Page 35 of The Reluctant Viking

He smiled at her quick rejoinder and shook his head, probably thinking she wasn’t serious. “I want you.” He put emphasis on each of the three words, trying to make himself clear. As if his ragged breathing and glazed eyes didn’t bring the point home—loud and clear!

“I know,” she whispered, laying an understanding hand on his arm. She jumped back at the jolt of sexual heat that hit her square in her womanly center with just that light touch.

A sensual smile spread on Thork’s parted lips. He sensed what had happened to her, had probably felt it himself.

“You have been teasing me for days, since you first landed at the harbor, sweetling,” Thork rasped out huskily. “’Tis strange this attraction I have for you. I could almost believe we have known each other afore, as you claim. Truly, you seem to know which spots to prick my desire.”

A vast, inordinate pleasure swept over Ruby at his words.

“Are you a sorceress, Ruby? Have you put a spell on me?” Thork asked softly as he took her cup from her and laid it on a nearby window well. With his thumb he wiped a drop of wine from her chin. When he started to withdraw his hand to wipe it on his tunic, Ruby took hold of his thumb. The tip of her tongue peeked out, deliberately enticing him, then licked the wine off the sensitive pad, then licked again.

Thork’s eyes turned dark blue as he shuddered before grabbing her by the waist, turning her back to the wall with toes barely touching the floor. He pinioned her there with his clearly aroused lower body. Expertly he moved his hips from side to side until their bodies fit together—breast to chest, womanhood to manhood.

“O-o-o-h!” Ruby sighed softly, and a low, appreciative growl rose involuntarily from deep in Thork’s throat.

Ruby shut her eyes briefly to savor the exquisite sensation. All the fine hairs on her body stood to attention, attuned to this man whose body was as familiar to her as her own.

When Thork moved back slightly, then ground himself against her—in just the right spot—Ruby gasped.

“I have shown you what I want,” Thork groaned, panting through parted lips. “What do you want?”

“I think…” Ruby tried to speak but her voice broke with emotion. “…I think I’d love one of those kisses I told you about the other day.”

Thork grinned wolfishly, understanding her words immediately. He lowered his lips until they almost touched hers. “How did it go? Long, slow,…”

When his lips finally touched hers, he moved his mouth back and forth until he shaped the kiss to his satisfaction. The kiss was as electrifying as Jack’s had ever been, and more so. They kissed endlessly, never coming up for air. Ruby savored the feel of lips that matched perfectly, knowing instinctively through twenty years of practice what this man liked and needed. Her lips clung to Thork’s eagerly. Ravenous, she could not seem to get enough of their sweet torture.

Finally Thork pulled back slightly and whispered, biting the edge of her bottom lip playfully, “What were the other things that man Kevin liked in his kisses? Was it…yes…deep, I think you said.”

When Thork’s tongue plunged through Ruby’s parted lips and began a slow, rhythmic, in-and-out cadence, Ruby put her arms around Thork’s neck and parted her legs slightly so she could feel him better. His manhood touched the bud of her femininity, and a shock of pleasure hit Ruby, so intense that she went limp in his arms. Thork’s body spasmed in reaction. He pulled his mouth away roughly, holding her face firmly between his two hands.

So hoarsely that Ruby could barely hear him, Thork asked, his self-control obviously near the exploding point, “And the last thing this man liked in his kisses?”

“I can’t think,” Ruby admitted, watching smile lines crinkle Thork’s eyes. But then she murmured, “I remember now. I think it was ‘long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.’”

Thork grinned and Ruby’s heart lurched, as it always did when Jack looked at her like that. There she went again, thinking of the two of them—Jack and Thork—as one.

“I don’t know about the three days, but I think we can manage the next to the last one,” Ruby promised shakily. “Don’t you?” Playing the aggressor, she pulled his head down to hers, then wet his lips with the tip of her tongue before plunging into his mouth as he’d done to hers moments before.

Thork’s low, throaty moan gave proof positive that he liked what she was doing, not to mention the increasing, delicious pressure Ruby felt below the waist.

Thork pulled away from her, passion glazing his eyes.

“Truly, are you a sorceress?”

“No, just a woman.”

“Will you be my woman this night?”

Ruby whimpered as he seduced her with a slight movement of his hips. “Oh, Thork, a part of me wants to, but—”

“Which part?” he asked with a lopsided grin, arching an eyebrow as he moved against her again.

“That’s not fair,” she gasped with a short laugh. “Thork, I want you, too, but I’m too old for one-night stands. I’ve lived with you, I mean Jack, for too many years to be satisfied with so little.”

“One-night stand?”

“It means that I won’t be just another notch on your bedpost, to be forgotten the next day. Unless, of course, you mean your invitation for more than one night.” She looked up at him hopefully.