“Tell me what feels good to ye,” he encouraged, rolling his hips against her secret bud with every measured stroke.
“That,” Heather panted. “Keep doing that.”
He smiled and kissed along the curve of her neck, obeying her command. Though, there was more to his talent than she anticipated, as he propped himself on one hand and slid his other across her stomach and down between her thighs. He found her secret pearl once more, and let his fingertips strum that center of bliss.
“Oh goodness—” Dizzy with ecstasy, she had no other words. Why had no one ever told her that lying with a beloved man was so transformative? As far as she was concerned, it could not have been anything but actual magic or a gift from the divine.
Emboldened by the thrilling rhythm of his body, Heather smoothed her palms down over his back, feeling every rippling muscle beneath her touch. She mapped the curve of his spine and smiled as she came to the rise of his firm backside. Gripping that tight muscle, she urged him onward, pushing him deeper and harder until she was writhing upon the bed, utterly overcome with bliss.
Nevertheless, he did not rush. In the sound of his groans and gasps, she could feel he was holding back, concentrating upon her pleasure first. Evidently, he did not know what those glorious sounds did to her, for they were as powerful in creating her pleasure as his touch.
“Yes, my love! Mmm… yes,” she gasped, as a now-familiar sensation gathered in the core of her stomach. Every thrust andstrum stacked the feeling higher, until she felt as though she were soaring toward the sun.
Sensing the change in her, as her bliss peaked and peaked, Owen began to move more quickly. His hips rocked back and forth with a new kind of abandon, though his fingertips never ceased in their measured strumming.
As the delicious friction hit the mountain of her pleasure, she felt herself cresting the ridge of it. From there, she would feel that exquisite dive into ecstasy—a freedom like no other.
Half a minute later, his measured thrusts and diligent attentions tipped her over the edge into the most powerful conclusion of her life, thus far. Every muscle clenched tight as she plummeted, her breath halting in her lungs, her fingernails digging into Owen’s back, her mouth open in an “O” of anticipation.
Then, she soared. The flight of bliss swept through her like a storm, pummeling through her veins and turning her limbs limp in its wake. For a moment, she worried that the force of it might tear her apart, for how could a mortal body contain so much divine bliss? Surely, it was not possible.
Yet, she swiftly discovered that it was, as the intensity subsided into a series of fluttering pulses that twirled and tingled throughout her. Her body relaxed into the mattress, where she became a panting, flushed creature of delirious joy. Indeed, she was now fearful that she would never emerge from her chamber again, for what was there out in the world that could surpass this?
“Och, love… me love—” Owen moved his hips faster, groaning as Heather spurred him on, raising her hips to meet him.
She held onto him as he came toward his own conclusion, finally allowing himself to plunge into her with everything he possessed. It thrilled her, for if she had known he could move so swiftly within her, she would have encouraged him sooner. Every thrust ignited a smaller version of her grand conclusion, until she was crying out his name again.
“Och… och, me love.” He caught her mouth with his, groaning as he stilled within her. Her muscles tightened and she felt the pulse of him, that inspired an echo of pulses up into her abdomen.
He plundered her depths twice more, before he collapsed against her and rolled them both onto their sides: his arms wrapping tight around her as he panted against her cheek. His skin was hot and full of life, and she was glad he had not withdrawn, for she liked the way he felt.
“I love ye,” he murmured, kissing her neck lazily.
She hugged him tighter. “As I love you.”
“I cannae wait to have ye as me wife. Although, ye should ken, in me head, ye already are.” He smiled at her, as his breathing slowed back to normal.
She beamed with glee. “I cannot wait tobeyour wife, though I daresay I have already shown you that I consider you my husband.”
“Nevertheless, we’ll make it legitimate. A week from now, maybe?”
She nodded. “That sounds delightful.”
After all, there was one hurdle she needed to overcome first. It was not something she wanted to think about until she had slept in Owen’s arms, but it would have to be implemented the moment she awoke. A letter, sent to her father, to explain everything.
It would not alter her decision, but she hoped it might make amends. If her father could not agree, then he would simply have to come to terms with the fact that he had lost both his son and daughter. She prayed it would not come to that but, when all was said and done, she had made her choice.
24
Owen had not known contentment like it. Every morning, he awoke with Heather at his side: his body warmed and relaxed after a night spent worshipping every part of her. Although it had only been a week since they first lay together, it felt like they had known one another, in every sense, for a blissful eternity.
“Ye’re… remarkable,” he panted, on the morning of their eighth day as a betrothed pair. Crisp sunlight filtered in through the windows, and though Owen knew he would have to leave the chamber soon enough, neither of them had been able to resist another moment together.
She glanced back at him: her belly flat to the bed. “No,youare remarkable. You make me feel things that I—” A moan cut off her words, as she rocked her buttocks back against his hips, drawing him in as deep as possible.
Owen slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him as he savored the powerful sensation of her silken heat enveloping him. He preferred making love to her, face to face, with all the intimacy that offered, but in the mornings, she seemed to like him making love to her this way: her lying forward on the bed, with him atop her, his front flush to her back.
Sliding his hand further down and coaxing her hips up into a slight bend, he found her secret pearl. Gasping in delight, she pushed back to meet his every firm stroke, as he strummed upon her, reveling in the delicious sounds that came from her mouth and the pleasured shiver of her skin.
