If I have to spend the rest of my life doing nothing but keeping the people I care about safe, I’ll die a happy man.
She nods, but I’m not quite sure she believes me.
What happens to me next?
She tips her head to the side, curious.
I bend my mouth to hers. “What happens to you next is that I fuck you until you come so hard you forget your name, then tuck you into bed for a good night’s sleep. Sound good to you?”
She wraps her arms around my neck, eagerly kissing me, her answer loud and clear.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Cairstina
We makelove until the sun rises, and I fall asleep sprawled across his chest. It feels safe here. Secure. He holds me to him like I bring him comfort. I hope I do.
The next day, he wakes before me, but I don’t let him out of bed. I’m feeling more courageous now, more powerful, as I lift myself up on his chest and kiss him. He weaves his fingers through my hair, rolls me over onto my back, and the familiar sensation of arousal threads through me. My legs tremble, and my belly convulses, the nearness of him making me eager to feel him inside me again.
I never dreamed I’d be with any man, let alone a man like him, but when I think about it, it’s fitting. Sometimes I imagine I’m just misplaced, like I’ve been taken from another time and transplanted in the present. And if some omnipotent power could only find where I truly belong, I might slide into place like the last puzzle piece, completing the picture. But I’m an alien creature. Outcast from the modern world, unable tocommunicate with this species, so deeply entrenched in the rich internal life I’ve cultivated that socializing and mingling with others is almost completely foreign to me.
I’m wild and misunderstood.
Like him.
He kisses me with the tenderness of a lover, his lips on mine a silent breathing of life into me. I never dreamed I could taste this, intimacy at its rawest. It’s more delicious than I ever dreamed.
Our bodies move as one. Skin to skin. Breath to breath. Heart to heart.
I part my legs, wordlessly welcoming him in. My whole world was nearly silent before him, and I think it’s the only wish I had now, that I could tell him what this means to me.
“You’re gorgeous, Cairstina,” he whispers in my ear as he slides on a condom and glides into me. His thick, hot cock pulses, and I close my eyes with a silent moan.
I may not be able to speak, but I hope he can tell how much I love this. How much I crave this. How badly I need him to make love to me.
My wrists in his grip, his body dominates mine, almost too heavy, almost too big, but never quite too much anything. If I could moan, the sounds of my pleasure would fill the room, and I wish he could hear how much pleasure he brings me. Maybe he notes my faster breathing, my fingers digging into his shoulder with every perfect, exquisite thrust. Harder and harder, faster and faster he thrusts until my head falls back, my grip tightens, and pleasure rips through me as he chases his own release.
“Perfect,” he whispers, kissing my cheek. “Bloody fucking perfect.”
We clean up in silent harmony, taking a shower like we did the day before. He wants to go to the house to check on his sisters, says he needs to talk with his parents. I bring the romance book with me, eager to finish that as well.
The day goes by the way I’d imagine any day does here. I wonder sometimes if families take this for granted, the simple harmony of a good day’s work. Islan’s working on an essay for a class she’s taking, and Paisley’s taken a sick day. Their mum’s cooking a roast in the kitchen, the staff mostly off for the day. Leith tells me she likes to cook for them all from time to time. He has to meet with his men to discuss business and a trade, and I suspect their plans for dealing with what happened yesterday.
I shiver when I think of the way he and his brothers pummeled the other men. No remorse. No regret. They beat them mercilessly, and clearly wished they’d done more.
My stomach clenches at the memory of blood, broken bone. Violence. Have I left one world of violence for another?
I join his mum in the kitchen.
“Can you peel the tatties, lass?” she asks.
I nod, eager to help and text Leith a message.Please tell her I’m eager to help.
He looks at the text and smiles. “She says just because she can’t speak doesn’t mean she’s an invalid.”
My jaw drops open, and his mum’s eyebrows rise in mild surprise.
I smack his arm, and show her my phone. She reads the text, rolls her eyes, and smacks his other arm.
