| |
Just as she had on Braden’s first night at Dunnwood, Moira once again stood staring at the door to his bedroom.
She’d had her belongings moved into the rooms belonging to the lady of the castle earlier in the day, and though it felt a little strange, it also felt oddly right. Her monthly time had concluded two days ago and she was impatient to return to her husband’s bed.
Whereas on that first night she’d stood at this door she’d been tense with uncertainty, tonight her tension held a healthy dose of giddiness and, dare she say...hope. But she was also nervous because all that day she’d noticed something different in his eyes when he’d looked at her. A quiet question. A pensiveness she hadn’t seen in him before.
Whatever it meant, it would not keep her from going to him tonight.
Her time with him outside of the bedroom made her realize something important. If she would have him as husband for only a year and a day, then she would fully embrace every bit of their time together. No more holding back in a futile attempt to protect her heart. It was already his.
If she was destined to suffer a broken heart, she deserved to experience all of the thrills and excitement and passion and fear that came with it.
So now, here she stood, staring at his closed door as she acknowledged that committing to doing something and actually doing it were two different things. And loving a man like Braden was proving to be a heady and terrifying experience.
She pressed a hand to her chest and took a few deep, bracing breaths. As she exhaled her third, the door in front of her suddenly opened.
Braden’s large muscled body was dramatically framed by the low-burning fire behind him. The obvious strength in his bare torso made Moira’s next inhale tight and difficult as the heat of desire claimed her in an instant.
There was a moment of stark silence as they stared intently at each other. Then Moira felt the heated path of his gaze penetrating the thin cotton nightgown she wore. His wonderfully sculpted lips parted when his attention swept over her breasts. But as his gaze lowered to the dark shadow between her thighs, he rolled his bottom lip between his teeth and sucked a swift breath.
Moira’s core melted, making her legs weak. Anticipation fluttered through her bloodstream.
“Were you coming to me?” he asked, his voice thick and...hungry.
Moira nodded and saw a bright flare of desire and triumph in his gaze. As nerves slowly overwhelmed her, she swept her hand to indicate the room behind her. “I’ve moved my things...” she began, but her voice trailed off because Braden had taken a very deliberate step toward her.
She held her breath as he took another. But when his arm came around her waist to pull her against his hard body, the air escaped her lungs in a ragged sigh.
“It’s about bloody time,” he muttered as his lips descended to hers.
The kiss was fierce, possessive, and deep.
There was no patient, practiced seduction. There were no flirty caresses or teasing strokes of his lips. Just a hard claiming with demanding thrusts of his tongue while his hand dove into her hair to hold her head secure for the onslaught.
A raw sound of need sounded in Moira’s throat as she wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted her legs to wrap them about his hips. The groan of satisfaction that rolled from his chest sent a jolt of pleasure through her.
A few long strides had her falling back onto his bed as he came down atop her. The welcome weight of his hips between her thighs had her back bowing in a deep arch.
With a growl of hunger, he lowered his head to trail wet, hot kisses down her neck as he loosened the ties of her nightgown. A moment after the air touched her uncovered breasts, he took one peak deep into his mouth, swirling his tongue over her nipple.
When he lifted his head to shift to the other breast, he murmured against her flushed skin, “These last days have been heaven and hell. Having you close yet being unable to touch you...to take you,” he added roughly with a thrust of his hips that pressed his hard length to the sweetly aching juncture of her thighs.
And Moira was lost.
***
Need shook Braden to the very marrow of his bones. Longing rolled unheeded through him along with something deeper and more profound.
With his pulse thundering in his ears, he grasped a fistful of the voluminous cotton tangled about her stunning body and swept it up over her head. After taking her mouth in a deep and drugging kiss, he pulled away long enough to remove his trousers, desperately needing to feel her skin against his.
Then he settled between her spread thighs, his chest crushing her soft breasts, his smooth head poised at her entrance as he took her mouth like a man starved. His breath mixed with hers while his tongue thrust deep and his teeth scraped unheeded.
Though he wanted to plunge into her hot sheath in one fierce thrust of his hips, he forced himself to go slow, to ease her body back into accepting him.
He had just the tip of his thick erection inside her when she issued a short sound of frustration and reached around him to grasp his buttocks, curling her fingernails into his skin as she lifted her hips toward him. The urgency of her touch sent a sharp tingle of pleasure down his spine.
With a heavy groan, he pressed his open mouth to the side of her throat where her pulse fluttered against his tongue. Then he dove into her slick heat with one demanding thrust. Her gasp of shock at the fierceness of his possession slid into a throaty moan as he gave a deep circle of his hips before withdrawing and claiming once again.
She held tight to him, arching her back and rocking her hips up to meet the powerful rhythm of his plunging strokes.
The passion of her response swept him up as the pleasure rose thick in his blood. He was already on the verge of release. Clenching his teeth, he held back. Bracing himself on his elbows, he looked down at his bride.
Her face was flushed, her jaw tense, and her full lips parted for her ragged breath.
Her eyes were closed.
A fierce rush of frustration rose inside him. He wanted more than her passion. He wanted her trust, her vulnerability, her heart.
With a harsh growl, he wrapped his arms around her and rolled to his back, pulling her with him to settle astride his hips, his cock still buried deep within her.
Her eyes flew open in surprise as she pressed her palms to his chest to steady herself in the unfamiliar position. “What are you doing?” Despite her confusion, her green gaze was dark with fathomless desire.
The sight of it sent a shock of pleasure through Braden. He held her gaze, intently demanding the intimacy of her unshielded response. Grasping her hips in his hands, he held her steady above him as he rocked his length inside her.
“I want you to see me, Moira. See me beneath you as you feel me inside you. I need your eyes on me.”
The flutter of her lashes and the tensing of her belly and thighs preceded a silky moan as she curved her hips to better receive his upward thrusts. And though her eyelids were heavy and something far more intense than desire swirled within her lush, mysterious gaze, she did not close her eyes.
“Yes, love,” Braden murmured, “just like that. Take what you want from me.”
It was not long before she discovered a rhythm of her own as she lifted and lowered herself along his length. Though Braden held fast to her hips, he released all control to her. It was easy. It was perfect.
Her dark hair was a wild tangle about her shoulders, her breasts bounced, and her skin glowed in the firelight. The way she moved drew upon every strand of pleasure woven through his body, pulling it tight until his balls ached and his cock throbbed for release. But her eyes held him steady and filled him with the strength he needed to wait for her to claim her own pleasure.
And she was so close. Her fingernails curled into the muscles of his chest, sweat glistened on her smooth skin, and her bottom lip was held fast between her teeth.
Only then did her focus flicker as a frown tugged at her brows and her thighs trembled.
“Braden,” she gasped in a pleading tone. “I canna... Please...”
With a flash of understanding, he reached for her, drawing her down to his chest as he rolled them over again.
This time, he rose up to his knees, lifting her hips against him as he continued a slow, deep thrust into her heated, swollen sheath.
“Look at me.” She did. Her eyes stark and needful.
He withdrew from her in a long glide, reveling in the grasp of her inner muscles along his length. When he plunged forward again, he tilted the angle to better access the sensitive flesh deep inside her.
She gasped and moaned, but she continued to hold his gaze. A few more thrusts like that and she was gripping the sheets in tight fists, her back arching and her breasts trembling. Braden had to bite his own lip to keep himself in check.
“Now, reach between your legs, sweetheart,” he said gruffly. “I want to see you touch yourself.”
Her eyes flashed but she did not hesitate to lower her hand to where they were joined. Her initial tentative exploration of her fingertips brought a breathlessness to her face that was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. But as she circled the needful peak of her sex, her expression became fierce with need.
“That’s it,” Braden encouraged through clenched teeth as the throbbing, sweet ache of impending release pushed up through his body. “The pleasure is yours, love. Take it.”
Her gaze flickered and her lips parted to draw harsh breaths as her hand moved more swiftly. Then her body tensed. Her eyes widened and his name slid from her throat in a velvet moan.
Her inner muscles squeezed around him in a pulsing caress as she claimed her orgasm.
Though his body shook with the need to come, he stayed with her as long as he could, thrusting gently to prolong her pleasure until her hand fell limp to the bed. He barely managed to pull free of her before the first pulse of his release lashed across her flushed skin.
Her lovely penetrating gaze didn’t leave his until he’d spent himself completely.