Kieran’s eyes narrowed, a frown furrowing deeply into his brow. Vivien’s heart sank in her chest; she knew that he must surely have realized then that she was of no use sexually at all. To see it on his face hurt more than she had expected; Reginald was right; she was useless and pathetic.
“That’s absolute bull,” Kieran said, after a few tense minutes had passed. He looked furious; Vivien could see a vein in his throat pulsing with blood as he clenched and unclenched his hands. Kieran’s jaw was set stiffly – he had practically grated the words out.
Those were not the words Vivien had been expecting.
“Bull? What do you mean? He is more than twenty years older than me; he has been married before. He knows how things work; while I…” Vivien trailed off, far too ashamed to blatantly admit that she knew almost nothing about the marital act at all.
Kieran cocked an eyebrow, his eyes still narrowed.
“Yer husband is a right piece o’ work, Vivien. He is wrong, ye ken. Ye may not ken much abou’ it, but I ken more than enough tae say that the problem lies with him, not with ye. I can promise ye that,” he said, his tone still belying his anger.
“How?” Vivien whispered, her hands trembling at her sides, “How can you say that?”
“Easily,” Kieran said, a smile spreading across his face, that look of rage dissipating like mist before the sunrise, “I’ll show ye.”
Chapter Seventeen
Kieran was right, Vivien thought briefly through the haze of passion. She was not broken.
Kieran pulled her back to him, kissing her with more fervor than she had thought was possible. He made quick work of removing his breeches, his naked body proudly on display in front of her.
Vivien had never seen something quite as magnificent as Kieran. She had nothing but the feeling of Reginald’s reedy frame on top of her to compare Kieran to, having never even seen him naked during their entire marriage. She highly doubted that Reginald was impressive in any physical manner to begin with.
Kisses had been trailed along her jaw, her neckline, across her chest, with intermittent suckles and licking in-between as Kieran held her against him.
With a sense of urgency that almost scared Vivien, she undid the hooks of her skirts, letting them drop around her ankles. Completely naked, utterly vulnerable, she stood in front of Kieran, hoping that he would not find her curvy figure unappealing.
The sharp inhale of his breath, and the tremble in his hands told Vivien she had nothing to worry about.
Kieran had laid the blanket he had brought with him down in front of the hearth; he gently picked Vivien up in his arms and lay her down on her side on it; he was lying down next to her. Face to face, his elbow supporting his weight as his other hand gently grazed her skin, following her curves from her shoulder down to her outer thighs and back again.
Vivien had found that the sparks that had been following his finger a few minutes before were most certainly still there. Her body tingled with anticipation as she watched Kieran’s eyes following his hand as he explored the contours of her body. The look of appreciation on his face was almost more than Vivien could bear – she had never been looked at as anything more than an inconvenience by Reginald. She felt that in Kieran’s eyes, she was anything but that.
He had kissed her again, deeply, desperately, as their legs tangled together, Vivien’s hands on his shoulder and in his hair. Kieran’s hands continued to traverse her body.
Kieran pulled away from the kiss, and she was left gasping for air, feeling bereaved as he moved away from her.
“Did I do something wrong?” Vivien whispered, almost too afraid to say anything in case he changed his mind and decided she was useless after all.
Kieran had only shushed her gently as he used his hand to separate her legs, exposing the now moist area between her thighs. His figure above her was nothing but breath-taking; Vivien felt no disgust or fear looking at him. She only felt that deep, searing hot need.
He had begun to kiss her again, slowly and less forcefully than before, as he worked lazy circles around the slick folds between her thighs, drawing the wetness from her body as he did so. It only served to cause her body to react even more strongly.
Vivien had never felt something so intensely powerful in all her life.
Vivien felt the fire exploding and crackling between her thighs, causing her to close her eyes and arch her back with absolute pleasure mere moments after Kieran had begun his gentle ministrations.
With her entire body ablaze, a sweetly torturous feeling, Vivien found herself believing Kieran.
She was not broken.
Kieran began to apply more pressure, his fingers slipping inside Vivien for brief moments at a time. She cried out in ecstasy each time as she bucked against Kieran’s hand. He kissed her deeply, finally slipping his fingers in to work inside her. He stroked her from the inside, teasing the nub hidden deep inside her, while his thumb drew circles on the outside; Vivien trembled with the unknown sensations coursing through her body.
Kieran began to move his fingers faster within her, causing her toes to curl as she fisted her hands in his, her body arching as wave after wave of intense pleasure washed over her. Vivien gasped against Kieran’s mouth as a massive burst of pleasure expanded outwards from where he was touching her. Starbursts flickered across her vision as she cried out his name, losing all control of her body, pushing herself against his hand, forcing his fingers to enter her more deeply than they already were.
Vivien closed her eyes, allowing the intense flow of crackling flames running through her core to take her over the edge. She fell into the final shudder of the waves crashing over her, her body slackening as she lay in Kieran’s arms, the wave receding. He slowed his fingers down inside her, finally withdrawing them, and nipped her lightly on the neck, trailing kisses down her throat.
Vivien’s body went limp from the power of the inferno that had raged within her body, searing away any other thoughts or emotions she had been feeling up until that moment. She was dazed, aching where Kieran had touched her, wishing he still were. She had never expected that a pleasure that strong could exist – that her own body could ever experience it. The shock of the power of her passion was almost overwhelming as she lay there, breathless. Every pleasant experience she had ever had paled in comparison to its power.
