“Then stop thinkin’,” she gasped as his hands parted her thighs with gentle insistence, “anddaesomethin’ about it.”
His laugh was dark velvet against her heated skin. “As me lady commands.”
When his mouth found her center, she cried out. Five months had taught him exactly how to unmake her, where to press and lick until she was writhing beneath him, desperate and aching.
“Erik, please?—”
“I ken what ye need.” His voice was pure sin, muffled against her flesh. “But tonight, I’m goin’ tae worship every part of ye,wife.”
His tongue working magic while his fingers joined the assault, sliding inside her. She was slick and ready, her body demanding what came next.
But he held back, drawing out her pleasure until she was babbling nonsense, pulling at his hair, begging with broken words.
Only when she was trembling on the edge did he relent, adding pressure until she broke apart with a cry that was his name and a prayer tangled together.
She was still shaking when he crawled up her body, kissing her deeply so she could taste herself on his tongue. The intimacy of it made fresh heat pool low in her belly.
He helped her, stripping away the last barriers until they were skin to skin. When he settled between her thighs, his weight grounding and perfect, she wrapped her legs around his waist.
“Look at me,” he said. “I want tae see yer eyes when I fill ye.”
She met his gaze—those storm-cloud eyes now burning with warmth and want.
“I love ye,” she whispered. “Whatever comes of taenight—whether there’s a bairn or nae—I love ye more than I have words tae express.”
His answering smile was brilliant and broken. “Then we’ll find other ways tae say it.”
He entered her slowly, giving her body time to adjust despite how many times they’d done that. But that night felt different. That night, every inch felt weighted with meaning, with the possibility their joining might create something miraculous.
When he was fully in, they both stilled—foreheads pressed together, breathing ragged.
“Ye feel like home,” Erik breathed. “Like every good thing I never thought I deserved.”
She couldn’t speak around the emotion clogging her throat, so she kissed him instead—deep and claiming and full of promises for all the tomorrows they’d build together.
He began to move—not with desperate urgency, but with deliberate purpose. Each thrust a declaration, each withdrawal apromise to return. He made love to her like a man savoring every moment.
Claricia met him thrust for thrust, her hands mapping the flex of muscle in his back. She could feel his careful control, the way he held back from the edge, wanting to draw it out.
“I can feel ye,” she gasped as he hit that perfect spot inside her, the one that made stars burst behind her eyelids. “So deep. So—och,aye!—right there.”
“Touch yerself,” Erik commanded roughly, his rhythm faltering. “I want tae feel ye come apart around me. Want tae ken that when I spill inside ye, ye’re already flyin’.”
She obeyed, her hand sliding between their joined bodies to find that bundle of nerves he’d tormented so expertly earlier. The added sensation made her gasp, made her inner muscles flutter around him in a way that drew a guttural groan from his chest.
“That’s it,” he encouraged, his own control clearly splintering. “Take yer pleasure, lass. Take everythin’ ye need from me.”
The combination of his deep, purposeful thrusts and her own fingers working frantically between her thighs sent her over the edge with shocking speed. She came with a cry, her body clenching around him in rhythmic pulses that seemed to go on forever.
Erik followed her into bliss moments later, burying himself to the hilt with a shout. She felt him pulse inside her—once, twice, three times—flooding her with heat and possibility. His face was transformed, all harsh edges softened by ecstasy and love.
We might have just made a baby.
He collapsed beside her, pulling her close.
The thought filled her with fierce joy. She pressed her face against his chest to muffle the sob that wanted to escape.
“What is it?” Erik asked, his hand stroking her hair. “Did I hurt ye?”
