“It might verra well be as cold in here as the hallway,” Declan commented, taking in the room’s aged appearance while we set down our satchels, fur cloaks, and weapons.
“Mayhap,” I said softly, locking the door and giving him a look he couldn't mistake. “Or mayhap ‘twill be just as Stewart said and warm indeed.”
“’Tis bloody risky, lass,” he warned just as softly, yet he made no move to put distance between us. Instead, he shifted closer, as if he couldn’t help himself. “I shouldae…weshouldnae.”
“Probably not,” I murmured, drifting his way, so drawn to him I couldn’t stop if I tried. “But we will.”
It seemed that was all the fight he had in him because the next thing I knew, he reeled me into his arms, cupped my cheek, and closed his lips over mine.
And it felt every bit as good as I knew it would.
Better, even.
Far too desperate to kiss each other gently this time, our kisses instead turned deep, hungry, and desperate within seconds. It took everything in me to keep from groaning when our tongues wrapped, and a heavy throbbing ache blossomed between my thighs.
When he hoisted me on the table, I spread my thighs and yanked him closer, needing him against me. Nearly groaning again when I felt the hot, heavy ridge of his cock press where I needed it most, I cursed the material that kept him from me. Desperate to feel every last bit of him, I rolled my hips against him, making clear what I wanted.Needed.
“Bloody hell, lass,” he managed hoarsely, undoubtedly liking that. “Have you,” he began, struggling to find his words. Breathing as harshly as I was, he met my eyes. “Have you lain with a man before?”
“Does it matter?” I said, winded, worried he might have hoped I was a virgin. Assumed it.
“It does,” he murmured, dropping several more kisses on my lips as if he couldn’t get enough of me before his eyes found mine again. “I dinnae want to hurt you, Astrid.”
“And if I told you I was not innocent?” I whispered, struggling to find my voice, caught somewhere between arousal and concern. “What would you think then?”
“’Twould depend on why you arenae longer innocent.” He caressed my cheek. His gaze grew troubled. “Did someone hurt you, or was it consensual?”
Of all the things I had expected him to say, it wasn’t that, and it made me want him all that much more.
“I chose it,” I confessed, knowing I could only ever be honest with him going forward. He held my heart already, whether he knew it or not. “’Tis nothing I want to speak of right now, though.” I whipped my tunic off, tossed it aside, and shook my head. “Not when there are far more pleasurable things we could be doing, husband.”
Eyeing my well-rounded breasts with appreciation, he did the same and yanked his tunic off, at long last giving me a delicious view of what belonged to me now.
Just as I had suspected, he was perfectly formed from his broad shoulders to the muscles rippling down his torso. He had a battle-scarred warrior’s physique I couldn’t help but touch. So, I ran my hands up his chiseled arms, over his strong shoulders, then through the smattering of hair on his chest, trailing my hand down slowly until hooking a suggestive finger over the top of his trousers.
In turn, he stroked and fondled my breasts before releasing a low growl of approval. Latching his warm mouth over a sensitive, rock-hard nipple, he suckled so deeply that white-hot pleasure speared me. Biting my lower lip hard to keep from crying out, I dug my hands into his hair and arched into him, rolling my hips again to try to assuage the building need between my thighs.
“Bloodyhell,” Declan repeated, cursing hoarsely under his breath. He shook his head and raked his lustful gaze over me. “’Twill be far too fast this time.”
I would take it any which way he gave it as long as it was straight away. At this very moment, and I said so.
He didn’t let me down, either.
Half a breath later, my boots and trousers were gone, tossed every which way, and his near-savage gaze devoured me with stark approval. Growling with need, he swept me off thetable, plunked me down on the bed, and came between my thighs.
This time, our mouths crashed together fiercely.Wickedly.I had never felt such an overwhelming desire. Such a rampant, frenzied need to feel all of another. The heat of his skin. His breath mingling with mine.
“I cannae wait another moment, lass,” he murmured against my lips, not bothering to remove his trousers, but freeing himself. “I’m incapable.”
“’Tis all right,” I barely got out before he eased inside me, not roughly but not gently either.
And it feltunbearablygood.
Almost too good when sharp, relentless, untamed pleasure cut through me, forcing me to bite my lower lip again so I didn’t cry out.
“’Twas too much,” he breathed harshly in my ear, after he buried himself deeply in me.
He trembled as much as I at the intensity of the moment. Of trying to keep quiet when we wanted to roar with pleasure. I knew I was right that he experienced the same, too. I felt it in the pounding of his heart against mine as he went still, letting me adjust to his sizeable girth. Felt it in the throbbing of his cock despite not reaching our peak yet.
