Chapter 13 #2
“There’s nae need for ye tae apologize. It’s nae yer fault.
But look in my eyes and think about the people ye hae attacked.
They hae families too. How many children were worried because of ye?
How many wept because their parents returned frightened, or because their father died because they were trying tae defend the carriage from ye?
Ye might think yerself a hero, Callan, but that’s only because ye hide from the consequences of yer actions.
There’s naething noble about ye or the people like ye. ”
“Think what ye like, lass, but I only hurt people as a last resort. I’m just tired of seeing people suffer when they dinnae need tae. Why should there be rich and poor? Why is there nae enough for everyone?”
“I dinnae ken, but we are nae the ones who can change that.”
“Why nae?” Callan challenged.
They stopped walking for a moment. The question silenced Nora, as though she hadn’t considered the possibility that she could make great changes in the world. There was a pensive look on her face, but instead of replying she just kept walking.
“We should keep moving,” she said.
Callan took a long stride to keep up with her. He abandoned the conversation for the time being as he sensed that he wouldn’t be able to get through to her, but that didn’t mean he was done talking entirely.
“Sounds tae me like ye hae allowed other people tae determine yer worth all yer life. Dae ye truly want tae learn how tae fight, or was that something ye just said because ye were angry?”
Nora’s nostrils flared and her eyes blazed.
“Teach me tae fight and I’ll wipe that smirk off yer face,” she said.
Callan grinned and clamped his hand around her wrist. Nora looked shocked and tried to wrench herself free, but she lacked the strength. Callan shook his head.
“That’s nae what ye want tae dae, lass. Look,” he said, and showed her how to twist her body in such a way that she would be able to free her wrist by putting pressure on the man’s arm. “Ye are nae gaeing tae be stronger than a man, but that dinnae mean ye cannae fight back. Try it again,” he said.
He kept hold of her wrist and Nora tried time and time again to perfect what he showed her. She failed time and time again as well, but she was improving.
Their lessons moved on to teaching her how to drive her elbow into the soft part of a man’s belly, just beneath his ribs.
Nora excelled at this and put a great deal of strength into her jabs even though they were just practicing.
Then, Callan tried to show her how to use a man’s balance against him.
He held her close and she shifted, trying to fling him to the ground.
The more she failed, the more frustrated she became.
“Ye can quit any time ye like,” he reminded her.
She stuck out her lower lip and exhaled heavily, her breath flicking her fringe.
“I’m nae quitting,” she replied, and came closer to him again.
In this close proximity it was impossible to ignore the effect she had on him.
Callan felt the flow of her waist, the weight of her, the supple skin and firm hands and harsh breaths that burst out of her mouth in frustration.
The air was spiced with her sweat and lank hair brushed against him.
He followed the curve of her slender neck.
He spied her bare flesh as her dress came askew, revealing more of her collar bone than she intended.
She shoved his chest, grabbed his forearm, pressed the small of her back against his groin and when that happened there was a deep, gnawing ache that seized him entirely. Chains were lashed around him, but he couldn’t think of a sweeter prison, nor one that offered more torment.
To be so close to something he could not possess was akin to torture, and then finally she managed to succeed at her lesson, twisting away, nudging him in the stomach, then thrusting her leg against his, using her weight to push him back.
When she did so, there was a guttural scream that was forged from all her frustrations and passion.
Her cheeks glowed red, but it wasn’t this that made her look radiant.
It was the pride in her eyes, the power she possessed.
She was ablaze, and Callan couldn’t look away.
“There she is,” he said, eyes shining with pride.
Nora’s lips curled into a smile. Beads of sweat trickled along the sides of her face.
She pushed him playfully, but he wasn’t about to let her believe that she had learned everything yet.
He caught her arms and swiftly spun her around, pinning her against a broad tree.
Nora’s head rocked back and a deep exhalation rushed out of her.
He was close enough to feel it. Her lips were barely an inch away, so tempting, like a fruit waiting to be plucked.
Their bodies were pressed against each other.
Her generous curves were squeezed tightly.
Callan almost couldn’t breathe. She trembled with every breath, or was that him? His heartbeat was like a gong clanging in his mind, preventing him from thinking.
How could he think when she was so close? When she was so gloriously beautiful… when she wasn’t pushing him away.
She wasn’t pushing him away.
Callan stared into her eyes, noticing the blue flecks in her irises. Her chest heaved with deep breaths, bringing waves of desire with them.
His hand fell to her waist. He squeezed gently at first, but then more deeply. Nora’s neck arched.
She could have told him to stop.
She could have pushed him away.
Every moment that she didn’t was an invitation, and Callan wanted her so badly he couldn’t stop his hand from moving.
It slid across her thigh. He pulled back a little, creating space between their bodies.
He continued staring into her eyes as he hitched up her dress, his fingers brushing against a part that was hidden from her.
By the gods… her skin was soft. A flutter of pleasure, unfamiliar but welcome, burst from her lips. His fingers rose towards the heat, tracing a thin line. At any moment now he expected to be slapped, for her to reclaim her virtue and hurl abuse at him for being so low as to debase her like this.
Again, it did not come.
He had seen her fight. He had heard her scream.
He was no monster.
Suddenly, with one sweeping movement of his finger, everything changed. Her lips parted and formed an ‘o’ shape. Her eyes widened. Her arms draped around his shoulders to maintain her balance. The whispered murmurs turned to a deep groan and she shuddered all over.
Callan’s fingers made their way to the delta that lay between her legs. She parted them, a subtle invitation. It simmered with a damp haze. A smile played upon her lips as his fingers danced. He searched for the cluster of nerves, waiting for her reaction…
No… no… there it was. Nora leaned forward.
“Och,” she moaned, deep and resonant.
Her fingers pressed against his shoulder.
He smiled, stroking and caressing, finding a rhythm she liked, feeling all the tremors passing through her body.
Nora rested her head in the crook of his neck and her breaths crashed against him.
His desire grew too, a rampant thing that stretched his breeches to their limit, but this was all about her.
He wanted her to feel good. He wanted her to know life and passion and bliss.
Slick wetness dripped around his fingers as he moved them slightly down, finding the gentle folds of her body and sliding them in.
Nora shuddered again. There was a small cry of pain, but that subsided quickly, replaced by deep, undulating moans of pleasure.
Callan curled his finger back and forth, feeling this intimate part of her, closing his eyes, losing himself to her scent, the feeling of her body, the rhythm of her breaths, wanting, no, needing to reach her very soul.
Nora clung to him, as though she was turning to liquid and would melt all over him in a sweet, honeyed drizzle.
Frantic breaths erupted and it wasn’t long before she was shaking completely, her knees buckling, his ears deafened by exquisite moans, the sweetest part of her caressed and pleasured to the point where nothing else seemed to matter.