Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
K athleen leaned back against the tub with a sigh, letting her body relax in the warm water. She had already scrubbed herself clean, making sure she got every bit of mud off her body and then patiently allowed two maids to help her with her hair, before she requested some clean, warm water for her to bathe for a while longer.
Never before had she been as dirty. Her clothes were practically ruined, though the maids had assured her they could get the stains out. Her hair had gotten matted at the back in mere minutes and had to be brushed repeatedly to get rid of the tangles, and she had had to thoroughly scrub under her nails to get them clean once more.
At least the clothes she had worn were hunting clothes; nothing she would miss if it turned out they were unsalvageable .
Closing her eyes, Kathleen let her shoulders drop and her body relax, luxuriating in the warmth. Her mind wandered to Fenella. She wondered what her friend was doing, if she was still plunged in the depths of her grief. Having so many familiar faces around her seemed to have lifted her spirits a little, but the reality of her fate hung heavy over her head and Kathleen’s concern bubbled inside her, she felt the need to see her and talk to her. It was still early after all.
That, in Kathleen’s mind, was the biggest issue with Fenella. Though she was quick to share her happiness and just as quick to share the pain of others, she never wished to burden her loved ones with her own.
There was a knock on the door. Kathleen heard a familiar voice call from the other side.
“Kathleen?” Blaine called. “May I enter?”
Kathleen was just about to tell Blaine to wait a moment while she exited the tub and dressed, but then thought better of it. Why should she make him wait? Why not let him come inside and see her like this, take this opportunity to tempt him and see what he would do? They hadn’t discussed anything about what had happened between them yet. Kathleen had no idea where they stood with each other after their coupling, and she didn’t know how to broach the subject.
Seeing his reaction seemed easier, less risky somehow .
“Come in,” she called, and the door opened to reveal him, his eyes going comically wide when he saw her. For a moment, he sputtered, then he quickly shut the door. But then he seemed to realize that he had done so he opened it again to retreat in a flurry of confusion.
“Wait!” Kathleen told him, making him stop dead in his tracks. “Ye can come in. I dinnae mind.”
“Ye’re… bathin’,” said Blaine with a small stutter. “I’ll leave ye tae it.”
“I’d rather ye didnae.”
Kathleen stared right at him, and Blaine stared back. She could almost see the cogs turning in his brain as he considered his options, and her heart beat loudly as she waited with baited breath to see what he would choose.
“I think I should go,” Blaine insisted, but he made no move to leave.
Kathleen drew in a deep breath and weighed her options such like he had done. She didn’t want him to leave. She could think of a hundred better things to do than watch him leave .
“Please,” she said, sitting up a little straighter so that the top of her breasts rested just above the waterline.
In the end, he closed the door again and he stayed inside.
“This is hardly proper,” he pointed out, but the corner of his mouth ticked up in amusement. Kathleen drew her bottom lip between her teeth, taking a deep breath so that her breasts peeked over the waterline, her nipples quickly hardening in the chill of the room.
“It’s naethin’ ye havenae seen afore,” she reminded him, watching as his gaze fell to her body, the water doing little to conceal her naked flesh.
Still, he didn’t move. He remained frozen by the door, entirely reluctant to make a move, and Kathleen didn’t know how to convince him.
“I came here tae speak with ye,” he said, finally dragging his gaze away from her to stare at the flames in the fireplace. “I came tae tell ye that I… I’ll take full responsibility fer everythin’. I dinnae ken how or what will happen, but I couldnae bear tae live with meself if I kent yer life were destroyed because I ruined ye.”
Kathleen listened to him with her lips slightly parted, drawing in sharp breaths. What was he trying to say? How would he take responsibility for any of this?
“I have fallen fer ye, Kathleen,” he continued, and Kathleen felt her heart stop dead in its tracks. She stared at him in disbelief, the sound of those words too good for her to fully trust her own ears. “I love ye, I dae. An’ I wouldnae be able tae bear it if I kent I was the reason fer yer troubles. I will dae anythin’ I can tae fix this. If I can convince yer faither, then I’ll marry ye, I swear it.”
Kathleen blinked up at him, her mind fixated on only one thing. “Ye love me?”
A surprised laugh escaped Blaine at her question. “Aye. I love ye.”
His words were simple, honest, and Kathleen had never felt such joy before. Her heart soared, her chest exploding with such happiness that she could hardly bear it.
“Will ye simply stand there?” she asked him.
Drawing his bottom lip between his teeth, Blaine shook his head. “I shouldnae be here.”
“But ye are. ”
“Then I shouldnae come any closer.”
The two of them stared at each other, Kathleen daring him to move and Blaine daring her to convince him. He wanted it; she could tell he did, just as she wanted it. But he had clearly convinced himself that what they had done was wrong and that he had to keep away from her, even when his attraction was so strong he could hardly fight it.
“I want ye tae come closer,” Kathleen insisted. Without taking her eyes off him, she let her finger trace a path down her neck, then down her chest and over her nipple, before it disappeared under the water and between her legs. “I wish it was ye touchin’ me. Please, Blaine, I want ye more than ye ken.”
Slowly, never taking his gaze off her, Blaine went to kneel next to the tub and pull Kathleen in for a kiss. Instantly, that soft touch was enough to ignite a fire in her belly, her body craving the pleasure it knew Blaine could give her. She let him nibble on her bottom lip, the slight sting of teeth drawing a gasp out of her, and when she reached over to run a hand through his hair, wetting the strands, Blaine laughed softly into the kiss.
“Ye’ll get me all wet,” he said, tilting his head to scatter kisses over her jaw and neck. Kathleen let her head fall back once more, sighing softly as those lips trailed a heated path down her skin, brushing over the swell of her breast.
And then Blaine’s lips wrapped around her pebbled nipple, sucking hard at the sensitive nub, and Kathleen couldn’t help but arch against him as a jolt of pleasure shot through her. In the dim light of the room, she was flushed with need, a blush creeping its way down to her chest and up to her temples, and her core pulsed in anticipation. Now that she had gotten a taste of what it meant to be his, she couldn’t resist the temptation.
Blaine’s gaze met hers as he kissed around the curve of her breasts. Pushing his sleeve up, he dipped his hand in the water, his fingers brushing gently over the inside of Kathleen’s thigh in a way that had her legs falling open in invitation and her lips parting around a gasp. She craved his touch, the pleasure it could give her, but Blaine refrained from touching her where she needed it the most, and instead teased her with tender touches on her thighs, her stomach, his fingers tracing her ribs.
“Please,” Kathleen said, her voice quiet in the silence of the room.
Blaine smirked up at her, his thumb moving up to circle her other nipple before tugging at it between two clever fingers .
“Please what?” he asked, instantly prompting a glare from Kathleen, which in turn made him laugh. “Tell me what ye want.”
“I want ye tae touch me,” she said.
“Where?”
“Ye ken where.”
Kathleen’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. She had tried her best to seduce Blaine by inviting him in while she was still in the bath, and though it had worked, it had also served to remind her that she was no alluring siren who was used to tempting men. She couldn’t put her desire into words; she had never dared before, and now that Blaine was asking it of her, she found herself tongue-tied.
“Here?” Blaine asked, pinching her nipple harder. Kathleen moaned in response, but then shook her head, his ministrations only serving to want that touch she couldn’t request even more.
“Here?” he said, trailing his hand down her chest, her stomach. “Or perhaps here? ”
Finally, he reached her mound, the pads of his fingers resting right above the seam of her folds. Kathleen nodded fervently and that seemed good enough of a response for Blaine, as he finally took pity on her and touched her, three fingers pressing firmly against her to circle her sensitive spot. Kathleen moaned, her core throbbing pleasurably at that first touch, her gaze glazing over as she met Blaine’s.
“Such a bonnie lass ye are,” Blaine said, his eyes roaming over her body to finally settle on the hand between her legs. He seemed enraptured as he watched himself plunge a slow finger inside her, his breath coming out in heavy pants.
Fire coursed through Kathleen’s veins. She was too eager, too impatient for this, and when she grabbed Blaine’s wrist, firming up his touch on her, he gave her a stunned look.
“Harder,” she demanded.
For a moment, Blaine only stared at her in surprise, but then he let out a low, broken moan, swiftly adding a second finger. The stretch drew a groan out of Kathleen, the brush of those digits deep against her walls driving her mad. His free hand wrapped around the back of her neck, urging Kathleen to look at him as he pleasured her, their gazes locking.
Kathleen knew she wouldn’t last. All it took for her to come apart were a few more thrusts of Blaine’s fingers as they reached deep inside her, massaging a spot that had stars exploding behind her eyelids. She didn’t even notice she had closed her eyes so firmly, the pleasure overwhelming as it crashed over her.
As always, Blaine worked her through the aftershocks, his movements never ceasing until Kathleen collapsed in the tub, all the energy leaving her body. She hummed contentedly as she sank into the water all the way up to her lips, pleased by the warmth that surrounded her.
After a while of sitting there, basking in the afterglow, she opened her eyes once more and Blaine pulled her into a kiss. Though she would have been perfectly content to curl up in his arms and sleep, she wanted to make sure he, too, was satisfied.
“Take me tae bed,” Kathleen said as she stood from the tub. She let Blaine help her out of the water, his hand firm around her waist, and let him drag her to her bed even as she dripped water all over the floor.
She didn’t bother drying up after her bath. She only let Blaine lay her down on the mattress, watching hungrily as he shed his clothes in a hurry so he could drape himself over her once more. After the warmth of the water, the chill of the room felt more pronounced, Kathleen’s skin erupting into goosebumps, but the heat of Blaine’s body countered that immediately, his hands like a branding iron where he was holding onto her hips .
Despite the two of them grabbing feverishly for each other, their hands pawing at each other’s shoulders, hips, thighs, when Blaine kissed her, the kiss was slow and tender. It was always like this with him—never before had Kathleen met a man who looked so rough and yet acted so gently with her.
“Come,” Blaine said softly as he rolled over onto his back on the mattress and pulled Kathleen on top of him. She settled on his lap, a soft exhale escaping her when she felt his hardened manhood against her. “Take what ye want.”
Kathleen’s gaze darkened as she looked down at Blaine, heat coiling deep in her stomach. Together, they reached for his length, which twitched in Kathleen’s grip as she guided him to her entrance. A twinge of nervousness shot through her; she had never done anything like this before and she couldn’t help but fear that her lack of experience would not only be obvious, but it would also hinder Blaine’s pleasure. But when she caught his gaze, when she saw the anticipation and the sheer want in his eyes, her fears began to dissipate until she convinced herself she could do it.
She had done harder things in the past; how difficult could this be?
Ever so slowly, she sank onto his length, stifling a moan at the now familiar feel of him inside her. His hands guided her, urging her to move her hips just the right way, and once he was fully sheathed within her, Kathleen took a moment to breathe, adjusting to the stretch .
Underneath her, Blaine already looked wrecked. His dark hair was ruffled, fanning out on the pillow around his face. His lips were bitten red, parting as his tongue darted out to lick at the bottom one. His eyes were open wide and so were his pupils, the black of them almost swallowing up all the green of his irises.
Kathleen began to move slowly, rocking her hips as she tried to find a rhythm that would satisfy them both. The flames of desire were reignited within her, that urgency to reach her peak once more growing with every roll of her pelvis. Each one had that sensitive spot pressing against Blaine’s body, the stimulation sending wave after wave of pleasure through her and coaxing more wetness from her core, so that the room was filled with the sounds of their coupling.
Blaine groaned in response, his hips snapping up and driving his length deeper inside her, the sudden rush of pleasure drawing a cry out of Kathleen.
“Dae ye feel how deep I am?” he asked as he dragged his hand down from her breast to her stomach, pressing lightly against it. “Tell me how it feels.”
Kathleen couldn’t help but whimper in embarrassment as she searched for words. “Good,” she gasped, nodding fervently. “So good, Blaine. ”
Blaine’s hands found her hips again, his fingers closing tightly around them. Then, he planted his feet on the mattress and thrust up into her in a wild rhythm, burying himself as deep as he could inside her with each movement.
Kathleen held onto Blaine’s forearms to steady herself, helpless against the assault of pleasure. Her need swelled like the tide and soon pulled her under, pleasure exploding inside her as Blaine’s thrust hit just the right spot, sending her hurtling over the edge. She cried out his name, her walls pulsing around him as he chased his own completion, and when he finally reached it, Kathleen couldn’t help but shiver as he spilled inside her.
Exhausted, she fell on top of him, Blaine’s arms wrapping tightly around her waist as he tried to catch his breath. Kathleen felt the rapid rise and fall of his chest under her head, the wild beating of his heart. Her heart was racing just as much, thumping out beat after beat, but her body melted in Blaine’s embrace, the feeling of safety in his arms like nothing else she had ever experienced.
This time, Kathleen didn’t feel the need to fill the silence between them. She was simply content to lay there in his arms, listening to the soft rhythm of his breath. There were still a million questions coursing through her mind regarding the two of them—what they were, where the future would lead, if Blaine felt the same for her as she did for him. But in that moment, the need to hear the answers to those questions was not as pressing, not as demanding. They were with each other, and that was enough .
“Blaine?” she asked in a quiet voice.
Blaine let out a questioning hum, his finger tracing a pattern on her skin idly.
“I love ye,” she told him.
“I love ye too, mo ghraidh .”
And when sleep claimed her, it was a restful one, without dreams, without nightmares.