Page 91 of The Champion

“I dreamt of you all last night, Rowena,” he breathed raggedly in her ear. “Of you touching me again.”

She moaned at the sound of his voice and the feel of him in her hand. She ran her fingers to the tip of him where he was already wet. A shiver went through him that she felt with the whole of her body.

She found it hard to believe that this man, who could kill with a single blow, could be so tender with her. That he could hold her like this and make her entire body burn for him.

Yet he did. He made her breathless and weak. And at the same time, he made her feel as if she could fly.

“I’m so glad you weren’t killed.”

“Are you?”

She nodded while she stared into those captivatingly blue eyes. “I never knew I could pray so hard for a knight to pummel another.”

He opened his mouth to speak.

“Or for any man,” she said before he could say a word.

He nibbled her lips with his teeth as he slid his hands down her back, to her hips. Rowena didn’t protest him sliding her skirts up until he bared her bottom to his questing hands. She groaned deep in her throat as his hand found the part of her that throbbed for him.

Stryder clenched his teeth at the sweet moisture of her that coated his fingers. He shouldn’t even be thinking of taking her. Especially not now, when his mission was so clear.

But he couldn’t resist her. He needed to be inside her right now in a way he didn’t understand. He had to have her and he would kill anyone who tried to interrupt them.

Ignoring the pain of his wound, he pulled her gently into his lap and slid himself deep inside her waiting warmth. He closed his eyes and just savored the feeling of her.

He could stay inside this woman forever. There was some foreign, inner calm he felt whenever she was near him. It was as if he could find no fault with the world.

No fault with himself.

It was a tranquility he’d never imagined could exist.

Rowena gasped at the fullness of Stryder inside her body. What she felt for him terrified her. What they were doing was madness when both of them wanted to be free.

And yet, she was helpless against her body’s desire for him. Her heart’s desire to be near him. To soothe this man whose eyes were always tormented, like a stormy sea forever bereft of sunshine.

He guided her with his hands, showing her how to make love to him from above. Her dress pooled around them, trailing to the ground.

She watched his face closely and wondered if her own features mirrored the pleasure he gave her. His breathing was rapid as he bit his lip and growled while his hands urged her to move faster.

“That’s it, love,” he whispered as she found a rhythm that pleased them both.

Stryder cupped her face in his hands while he let her thrust for both of them. It was all he could do not to tear her gown from her until her body was bared to him so that he could touch her all over. Sate the longing he had to stare at her lush body until he was drunk from it. However, the last thing he wanted was for her to be embarrassed any more than was necessary should someone interrupt them. He trusted Zenobia could give them privacy.

But just in case...

Rowena turned her face in his hands and kissed the inside of his wrist. His heart quickened at the gesture.

She was marvelous. Truly, an unexpected treasure.

He felt her body tighten against his shaft as she quickened her strokes. A smile played at the edges of his mouth as she came for him.

It was the most beautiful sight he’d ever beheld. Her cries of pleasure filled his ears and warmed him through and through.

Pulling her down to his lips, he swallowed those cries before anyone else heard them and lifted his hips, driving himself even deeper into her body.

He could feel her heart pounding against his chest as he held her and thrust faster, until he found his own release, while she kissed him deep and fully.

Hissing in pleasure, he savored the sensation of her wet heat until his body was completely drained and sated. There was nothing on this earth like his nymph.