He tethered her hair again, this time drawing back. “Now you get up,” he said. She planted her hands and knees and rose, forced to arch her back as he kept a tight hold. The sensation of being controlled, of being vulnerable, filled her with a hunger so hot it burned.
His thighs settled on the outside of hers, one hand tangled in her hair, and the other clamped on her hip strong enough to bruise. Then he thrust. Harder and faster than she would’ve thought possible, he hammered into her, taking everything. Her arms trembled, and her vision hazed.
The devastating pleasure he pounded into her edged close to pain, all the sharper for the thin line. A set of mini-detonations exploded inside her, and she gasped, her body stiffening. The next thrust threw her into such an intense orgasm, she vibrated head to toe and screamed his name.
Her body stopped shaking, and her sex relaxed.
Still, he pounded.
“You’re killing me,” she moaned, trying to free her head.
His mouth nipped at her earlobe. “Definitely not my intention.” He reached around her and slid two fingers along her clit.
She moaned. “God, Deke. So much.”
He continued to hammer into her without even a hitch in his pace, his fingers sliding, plucking, and pinching. Sensation upon sensation whirled through her, taking over, stealing her will. She rose higher and higher, her breath catching, her heart maybe stopping. Time extended with no beginning, with no ending, and he showed no sign of slowing. Of weakening. As if he had a point to make, one he’d held back, he gave her everything he had without mercy.
She kept climbing, bombarded by sensation. When she reached the top, the world stopped. Then she fell.
She screamed his name, pummeled by waves, the explosion so powerful she’d never recover. He held her tight, his body jerking as he found his own release.
Then he stopped moving. Still inside her, with the aftermath of the pounding still echoing in the silence, he placed a searing kiss between her shoulder blades.
He released her hair, and her head dropped forward. Breath panted out from her lungs, and her mind blanked. Sleep half claimed her, right then and there. Deacan pulled out and turned her around.
She flopped onto her back, her body beyond exhaustion. Everything inside her quieted almost to the point of numbness. Yep. She was going to be sore the next morning.
He smoothed the hair off her forehead and traced a path between her breasts to her still-vibrating core, his broad hand hot. “Say it,” he murmured, his green gaze intent.
She frowned, trying to follow his words. “Hmm.”
His hand flattened over her already sore mound, and her eyelids flew wide open to study him as a threat. “I said to say it, or we’ll go for round two.” The set of his jaw didn’t allow for any misunderstanding.
She blinked, her body too satiated to find any outrage. “You’re such a throwback. Highlander.”
His chin lifted. “Aye. Now, Nora.”
Sleep tried once again to entice her, and she wanted to fall into it. “Fine.” She yawned. “You win. I’m yours. Do with me what you will . . . after I sleep.”
In the early dawn light, his face changed. Not in an obvious way, and not in a way she would’ve noticed had she not been watching. What she saw there was absolute and carved in stone as ancient as those around his homeland. “Again, Nora. Without the yawn, in this moment and in this place. Ye will say it.”
Her mind cleared to razor-sharp focus, the feeling unpleasant after her dreamy state. Her body felt well taken and overcome, and her heart beat in tune with his. On some level, a purely feminine one that had nothing to do with logic or reason, she felt his call. His demand. She also knew, after she’d pushed him, after what they’d just shared, he wouldn’t allow her to evade or diminish the moment. He wouldn’t let her deny what had passed between them, whether she liked it or not. Whether she fully understood it or not. “Fine, but it goes both ways. If I’m yours, you’re all mine.” It was as close as she could come to finding some balance.
“True. One more time. No qualification.” The look on his face, determined and dark, stole her breath.
Nerves tingled across her abdomen at the possessive tone, and she had to take a deep breath before speaking. Sometimes words held meaning that changed lives, and he was demanding acknowledgment of something easier left unsaid. Knowing full well what he was doing, to be sure.
Yet she had to answer. “I’m yours.” She gave him the only words that would satisfy him.
His chin lifted and for several long, quiet moments, he studied her. “You are mine. And you won’t be forgetting it again.” He lay next to her and rolled her into his embrace, covering them with a blanket.
Warmth seduced her, but something, a flare of awareness, opened her eyes. His hard body all but enclosed her. “I never really knew you, did I?” she murmured.
His breath brushed her hair. “You knew half of me.”
She sighed and closed her eyes. “Now I know all.”
“Aye, you do. God help you, Nora.” His hold tightened. “Now youhaveall of me.”
