25

AFTER A FEW MOMENTS, Bann broke off the kiss. With an intensity that bordered on desperation, he undressed her, impatient hands and mouth everywhere on her body. When the last piece of clothing was tossed into a corner, he lowered her to a sitting position on the bed, then stepped back and unbuckled his belt. The rasp of his zipper opening was downright erotic. Sliding off his jeans and briefs, he kicked them aside. In the candlelight, the Celtic knot decorating his right shoulder looked like a spider web, the bandages like pale wings beneath it.

She took a moment to enjoy the soft play of light along the mountains and valleys of his body before letting her eyes drift further south. Whoa. Bann naked and all roused up in person is much, much better than I imagined. And she had imagined it a lot.

With the flickering flame of the candle measuring time, Bann took her right up to the yellow tape of insanity—the sadistic bastard—but never let her cross it. His fingers caressed and stroked and probed, his mouth hot and wet on hers. Or on other places on her body.

As she shook beneath him, panting, he paused to murmur in her ear. “Are ye ready for me?”

“Oh, gods, Bann, I am. Please. Enough already. Just…just…” She was almost grateful for the slight reprieve when he rolled away for the condom.

A few moments later, he repositioned himself between her thighs with a gentle kiss. A pause, a searching, then he eased into her, filling her. She bit down on a moan. Stilling his motions to allow her body to adjust to the fullness, she could feel him trembling, the cords in his arms standing out as he braced himself above her. She gazed into his eyes, inches from hers, their blue almost black with passion.

“I’ll try to be gentle,” he whispered.

“Gods, I hope not,” she whispered back.

He began to thrust, slowly at first, then harder. She pressed her hands along his lower back, feeling the muscles bunching under her palms, the skin slick with perspiration. Without stopping his movements, he reached back and hooked his arm behind one of her knees, easing her leg up and spreading her wider.

She closed her eyes, gasping with each plunge, almost whimpering as her climax approached. “Oh, gods, yes,” she moaned. “Just like that, Bann.”

One. Two. Three perfectly angled thrusts. Then she was there. Exquisite pleasure tsunamied up her body in wave after wave.

With a grunt, Bann came a moment later, shuddering through his own climax. A drop of sweat fell from his face and landed on Shay’s breast as he pumped a few more times, finishing up. Gasping, he collapsed on top of her. Or passed out. Either way, she didn’t mind.

Reveling in the feel of the man on her as well as in her, she fingered the damp hair clinging to the back of his neck, conscious of her own sweaty body as she waited for her heart to stop trying to pound its way out between her ribs. Bann mumbled something in her ear.

“Sorry. I didn’t quite catch that.”

“I said, ‘tis been a while.”

Not sure if she should ask, but… “How long is awhile?”

He raised himself on his elbows, face relaxed in a way Shay hadn’t seen before and eyelids drooping. “Twelve months, one week, and four days, I believe.”

“Well, that’s twelve months, one week, and three days too long.” They both laughed softly. When Bann started to pull out, she tightened her arms around him. “Just a minute more.”

“I’m not hurting ye, am I?”

“Not made of glass, you know.”

A faint smile. “That ye are not.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “However…” He rolled off. “I’ll be right back.”

Bann disappeared into the bathroom. The sound of running water followed. Shay sighed, curling her toes and stretching her arms over her head. Every joint in her body felt loose and warm, like the wax running down the side of the dying candle. Suddenly aware of the chill of the room, she pulled the covers back and burrowed under them. A minute later, Bann reappeared and crawled into bed next to her. Cuddled beside him, her head resting on his shoulder and her fingers running through the hairs on his chest, Shay let herself drift.

Her eyes flew open when he cleared his throat and started to speak. Oh, for the love of Danu! She reached up to lay a finger on his lips. “I know what you’re going to say, Bannerman Boru.”

“Oh, ye do, do ye?”

“Yeah, I do. So, shut up and let me say it first. Look, we are Tuatha Dé Danaan, and Celts to boot. Not mortals, with their Puritan-twisted hang-ups about sex. We look upon a romp in bed as simply a delightful pastime between—”

“A delightful pastime?”

“Okay, a mind-blowing pastime. Satisfied?”

“In several ways.”

“—between two people. There’s nothing more to it unless the two wish to make it so.”

Bann’s chest rumbled under her ear. “Ye must be a sorceress, being able to journey inside me head.”

“Damn straight. Now shut up and—”

He did.