Page 75 of In Bed with her Highland Foe

This thought was all consuming as she pulled at his shirt. She was desperate to share what they had shared the night before, only this time, it would be different. It wouldn’t just be about satisfaction, but about something else altogether. She lifted his shirt, breaking their kiss and pulling it over his head. With the cloth gone and discarded on the floor, he looked at her, eyes wide and questioning, not quite touching her as his hands rested on the side of the bathtub.

“Make love tae me,” she begged, answering the question in his eyes. “Dinnae think about names, about secrets, none of it.” She placed a hand in the center of his chest and slowly raised it up toward his neck, resting her hand on the scar there. “Just think about us.”

“I’ll give ye anything ye ask of me, Kyven. I always would.” He bent toward her and kissed her, with that same sensual tenderness as before.

A kind of pleasure coiled in her stomach. The excitement was different now, it made her tremble, her body beyond her own control, as her hands raised and latched onto his shoulders.

She was so busy thinking of his kiss, of the way his tongue met her own, sometimes dominating, other times softly nipping at her bottom lip, tortuously slowly, a promise of what passion could yet come, that it took her a minute to notice that things had changed between them. His hands were on her gown, untying the laces that held it together. She went to help him, their hands brushing and bumping together. They only parted from their kiss as he pushed the gown down her shoulders, at all times holding her gaze.

The dirtied gown was discarded nearby. She went to resume the kiss, but he caught her, his hand slowly taking hold of her waist and turning her around. The air was tension, the crackle of the fire all the more noticeable as he encouraged her to face the bathtub. His hands found the laces at the back of her chemise. This was the next thing to leave her body. He pushed it down, his fingers trailing across her bare shoulders, arms, and her waist as he did so. His fingers lingered on her hips, tightening just long enough to make her breathless, before he continued down. The chemise was discarded to the side along with the boots she was wearing.

When she no longer wore a stitch, she turned back to face him, arching her body against his own as he kissed her. He growled in the back of his throat, a sound of pure need. Kyven shivered for the want of more, to feel his touch on the most private parts of her body, but it seemed that Gilchrist was intent on taking things slow this time.

He parted from her again, took her waist, and turned her to the bath. She understood what he wanted and stepped up into the bath. As she sat down in the tub, angling her head around, she watched him strip off his own clothes. He shed the shirt, which had offered him little to no warmth all day. His chest gleamed in the firelight, making her bite her lip, as he proceeded to his trews, discarding them too, then he stepped toward the tub.

He was so tall, so long of limbs compared to her, that she wondered wildly how they were both supposed to fit, but he managed it with ease. Sinking into the water behind her, he lifted her, their bodies sliding together in the water, until she was sat in his lap, facing away from him.

“First, I will adore every part of ye,” he whispered in her ear. “So ye ken exactly what I feel fer ye.”

“I ken…” she whispered, just wanting him to touch her, but he had reached for the soap and had started to explore her body. Slow and sensual hands rubbed over her arms and shoulders first. When he moved to her breasts, excitement erupted in her abdomen. He squeezed softly, not hard, but just enough for her to feel how much he had wanted to do this, growling in her ear as he did so. His hands moved on again, one palm splayed across her waist and stomach as the other moved down to her rear, cupping it beneath the water.

She hissed, gasping at the thrilling feeling of his hands. His long fingers continued on again. One hand went for her thigh, teasing her by running up the inside of her leg, so near to her center, but not quite there.

“Tell me ye are mine,” he whispered huskily in her ear as she leaned back against him, her head finding his shoulder.

“I… I’m yers,” she murmured. “I always have been.”

He sighed deeply and sank his head into her neck, kissing her with open-mouthed, wet kisses and nips that made her writhe in his lap. One of his hands spread her legs apart, moving her foot so it rested beside his left thigh. It opened her body up enough beneath the water that he could slide his fingers toward her center.

His fingers slid home at once, reaching inside her with such sudden relief that she gasped again, her pleasure palpable in the air.

“Oh…” She didn’t know what name to moan. He had always been Gilchrist to her, but should he be Michael now? Her pleasure came out as breathy sounds instead, as he slid his fingers in and out of her, setting up a slow rhythm that was a sort of beautiful torture as she longed for more.

“Tell me again,” he pleaded huskily, his hand moving faster and faster. “Tell me.”

“I always was yers.” These words seemed to break him. His other hand gripped her hip harder as he shifted the two of them. His fingers left her and though she whimpered at the loss of contact, he turned her fast beneath the water, so she was no longer facing away from him, but facing him, straddling him.

He guided her hips to his, looking her in the eyes as his length nudged her entrance. He didn’t quite pull her down, but just gazed into her eyes.

“Please,” she begged, wrapping her arms around his neck and shoulders and moving her lips to his, kissing him. He rocked their hips together. She felt him nudge a little bit deeper, the pleasure making her body tight, but he didn’t take her fully – not yet. “I love ye,” she murmured.

His lips captured hers completely in a fuller kiss, his tongue dominating her mouth, as he gripped her hips and pulled her down fully onto him. Feeling the full penetration made her hands grip his shoulders tight, holding her body flat to his, so she could touch every part of his muscular chest beneath the water.

He had been right when he said it would not hurt again. All she felt now was a sizzling heat and a pleasure so great, she could manage no more words. He rocked their bodies, continuously, but still slowly. She started to dither and tremble in his arms, clutching to him, allowing him to control the speed by lifting her hips and bringing her back down again.

Soon, she was moaning so much, she couldn’t keep kissing him. She leaned back a bit, the better to look him in the eye. Such desire was hooded in those blue eyes of his that she moaned even more. How many times had she dreamt he would look at her in such a way, and yet to see him do it was somehow even more powerful.

“Ah, Kyven,” he moaned, tipping his head back a little. “Ye have nay idea how long I have desired this, have desired ye, have loved ye, have wanted ye.”

His words were making her mad. She prayed this feeling would never end. Her body was growing tight, the pleasure somehow greater.

He shifted their position. One arm wrapped around her waist, he held her tight, safely to his chest, then he moved them to the other side of the tub, so her back was against the other edge, her legs far apart, with him above her. He planted a hand on the rim of the bath, using it to give him great purchase and move their bodies faster.

She couldn’t look away from him – it was impossible as she admired him, watching his dark hair, his blue eyes, his muscled chest, as her hands explored him. Her fingers ran over his scar, over his bare skin, over the toned chest.

He moved faster still. She tried to spread her legs as much as she possibly could within the confines of the bath, her moans growing louder and louder. She feared soon, someone from downstairs in the tavern would surely hear her, but Gilchrist didn’t seem to mind. His smile was growing by the second as she made sounds which were beyond her control.

Then it happened. She reached her end suddenly, her abdomen tightening as her whole body constricted. Her toes curled beneath the water, one hand scratching down his chest as the other gripped his shoulder.