Chapter Six #2
He motioned to the patch of grass beside him. “Join me. The sun is quite lovely.”
Beitris sputtered. Actually sputtered. “I cannae sit with ye. Not in that… state.”
Liam couldn’t help the laugh threatening his throat. “Ye have seen every part of me, have ye nae?”
She gave a most unladylike snort. “Aye, but that was different. I was performing healing duties. This…” Her hand waved wildly at the length of him. “is not the same.”
“If it makes ye feel better,” he drawled, eyes dancing, “ye can fetch me my breeches.”
Her flush deepened, though whether from anger, embarrassment, or something else entirely… Liam wasn’t sure.
*
Beitris turned sharply away from him, forcing her eyes to remain fixed on the small tree where Liam had hung his clothing. Her heart thudded unevenly in her chest. Outrage had carried her voice a moment ago, but it had done very little to stop her from looking.
Saints, she’d nearly dropped her healer’s box when she first spotted him.
Lying in the grass as though carved from the very sun itself, every inch of him warmed and brightened by the morning light.
At first she’d feared he’d been harmed, then she’d seen the steady rise and fall of his chest and realized he’d simply been lulled to sleep by the heat.
And that had been her downfall.
Because looking had become impossible to avoid.
She swallowed hard as she gathered his clothing, forcing her breath to steady before she turned again. She expected to find him watching her, smug and fully aware of her fluster.
Instead, Liam remained on his back, eyes closed, face relaxed in a way she had never seen. Vulnerable. Beautiful.
The sight stole something from her. Perhaps air, or possibly all sense. She drew closer, dropping to her knees beside him, sneaking one last glance at the long lines of his legs, the strength in his shoulders, the sculpted chest rising slowly with each breath.
She tapped his shoulder gently. “Liam.”
His hand shot up, warm and unyielding, curling around her arm. In one swift motion, he pulled her down against him, her breath catching as her face hovered only a heartbeat away from his.
“Fair Beitris,” he murmured, voice low and languid. His half-smile tilted in a way that stole the ground from beneath her. “Always tending the lame and injured. Is that all I am to ye? A man in need of yer healing touch?”
She had no time to think. No time to scold him, or herself. Something inside her, something she’d restrained for far too long, broke free.
She touched him. Her hand slid along the warm curve of his ribs, the solid strength beneath his skin, the place where the scars formed under her fingertips.
And then she kissed him.
There was no hesitation in him when she did.
Liam pulled her closer, his arm firm around her waist, his mouth answering hers with a hunger that stole her breath.
Heat flushed through her, wild and consuming, and she sank against the solid breadth of his chest. Feeling him everywhere, his warmth, his strength, the shuddering inhale he took at her nearness.
Her fingers curled into his hair. His hands traced the length of her back, slow but sure, leaving a trail of warmth that made her tremble. She felt his heartbeat beneath her palm, strong and quickening.
“Beitris…” he breathed against her lips, her name weighted with longing and something far deeper than she’d ever expected from him.
The world around them softened, the river whispering behind them, the breeze brushing through the grass, sunlight slipping across their skin. The moment held them, cocooned them, as though the earth itself meant to keep them there.
“I want yer skin against mine,” Beitris whispered into his ear, noting that he stiffened. But she’d not relent. Before he could protest, she took his mouth again, meanwhile untying the cumbersome laces of her blouse.
Within a matter of moments, her upper half was exposed, and Beitris was rewarded by Liam immediately taking to her breasts. He suckled, kissed, paying homage in ways she’d never known.
Writhing with want, she clung to him, wanting even more. Liam’s hand slid under her skirts and up her leg, and she arched her back. When he stopped at the apex between her legs, he kissed her deeply.
The man knew exactly how to render a woman helpless. Heat rushed to every part of her body when he circled her inner core, his fingers expertly touching just the right place.
“Oh…” Beitris couldn’t formulate any other words because in that instant, she splintered, her vision blurred, and her breath caught as a climax slammed into her.
Instinctually, she reached to touch his hardness, but he moved her hand away from the engorged member. “Nae beauty. It is enough to see ye come undone,” he rasped past ragged breaths.
Beitris lay her head on his chest, unsure of what to say or do next.
In truth, she wanted more. She wanted to be joined with him, but this was not the place. Although shielded a bit by sparse bushes, they were, for all intents and purposes, exposed. After all, she’d spotted him from a short distance.
“Ye should adjust yer blouse. Someone may walk by,” Liam said. His voice was terse, and she lifted up to look at him. His brow was furrowed, and his lips were pressed into a tight line.
Beitris slowly gathered her blouse, tying the laces with trembling fingers. She hovered beside him a moment longer, unsure what to say.
Before she could speak, Liam pushed himself upright, though he wavered slightly.
“Did I hurt ye?” she asked softly.
His jaw tightened. “I am nae a delicate creature.” But his voice was rougher than before, thin at the edges.
He rose and made his way to the river, stepping into the water as if he needed the cold to regain his footing, his composure, something of himself.
Beitris watched him with a heaviness in her chest, regret, longing, fear, all tangled into one.
They had crossed a line she could not uncross. And Liam had kissed her back like a man starved. Whatever came next, their world had shifted. And neither one of them would walk away unchanged.