Chapter 3
Rose
“Shall we play Scrabble?” he asks.
I fight to keep the surprise from my face. “Yes,” I reply. “Why not.”
I shouldn’t judge. Just because he is built like a god doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be up for a little wordplay. And if fucking him in front of the fire is out of the question, then Scrabble is not a bad alternative.
I shift forward on the couch as he pokes about on a heavily laden bookshelf.
“It is here somewhere,” he mutters.
I run my fingers over the copy of the collected works of Robert Burns lying on his coffee table.
“You like to read?” I ask. The question is otiose. The dog-eared appearance of the book tells its own tale. Yet it is still not the most stupid thing that has come out my mouth today.
Blooming data protection.
I’m still cringing.
“Yes,” he replies.
“What’s your favourite?” I ask, flicking the pages of the book idly between my fingers.
“Oh, To a Mouse any day,” he replies. He pronounces mouse as moose but labours the ooh too long. The end result resembles a highland cow lowing. I giggle.
“Argh!” I gasp, jumping as my shaking shoulders send a fat blob of cold water dripping down my back.
He lifts his head.
“Sorry, my hair just dripped.”
“Were you laughing at my terrible Scottish accent?” he asks, his lips curving into a smile.
“Yes, I was,” I confirm with a nod that sends further droplets cascading down my back.
He frowns. “I love his words, but I don’t have much talent for their pronunciation, I’m afraid. I also don’t have a hairdryer. Would you like another towel? I don’t want you to catch pneumonia.”
“I’m fine, thanks. The only place I’m going to be catching ‘pneumonia’ is on that board,” I say, nodding my head towards the Scrabble box in his hand.
He laughs.
I lean back and grab a blanket piled at the far end of the sofa.
It smells of him. Fire licks through my core. I busy myself arranging the blanket round my shoulders, trying to ignore the burning inside me.
I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want Murray Walsh.
But he’s just being kind to a stranger.
And that’s the problem.
He’s an actual god made flesh, with the kind of body that would make any woman go weak at the knees. And he loves Burns. But it is his kindness that is setting my soul ablaze.
As I shift forward on the couch, the blanket falls from my shoulder.
“Keep that wrapped round you,” he instructs, leaning forward. “Keep that body temperature up.”
He ducks his head.
Is this mountain man blushing?
I put my hand up to catch the material to stop it falling again. At the same time, he moves to fix it into place. My fingers brush his.
Something inside me unlocks.
I wrap my hand round his.
I know he won’t resist.
Our mouths crash together, and we tumble into the deep softness of the couch. His tongue parts my lips and I groan with the force of my need for him.
The brush of his tongue against mine catches my breath, and I wrap my arms round his neck, pulling his body to mine. The carnal, visceral ache for his touch both terrifies and thrills me.
I wriggle under him, kicking off the too big joggers and socks and he growls, a rumble of desire stirred deep within his chest by my movement.
My heart pounds.
My body is roaring for him.
And I am going to have him.
I put my hands on his chest, holding him at bay for a second. He watches, his black eyes heavy with desire as I pull his t-shirt over his head, then take off my own t-shirt. Or rather, his.
He bites his lip as my nakedness is fully uncovered. His eyes cover my body, drinking in every last inch of me.
“Stunning,” he murmurs. His cock pressing between my thighs attests to his sincerity. The veneration in his gaze makes me feel like a goddess.
I bury my hands into his curls as he slowly trails a line of tiny bites down my neck, sending a flood of wetness pooling between my legs. His torturous restraint makes me want to cry and come at the same time.
His huge hands range over my body, skating from the swell of my hips over the curve of my belly to my breasts. His breath catches in his throat as he takes their soft weight into his hands. I moan as his calloused thumbs run over my pebbled nipples.
His kisses follow his hands. The brush of his bristling black beard against the soft skin of my abdomen makes my toes curl in all the right ways. He reaches my belly and my hands flutter, trying to hide it. He takes them gently in his.
“No,” he says softly.
He plants a shower of kisses over my stomach, making the fire burning inside me flare with every touch of his lips.
“All of you,” he murmurs. The blazing kisses continue down my abdomen and down the crease of my thigh. His hands gently push my thighs apart.
This isn’t my style. I’m so bad at this sort of thing that I don’t even have a style. I’ve certainly never had a man parked between my thighs, looking at me like I’m the most delicious thing he’s ever seen. That wasn’t my ex’s style.
And yet it feels so right. Every touch is making my body sing. The sight of his huge, shaggy head buried between my thighs makes my tummy flip. This big, sexy beast of a man is lapping at my opening like he’s drinking the nectar of life. He looks up, catching me dead in the eye. I lower my eyelashes, color flooding my cheeks, but he shakes his head, sending his tongue sweeping across my clit with the movement. I catch his gaze as warmth floods through my body.
“Murray, I’m going to...”
“I know, sweetheart,” he says with a wicked grin, then with a single sweep of his tongue, he sends me tumbling into pleasure so intense that I almost forget my own name.
***
I straddle his thicklegs, pressing my fingers into his hulking shoulders. He smiles as he runs his thumbs along my still trembling thighs. I run my hands over the muscle-bound expanse of his chest, pausing for a moment to curl my fingers in the thatch of dark hair in the center of his chest. He watches as my fingers work down through the forest, over his chest and abs to the point where it blurs with his pubic hair.
His cock twitches against my opening. I bite my lip as I take his thick shaft into my hand and stroke gently along its length.
His cock pulses under my touch, and his brow furrows.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he grunts. “I’m just trying not to...”
“Oh, right,” I say and pump his shaft slowly.
He groans. “Here was me thinking I was having a quiet night in with a book...”
“Would you like me to get it for you?” I teasingly open my hand, releasing one finger at a time.
“Maybe later,” he growls and puts his hands on my bum cheeks, holding me in place. His grasp sends a jolt of urgent need snarling through my core. His black eyes meet mine. “There’s only one timorous beastie I’m interested in right now.”
I hold his gaze as I guide him to my opening, watching as his eyes widen as I take him deep into my body. His huge cock fills me, stretching my tunnel in the most delicious way. I groan, wriggling as I adjust to the fullness.
“Are you okay?” he asks, his voice lightly teasing.
I roll my eyes. “Oh, yes.”
I press my lips to his as I begin to move. He puts his hands on my hips reverently, taking the fullness of my curves into his palms. His tongue brushes mine, gently at first, but with more urgency as the rocking of our bodies builds.
Heat floods my lower belly as he moans my name against my mouth. He digs his fingers into my bum cheeks, urging me to give him more. My tunnel convulses.
“Rose, I’m going to come,” he groans.
I run my nails down his chest. He gives a strangled roar and the dam breaks. He thrusts harder, letting go, giving me everything. My body responds, carrying him into the deepest part of me on waves of pleasure. Lights flash over my vision and electricity crackles from my core. I cry his name as I follow him into release.
* * *
I lie in his arms,watching the fire’s flames dance, basking in the heat of his body pressed against mine. Murray strokes his hand down my shoulder and I roll onto my back, looking up into his dark eyes.
“Are you warm enough?” he asks softly.
“Toasty,” I reply. I stretch contentedly, enjoying the widening of his eyes as the arch of my back juts my breasts towards him.
He smiles slowly as he runs the pad of his thumb over my hardening nipple. “So, sleep, Scrabble, or...”
“Something else?” I twine my arms round his neck, pulling him towards me. “Definitely something else.”