The door was so small he had to put her back down and duck to get through.
In there it was pitch black. Muttering what sounded like a curse at the unforeseen inconvenience, Eahlswith went to get the tallow candle from the main room. She came back with a fur in the other hand. Once the candle had been placed on a wooden box to the left of the door, he was able to see. Better. Now he would be able to see her gorgeous, naked body.
She placed an empty sack that might once have contained root vegetables or flour on the floor, and then covered it with the fur she’d brought along with the candle.
“Here. Lie down here.”
Not needing to be told twice, Sven lay onto his back and drew Eahlswith atop of him. His breath caught in his throat. Straddling him, with a naughty gleam in her eyes, she had never looked more beautiful.
“Now what?”
“Take your tunic and shirt off,” she ordered, her voice just as husky as his.
Well, if she wasn’t in an authoritative mood today. His shaft went from stone to granite as he hurried to obey her instructions. He liked a woman who knew what she wanted, especially if what she wanted was him naked. In the blink of an eye, he had disposed of his clothes.
“Alva, forgive me, I know this is a bad moment to tell you this, and I’m not even sure you’ll want to hear it but I think I’m falling in love with you,” he said, the words he had never pronounced before leaving his mouth with shocking ease.
Her reaction was not the one he had hoped to see, quite the opposite. She blinked in incomprehension.
“Do you think you could say that again in a language I can understand?”
It was his turn to blink. Then he understood. Damnation, he’d spoken in Norse. Of course, he had. He always did that when he spoke from the heart. From a young age, he’d associated his mother’s language with everyday, useful exchanges, reserving his father’s native tongue for what was more personal, what really mattered.
Like his feelings for this woman.
He swallowed. “I…can’t.”
It had been one thing telling her in the heat of the moment, but now, while she was looking at him expectantly? He wasn’t sure he could. Would she be displeased? Fortunately she didn’t seem to be.
“Perhaps you can tell me later?” she breathed, giving a small smile.
Yes, later, once they lay panting on the floor, exhausted by the most intense release of their lives,thenhe knew he wouldn’t be able to keep the words to himself.
“Your turn to undress,” he said, heart in his throat.
Slowly, she tugged at her bodice and lowered her shift to expose the most beautiful breasts he had ever seen, the breasts he had fantasized about from the moment he had seen them back in the summer, bathed in the silver moonlight. They were just as perfect now, gilded by the golden candlelight.
“Do you want to taste me?” she asked, lifting the two perfect orbs in her hands as if to offer them to his gaze. Forget the mischievous elf, in that moment she was the goddess of temptation herself. And he, mere mortal, didn’t stand a chance.
“Yes,” he rasped.
She smiled and leaned forward, bringing one nipple to his lips, pinning his wrists above his head. Despite the light pressure, he could not have freed himself in no time. He didn’t want to, as he was right where he wanted to be.
“Suckle me, Norseman.”
Never had a man delighted more in his task. She tasted so sweet, her nipples were so tight he could have come just from filling his mouth with the most delicious treat he’d ever had and imagining what would happen next.
With her breast in his mouth distracting him, it took Sven a moment to understand what was happening. Eahlswith was tying his wrists together. Before he could ask anything, she put the length of rope through a loop fastened on the wall and yanked, forcing his arms to straighten, holding him in place.
What the fuck?
It didn’t hurt but all the same, he couldn’t help a pang of discomfort. Just how many men had she tied to the wall thus?
“This loop has annoyed me from the moment I moved into the house,” she said with a smirk, observing her handiwork. She didn’t seem to have noticed his reaction, or think he would mind being at her mercy. Which he didn’t exactly. “I almost asked my neighbor to remove it the other week. I’m glad I didn’t, as I’ve finally found the perfect use for it.”
Now that he knew she had not used the annoying loop on anyone else, his body relaxed. This was maddeningly arousing. Not one of his lovers had dared to tie him up, or even asked him to tie them up. Just the idea that Eahlswith wanted to have her way with him was enough to send fire coursing down his veins.
She placed her lips at his neck and gave a teasing bite. “Mm. You taste just as delicious as usual but this time I’m thinking we’ll need honey.”
