With a knowing smile, he hooked his thumbs in the narrow waistband and shimmied them off far quicker than the jeans. Still on his knees in front of her, he pulled her closer and tasted her.
“Oh…my…” An involuntary hiss of delight escaped her as she laced her fingers in his hair and held on for dear life. Knees trembling, she prayed she wouldn’t fall.
“Lore a’mighty, woman. Yer nectar drives me mad.” He pulled her legs out from under her and gently laid her out before him. “Now,” he said, his voice a deep, raspy caress. Kneeling between her knees, he hooked her legs over his shoulders and drove his tongue even deeper, tasting and sucking with such delicious urgency that she couldn’t help but cry out. As he treated her to the indescribable bliss, he laced his fingers through hers, holding both her hands as if in fear she would fly away. And she very well could at the speed with which her not-so-elusive orgasm was building.
He teased and taunted her, first with his tongue and then his fingers, taking her right to the edge of abandon and stopping with a devilish chuckle as he kissed his way across her stomach—as if that would cool her.
“You are a cruel man.” She tried to pull him up and make him get on with it. “I need you,” she said with a throaty groan. “Now.”
“Do ye now?” He rose, unbelted his kilt, and ripped it out from around him. No wonder the man didn’t wear underpants. Why would anyone try to coverthat? “Rid yerself of yer shirt, my love,” he said as he yanked his tunic off over his head. “I want to feel the length of yer silkiness beneath me.”
She hurried to shed her button-up shirt, tee, and bra. All shyness had left, leaving in its place a burning ache dying to be satisfied. As he stretched over her, she reached for him, pulling him closer. “I need you,” she repeated. “Now.”
And so they joined, fitting together with euphoric perfection.
“Lore a’mighty, woman,” he said with a deep, guttural groan. “I fear I’ll nay last long. The first joining is?—”
“Animalistic,” she said, finishing for him. “Faster and harder. Now. Slow and leisurely, later.” She was about to explode into shards of quivering bliss. She arched and met him thrust for thrust, making the waves hit with more force. A scream ripped free of her throat as she hit the pinnacle and shattered. Never had she ever…Never did she think…Never before.
Jeros roared louder than a Fae tiger, drove in hard and deep, then stuck and emptied, shuddering with his release. Just before collapsing atop her, he gave a long, luxurious groan that epitomized everything perfectly. Propped on his forearms to keep from crushing her, he nibbled kisses across her mouth. “We are now truly bonded, my love. Properly melded.”
She agreed. They had indeed melded with a heat hotter than any forge.
ChapterEleven
Jeros smiled at the sound of Rill on the other side of the bedroom door, in the sitting room, having a long conversation with the Fae tiger about why he could not enter the prince’s bedchamber to check on his mistress. Curling his arm tighter around his precious Lexi, he brushed a tender kiss to her forehead.
She felt perfect against him, soft and warm, sleeping with her head on his chest. Aye, this was how it should be, how it would be from now on, now that they were bonded. A contentment the likes of which he had never known filled him, as he idly watched the dust motes dancing in the ray of sunlight flooding in through the east window. The storm had passed and left in its wake a soothing peacefulness, much like the path he and Lexi had walked before, not only acknowledging, but accepting their fated bond.
She stirred and stretched tighter against him, hugging him as if fearing he had slipped away. She need not ever worry about that. Never would he leave her side.
“What time is it?” she asked with an endearing grogginess.
“From the angle of the sun, I would say it is almost midday. Not nearly as late as I expected us to awaken, considering we only succumbed to sleep a scant few hours ago.”
“Almost midday,” she repeated with a sleepiness that hinted she would not be awake much longer. “I need to check on the foals and speak with the trainers,” she mumbled. “Update spreadsheets. Call the bank. Check payroll…”
He realized that in her haze between sleep and wakefulness, she thought herself back in her world. He didn’t speak, not wanting to ruin her dream by pulling her back to complete alertness. But her reaction concerned him. They had shared a phenomenal time of bonding, yet she had so quickly slipped back to her old life. Would she truly be able to leave it all behind, or would her sacrifice evolve into a wedge between them?
“Jeros?”
“Yes, my own.” Now, he would address her as hisownbecause she was. She didn’t reply and tell him what she needed. “Lexi?”
Her soft snore made him bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. At least with her dreaming of being back in her time, she still remembered who he was. He supposed he should take some comfort from that. But deep down, he knew the issue of her never returning to her time would rear its ugly head at some point.
He blinked away the thought and pulled the satiny sheets higher, making sure her shoulders were covered. Last night’s rains had chilled them both. He didn’t wish her to become ill. Then he closed his eyes and promised himself that he would keep her so happy, she would never regret staying with him—not ever.
* * *
While standingat the window of the meeting hall, Mairwen heard the purest ringing of the finest crystal. Her heart lifted. Another fated mate bond was complete. An amazingly strong bond. One that the Highland Veil had longed for. “They are finally one,” she told Keeva.
“Mairwen?” The apprentice’s voice was filled with apprehension. “Yer cards.”
“What of them?” Mairwen turned from the window and joined Keeva at the long meeting table in the center of the room. And then she saw what was wrong. Her trusted deck of tarot cards was dealing itself into a three-card spread. Rarely did such a thing occur. Only when the cards had dire news to share.
“The Tower. Again.” Keeva edged a step away from the table. “Loss and misery. Destruction and upheaval.”
“Or a push toward transformation and a better future.” Mairwen moved closer, holding her breath as the second card flipped over. The Seven of Pentacles appeared next. “The need for patience and perseverance.”
