to be farther away from him than she was right now. She lost track of how long they lay like that, listening to the ragged sound of their breathing, feeling the thump of Jamie’s heart.
But finally, he raised himself onto his hands and stared down at her. His hair fell like a curtain around his face, casting his features into shadow so that all she could see were his eyes. They were different now, sated, no longer full of the lust that had lit them earlier. But the underlying emotion in them remained the same, deep and warm and binding.
“My God, Elise,” he said, his voice hoarse. “What have ye done to me? I feel like I’m going to burst from everything I feel for ye.”
She smiled, then brushed a strand of sweaty hair away from his face. “I think I could give you a run for your money.” Then her smile vanished. She could hardly keep the tremor from her voice as she said, “Dear God, Jamie, what are we going to do?”
She wasn’t sure what she meant: the impossibility of what had flowered between them, the fact that she would soon have to leave him, the danger that still stalked them in the world beyond this room. Perhaps all of it.
