All of it crumbled away, leaving only the man beneath. The one who loved her so desperately it hurt.
His hands moved with new purpose, unlacing her gown with trembling fingers. Each layer of fabric that fell away revealed more of her—the curve of her shoulder, the swell of her breasts, the gentle dip of her waist. He took his time, savoring every inch of newly exposed skin, pressing kisses to each freckle and scar he discovered.
“Ye’re so beautiful,” he murmured against her collarbone. “So perfect.”
“I’m nae perfect.” Leona’s breath hitched as his mouth found the sensitive spot below her ear. “I’m stubborn and reckless and…”
“Perfect,” he insisted, pulling back to look at her. “For me, ye’re perfect.”
Her eyes shimmered with tears. “Murdock…”
“Leona.” He cupped her face in his hands, needing her to understand. “I need ye to ken… this isnae just desire for me. This is everythin''. Ye’re everythin.”
“I ken.” Her hands moved to his clothes, working at the fastenings with steady fingers. “I feel it, too. This… this significance. Like we’re choosin' each other in a way that cannae be undone.”
“Aye.” He helped her remove his tunic, feeling exposed in more ways than one as she looked at him. At the scars that marked his body, evidence of a lifetime of violence. “Is it… Are ye certain? Because we can wait. I want ye to be?—”
“I’m certain.” Leona’s hands splayed across his chest, her touch gentle on the raised scars. “I’ve never been more certain of anythin'.”
He took her hands and brought them to his lips. “Then let me love ye properly. The way ye deserve.”
What followed was a revelation.
Murdock had bedded women before. But this… this was different. This was Leona, and she made everything feel new. Made every touch, every kiss, every breathless moment feel like the first time.
He laid her back against the pillows, his eyes drinking in the sight of her. Dark hair spread like silk across the linens, green eyes heavy-lidded with desire, lips swollen from his kisses.
She was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“Let me worship ye,” he whispered, trailing kisses down her throat. “Let me show ye how much I love ye.”
He took his time, mapping every inch of her skin with his mouth. The hollow of her throat where her pulse fluttered wildly. The delicate line of her collarbone. The soft swell of her breasts.
When his lips closed around one erect nipple, Leona arched off the bed with a gasp that went straight to his core. He lavished attention on the sensitive flesh, using teeth and tongue until she was writhing beneath him, her hands fisting in his hair.
“Murdock,” she breathed, her voice breaking on his name. “Please…”
“Patience, love.” He moved to her other breast, giving it the same devoted attention. “I’ve waited so long for this. For ye. Let me savor it.”
He kissed his way down her body, pausing to trace the curve of her ribs with his tongue, to press kisses to her belly, to nuzzle the sensitive skin of her inner thighs.
Every touch drew sweet sounds from her throat, gasps and whimpers and broken pleas that made him ache with need.
“Beautiful,” he murmured against her skin. “So beautiful. And all mine.”
“Yers,” Leona agreed, her voice shaking. “Always yers.”
When he finally lowered his mouth to her core, when he tasted her properly for the first time, the sound she made, half-sob, half-moan, nearly undid him. He took his time there, learning what made her gasp, what made her arch and writhe, what drew his name from her lips like a prayer.
“Murdock,” she panted, her fingers tangling in his hair. “I need… Please, I need…”
“Tell me,” he demanded, looking up at her. “Tell me what ye need.”
“Ye. Now.”
He moved back up her body, settling between her thighs with a reverence that made his hands shake.
“If it hurts, tell me to stop, and I will.”
