He moved toward her, letting the back of his finger slide down the velvety softness of her bare skin. Her shoulder, her arm, the hard tip of her breast. He let it linger there, rubbing back and forth—in lazy circles—over the delectable pink tip.
He couldn’t wait to suck it. To circle his tongue around it. To take it between his teeth and tug until she squirmed and arched into his mouth.
His voice softened as he looked into her eyes. “Aye, it means that I’ve never wanted anyone so badly in my life. That I have been well and thoroughly seduced. That I couldn’t walk away if my life depended on it.” And it might. In the back—the very back—of his mind he was aware that it wasn’t just honor he was risking. “That I love you and can’t wait to make you mine.”
The look of joy that broke across her face was not something he would ever forget. It made the euphoria of the past couple of days pale by comparison. “Oh, Thommy.”
She threw herself into his open arms and he was kissing her. Hungrily. Passionately. Maybe a little desperately. Now that the last barrier between them had been torn down, the floodgates had opened and everything came rushing out hard and fast.
He’d been good for too damned long. As long as he was going to ignore his honor, he would bloody well make the most of it.
He kissed her until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He broke away as much to catch his breath and try to get a rein on the lust teeming through his body as he did to take off his clothes.
He let her look her fill, which wasn’t easy given how easy it was to read her thoughts. He was glad she liked his body, but Christ, those lusty looks weren’t helping his restraint any.
“You sure have a lot of muscle.”
There wasn’t much to say to that. He did.
“I like it.”
His mouth twitched. “Good.”
All of a sudden she frowned. “Will they go away if you stop using the hammer at the forge? Because if they will, I might have to insist you keep—”
“El.” She was killing him. He’d waited long enough.
She looked up from his chest. “Yes.”
“Come here.”
She did as he asked, and he helped lower her down to where he’d covered the ground with his cloaks. It was hardly a romantic bower, and less than ideal for their first time, but in a way there was something right about it. The forge was where they’d spent so much time together in their youth; it had helped bring them to this moment.
She seemed not to mind the makeshift bed, and when she pulled him down on top of her, he didn’t either. The first contact of skin on skin was like a combustion of pleasure, firing everything else in its wake.
Elizabeth’s heart was beating so fast she thought it might explode. Her senses already were. The feel of Thommy on top of her, of his hot skin pressed against hers, of his solid weight and rock-hard muscles...
She moaned, groaned, and begged for more with her body as his mouth covered hers in a frantic, heady kiss.
It was hard to know where she left off and he began. They seemed fused as one. It was magic. It was perfect. It was meant to be. Never had she been more sure of anything in her life.
She was finding it hard to be patient. She couldn’t get enough of his mouth, his hands. They covered her body, skimming, caressing, squeezing. And she wanted it harder, faster, rougher. She gripped the muscles of his shoulders, her fingers digging in to show her need, as she dragged his body against hers—the pressure, the friction, the rubbing, exquisite.
He growled low in his throat, responding to her need. She could feel the scrape of his jaw against her fevered skin as his mouth traveled down her throat, her chest...
She cried out as he took her nipple in his mouth, the suction of heat incredible. He sucked her deep and hard, letting his tongue circle the aching tip as his hands slid between her legs.
A rush of heat and dampness followed. She remembered what he’d done. How it felt when he touched her. How much she liked the feel of his finger stroking her, and how it had felt when he’d made her explode.
He did it again. His mouth on her breast, his finger between her legs, she cried out as the spasms of pleasure racked her.
He lifted his head, a pained expression on his handsome face. God, how had she almost given this up? How could she have been so foolish to think love didn’t matter?
“You are so responsive that you are making it difficult to go slow, sweetheart.”
“Then don’t go slow,” she said. “I want you inside me.” She put her hand on him to show him what she meant.
She didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t the softness of a thin, silky glove over steel. As it seemed the most natural thing to do, she circled him.
