"Well," she said, "The country will be healed. And we'll be happy, of course. We'll get a chance tae find out what it's like tae live as a normal married couple for the first time, without the pressure of the world on our shoulders all the time."
"Oh? And what will that be like?" Cailean prompted.
Maeve saw the sparkle in his eye and grinned. "Well, we'll have a wee bit more privacy than we do now," she said in a conspiratorial tone. She leaned down a little closer, her hair dropping down like a waterfall to frame his face, hiding them both from the outside world. "We'll have plenty of time tae think about things we want, like a family, or tae travel, or the kind of extravagant cushions we want in our bedroom."
He laughed, adjusting his weight and staring up at her. "Is that right? Ye've never been one for ostentatious decorations. Why the focus on the cushions?"
Maeve's hand crept up to his chest, slowly loosening the string that held the neck of his shirt closed. "The bedchamber is one of the most important rooms in the castle, ye ken. It's where a king and queen can take their time as man and wife." Her fingers found the warm skin of his chest and trailed idle circles there, causing him to shiver in a way she found deliciously satisfying.
"Ye," he said, "are incorrigible."
She bit her lip, trying to hide her smile. "Nae true. I'll stop and behave meself if ye ask me to." As she said this, she moved her hand away.
Cailean growled, then his hand shot up and cupped the back of her head, pulling her down as he fell back on the grass so that their lips crashed together. Maeve responded eagerly as his fingers tightened in her hair, parting her lips and moving slightly so she could lean down with her chest pressing against his. His other arm wrapped around the small of her back, drawing her closer as the kiss deepened.
Maeve had worried, in the early days, that their lovemaking may grow dull for Cailean. She had heard such things from women who talked of how their men had grown bored of them. But as time had gone on, she'd realized it was a false fear, and in fact a ridiculous thought. Every time they kissed, it was like that first time, with the same joy and eagerness and love. Every time he ran his hands along her body, as he did now, it was with the intensity and worship of a man who had discovered a goddess made flesh.
She pulled back, gasping for air, and Cailean moved his hands to her hips. He tugged her slightly, pulling her up so that she now straddled his waist, knees resting on either side. Her body jolted and something deep inside her shivered with hunger and need as she felt his hardness pressing against her through his trousers. It took everything in her not to shift her hipsagainst him immediately, instead simply leaning down to kiss him deeply again.
When this kiss was done, he guided her to sit again, and together, without a word, they pulled her simple dress up and off over her head. She gasped as the cool Scottish air hit her through the thin cotton shift she wore underneath, her nipples hardening in response and pressing against the cloth.
"God. Ye're more than any man could ask for," Cailean whispered, the awe in his tone so genuine and deep that it send a flutter through Maeve's whole body.
"I'm yers," she replied. "All of me."
Cailean pushed himself up into a sitting position, and Maeve wrapped her legs tight around his waist as he pulled her closer to his lap. His mouth found her neck, kissing and teasing with his teeth and tongue, and his hand moved under her shift to press against the skin of her back as he crushed her against him. She let out a little moan as he grazed her collarbone, and she felt the pulse in his groin beneath her in response.
Her own lower half throbbed in response, a tightness curling from her lower belly and deeper down in a delicious, almost desperate heat. They had many long, languid sessions, but right now, she simply wanted him,neededhim, and the feel of him pressed against her was driving her crazy. She gasped again as his mouth moved from her throat to her earlobe and his fingers tightened their grip on her back, her breasts straining against the friction of the thin slip as their chests pressed together.
Maeve bucked her hips against him, causing him to grunt and his whole body to tense. He pulled his head back, fire in his eyes, and they stared at each other for just a moment. Then he rolled in a movement so fast that it took Maeve's breath away, turning her so that the next thing she knew, her back was resting against the grass, dampening her skin through the cotton slip.Cailean moved back and made quick work of the ties of his trousers, letting them fall away.
Maeve's breath caught in her throat, as it always did. He was beautiful, and she needed him with every fiber of her being. "Cailean…" she whispered.
It was all he needed. He shoved the bottom of her slip up with a strange combination of roughness and gentleness, leaving her fully exposed, and she tilted her hips upward eagerly. A moment later, he pressed into her, exquisitely slowly, never rushing, no matter how much they both desperately needed each other at that moment.
The fullness was familiar, and yet at the same time it was something new and staggering. She moaned again, enjoying the fact they were truly alone with no need to keep her sounds of pleasure to herself, and she felt it as his body responded inside her. The two of them began to move, and though Cailean tried to go slowly, Maeve was too eager for more. She wrapped her legs around him again, pulling him in, her nails digging into his back as he leaned down to kiss her deeply.
They were frantic, touching each other everywhere they could, their lips and tongues and hands exploring every inch of one another, their hips moving roughly in a dance of passion, every thrust another expression of love and lust and pleasure, every gasp and moan and growl and sigh another sign of their joy.
When the climax came, Maeve was ready for it, and it washed over her more intensely than ever before. It flooded her whole body, every muscle tightening and curling from her head to her toes before relaxing in an explosive rush of release. She clung to Cailean the whole way through it, riding it out with him, moving and tightening against him, crying out his name, and soon after she felt it as he let himself go as well.
Both spent, they lay there in each other's arms for a few silent moments before they parted. A few more moments of laying together later, they moved to the stream as one, cleaning up and making themselves comfortable, giggling slightly as they did, not talking yet, not ready to break the moment. They were so familiar to each other, and yet every time was so new, so comfortable and yet sometimes still so bashful, and Maeve wondered if she could truly be so lucky that it would feel like this forever.
With Cailean, she felt like maybe she could.
When they had clothed themselves once more, they sat by the stream, Cailean's arms around Maeve as she rested her head on his chest. They watched the little burn bubbling beneath them, the current too fast to show a reflection, but Maeve imagined what it would look like to see the two of them sitting there, flushed and happy and human.
"We've come a long way," Cailean mused, and Maeve knew that his thoughts must have been along similar lined to hers. "I never would have expected we'd make it tae this moment. And yet here we are."
"Here we are," she agreed, snuggling closer. "A family. And a king and queen. I'd have never thought that I'd be here, nae for a moment."
"Ye were born tae be a queen," he told her, and though he said it teasingly, there was an undercurrent of sincerity to it that warmed her heart. "And though I was never meant tae be a king, ye're the one who's shown me it's the only right way."
"Ye've done wonderful work already," Maeve assured him, tilting her head up to try to look at him, with only a little success. "And ye'll do more. We both will."
"Aye. With ye by me side, nae tae mention our friends and the other rebels, I believe we can succeed. But…" he hesitated, then sighed. "May I admit somethin'?"
"I'd be offended if ye didnae."
