Chapter 11 #2
As she took him in her hand and gently squeezed, he closed his eyes and made a pained sound that she knew was intense pleasure.
Never had she felt more powerful, or more gloriously feminine than in this moment.
This big, powerful warrior was held completely captive to the pleasure she could give him, the release.
She was grateful to the ways of her people, who worshipped all of nature, including the gift of carnal pleasures, for it gave her more knowledge of a man’s body than most unmarried women could hope to have.
Drust was so tightly strung that he thought he could come with only one more soft touch of her hand, but he staved it off, wanting more, greedy for the pleasure she gave him so freely.
She stroked the length of him, slowly, firmly.
It was hell. It was bliss. He was getting closer…
no, not yet! As he watched she held him in one fist and stroked him up and down his length.
He held his breath, heart pounding painfully in his chest. He gripped the arms of the chair hard, sweat beading on his forehead. He was so close…
“Ah bloody hell! Fuck! Ah God… Willa… Yes!”
Her other hand slipped lower and gently squeezed his balls while her fist continued to pleasure him.
It was too much… too little… he had to keep himself from bucking wildly against her as the pressure built, so fast and so hard that it was nearly more than he could bear.
It seemed to hold him there, suspended for several long moments at the very peak where he couldn’t even draw a breath.
Just when he thought he might die, the peak crashed down through his body in a wave of pure bliss, and he came harder than he had ever thought possible, roaring in ecstasy as he spurted into her soft hand.
After the last ebbing shudder, he collapsed back against the chair, breathing as if he’d just run to the bloody sea and back.
Ah hell… never be the same. Completely, utterly damned…
Willa dropped her head down onto Drust’s chest, her lips curving up in a little smile of feminine satisfaction.
Perhaps she hadn’t played fair, but this was her win just the same.
Beneath his steely strength and iron resolve, her warrior was just a man after all.
A man that was starving for all she could give him.
His hand came up to smooth her hair back from her face, his fingers trailing through it to her nape.
Finally he lifted his head, and she did the same.
“Lass, that was… so… good.”
She cocked an eyebrow at his glaring underrating of what just happened. Her own body was alight with desire, but it was enough for now that he had let her pleasure him.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
He gave her a disbelieving smile. A real smile, at long last. It was natural and almost boyish, and made him all the more beautiful.
She smiled back, then to make things less awkward between them, she stood and brushed off her skirt.
She grabbed a towel from the table and handed it to him.
He quickly cleaned himself off and reached down to tie his breeches.
“It’s past time for dinner. I’ll bet you’re hungry.”
Willa was relieved to see the echo of a smile still lighting his face.
“Aye, I am, at that. But ye sit yerself down. I’ll find some food.”
“Oh, I can get us something…”
“Sit”, he told her. “Ye’ve been waiting on me since we came here. I can manage a bite to eat.”
She sank obligingly into a chair at the small table and rested her chin in her hands, watching him.
Even his step seemed a little lighter. She smiled.
Maura was right, men were much less irritable when they didn’t go too long without release.
Perhaps that was what was wrong with him all along.
Either way, this was a side of Drust she had not seen before.
She leaned her elbows on the table with her chin in her hands and watched him.
He opened the cupboard and took out a loaf of bread and some cheese.
Then he reached into a basket of apples, selecting two of the largest. Using a kitchen knife, he cut the apples into perfect wedges and set them on the table before her.
She took one and bit into it. It was crisp and juicy; delicious.
“Mmmm… I must say, you are a very good cook. Perhaps you should give up fighting for the kitchens.” She gave him a teasing smile.
“Och, lass, I’m afraid slicing bread and apples is the extent of my skills with food. Except that I can usually roast a hare over a fire on a spit without burning it.” He gave her a sweet smile. “Usually… not always.”
“Well then, you’re ahead of me. I’ve never cooked a hare on a spit.”
“Never? Then ye must no’ have travelled much. I canna imagine sleeping under the sky without roast hare.”
Willa shook her head. “No, I suppose I haven’t travelled much.”
“Ye must have at least travelled from England”, Drust ventured.
He told himself he needed to know more about her in order to be certain she was not an enemy of his clan.
Not for any selfish reasons. Oh aye, he was undeniably in lust with her, but that was all.
As far as it went. What man in his right mind wouldn’t lust for such a beautiful, sensual creature?
“Yes, from England. But it sounds as if you’ve travelled much more than I.”
Drust frowned at her neat evasion of his question. “Aye. I’ve been on quite a few journeys. Including this last one, which I have no memory of.”
She smiled. This was the most he had ever said to her. Amazing. “I’m glad you’re alive to not remember it.”
“You said you found me at the mouth of a cave? Alone?”
“Yes.” She looked at his face, his eyes so full of a life nearly lost, and her heart flooded with tenderness.
“You had nearly bled out. I remember the blood soaking into the ground all around you. There seemed so little chance you would live, I…” She shook her head as if to clear it. “Will you tell me what happened?”
He shook his head. “I can no’.”
“Well”, she said softly, after she had chewed the last of her bread, “it seems we are destined to remain strangers. And since we’re at an impasse of sorts, we might as well retire for the night.”
A strange look of regret flickered over his face, but Drust quickly schooled his features. “Aye, we might as well. Go in first and get yerself ready.”
“Come in with me, I don’t mind…”
“No”, he said firmly. “That’s no’ a good idea. You go first.”
Sighing, Willa went into the room, rolled her pallet out and took off her dress, pulling a night gown over her head. She could hardly believe that after what just happened they were not going to be sharing the bed.
Patience, Willa.
“Finished!” she called.
A moment later the door opened and Drust came in, frowning at her pile of blankets near the hearth.
“Lass, I want ye to take the bed. I’m nearly healed now, and ye’ve been sleeping on the floor long enough.”
“No, I don’t mind. And you’re still not nearly healed, Drust. It will be weeks longer before you have complete use of that side.”
“I insist. I’ll not have ye sleeping on the floor while I sleep in a soft bed.”
She gave him a mischievous smile. “Then we’ll share the bed.”
“No! We’ll do no such thing. Ye will keep yer honor as long as I’m here with ye. I promised yer brother.”
Willa narrowed her eyes. She should have realized James would have spoken to him before he left. “My brother has no say in such matters. If I decide to sleep in your bed while you’re in it, I will!”
She wanted to ask why it was so wrong to share a bed after what had already happened between them, but she kept her mouth firmly shut.
If she pointed out the truth, he would likely balk and go back to keeping her at arm’s length.
And she supposed sharing a bed was in some ways more intimate.
Stubborn man. Oh what she wouldn’t give to curl up against all that smooth skin and hard muscle…
“Fine, lass, sleep on the floor if it suits ye.”
Drust climbed into the bed and stretched out, turning onto his good side so he could surreptitiously watch her.
It occurred to him that there was a perfectly serviceable bed in the next room.
He could sleep there and Willa could have this bed to herself.
But no, he wanted to sleep close to her.
Someone needed to be close to protect her should someone break into the cottage, he told himself.
Deep down, or maybe not so deep down, he knew that was a lie.
After all, the place was warded. And God what he wouldn’t give to hold her in his arms as she slept…
***
Willa looked up as Drust continued to pace the small length of the room, moody and restless.
The day had dawned cloudy and dark, and now the rain was pouring down, keeping them together in the little cottage that seemed smaller every day.
She wished the storm would let up enough to go for a walk in the woods, anything to dissipate the pent-up energy that filled the room.
She watched as Drust moved to the window and frowned at the rain, as if he could make it stop with his will alone.
“Why are you always so sullen, Warrior?”
He didn’t turn from the window. “I’m no’.”
“You are. You don’t smile nearly often enough.”
“Perhaps I’ve nothing to smile about, lass.”
“That is a pity. Why? Do you not have a home, a family?” She paused. “A woman of your own?” She hoped he hadn’t heard the slight hitch in her voice.
He turned slowly to look at her, leaning back against the sill. “Aye. I have a home and a family. I told ye that, before.”
“But they don’t make you happy?”
He looked away. “I…“