And then he was moving. Deep and slow at first, he moved inside her, and Rose found herself matching his rhythm, her fingers clawing at his back, feeling the bunch and release of the muscles in his back and buttocks.
The sensations that flooded her were like nothing she’d ever felt before. She was no untouched virgin and had been with men before, but this… this was something else. If was as if Cailean’s body had been made to fit hers, and as they found their tempo, moving together as firelight painted their bodies with light and shadow, every nerve in Rose’s body seemed to come alive.
Tingles raced across her skin. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Shudders of something like electricity zinged throughher blood.
“Dear God,” Cailean breathed, his breath hot on her neck. “This feels… ye feel like heaven, lass.”
She didn’t have the breath to answer him. She could only gasp and moan as their tempo increased, as Cailean began to move faster, thrusting into her with increasing force, each movement sending hot spears of bliss rocketing through her body. She writhed under him. Her nails dug into his back. She gasped out his name as she began to burn.
Fire sizzled along her nerves, roared through her blood, and suddenly she was being consumed, losing all sense of herself as burning ecstasy obliterated her. She arched her back, yelling his name as she was finally, utterly consumed.
Cailean gasped out a breath, his body shuddering as he too reached his climax, her name falling from his lips in a groan of pure, sated pleasure.
Rose’s awareness shrank and for one long, seemingly infinite moment, all she knew was the sensations of shuddering bliss that rocketed through her and the sound of Cailean’s breath by her ear. All else ceased to exist.
But gradually, oh so gradually, she came back to herself. Her chest was heaving and as the euphoria faded a little, a heavy, contented lassitude replaced it, leaving her feeling whole and sated.
Only seconds had passed although it had felt like a lifetime and Cailean’s weight still pressed her into the rug beneath them. She ran her hands down his back, delighting in the sensation of his slick, sweat-covered skin and the sound of his ragged breaths.Shehad done that to him. She had given this strong, gorgeous man such pleasure that he was still recovering from it.
He lifted his head from her shoulder, and she found herself looking into his storm-dark eyes.
“Rose,” he murmured, the word feeling like a caress across herskin. “I… I… That was…”
He seemed at a loss for words so Rose merely lifted her head and kissed him again. Gone was the heat and passion that had consumed them earlier. This time the kiss was soft and slow, and all the sweeter for it. When it broke, Cailean blew out a breath and rested his forehead against hers.
“I dinna wish to move,” he said, his voice low and gruff. “I could stay in this moment forever. With ye.”
Rose cupped his face in her hands. Her heart swelled with a sensation she couldn’t name. “Me too,” she whispered. “Oh, Cailean, what’s happening to us?”
His eyes searched her face. “I dinna know, lass.” He gently kissed the tip of her nose. “But I like it.” Finally, he moved, rolling off her and settling on his back by her side, tucking one hand behind his head and staring at the ceiling.
Rose felt cold without his warmth and found she didn’t like being away from him, even though he was only a few inches away. She rolled onto her side, tucking her body alongside his and his arm came up to pull her close, his hand resting on the swell of her hip.
She settled her head against his shoulder, and he turned his head to look at her. There was a world of meaning and longing in the way he looked at her, and Rose found that ache forming deep in her stomach again.
What were they doing? This was madness. It could never work between them. And yet, she found that nothing,nothingin her life had ever felt more right than this. Around them the storm still raged but inside, all was still. Rose could hear the gale battering the village and the wind moaned down the chimney, making the flames dance and spit. But inside, it didn’t touch them.
It was as if time and the world outside had been suspended. The MacFinnan spellweaver and the MacNeil laird were gone and they were just Rose and Cailean, two people exploring something thatneither of them had expected.
He smiled, his fingertip tracing lazy spirals on her hip. “What are ye thinking, lass?”
Rose smiled faintly. The warmth of his touch made it hard to think clearly, let alone speak.
“I was thinking,” she said softly, “that this shouldn’t be happening.”
Cailean arched a brow but didn’t pull away. “And yet, here we are.”
“Yes.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper. “Here we are.”
He shifted so he could see her better. His eyes searched hers. “Does it frighten ye?”
“It terrifies me.”
He nodded. “Me too.”
That surprised her. The mighty Laird MacNeil, afraid? But she saw the truth of it in the tightness around his mouth, in the vulnerability that flickered in his gaze.
She exhaled slowly, placing a hand on his chest over his heart. “Everything in my life has always been about control. Plans. Safety. I never imagined… this.”
