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He removed his boots next, but instead of disrobing further, Niall came to her once more. He cupped both breasts, and she thought he meant to kiss her. Instead, he lowered his head and kissed her chest, and then both breasts. Moving to one, he trailed more kisses toward her nipple and then took her into his mouth.

As he suckled, his teeth grazing her, Lina still felt no shame. The sensations that arose in her were much too pleasant for such a thing. “Niall,” she said, her hands moving toward his head, grasping his hair with them both. “Please,” she begged, knowing not what she asked for.

He moved to the other breast, giving it as complete attention as the first.

And then he knelt before her. With the fire before them and Niall below her, Lina was only temporarily confused until she realized his intentions. Never had she heard of such a thing.

“Niall?”

But he would not be waylaid. Lifting one of her legs and placing her foot on his bent knee, he glanced up at her briefly, smiled, and touched her most intimate spot. Not just touched it, but used his thumbs to part her.

“What do you mean to—”

His head bent toward her. Surely he would not. . .

Kiss her there? Nay, not kiss her. Niall’s tongue swept her, more like a lick than a kiss.

There. Right on her most private area.

Surely this was not a thing people did. And yet, with his fingers holding her open for him, Niall continued to lick. To suckle. And then one of his thumbs pressed just above his lips and began to circle.

Lina’s fingers wrapped around his hair as if she meant to hold on. Which, in fact, she did. Because with the things Niall was doing to her now, Lina began to have some difficulty standing.

Her knees would surely give way at any moment.

“Niall,” she called out in between the other sounds escaping from her lips. Ones she’d never made before. “Please,” she begged him as he continued. But now his movements were slower, more deliberate. At least, his tongue swirled slowly as his thumb pressed more quickly.

“I cannae,” she said, hardly understanding her own words. “I must let go,” she added, realizing now ’twas precisely what she wanted. To forget the fact that a man who was neither her husband nor her betrothed knelt before her, between her legs, with his lips and tongue on her most intimate parts of her body.

He pulled from her. “Let go, love. Listen to your body and let everything go.”

Love.

’Twas nothing more than an endearment, but it made Avelina’s heart skip a beat nonetheless. But then she had no more time to think. His mouth was on her again, and this time, Niall did not relent at all. It was if all of him covered all of her, the suckling something she wasn’t sure she could continue standing for. But somehow, she managed to as her legs began to shake, her core clenching.

Avelina called out Niall’s name as the pulses began and then continued. Her hands tightened in his hair as the pulses came, wave after wave. Breathing heavily, she felt as if her entire body were engulfed in that fire as the waves began to ebb.

When Niall stood up, Avelina was certain watching him wipe his lips with his fingers, the secret smile on his face just for her, was the single most pleasurable thing she’d ever seen. But certainly not the most pleasurable thing she’d ever felt.

The prize for that went to what Niall had just done to her.

“I’d not been expecting that,” Avelina said as Niall reached for her.

“I would not have thought you would, but I wanted to give you a taste of what will be between us.”

His arms were around her now, and Avelina had to look up to meet his gaze.

“Between us,” she repeated, feeling quite bare against his clothed chest.

“Aye.” Niall leaned down to kiss her, gently, before standing back up. “You know why I am here this eve. Do you not?”

“I do,” she said, still marveling at what he’d done.

“If we are to make love this eve, you will be my wife, Lina.”

“Aye,” she agreed. She’d not give herself to him otherwise.

“You are prepared for that?”