We shouldn’t be doing this. What if someone sees!
Yet Laura’s thought was quickly silenced as Erskine gave a quick, playful nip to her top lip, pleading entrance. As Laura gave it, parting her lips, his tongue reached out to hers, teasing her with a back-and-forth stroke, urging her to moan into his kiss.
Within moments, Laura found herself being urged down from the rock and turned into the entrance of the cave until her back was against the stone wall. They parted from their kiss momentarily, just enough that Laura could see Erskine’s green eyes had darkened with need.
“Ye ken these boy’s clothes are very revealin’,” his voice was husky as his hands traveled down her thighs, across the tight covering of her breeches. She shuddered with excitement at his touch.
“Something tells me I’ll miss the freedom of trousers if I ever get to wear a dress again,” Laura whispered, her mind much more on the curve of Erskine’s lips than her clothes.
“I’ll miss them too,” he teased, lifting his hands back to her waist as he kissed her again.
As his hand slipped down beyond the fastening of her breeches, Laura clung to his arms, too desperate to know what his touch would feel like to even consider the idea of trying to stop it.
I do not want to stop this!
She was too caught up in the heady scent of Erskine, too enraptured by his strong body before her and his kiss, that at that point, she would not have cared if someone had seen them. Nothing seemed to matter, as long as Erskine just kept kissing her and letting his hands wander.
As his hand slid further south, beneath her clothes, she moaned into his mouth in anticipation. His other hand took hold of one of her legs and lifted it up by the knee, around his hip, opening her body to him. With the sudden move, he parted their kiss, though their faces were still close together.
“Do ye trust me?” he murmured against her lips.
“Of course I do,” her whispered words made him smile, the move lighting up his sharp chiseled features. That was when his hand slid home, finding her core hidden beneath her breeches. At the sudden touch of his warm fingers against her, Laura realized how wet she was.
He did not appear to waste time. He set up a rhythm, just staying outside of her, causing her to gasp and pant, their gazes locked together. The movement of his hand was creating a pleasure sensation Laura had not known before. Soon, she found herself rocking her hips toward him, away from the wall of the cave, desperate for him to increase the tempo.
He smiled again at this move and dropped a kiss to her lips. This one was slow and sensual, with fleeting kisses. As he passed between her lips again, he mirrored the movement perfectly with his hand far below, slipping a finger inside her.
She gasped completely into his kiss. This new rhythm was faster than the last, bringing more heat to her body than she thought possible in the cold Scottish countryside. She could feel that clamoring heat trailing up her body, across her chest, and into her cheeks. As they parted from their kiss, she could see how avidly Erskine was watching her. His gaze kept drifting down her body and up to her face, as though he was taking her in as much as he could.
“Erskine, I…” she tried to tell him what was coming next, but she didn’t have the words for it. There was a buildup of pressure that was growing inside of her, all because of the movement of his hand. Even without the words Erskine seemed to understand, he dropped another quick kiss to her lips, then kept his eyes on her, concentrating completely on one of his hands holding her knee up and the other hand inside of her.
Watching him give her such attention was what sent her over the edge. His fingers pumped inside of her one last time, reaching a part of her she didn’t know existed. She tipped her head back against the cave wall, closing her eyes as she reached the pinnacle of pleasure. It came crashing down in waves that were as great as the ocean on the other side of the shingle beach.
Laura was aware of the sounds she was making, gasps interspersed with Erskine’s name, but she didn’t bother to quieten them. She just clung to his biceps, feeling the strength of the muscle beneath his shirt. When she eventually opened her eyes, she could see Erskine watching her with a great smile on his face, and his own cheeks flushed with excitement at what they had done together.
She felt that tug in her chest again, as though her body was now bound to the man before her. For a minute, she was certain the words were on her lips, that she would tell Erskine she was falling in love with him, but a sudden sound beyond the cave made them both snap their heads that way, breaking the spell.
“What was that?” Laura whispered, just as Erskine’s hand left her center. She shuddered at the loss of contact. He placed her knee back on the floor and rested his hands on her waist for a moment, helping to keep her standing. Laura was grateful for it. Without that touch, she felt so dizzy she was certain she would have fallen to the floor.
“Just the seagulls, I think,” Erskine said calmly, though his eyes were still on the beach.
“Erskine, that was…I….” Laura didn’t know what to say. She was overcome by what they had shared.
“I ken,” he looked back to her, that smile returning. “As much as I wish to show ye more of what we can do, Laura, we best get ye back. Come on,” he kissed her one last time and then stepped away, holding out his hand.
She took it without hesitation, entwining their fingers together whilst she reset her clothes. As they hurried out of the cave, Laura clung to his hand, disappointed by the idea that when they got near the town, she would have to let it go. She snatched her hat up from the floor as she followed him.
A few steps out of the cave, she hesitated, seeing something in the sand that caught her attention.
“Laura, what is it?” Erskine said, looking back to her, their arms outstretched as he tried to drag her away.
“Nothing,” she lied and moved on, following him, though her eyes kept glancing back over her shoulder at what she had seen.
Footprints.
She tried to reason with herself that it meant nothing. No doubt lots of people went down to that beach at different times of the day. Those marks could have been made at any time. Yet the sight of those footprints and the certainty she had experienced earlier that day that someone was watching them settled, and she couldn’t help the growing fear in her.
What if someone saw us together?
