Page 32 of Lord of Fire and Ice

She was no longer the acknowledged head of her people, bowed by her burden and stiff under the mantle of leadership. She was only herself. Unfettered, passionate, free of all constraints.

Alive.

He abandoned her mouth to press hot kisses down her neck to the open collar of her thin underdress. Her skin was tender, and he barely restrained himself from sucking a bit between his teeth and giving her a love bite. He didn’t want to chance anything that might cause her to stop him.

She smelled of cedar and warm woman. Her scent made him ache so badly, the line between pleasure and pain started to blur. He couldn’t find enough bare skin to ease his throbbing need.

Her hands roamed over him, pulling up the hem of his tunic and slipping beneath it to smooth her palms over his abdomen and chest. His nipple tightened when she raked a nail around one. He almost sat up and yanked off the garment to give her unimpeded access, but he feared she’d come to her senses and call a halt if he stopped kissing her.

In a one-handed feat of dexterity, he unhooked her left brooch and pulled down that side of her overtunic. He cupped her breast through the linen underdress and thrummed her nipple. It strained toward him beneath the thin layer of fabric. He covered it with his mouth and sucked, linen and all.

She murmured something. He couldn’t make out the words, but they sounded earthy, needy, full of deep hunger. When he nipped the tender flesh, she cried out his name.

It was a surrender.

He released her nipple. It showed clearly through the damp underdress, the wet fabric nearly transparent. He pressed another kiss to the fabric, and she arched into his mouth.

Her bare skin would be sweeter, but he didn’t dare try to undress her completely. Not here. Not if it might lead her to start thinking again instead of feeling.

He kissed back up her neck and captured her mouth again. This time, she didn’t fight him for control of the kiss. He rolled her onto her back and ravaged her lips. He made love to her mouth, plunging his tongue in and out.

Would her body receive him as warmly and with as much luxuriant wetness?

It was time to find out.

***

Brandr’s hand was on her breast again, teasing her through the wet linen. She ached when he rolled the taut bud between his thumb and forefinger.

She wanted to climb inside his tunic and feel the heat of rock-solid chest against her damp breast.

And his kiss! Skalds sang of the nine worlds of creation. Of all of them, only smoldering Muspel was said to be a place full of fire. Brandr’s kiss was a molten world of its own.

He consumed her. Every place his mouth touched, he branded her. He turned her insides all warm and liquid with nothing more than his lips, teeth, and tongue.

His beard and mustache stubble had grown enough to be soft, yet it was still short enough to prickle her cheeks and chin. She ran her hand over his sleek head. It was like stroking a selkie.

She gave in to the downward pull in her groin. A heaviness gathered between her legs, a throbbing, aching mass. When she felt the breeze slip up under her skirts, she knew he was rucking up her hem, sliding his fingertips from her calf, over her knee, and up her thigh. She propped up one knee to give him easier access to the tender skin of her inner thigh.

He skimmed over her, brushing the small hairs over her sex and then trailing down her other leg. She moaned into his mouth in frustration.

His hand stroked her again, and this time she lifted herself into his questing fingers, but he moved on once more, teasing and circling.

She longed for his intimate touch. She was near to begging for it.

She reached for him, rubbing his hard shaft through his trousers, and this time, he groaned.

The next time his hand passed over her, his skillful fingers slipped into her soft folds. He massaged the lips of her sex and circled her opening until she squirmed for him to slip a finger into her.

Two fingers.

The yawning emptiness was still there. She wanted more. Needed more.

Slick with her own wetness, Brandr’s fingers glided with ease to her most sensitive spot, but she didn’t break off their kiss. She couldn’t get enough of the man’s mouth. Tendrils of bliss radiated through her.

The world started spinning. She tore her mouth from his kiss to catch her breath, hoping for a slice of sanity. But she fell into Brandr’s amber eyes instead.

She gasped a lungful of sweet air. The musky perfume of her arousal mingled with the crisp sea air and thick pine. She swallowed hard but couldn’t look away from him as he continued to drive her to aching fury.