“I want to try more.”
“It doesnae have to all be in one day.” Thor chuckled.
“I ken, but I feel brave right now.”
Thor drew Greer’s right leg over his right thigh, then his hands guided her to straddle his leg. Greer reached between them to push her chemise and his plaid out of the way. Her netherlips met bare skin. With the undergown around her waist, both of Thor’s hands rested on her uncovered backside.
“We enjoyed this many times before we handfasted and made love. I want to make ye climax like I used to.” Thor recalled those early days when they began to explore how to pleasure one another.
“Can I—can we—I want—” Greer stumbled over her words until she gave up and in a moment of impulse, she kneeled and whipped her chemise over her head. Thor surged upward and wrapped his arms around her waist. She moaned as their chests collided. His hands pulled her hips closer. “Take yer leine off.”
Thor hesitated before he nodded. He unpinned the extra length of plaid from his shoulder and pushed it around his back. He tossed the brooch toward his belt and sporran before his leine followed it. Greer reveled in the sight of each honed muscle. She was certain her mouth watered as her fingertips grazed over his chest and belly. He was exactly as he had been, only so much bigger. His entire torso was broader and more solid.
Thor gazed at the firm breasts before him, and he wanted nothing more than to alternate suckling them. Greer’s body was thinner than he remembered, and it worried him she wasn’t eating enough. But his hands itched to touch her. He moved slowly, starting at her waist, and moving upward, ensuring she could predict what he would do.
“Are ye trying to tease me?” Greer whispered. Thor could only shake his head. He moved his hands a little faster until they slid over her breasts. He cupped them and brought them together, looking up at Greer, waiting for her permission to do more. She nodded, and he groaned as he licked one nipple then the next. He wrapped his lips around one, then opened his mouth to take as much as he could into it. She pressed the back of his head closer as her other hand gripped his shoulder. She watched every moment, not wanting to miss the most erotic thing she’d ever seen. He moved to the other one, not wanting to ignore either. He repeated his actions, switching between the two.
Need made her core ache, wanting to move against him. But the moment his hands slid from her shoulders down, she pulled back. She pushed his shoulders away, and once more he surrendered, his hands in the air.
“Dinna touch them.” She’d hated him seeing her scars when he entered her chamber earlier. She’d been so badly bruised when she arrived at Dunbeath that only the healer noticed when they started to heal. She knew she couldn’t hide the long one across her chest because Thor had seen the wound.
“Do they pain ye?”
“Nay. I dinna want ye to…” She could only shrug.
“Do ye nae want me to remember what happened to ye? Or does touching them make ye remember?”
“Both. And I dinna want ye to feel…” She trailed off again. She didn’t want him to feel her imperfections. Edgar had lashed her many times if she hesitated to follow his commands or if any of the men claimed she’d been unwelcoming. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. This intimacy was more overwhelming than the acts they’d already engaged in. Once more humiliation and shame for how much she desired Thor weighed on her like a crushing boulder. Knowing he’d seen and could now feel her scars made her wish to shy away. Emotions surged to the surface that she didn’t know how to tame. The tears fell faster until they were broaching on sobs.
“Are ye fearful that I willna love ye because of them? That I willna want to touch ye, look at ye, because of them?”
“Aye.” She could no longer control the deluge, and she sobbed her answer.
Thor swallowed before he took a deep inhale. “Greer, one thing I hope we can build up to is me taking ye from behind. St. Columba’s bones, ye have the finest arse I’ve ever seen. I want to watch as ma cock slides into ye over and over. I want to see ye stretched before me as ye hold the bedcovers. I admit I pictured that when I found ma release earlier. I didna get a clear view, but I ken they cover yer back,leannan. I still want to couple with ye that way.”
Greer’s memory flashed back to a late evening rendezvous where they’d coupled upon a Gunn plaid. They’d tried that and found they both enjoyed the position. She’d long suspected that was the day she got with child. But she felt so different from that girl.
“Ye ken I have scars too. Some are worse than others. Some are from wounds that nearly killed me. A few have faded, but most will never go away. I dinna like them or how they look. I dinna want them to make ye think aboot what happens to me when I ride out. But I crave yer touch more. I dinna care aboot yers. All I want is to make love to ma wife. I want to touch and kiss all of ye. I willna lie and say discovering them didna tempt me to kill every mon in yer clan. I willna say ma heart doesnae break for ye, kenning how ye got them or that they bother ye. I understand why they do. All I want is ye as ye are. All of ye.”
“Yers dinna cover ye and arenae hideous.” Flashbacks surged unbidden.
“Do they pain ye when they’re touched?” Thor ensured his hands were nowhere near her back now. Instead, he wiped her tears as quickly as they fell. She willed herself to stop crying before she tried to answer. She reminded herself that she was with Thor, a man she’d never planned to keep secrets from. As she gazed into his whisky-brown eyes with the gold around the pupils, she calmed. His steady presence was the balm she needed to push away the fear.
“Nay. Some parts are just numb.”
“And ye fear how I will react to them?”
“Aye.”
“Wee one, ye fear me rejecting ye, but I’ve told ye all I want is ye. I’m nae rejecting ye at all.”
Greer swallowed her fear, even as tears threatened again. She nodded and grasped Thor’s wrists. She raised his hands to the middle of her back. He groaned before pressing her closer, so his mouth could capture her breast. One arm wrapped around her waist while the other hand slid up her back, between her shoulder blades, and grasped the top of her shoulder. The arm wrapped around her waist soon released her, and his fingertips ran over her lower back before his hand grasped her backside. He squeezed as he guided her to rock against his thigh. His hand slid between her buttocks until his fingers glided through the dew coating her netherlips. He did nothing more than leave them there; he didn’t press into her entrance.
“More,mo ghaol. Aye.” Greer’s head fell back, her dark hair wafting over his knees.
“Tell me what ye want. I’ll do whatever it is.”
“Yer fingers in me.”
