Chapter Fifteen #2
After releasing her nipple she cupped his face and brought it to her, kissing him with fervor, unwilling to be separated from him in any way.
Moving his mouth across hers, he reached between them and cupped the furnace between her legs, then slid a finger through the center.
Beitris bucked into his hand, the sensations so overwhelming, she thought to pass out. Still she didnae relinquish his mouth.
Liam broke the kiss, breathing hard and fast. “Relax beauty.”
How was it possible he expected her to be more relaxed? Her entire body felt like water, fluid and soft.
At the hardness probing her very center, she parted her thighs, giving him full access. This was what she wanted more than anything to be fully his.
Liam’s body trembled as he slowly, inch by wonderful inch, slid into her. Then he hesitated, met her gaze for a slight moment before savagely taking her mouth. She responded, needing more. In one quick move, he thrust past her maidenhead.
Beitris grunted at the intrusion that felt strange, abrupt, and unfamiliar. Letting out a soft breath, she was grateful for the moment that she’d expected to hurt worse to have passed.
Then something amazing happened. He began to move, in and out of her. The rhythmic movements at the same time dousing and then reigniting the flames that threatened to consume her.
Before long, bathed in perspiration, limbs entangled, their bodies giving and taking, more and more.
Beitris was torn between passionate cries and repeating his name over and over.
Liam’s magnificent body worked over hers, his head thrown back, the sinews of his neck taut as he raced to the elusive crest that beckoned.
At the view of him so overtaken, so raw and so stunning, her body shattered, darkness fell, stars spiraling behind her closed lids.
A swift and relentless release shot through her.
Sensations she’d never knew existed pulled at her as she floated away.
In the midst of it, she heard Liam’s deep moans as his body went rigid. Instinctively she knew he too was lost to passion.
*
A Fortnight Later
Morning sunlight slipped through the soft linen window hangings, casting warm, golden stripes across the bed and the newly decorated chamber.
The space felt like a cozy sanctuary now draped in woven tapestries dyed in gentle hues of moss and rose.
One hung behind the bed, embroidered with curling vines and tiny stitched flowers, its threads shimmering softly in the dawn light.
Another tapestry over the hearth on the stone wall opposite, painted in muted scenes of forest and meadow, giving the room an earthy tranquility.
Rushes mixed with herbs perfumed the floor.
Wooden chests held their folded clothes and other personal possessions.
There was a carved wooden stand that displayed a bowl of wildflowers Liam had gathered on a whim just days before.
Everything about the room felt peaceful, warm, and theirs.
The home of two lovers learning to become one.
And at the center of it all, in the large comfortable bed of polished oak that was piled with blankets soft as clouds, Beitris lay nestled against her husband.
She blinked sleepily, startled to find Liam still there.
He was almost always gone before dawn, already out in the training field by the time the first men arrived. But today was their promised day of rest, a day they traveled to the village square to gather food for their larder and enjoy the simple pleasure of time spent together.
But the real treasure was here, now, watching him sleep.
In slumber, he was even more breathtaking.
His dark lashes fanned across his cheeks, his lips slightly parted in a way that made heat curl low in her belly.
The soft sunlight glided over the sharp lines of his face, catching the faint gold in his closely cropped beard and warming his strong jaw.
He looked peaceful, almost boyish, as though the weight he carried each day had slipped away in the quiet hours of night.
She wished she could stop time, hold this moment in her hands, and memorize every angle, every shadow, every breath of her handsome husband.
There was still so much to learn about one another, years ahead of shared smiles, whispered confessions, and moments of discovery. She longed to uncover every nuance that made him who he was.
The night before had been another step into that journey.
A magical night of slow touches and whispered guidance, their bodies learning a rhythm that felt as natural as breathing.
Liam had murmured that there was much more he wished to show her, words that had left her warm and breathless long after their bodies had stilled.
Thinking of love brought another face to mind. Her brother Keir. Her heart squeezed as it always did when she thought of him. She wanted happiness for him, too. A wife. A home. Someone to look at him the way she looked at Liam. Her thoughts wandered to the way Keir’s gaze tended to linger on Effie.
Her lips curled in amusement just as a deep, groggy voice rumbled beside her.
“What are ye plotting?”
She startled slightly, though her grin remained. “Why would ye think I was plotting?” she asked with feigned innocence.
One of his strong arms slid around her waist, drawing her closer until she rested against the warmth of his chest. “Because,” he murmured, pressing a slow, sleepy kiss to her lips, “ye are nae good at hiding what ye think, wife.”
Beitris relaxed into him, brushing her nose against his beard. “I have an idea…”
“Mmm hmm.” Liam’s lips trailed to her temple, his voice still thick with sleep and something else entirely. “How about we discuss it later?”
Before she could protest or confess what she’d been thinking his mouth covered hers in a kiss meant to silence thought altogether. Slow, coaxing, full of promise. Her fingers curled into the linen sheets, her heart fluttering sweetly as she melted into him.
Yes. They would discuss it later.
Much later.