He thought about that and then gave a shrug she couldn't translate. She finished the cake and then stood to stretch her legs. "Sun's going down. As soon as it sets, I'm headed back." She kept her tone light, but it was a warning nonetheless—nothing was going to happen between them.
Devin moved the basket aside, grabbed Double H, flipped onto his stomach, opened the book, and read, "Och, lass, stop yer strugglin' will ye?" he read in an accent as thick as Hamish's. Kate glared at him over her shoulder. "It appears," he said in his regular voice, reading on, "that one Alastair Stewart. A laird, mind you, has just kidnapped the stunning Fiona Campbell, and wants to have his wicked way with her. A lass with raven hair and eyes like the bluest sky."
Kate searched the ground for a rock to throw at him.
"Interesting. She looks like you, Kate," he went on, and she just wanted to walk into the loch and keep going. "A feisty wench, too, with full lips and milky white breas—"
Kate grabbed the pebble at her foot and beamed him in the shoulder before he could continue. "I can't believe I'm saying this—to you of all people—but, stop talking."
"You hit me with a rock," he said with stunned laughter in his tone.
"I was aiming for your head. Keep reading and I'll find a larger one."
A spark came into his eyes. Oh no. Not good. "If you can't play fair, Fiona…" he surged up and came after her.
Kate ran. "Me! You started it!"
He grabbed her up and tossed her over his shoulder. She screamed, exhilaration coursing through her veins as she laughed and demanded he release her. Devin walked her back to the blanket, knelt, and placed her on her back. Her legs ended up trapped between his as he hovered over her, using his hands on either side of her biceps to close her in.
The mood change rapidly from breathless laughter to charged awareness. A long moment passed. He was so close she could see the flecks of earthy green and gold in his eyes, and the faint lines at the corners of his eyes. She loved the way his hair curled around his ears and neck. Her hand came up and cupped his jaw, feeling the stubble underneath and the way his muscle flexed beneath her palm at her touch. She wanted him with an intensity unlike anything before, but fear held her back. Fear of how significant the moment felt.
Fear of being hurt. Betrayed. Of feeling more for him than he felt for her.
"What are we doing?" she asked, looking him square in the eyes.
He lowered his big body, pinning her to the ground, his weight feeling good and right. His forearms kept him from crushing her completely. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "I can't think straight when you're around. I don't know. At this moment, I don't care. Do you?"
Her stomach flipped like crazy. Her pulse rushed through her ears so loud she could barely hear herself think. Her lips parted as his hand smoothed her hair back from her cheek. She knew she was lost before she even shook her head.
Chapter 11
Thank God. The relief that filled Dev was so huge it hit him like a damn truck, scaring him into stillness for a moment. He didn't scare easily, but damn if that hadn't done the trick. He had to take it slow, had to hold strong against the driving need to claim her, to take everything she had to give and give her everything he had in return.
And it stunned him he wanted that, to stop holding back a part of himself. It was a feeling he hadn't felt in a very long time.
Maybe Hamish and Fran are right. But the thought breezed into and out of his mind, tiny and fleeting, as he lowered his mouth to hers.
The soft feel and the taste of chocolate icing lingering on her lips nearly killed his resolve to go slow. He licked her bottom lip, kissed her again, and then slid inside, meeting her tongue in slow deep strokes that told her exactly what he wanted to do to her later. All the blood in his body retreated south, and pulsed there hard and demanding.
When he lifted his head next, he was damn near lost in a haze of sexual fog. "Kate," he whispered. Asking. Needing to know.
She answered by reaching between them and unbuttoning his pants and then hers, pulling down her zipper. The sound was just about the sexiest thing he'd ever heard. "Now, Devin. All the other stuff can wait." Her voice was faint and desperate, filled with need, and he had to amend his earlier thought. Her voice. Those words. Sexiest sound ever.
He pushed off the ground and helped her shimmy her shorts over her hips to reveal the most mind-altering pair of hip-hugging black lace panties he'd ever seen complete with a tiny pink heart in the center. "Now yours," she said, her words barely registering. Christ. He wasn't going to make it. Those panties… "Devin."
Knocked from his distraction, heart pounding, he stood and dropped his pants along with his boxer briefs. It was the fastest he'd ever moved in his life. Kate was already shoving her panties down, but he stopped her with his hands. Her eyes were glassy and filled with desire and emotion—overwhelmed, like him.
His heart constricted. He leaned down and kissed her softly.
"I just need…" she tried to explain as a tear leaked from the corner of her eye. "Shit." She laughed even as her brow drew together in a frown. He would've been worried by this, but Dev understood her completely. What was happening between them was more than just sex. So much more. It was terrifying and humbling. And, yeah, it was love plain and simple. It had struck them hard since the day they met, working its magic and leaving them scrambling to keep up.
"God," she said squirming beneath him, her voice breathless and quick as her palm slid up his biceps to his shoulders and around his neck. "I'm losing it. I don't know why I'm crying when I'm horny as hell and about to go off. Please do something."
Aye, he loved this woman. As crazy as it sounded. As crazy as she was. And he was going to give her the night of her life, every damn night for the rest of his life if she'd have him. He pulled up her shirt and placed a kiss on her stomach. "Hold on, Fiona," he said, smiling against her soft, warm skin. "I'm about to have my way with you."
"About time," he heard her dry mutter.
While Dev loved the underwear, they had to come off. His hands were shaking as he slid the material down her legs. He couldn't fucking see straight. He had wits enough left to reach for his pants, grab the condom he'd been optimistically carrying with him every since their first mind-shattering meeting.
