Chapter 18
“‘Tis nae ye who will decide for me,” Talia told the stubborn man sitting in front of her. “I ken what is right and what is wrong for me. ‘Tis nae ye who will tell me.”
She felt anger rise within her.
How dare he look so miserable when she was the one who was hurt by his stubbornness?
He was being unreasonable, and in doing so, he was punishing them both. Yet, rather than mend things, he had done naught but be cold towards her and hide away in his chambers, drinking.
She grabbed the bottle from his hands and took a swig of it, coughing at how it burned a fiery path down her throat.
“What the devil were ye thinkin’?” he scoffed, snatching the bottle from her hand.
She coughed and tried to blink past the tears forming in her eyes, but it felt as though she were dying. The drink left a bitter taste in her mouth that made her feel like retching, but she swallowed.
“I wanted to experience the joy ye find in drink,” she answered. “I feel like me heart is on fire.”
He chuckled deeply, and the sound reverberated through her in a way she didn’t like.
“It will pass soon,” he said and set the bottle aside. “And it isnae for enjoyment. ‘Tis more to forget yer troubles.”
She looked at him then and noted the dark circles under his eyes.
She turned away from him again as the air grew heavy. She was all too aware of what had happened the last time they had been alone together, and she didn’t know if she wanted it to happen again.
“And do ye think I’m right for ye, Talia?” he asked, his voice thick with emotion.
Her heart skipped a beat at his question.
She turned back to him and saw that he had leaned forward. She had not expected him to, but now she noted the stubble growing on his jaw and how his pulse beat rapidly in his throat.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. Her mouth went dry as she looked at him, the intensity of his gaze rooting her to the spot.
Why did he have to be so beautiful?
He was so close, so firm and unyielding in front of her, that she itched to touch him, to run her hands over him and pull him against her so he didn’t pull away again.
Her blood simmered with a need she couldn’t explain beyond a desire to taste him again, and her lips tingled with the memory of how it felt to kiss him, how it felt to have his hands on her. This stubborn man, who had pushed her away at every turn and broken her heart time and again.
She knew her answer without thinking too deeply about it, and knew that saying the words would change everything between them. And she was more than ready for things to change.
“Aye,” she answered, meeting his eyes. “I ken ye’re good for me, Darragh, and I choose ye.”
She saw the moment the walls he had erected around himself came crashing down, and when his arms wrapped around her, her soul breathed a deep sigh of elation.
Darragh had known he would be powerless to resist Talia the moment she had stepped into his study, but when she had uttered those words, every voice of reason went silent.
“I ken ye’re good for me, Darragh, and I choose ye.”
He hadn’t realized how much he had needed to hear those words, but now that she had said them, all the walls he had built to keep her from fully possessing him crumbled.
He kissed her without any restraints, telling her without words of the frustration he had felt when he denied himself of her every day that passed. She moaned into his mouth and kissed him with equal fervor, burying her hands in his hair.
Devils!
Her passionate response to his kisses would be his undoing.
He pulled her lower lip between his teeth, then her upper lip, alternating between the two as he feasted on her.
Gone was the groggy numbness the alcohol had filled him with.
In its place was a roaring flame that had his blood singing with dangerous need.
She gasped when he nipped her lips, and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth. He kept his strokes slow at first and then he increased his pace. She quickly matched his pace, making him shudder.
His hands roamed over her body, but her layers irritated him, since all he wanted was to feel her bare skin and to kiss every inch of her.
He found the laces of her dress and made quick work of them, and when he felt it loosen around her frame, he pushed it off her shoulder along with her chemise and petticoat. Touching her smooth skin sent sparks up his arm and through his body.
He pulled her into him and lowered them to the floor till he was lying on top of her, his thighs tucked between hers. He kissed her deeper, his hand caressing her bare upper body.
He kissed his way from her lips to her chin and down the elegant column of her throat, focusing on the junction where her neck met her shoulder, making her gasp.
He smiled against her skin and continued to kiss his way down to the swell of her breasts, which were full and flushed with desire.
“Ye’re so bonny, Talia,” he whispered against a pink nipple. “So bonny and made for loving.”
He palmed it gently and then more firmly, alternating between sucking and nipping it. He enjoyed how she gasped and how her hips bucked beneath him.
Moving to the other breast, he lavished it with the same attention. He didn’t think he could ever get enough of her.
His free hand slid down, pushing up her dress to give him access to her thighs, and then he moved down, feeling the urge to taste her. But when he lowered his head, her hand stopped him.
“What… What are ye doing?” she asked, trying to sit up. “Ye daenae… Oh, I daenae think ye’re meant to look upon me there.”
He looked up at her and watched as she lowered her eyes and worried her lip between her teeth. She looked so unsure and nervous that he could not help but smile at her innocence.
“Ye worry about me lookin’ upon ye so intimately?” he asked.
She nodded, still not meeting his eyes.
“Why? Do ye want me to stop?”
“Nay!” she cried, looking at him. “I mean, I didnae ken ye would look at me there. I daenae want ye to stop. Will ye teach me?”
It was his turn to worry his lip between his teeth, or else he might have kissed her again.
“Aye,” he said. “I will teach ye. Do ye trust me?”
She looked into his eyes, and for a long minute, he wondered if she would say no. If she stopped him, he would respect her wishes because he wasn’t one to force a woman to do what she wasn’t comfortable with.
She nodded.
“I need yer words, Talia,” he prompted, needing to be sure he had her consent.
“I trust ye, Darragh,” she murmured.
He nodded and kissed her then.
“I only want to bring ye pleasure, Talia,” he rasped, running a finger up her inner thigh. “And to do so, I have to touch ye.” He ran a finger lazily up her sex and bit back a groan as her arousal coated his fingers. “I have to see ye.”
He leaned back and lowered his head to kiss his way up her legs, nipping and licking her as he went.
“I have to taste ye.”
He enjoyed the way she shuddered with each caress and with each word out of his mouth, but he needed to be sure she understood what he meant.
“Do ye understand now, Talia?” he asked, lifting his head.
“Aye,” she answered. “I do.”
Darragh stiffened upon seeing desire in her eyes. Her skin was flushed, her lips parted as her breath came in quick pants. Her beauty left him breathless every time he looked at her, and in her lust, she was more beautiful than he could have imagined.
“If at any time ye want me to stop, ye must tell me,” he added quickly.
She nodded, and he smiled.
He dipped his head and kissed his way down her thighs and then up, stoking her lust again, not stopping even when she gasped.
“Please,” she begged, writhing beneath him.
But he was in no hurry and took his time nibbling his way up her creamy thighs. The scent of her arousal had his cock straining against his breeches.
“What would ye have me do, Talia?” he murmured against her skin. “Tell me what ye want.”
She shivered beneath him and let out a whimper.
“That wasnae an answer, Talia,” he whispered against her thigh.
He was closer to her sex now, which was slick with her essence. He breathed her in and placed a chaste kiss on her bud. Her back arched, but he held her still with a hand on her hip, the other hand curling around her thigh to keep her bared to him.
It took all of his willpower to keep from tasting her at once and thus put them both out of their misery, but he felt a decadent need to tease her, to make her burn with the same frustration that had plagued him these past days as he watched her flirt with her suitors.
“Please, Darragh,” she moaned.
Her hands slid into his hair, gripping it tightly, and pleasure-pain shot from his scalp to his cock.
Devils.
He bit back a groan.
“Tell me what ye need, and I will give it to ye,” he whispered, kissing her bud again.
She tugged on his hair again, and another sharp bolt of pleasure-pain shot to his cock. He gripped her hip tighter, needing to distract his mind from thoughts of sinking into her warmth.
“Tell me, Talia,” he gritted out.
“I daenae ken what I want,” she whimpered. “Me body burns with a strange fire, and I feel like I might expire if ye daenae touch me.”
Shite!
How could he deny her pleasure any longer?
He didn’t hold back this time, tasting her with one long lick. She squirmed beneath him, closing her legs around his head, but he nudged them apart, allowing himself the feast he had been denied for so long.
Her whimpers soon turned into moans and breathless sighs that were like music to his ears, but he didn’t let them distract him from the task at hand.
He savored her like he had all the time in the world, licking, biting, and kissing her till she shuddered, her thighs spasming around his head.
He moved one hand from her thigh and pressed the pad of his thumb to her bud, smiling to himself when she gasped again. He slipped his index finger into her warm sheath, biting back a groan at how tight and hot she was, and gently working it in and out of her until he felt her relax.
He added a second finger, and soon she adjusted, allowing him to increase his pace. Her hips lifted to meet his thrusts, and soon they started bucking wildly.
“That’s it, lass,” he purred. “Take yer pleasure.”
Sensing how close she was, he lowered his head and flicked his tongue against her throbbing bud to match the rhythm of his fingers.
Her moans grew louder, but he did not care if anyone heard them.
He wanted everyone to know that it was he who had brought her such pleasure that she abandoned all propriety.
Her back arched off the floor as she reached her peak, but he held her hips down, drinking every drop of her release till she collapsed, her legs still quivering around his head.
He kissed his way down her thighs as she shuddered beneath him, nibbling on her creamy skin until she went limp. When he lifted his head to look at her, the sheer beauty of her sated beneath him sent a stab of hunger and fear through him.
How would he ever let her go now that he had seen her come undone?