You will be the end of me, William Reid, she thought as he silently asked the question she could not in a million years say no to. She had already said yes, a thousand times since she’d first seen him.
So she slid her hands down, unlaced his breeches, and within seconds they and his drawers had joined the other garments on the floor.
And then he was trailing kisses everywhere. From the corners of her lips, along the line of her jaw, down her neck, to her shoulders and clavicle. Reverently, he explored every inch of skin bared to him, searching, listening to the shifts in her breathing, to the tiny moans escaping from her throat, finding those places which responded most to his touch.
Rebecca’s hands took over, guiding him, searching for his own secret places.
His mouth found her nipples and she arched back, the rush of scorching, glowing energy through her veins a jolt of life. He kissed and suckled gently, trailing a path of kisses across her chest as he moved from one to the next. His hands roamed across her belly and her hips, brushing as lightly as feathers, igniting every inch of skin beneath until they found their ultimate purpose.
Rebecca knew where he would touch her next and she guided his mouth back to hers, needing to quench her sudden thirst. Needing to fall into him again as his fingers slid along secret silken folds, as calescent as the core which awaited him there, slick and eager and welcoming. She gasped as he slowly explored her, and she felt him smile against her lips, his tongue trailing across her bottom lip. She bucked and arched, still drinking from him as he deepened his exploration, teasing, retreating, faster, slower, driving her to the edge she thought she knew.
‘Come with me,’ she told him, wrapping her legs around him again, begging him to take her fully, to complete their journey.
‘Rebecca,’ Liam whispered hesitantly. ‘What if—?’
‘I know how to ensure there are no consequences.’
He studied her for a long moment, and she knew how much trust she asked of him. She willed her promise to shine in her eyes, the promise that she would keep them safe.
‘Come with me,’ she repeated softly.
And so he did, unable to resist her entreaty, sliding himself into her with one sure thrust.
Rebecca cried out, and he brushed his hand soothingly against her forehead, asking if he’d hurt her. She opened her eyes and smiled, her eyes so dark with passion there was no doubt it had been sheer pleasure and not pain which had driven the cry from her lips.
So he kissed her again, and again, punctuating each movement inside her until once again she neared the edge. Then, cradling her, he rolled them over. Few men she had ever encountered preferred this way, yet somehow Rebecca was not surprised he would trust her, ask her to share the control, the drive.
She trailed kisses acrosshisskin now...along his neck, which he bared to her, a wolf trusting her with his life. Across his shoulders, down his arms, down his chest. She, too, covered his nipples with her mouth, tasting, sampling, sending waves of pleasure coursing through him. He moaned and growled as she paid homage to every inch of incandescent skin.
She straightened herself upon him then, and his hands came to rest upon her hips, steadying her, guiding her as much as she did him. The dark hunger was in his eyes again—she could see it there, beneath the hooded lids, edging her ever onwards, matching her own. And behind it, the same resignation, an acceptance of what they had given in to.
It was wrong, improper, unacceptable, forbidden by the laws of God and man alike. Though together as one, as they were, neither could think this was anything but whatshouldbe. Whathadto be.
Liam rose, encircling her with his arms, begging her to stay close. Comfort, need, desire, all mingled when he kissed her again. Their eyes would not close, locked into each other’s, steadying, securing the invisible thread between them as they rocked and rose and moved with silent complicity.
Nothing Rebecca had ever experienced before with any man came remotely close to what she felt then, as they climbed ever higher together. Her heart beating in time with his, a calm surrender of everything that she was, had been and would ever be. She had been born for this, to love him and only him. She had been made for him, and he for her.
Overwhelming fear and regret rose to swirl inside her breast along with the sweet pleasure and love she felt.
Love. Impossible, heart-wrenching, desperate love. God help me...
And then they were rolling upwards towards the peak of their pleasure together, their cries mingling in the dusky haze of firelight and darkness. A kiss, to seal it. The promise of an eternal bond and connection that would be tried and tested, but never broken. His mouth declaring all his words could not, and her own screaming the words she could never say out loud.
I love you. I am yours. Always have been. Always will be.
Still she stayed cradled in his arms, her body refusing to part from his lest this all be naught but a dream. They remained entwined thus for a long time, until slowly they came to lie beside each other, their gazes still locked.
My love. My light.
‘Stay,’he’d said, when she’d crawled from the tangle of his body, and from the soft blankets and sheets which had witnessed their coupling again a short while before.‘Please,’he had whispered, his hand outstretched when she’d finally found the strength to do what she must. Leave him.‘Stay with me...’
And so she had.
Lying in his arms as she was now was dangerous, even more so than what they’d done before. Everything else she could dismiss as madness. Unbridled passion. She could convince herself it had been inevitably primal, nothing more, even though every inch of her body, heart and soul screamed out in denial. But this, this infinite tenderness in the safety of his own private world, this was far more threatening to her peace of mind, and heart, and soul.
Still, she lay there, her head rising and falling with every one of his breaths, her fingers trailing the lines of his body. She should not speak. She should not ask. She should not share anything more with him. And yet she could not stop herself.
‘Will you tell me, my lord—?’
