20. Scotlind
TWENTY
SCOTLIND
Our teeth collided as his lips crashed against mine. Only this time he wasn’t gentle or slow.
I didn’t want him to be. I wanted more. Needed more. I needed to breathe him in and get lost in his essence. I moved from my chair, slowly straddling him, never breaking our kiss as I crawled onto his lap.
He groaned the moment my hips rolled over him, his lips moving against mine, completely consuming me. I gasped as his fingers wound between my hair, pulling and tightening to the point of pain. I leaned back, giving him more access while my own hands roamed over his face.
Before I could think, he slid his tongue into my mouth. And the sensation, feeling it meet with my own, I melted—
He took full control like he was ravenous, like he had held back for so long and was finally cut free, and I was fine with it—fine with being destroyed by him.
He slid his hands down my throat before he grabbed onto my hips, dragging me further into his lap. I exhaled loudly as I felt him harden against me. My stomach dropped, and I wanted more. I wanted to explore every inch of him, to memorize his body like it was my own.
My hands found their way under his shirt, feeling the muscles over his stomach move beneath my fingers before I pulled the material over his head in between frantic kisses. My fingers ran over his bare abdomen, tracing over some of the scars he had there until they stopped above the trail of hair leading down.
I went to kiss him again, needing the contact, but he pulled back. I stared at his lips, mad they weren’t still on me.
“Why did you stop?” I half panted, half pouted as I rolled my hips over him, wanting more.
“I love you,” he whispered, his breath was just as ragged as mine, and I stilled. “I fucking love you with everything I am.”
My heart fluttered as a cheesy, full-tooth grin escaped me. I leaned forward, my hands wrapping around his neck before I started trailing feather-light kisses over every inch of his scar, my smile lingering as I kissed my way down his jaw. “Say it again.”
His head tilted back. “I love you, Scotlind Rumor.”
Once I reached the end of the jagged line, my mouth meeting with smooth skin, I continued kissing down his neck, mumbling in between each one. “I.” My lips pressed into the crevice of his collarbone. “Love.” My tongue slid out, meeting with the sensitive skin there as I trailed down even lower. “You.” I reached up, weaving my hands through his hair. The texture of his short buzz met my fingers before I reached higher to grab onto the longer locks at the top. I took hold of his head, turning it so I had better access to his neck. “ Too.” I savored the way I sent shivers down his body, how I could feel him shake beneath me, how I knew my touch affected him.
As soon as the words left my mouth, Tezya stood, taking me with him. Our chair clattered to the ground as he lifted me out of it, my legs instinctively wrapping tighter around him. One of his hands pressed against my bare back under my shirt. The other embedded into my hair again as he slammed me down against the war table. He spread my hips wider before stepping between them. Distinctly, I heard one of the maps tear as I ground my hips against his, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t think about anything but him.
He kept kissing me as he guided me down until I was sprawled out on the table before him. Then he was standing over me, removing his mouth from mine. I pouted for a split second before I realized what he was doing.
He reached for his pants, his eyes never leaving mine. I thought he was going to remove them, but then he pulled a dagger out. My brows furrowed when he didn’t toss it aside and kept the blade in his palm.
“I’ve wanted to see you. To see all of you.” My breath hitched as he bent over me. He placed the blade between his teeth as he gripped me by my hips, scooting me to the edge of the table. Once I was directly before him, he grabbed the knife from his mouth and pulled my pants away from my skin, dragging the blade down the length of them. “I’ve been dreaming about this ever since that night in the bath… I’ve thought about all the things I’d do to you once I healed.”
I stared up at him as my pants split in two before falling off my body. He was looking at me with an overwhelming hunger I wanted to get lost in. He moved to my shirt next and cut the material until it no longer clung to my chest. I gasped, feeling the cold blade against my bare skin as he cut off my underwear and bra next.
I held my breath, feeling vulnerable and confident all at once. I was laying naked before him, biting my lip between my teeth as he took his time looking at me.
His breath hitched before he blew it out. “Fuck. You’re perfect, Rumor.” A thud sounded as he threw the dagger and it sank into the wood a good distance away from me .
He stepped between my legs, his fingers running over my right calf, and I shuddered as he met the rough skin there. He lifted my leg up in the air and rested my ankle over his shoulder, exposing me fully below. Turning his head, he kissed the ruined flesh left from the fire. “Every inch of you is gorgeous,” he said, his tone serious. “I love every part of you, but I won’t ever let fire hurt you again. I won’t let one more scar mark your body.”
He pressed his lips to my calf again before sending slow, agonizing kisses up my leg. I moaned loudly, becoming utterly aware of the cool draft and how exposed I was in this position. I bent forward with the intention of kissing him, but his other hand shot up and pushed me back down, pinning me against the table.
“I’m not done enjoying you,” he growled as he kissed over my knee and started up the length of my thigh. I didn’t have time to think about it before the hand holding me down simultaneously moved up my stomach and started grazing my breasts.
My back arched, shifting my hips in an attempt to position his head where I wanted it, where I needed it. Everything he was doing kept building and building, the sensation overwhelming even though he was barely touching me. Every time his lips reached higher up my leg, a shiver ran down my spine and sent my entire body tingling. I gasped, a tremble working its way through me. I wanted him to keep going, to reach the point that burned for him.
Right as his lips were between my thighs, when I could feel his warm breath directly on top of me, he stopped. He gently set my right leg back down. Once it was free, I wound it around his knee, locking him into me. He grinned down, raising my left leg and repeated the agonizingly slow process, watching me the entire time.
I couldn’t stop panting, couldn’t stop my chest from moving up and down in ragged movements, even as his other hand cupped my breasts before finding and pinching my nipples between his fingers. I was squirming and bucking under him, and he was enjoying it.
“Tezya,” I moaned as my hands threaded into the longer strands of his hair. I tried bending his knee with my right leg, forcing him down where I wanted him. “Please.” I couldn’t take it anymore. His touch felt like everything, but not nearly enough.
He was halfway up my left thigh, his body hunched over mine, as his silver gaze locked onto mine. A smile curved his lips in between kisses, and he laughed at my poor attempt to move him before he finally gave in and kneeled on the grass before me. His face now directly in line with the table—directly in line with me laying naked on top of it.
He was grinning as he kissed me, continuing up my leg, still teasing, until his lips finally— finally —met with what I wanted. I arched around him until nothing of my upper back was left on the table. My abdomen cradling his head, locking him in place as he kissed and licked and devoured every inch of me.
Every sensation flowed at once, all ending in one point. His mouth… his lips… his tongue… the way his scar felt as it brushed against my inner thigh…
I couldn’t take it. Time was lost on me. I didn’t know or care if it had been minutes or seconds that passed, I was already about to shatter. The pressure kept building and building, threatening to consume me. His thumb replaced his tongue over my clit as he gently made tantalizing circles. Then he moved his head lower, and I half screamed as his tongue went inside me, mixing and blending with the movement of his finger. The combination of them together was too much.
“Tezya, I—” I didn’t know what I was going to say as the sensation overwhelmed me. My vision blurred as my hips started rocking on their own accord against his face. My fingers tightened in his hair, trapping him there. Then I lost it. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before I was coming undone. The feeling was spiraling out of me in waves as I slowly, so slowly, started regaining my senses.
First, I heard myself panting, my breathing no longer belonged to me. Then, I felt my hand cramp as I realized I was still holding his head captive, my grip over his hair nearly ripping the strands off his head. I could feel sweat starting to form behind my knees, one still bent over his shoulder, the other had moved around his back when he kneeled down.
My vision came into focus a second later as Tezya looked up at me and smiled. I watched as his tongue slowly slipped out of his mouth, licking his lips as he savored me on them.
“Fuck, you taste good.”
I loosened my grip on his hair, but I didn’t let go. Instead, I used my hold to pull his head back up to mine.
I needed more.
Reaching for his pants, I started unbuttoning them in a haste, not stopping until they were a pile of fabric on the floor. My throat ran dry as he sprung out of them, taking in every beautiful, scarred inch of his body. He waited, letting me soak him in like he had me, and it wasn’t until our eyes locked that he repositioned himself against me.
I gasped as soon as I felt his length press into me. With one hand, he guided the tip of his cock so it just barely rested inside me before gripping the edge of the wooden table around either side of my thighs. He stilled, staring down at me, his face turning serious.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. I wanted him to press further in, to completely fill me. I needed to be close to him—needed our bodies to become one.
“Your first time should not be on a fucking table.”
I reached up, bending forward to wrap my hands around his neck, kissing his thought away. “Tezya, I want you. Like this. Right now. On this table.” I jutted my hips toward him for emphasis, and he moaned as the tip of him thrusted inside me. My eyelids fluttered back as a loud gasp escaped me. I had no idea what having sex would feel like, but I didn’t imagine this. My adrenaline was working in overdrive as I adjusted to the feeling, half in pain, half in pleasure, and I couldn’t tell which sensation was winning. But I didn’t want him to stop.
Tezya leaned forward, gently guiding me back down against the cold table, but I barely felt it. His hands rested around my cheeks as he kissed me, this time soft and slow. “You’re not playing fair when you do something like that,” he teased, but he was smiling as he kissed me.
“I mean it. I don’t want this any differently.” I cupped his face, capturing anything else he wanted to say with a kiss. We stayed like that, he didn’t move further into me or pull out as he kissed my lips gently, as I kissed him back just as slowly, savoring him.
“Are you sure?” Tezya asked between breathy kisses. “I can do this right with—”
“Yes,” I cut him off with another kiss. “Tezya. Please.”
He was quiet for a minute, studying my face, before he conceded, “This might hurt. Tell me if you need me to stop.”
I nodded slowly. His hands found mine, our fingers interlocking above my head as he slid the rest of the way in, completely filling me. I cried out at the first thrust. A sharp jolt of pain shot through me, all ending to where he was inside of me. He paused for a moment, resting his forehead against mine. “Is this okay?”
I didn’t respond at first, needing to sort through how I was feeling. “Just. Go. Slow.” I panted the words out in small breaths, breathing heavily into his mouth.
“Tell me if it’s too much,” he said again. When I nodded, he found my lips, kissing me through it, soft and gentle as he moved in and out.
Again and again. He pulled out slowly, unhurried, before gently easing back in, stretching me bit by bit as I got used to the feel of him. Each one was met with a kiss, his breathing quicker than usual. Mine was just as rushed and winded.
I could tell he was holding back, waiting until I adjusted. I focused on kissing him, on the feeling of his lips against mine and tried to block out the searing pain that was mixed with pleasure.
Eventually my thighs relaxed, and my posture became less rigid. The next time he pushed forward, he slid further in, almost completely inside. I could feel myself growing wet, taking the pain away with it as I adjusted to the feeling of him. My eyes closed as my head tilted back. Tezya noticed my change but was still holding back, hesitating. “Does it still hurt?” he whispered.
I shook my head, unable to muster many words. “Good. It feels… good… now. I want… more.”
He smiled, quickening the pace in an instant, finally letting himself move the way he needed. I inhaled sharply as he grabbed my chin by my jaw, turning my head to the side. His teeth dragged over the flesh he just made raw.
“You’re mine,” he said as he sucked my neck. The feeling of his lips on my skin, of him moving inside me, was becoming my undoing. He wasn’t holding back now, he wasn’t slowing. My only answer was a moan. I couldn’t form words, couldn’t think.
“Fuck. You feel so good.” His one hand gripped my hip, his strength punishing. His other kneading my breast, his thumb grazing across my nipple. I couldn’t control the noises that left me. I couldn’t control the shake that started in my legs as they wrapped around his hips, trapping him against me.
This feeling was everything. I had no idea where he started and I stopped, and I didn’t want to find out. I wanted to be together, to always be a tangle of limbs and ragged panting forever.
My back arched off the table, putting him deeper inside me, but in the process, my head whipped back and thudded against the wood.
“Oww,” I groaned, rubbing the back of it. We both laughed, Tezya smiling as he leaned down and started kissing my neck, then cradled my head in his hands so it wasn’t pressed into the hard surface anymore. My eyes kept fluttering, my nails scraping down his back, indenting into the scars across his body.
It still wasn’t enough. I needed everything . I still wanted more, needed to be closer to him.
I reached my arm across his chest and yanked the dagger out of the wood. His eyes flashed, his movements slowed but didn’t stop. His hands left my head and slid down me until they rested at my hips.
“I want to,” I stuttered, barely getting the words out. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion until I turned my hand over.
“Are you sure?” His eyes widened as he stilled, completely stopping now, but he didn’t pull out of me. “If we do this, it can’t be undone.”
“I’m sure.” And I was. I wanted to complete the bond. I’d never been so certain about anything in my entire life. Because when something horrible happened, he was the only person I wanted comforting me. When I had exciting news, he was the first one I wanted to share it with. And when the nights grew as cold and dark as that tub had felt, I wanted his flames to melt the frozen water off my body. I wanted his fire to consume and devour me until I was only ash in his hands and there was nothing left of my existence.
I was nothing more than a moth attracted to the fiery blaze that was him, and I was no longer scared of being burned.