Chapter 20 #2
Aftyn fought the urge to catch it and clutch it to her chest. Her husband wanted to see her.
All of her. And she wanted the same of him.
She let the beautiful silk slip down her body, reveling in the cool slide over her hips and down her legs to the floor.
She stood, letting Jamie look, enjoying the awe and appreciation in his dark gaze.
Deeming he’d seen enough for now, she took the hem of his léine in her fingers and lifted it, skimming his belly and ribs, watching his eyes darken even more as he lifted his arms for her to pull it over his head.
He helped her with that, and in a moment, he, too, stood naked.
Aftyn let her gaze drop from his shoulders to his muscled chest, following a line of dark hair down the slabs of muscle on his abdomen to his manhood. She sucked in a soft breath, trying not to gasp at his size. She’d seen him in his bath, but not quite this close and not this aroused.
“Dinna fash,” he told her. “Ye will be ready before I breach yer defenses.”
She found the will to grin up at him. “Spoken like a true warrior.”
“Aye, but the healer in me doesna wish to do ye harm.”
“Yet ye must,” she objected.
“Only for a moment, and it will pass.”
“Ye willna diminish what I feel…”
“Nay, I will let it happen, so ye ken ye are truly mine.”
Aftyn nodded and lifted her hands to his chest. “’Tis what I want. And how I want ye, truly mine, as well.”
“I, too.”
Even after he kissed her mouth and stroked her body to a shuddering climax, she wondered if she’d made the right decision in telling Jamie not to blunt the pain of her deflowering. He was huge, and as he began to enter her, the stretching sensation gave her pause.
“Are ye…”
“I’m well. I think.” She wanted this, more than anything, but getting Jamie past her maidenhead seemed impossible. And then he thrust again, a little farther, before easing back. She wanted to love the sense of fullness his presence inside gave her. Was she ready?
“This will hurt, lass, and I’m sorry for it, but…”
Aye, she was ready. It was time. “Make me yers, husband.”
Without warning, Jamie thrust, harder, farther. She felt something tear and gasped against the pain. He held still, and when she could breathe again, she asked, “Is it done?”
“Aye. Ye are mine, my love. Does it still hurt?”
The fullness, the pressure, and a little twinge remained, but even that was fading. “A little, but ’tis waning. Did ye…?”
“Nay. I promised I wouldna, and I keep my promises to ye.”
“I ken it.” She took a breath. “I’m ready for more.”
“Then more ye shall have.”
Jamie pulled back and thrust again, slowly, gently, until he found a rhythm.
She still felt full and tight, but he fit and suddenly she realized she liked what he was doing.
Her body seemed to know how to respond to him.
She clung to him and lifted her hips, seeking more, deeper, faster.
Jamie obliged. She felt herself tightening, filling with a delicious tension until suddenly, she reached the pinnacle again and her body filled with delighted sensations from her fingertips to her core.
Jamie plunged into her twice more, then arched, groaning her name as his hot seed filled her with a whole new sensation.
They stayed together, still except for sated breaths, for long minutes, then Jamie rolled to the side and pulled her with him.
“My love, my wife, forever,” he murmured into her hair.
“My love, my husband, forever,” she answered as she drifted into a lovely, warm haze.
Morning came softly, pearly light glowing outside their window.
Jamie woke first and took his time drinking in the sight of his wife.
His wife. A year ago, he would not have believed such a thing possible.
The MacKyrie Seer’s words came back to him.
As she predicted, he had found another path, and new ways to help those he loved.
His days as a hotheaded youth were behind him.
The last time he’d lost his temper had been for Aftyn’s sake, not his own.
He hadn’t accomplished anything with his anger—another lesson he took to heart.
With Aftyn at his side, he’d learned the value of his heritage and the control to use his talent—and his temperament—wisely.
Pleasing his wife had become his favorite way to do that. Last night, he’d been eager to give Aftyn the pleasure he knew would ease their joining when he made her his. He loved her, and he’d wanted her to know exactly what they did together, to feel the joy in it, all the way to her bones.
It had been magical.
His abilities aside, she was the witch in the family, to make him feel what he had while wrapped in his pleasure.
The unfamiliar, wonderful sensations of her sensual awakening had added to the power of their joining.
Her climax had sent his soaring to heights he’d never reached before.
If only he could have shared with her how that made him feel.
In a way, perhaps he had. She was not sensitive to him in the same way he was to her, but he had no doubt she was aware of every nuance of feeling he possessed.
She could please him, console him, soothe him, make him laugh, whatever he needed, unerring in her perception of his feelings.
More than once, he wondered if she had a talent of her own, like his. He was a lucky man.
Exhausted, they’d both fallen quickly asleep, but a new day meant a new opportunity to please Aftyn. If she wanted more, he was ready. And if she was sore, he could ease that for her.
Instead, he let her sleep, content to watch her dream.
The changing light painted her skin and made her glow like a pearl.
Her dark hair spread on the pillow around her head.
He picked up a strand near his face and wrapped it around his fingers, reveling in its silky slip.
The sheet had slid down during the night, exposing her breasts.
Their pink tips tempted him to taste, lick, and suckle Aftyn awake.
But nay, he would await her pleasure for his own.