“And now I shall taste the rest of ye.”
She closed her eyes and smiled.
He tickled a finger down the center of her torso, following the trail he mapped out with a slow combination of kisses, nips, and licks. Drawing closer to her quivering thighs, he groaned, enjoying her warm sweetness with longer slower laves of his tongue. “Ye are as sweet and intoxicating as honeyed wine.”
Eyes still closed, she smiled again while arching upward to meet his mouth, stroking the back of his head as he moved lower. Aye. She was the sweetest nectar.Thank the gods he had finally found her. She bucked and moaned as he dipped his tongue deep inside her.
With her legs draped over his shoulders and her heels dug into his back, she shuddered beneath his mouth. He slid two fingers inside her, a deep groan escaping him as he sucked on her tender nub. She cried out and clutched at him. He cradled her hips in the curve of his arm, reveling in her bliss, while she shivered through the last of her release. She fell back limp atop the bench, both arms stretched above her head, mewling with shuddering snatches of breath.
He looked up and down the length of her glistening body and smiled. Now. It was time. Time to make the joining complete. He gently slid her up the length of the wide bench and lowered himself between her legs.
When she reached for him and pulled him in, centuries of loneliness and pain fell away. He stretched across her, scooped her up into his arms, and brushed a soft kiss across her slightly parted lips. “I need ye more than the air to breathe. Swear ye will ever be mine.”
She slid her legs around his hips while cradling his face between her hands. “I need you too,” she whispered.
“Swear ye will ever be mine.” A groan left him as he sank into her hot wetness then struggled not to move. “Swear it.”
She shuddered, arched her back, and squirmed beneath him. “I do,” she said, digging her nails into his him and urging him deeper.
He slid back out, trembling with explosive need as he held himself just above her and cupped her face in one hand. “Swear ye will ever be mine, Mairi, as I will ever be yours.”
She hitched in a shuddering breath and touched his cheek. The gold flecks in her green eyes blazed with emotion. Her broken whisper sounded more like a throaty growl as she locked her thighs around him and pulled. “I swear it. I will always be yours. Now and forever, Ronan. Now take me before I die from needing you.”
“Aye, m’love. As ye wish.” He plunged deep into the sweet wet warmth and pounded into the ancient rhythm.
Aye and for sure.He would take her for all eternity.
CHAPTER14
Ahigh-pitched yip followed by an insistent yank on her hair pulled Mairi into a state of semi-wakefulness. Needlelike teeth closed down on the end of her nose. She jerked sideways; the eye-watering sting more effective than an alarm clock.
“Dammit! No biting. Bad puppy.” She scooped up the squirming fur ball while patting her nose and checking for blood. With the wiggling butterball held at eye level, she shook a finger at him. “You don’t bite.”
The puppy yipped and licked out his tiny pink tongue as though asking for another taste. She pushed herself up to a seated position, blinking away the last of her sleepiness as she glanced around.
Tangled in the pillows and blankets they had yanked from the bed and moved to the floor, Ronan still slept, one hand possessively draped across her leg. A tingling shiver stole across her. They had ended up on the floor last night because her antique bed hadn’t quite held up under the exuberance of their sexual marathon. The frame had buckled and the mattress had crashed to the floor during round three. Or had it been round six? A flush of delightful warmth reignited low in her center. Damn, what a night.Ronan had definitely gone for the gold—and nailed it. Several times.
A demanding yip interrupted her musing. She squirmed against the erotic ache. Time to get back to reality. Lilia’s puppy had to be fed and needed to go outside . . . unless it was already too late.
She eased out of the nest of blankets and pillows. “Come on, Sir Yips-a-lot.” Inwardly, she groaned as she stepped into a warm wet spot on the plush area rug. “Ugh. That’ll teach me to let you sleep in my room again, won’t it?”
Passing the puppy between her hands, she shouldered on her robe and tiptoed to the door. With a last glance at Ronan, she smiled as he rolled to his back and started snoring. Whispering into the puppy’s fur, she eased open the hall door. “We’re going to let him sleep. He earned it.”
The puppy perked its tiny ears forward, looked across the room at Ronan and growled.
“Shh.” Mairi quietly closed the door and descended the stairs in light barefooted hops. She’d forgotten her slippers; the floor was cold and she didn’t care. A solid feeling of happy settled through her as she bounced around the last turn. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this content. For the first time in a very long time, she felt...she paused, the impatient puppy squirming against her chest and the other hand resting lightly on the cold brass of the stair rail. How did she feel? A single word settled in her mind.Complete.She pulled in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Yes. That was exactly how she felt. Complete. She pecked a kiss onto the top of the puppy’s head and bounced into the kitchen.
“There’s my Buzzy boy.” Lilia hopped up from the kitchen table, rushed over and scooped the little dog out of Mairi’s hands. The puppy grunted and yipped a happy greeting as he wriggled up against Lilia’s throat and nibbled on her ear. “I was worried about you—especially after that loud crash that shook the house right before the crack of dawn.”
“Slight furniture malfunction.” Mairi cinched the belt of her robe tighter and headed toward the coffee pot. She needed caffeine. A lot. “Your little Buzzy boy actually behaved last night. He slept snuggled up to Ronan like a little cuddle-bug.”
Eliza’s teacup halted partway to her mouth and she stared at her.
Lilia lowered the puppy away from her ear and stared at Mairi with awhat did you just saylook. Then her eyes narrowed and a wicked grin took hold as her gaze swept from the top of Mairi’s tangled mass of hair down across her robe, then lower to her barefoot toes. Her wicked grin bloomed into a knowing sisterly smile.
Mairi squirmed under Lilia’s all too familiar perusal. Her twin knew her better than anyone. Nothing escaped Lilia. The kitchen suddenly felt as though time had stopped.
“And I take it you slept snuggled up to Ronan’s other side—Miss Cuddle-bug?” Lilia tucked the puppy into the crook of her arm and settled back to the table. “I saw the lip lock you put on him outside the shop. I had three customers asking for a gallon of whatever aphrodisiac I had sold him.”
