“If ye dinna wish to tell me what your wee package holds…” Torin released the smile he’d been fighting to hold back. “All ye need do is state your wish.”
“My wish?” Befuddlement shone from her as she tossed her purse into the chair.
“Aye.” Torin nodded. “Your wish to keep the contents of your prize a secret.”
Throwing both hands in the air, she went to the kitchen, yanked open a drawer, and fished out a knife. “I guess I might as well show you. It’s not like I’m going to be able to keep them a secret forever. After all, they’re really for both of us.”
“For both of us?”
She didn’t bother replying, just sliced through the twine wrapped around the package and dumped several small purple and black boxes across the countertop. “There. Now you know.”
Torin moved forward; his interest piqued. What mysterious magic could all those little boxes hold? Strange glyphs scrawled across the sides of the boxes over the out-lined image of a full-busted woman. Gingerly picking up one of the boxes, Torin hefted it in his hand. Very light. What could possibly be inside?
“They’re condoms,” Emma blurted with an exasperated huff. “This isn’t exactly how I planned to introduce you to them, but I guess now is as good a time as any.”
“Condoms?” Torin frowned as he noted the tension tightening her shoulders. He crushed the box open, scowling in confusion as several shining packets flew in all directions. “What the hell are thesecondomsfor?”
“Several things, actually.” Emma drolly noted with a shrug. “Preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are the two most important uses that come to mind.”
Pregnancy. A chill washed across Torin as though she had just doused him with ice. This woman feared childbirth too. He searched her face as she gathered up the scattered packets and stuffed them in one of the other boxes. “Do ye fear childbirth, Emma?” Hell, all mighty.What if she did? He’d never be able to touch her again. He’d be damned if he’d go through the pain of opening his soul to another woman just to lose her the way he had lost the treacherous Eilean.
Emma’s movements slowed. Her brow creased as she stared down at the over-stuffed box in her hands and ran her thumbs along its edge. “I wouldn’t call it afearof childbirth.” Her movements quickened as though when her thoughts fell into place, so did the chore at hand. She forced the box shut and stacked the colorful boxes into an orderly pile. “At this point inmy life, I just don’t feel I could be a truly good mother. I have too many irons in the fire.”
The tension pulling across his shoulders relaxed just a bit. “So someday,” Torin took a step closer. “Someday, when ye feel ye are ready, ye might want a child of your own?”
“Of course.” Emma shrugged, giving him a peculiar look, as though his words didn’t make any sense.
Torin released the breath he’d been holding as the rest of the tension faded away. Nodding toward the neatly stacked boxes, he pointed at the uppermost box. “Those tiny packets within the boxes—they hold herbs to prevent ye from getting a bairn in your womb?”
Emma’s eyes widened and her lower lip twitched. “No...” Emma cleared her throat while rubbing her knuckles back and forth across the tip of her nose as though trying to hide behind her hand.
“Dinna laugh at me, Emma.” Torin stood taller and lifted his chin. What the hell did the lass find so funny? All he did was ask her about the herbs.
“I am not laughing you.” She ducked her head. Her shoulders trembled as she turned away and supported herself against the counter.
Torin rounded the counter in one wide stride, grabbed her shoulders and spun her into his arms. He’d teach the teasing woman to laugh at his lack of knowledge about this time’s ways. Pressing the length of his body hard into her soft curves, he held her tight in the curl of his arm while lifting her chin with a finger. “Now laugh, wicked Emma. I may know little about this world, but I know enough to set ye ablaze.”
Her breath hitched through barely parted lips as her eyelids half-closed. “You are definitely an expert when it comes to heat.” Melting into the welcome fire of Torin’s embrace, she snuggled her body against his hardness and opened her mouth to his.
She shivered as his groan vibrated against her breasts, and his warm tongue dove into her mouth. He pinned her back against the counter, pushing apart her legs with his knee. With a slow purposeful claiming, he slid both hands down her back. As his hands traveled lower, he pulled her closer, cupping her bottom as he lifted her up and settled himself between her thighs.
“Wait.” Emma tore her mouth free of his while blindly searching the top of the counter with an extended hand. Bumping into the boxes of condoms, she scattered their neat little pile.
“Why?” Torin rasped against her mouth while running one hand up the front of her shirt and fondling her tightening nipple. Rolling the sensitive button between his fingers, he pulled it with just enough force to shoot bursts of ecstasy through her flesh.
“This is why I got these,” she panted against his throat. She worked her fingers into the cardboard box and pulled one of the cellophane-wrapped packages free. “Let me put this on you before we get carried away.”
Torin pulled back, frowning as he stared down at the packet she held between them. “Put what on me? Where?”
She fiddled with the pre-cut edge of the packet. When her trembling fingers failed to rip through the perforated edge, she gingerly gripped the corner of the package with her teeth, only succeeding in ripping a tiny sliver of plastic off the edge of the envelope. Well, damn. How long had it been since she tried to open a condom? Was it always this difficult?
Torin took another step back, releasing a very strained sigh as he crossed both arms over his chest. “What are ye doing, Emma?”
“Just work with me here, okay?” She waved him off and rotated the packet in her hand. Catching the remainder of the packet between her teeth, she yanked hard and finally ripped thetiny envelope open, dropping the rubbery round disc in the palm of her hand.
“What the devil is that?” Torin bent closer and frowned down at the result of her efforts.
“It’s a condom.” She slid one hand up his chest, then trailed her fingers back down to his waist and hooked them into his kilt. “It goes on your…” She nodded toward the area just below her hand.
