“Do you believe me, Miran?”
“Aye.”
Now was not the time to confess. She needed comforting, perhaps a kiss.Aye.She stared unblinking at his full lips.
“Miran?”
She raised her eyebrows but dinna look away from his lips.
“Why are you gazing at my mouth?”
“Because it is a pleasant mouth.”
He chuckled. “Pleasant is not what comes to mind when I think of my mouth.”
“Nay?”
“Nay. My mouth has been many places.”
“I doona care about yer past, only where yer mouth is now.”
“Wicked places,” he said.
His revelation dinna upset her.
“Miran. Look at me.”
“Must I?”
“Aye.”
She glanced up. “Hmm?”
“I need to know you are all right.” She noted how quickly his eyes darkened.
“I am better now,” she assured him. “The stripes on my back and arms will heal. I will recover my pride soon enough.”
“No one deserves what she did to you. She had no right. And when I find her…”
“Shh.” She framed his face between her hands and pulled him down, letting her lips touch his. She’d never initiated a kiss before. In fact, Kai was the only man she’d ever had intimate contact with. It felt good to offer herself to him, to show him how much she wanted to kiss him again.
At first, he dinna kiss her back. But she refused to give up. She traced the seam of his bottom lip with the tip of her tongue. Teasing him. Provoking him. And as she hoped, he slipped his hand behind her head, his fingers threading through her braids.Aye. Kiss me.
He did.
Her tongue yielded to his—welcoming him inside her. She loved how he tasted. Loved how she sensed he was still restraining his passion. What would it feel like to unleash his inner beast, to be the object of his primal lust? His love?
He pulled back enough to look down at her and swallowed hard. “Miran. You are not thinking clearly. I will not take advantage of you like this.”
A soft laugh escaped her. “I am thinking more clearly now than I ever have, Kai.”
He looked bewildered. “How can it be?”
“Because it took Cadha abusing me to realize what a mistake I have made. Though, in my own defense, I had come to regret some of my actions toward ye before we left Sands Airgid.” She had said many hurtful things.
“You do not think I should have taken Leod as my Highland name?”
Miran coughed. “Nay. Ye are no’ ugly, Kai, as well ye know.”
