Chapter 26
Eileen felt a thrill run through her.
When they were together, she felt happy. If she could carve out more moments like this, maybe Archer would realize it, and then she could…
She didn’t know what she wanted, but she was not ready to go home just yet.
When she’d snuck out of the castle, she had regretted her actions, but now that she and Archer were enjoying a romantic picnic together by the river, she did not regret it one bit.
She took a sip of her mead, the sweet, syrupy drink warming her.
“Ye did look in an awful hurry when ye arrived here,” she teased. “I didnae ken ye were that worried about me.”
“I ken ye’re teasin’ me,” Archer said somberly, “but there are people around here who want to harm ye.”
Eileen tapped the dirk at her waist. “That’s why I took me dirk with me.”
“I only hope ye dinnae have to use it.”
“Is it nae beautiful, though?” she asked. “Would ye have come out here if I asked ye to have a picnic with me?”
“Nay, probably nae,” Archer admitted. “Still, I’m glad I’m here. This is nice.”
“Aye, I’m glad ye’re here, too.” Eileen inhaled deeply. “I’m grateful for everything ye’ve done for me. Ye’re a good man, Archer.”
“I’m a better man since our betrothal.”
“Then there’s hope for ye yet,” Eileen snorted. “Perhaps yer days of bein’ a rake are over.”
“Aye, perhaps,” Archer muttered.
“I mean it,” Eileen insisted.
She’d seen firsthand what a good man he was. How different he was from the man he was made out to be.
“I do, too,” Archer said. “That’s the truth. Dinnae ask me how I ken, but I feel it inside. Do ye ken why I was such a rake?”
“Do I want to ken?” Eileen raised an eyebrow.
“It’s ‘cause I wanted to feel somethin’ else,” Archer continued anyway.
“Since me faither passed, there’s been a pain in me gut—in me heart.
When I’m with a woman, I can feel somethin’ else for a little while.
It was a distraction and nothin’ more. Since I told ye about me faither, me pain feels different.
It’s changed somehow. I dinnae need to forget it as much. ”
Eileen felt like crying, both for the pain he still held inside and the way he spoke to her, as if she were the most special woman in the world.
“Ye must still have some pain inside ye,” she commented. “I mean, all of that pain cannae have disappeared. Are ye sure ye dinnae need a distraction?”
When she looked at him, he grinned back at her.
“I’ve been yearnin’ to put me hands on ye for days now, but it’s never been the right time,” Archer murmured.
Again, he made her feel like the most special woman in the world.
“Ye have me all to yerself now,” she reminded him.
Archer reached over and took the cup from her, placing it and his own on the soft grass by the blanket. Then, he cupped her cheek in his hand as she leaned back, rose onto his knees, and kissed her like never before.
It was the same in every way: their lips met, their tongues wrestled with each other, and their heads moved. But this kiss had a newness to it, a rawness. It wasn’t purely physical this time, but emotional—spiritual. It wasn’t their lips that connected, but their souls.
Eileen reached out her hand and grabbed his shirt. She only meant to wrinkle it, but she found herself ripping it open instead and baring his wide chest. She placed one hand on the blanket to steady herself and the other on his chest, running her fingers through the tufts of hair.
A powerful need shot through her, and she tugged at his chest hair to pull him closer.
Archer grunted, and she let go, opening her eyes. He lowered her onto the blanket, swung his leg over like he was mounting a horse, and looked down at her.
“Is that how it’s goin’ to be?” he asked.
“I didnae mean to hurt ye.” She winced.
“Nay, ye didnae hurt me. Ye only surprised me. Still, I cannae let ye tear me clothes and grab me hair, can I?”
“Aye?” Eileen arched an eyebrow. “And what will ye do to me?”
“How about this, for starters?”
She didn’t know how he did it, but he reached down to the hem of her dress, shifted her body, and pulled it over her head, leaving her in nothing but her boots. She shivered as the cold breeze from the river hit her, but warmed quickly under the roaring sun.
“Aye, that’s better,” Archer said.
He looked down at her as if surveying his lands, running his eyes from her neck to her thighs and back up again.
“It’s all yers,” Eileen breathed.
“Aye, it is,” he agreed, his voice rough.
I want it to be yers nae just for now. I want to give it all to ye.
“Then take it,” she urged.
As she said the words, goosebumps rose all over her skin, and wetness pooled in her core.
Archer’s eyes flashed with lust, and he growled like a wild animal before he descended on her.
His lips went to her neck, then chest, shoulder, and down to her side, trailing wet kisses over her soft skin. She threw her head back and arched into him, needing more. He placed his hand on her midriff and pushed her down, pinning her to the blanket.
“Make me forget everythin’ else,” she begged. “Just make me feel.”
His hand moved from her midriff to a large breast, kneading it roughly and playing with her nipple for a few seconds until it was stiff.
The river rushed behind her head, but the sound was replaced promptly by his breath as he lowered his mouth to her ear.
“Tell me what ye need,” he purred.
“I need ye.”
“And what do ye need me to do to ye?” he asked.
“Take me, Archer. Please take me.”
“Ask me again,” he teased.
“Please, I cannae wait any longer. I want ye inside me now afore I burst.”
“Aye, there’s a good lass.”
Archer reached down and plunged his fingers into her slick cavern, brushing her nub in the process.
“Ah,” Eileen moaned.
Her back arched off the blanket when he slid his fingers deeper inside her.
Archer pumped his fingers in and out of her, getting them nice and wet before rubbing her nub again. He glided so easily that she barely felt it, except for the pleasure that swelled inside her like a dam about to burst.
“Please, I need to feel ye inside me,” Eileen begged.
Archer shifted, and as deftly as he’d removed her dress, he removed his pants. His open shirt soon followed. When he lowered himself onto her, his rigid shaft slipped inside easily, filling her.
“Aye,” Eileen moaned. “That’s what I wanted. Fill me up, Archer.”
Archer braced his forearms on either side of her head, his warmth firing up her insides. He pecked her lips gently before pulling back, breathing her in. Then, he placed his right hand next to her head, propping himself up a little, and cupped her breast in the other.
He slammed into her, filling her completely, and his torso brushed her breasts.
He held himself inside her for a second before pulling back.
Each time his shaft slid into her, the feeling in the pit of her stomach intensified.
Like a pressure threatening to unravel her while bringing her even more pleasure.
Archer pulled out to the tip, his shaft throbbing.
“Tell me how much ye want it,” he grunted.
“Dinnae stop. Please dinnae stop. I need ye, Archer. I need ye like I’ve never needed anyone before.”
“And ye need this?” He thrust into her again.
Eileen gasped. “Aye, that’s what I need. Please give it to me!”
“Like this.” He pulled out and slammed back into her.
“Mmm, aye!” she cried out. “How do ye do that to me?”
He ground his hips before pulling out and thrusting back in. “How do I do this?”
“Ay—” Eileen barely spoke the word when he repeated the motion, taking her breath away.
She opened her mouth to say something else, but he thrust into her again.
As her breasts jiggled up and down with each thrust, she felt like she was looking down on herself from above. She was floating on a cloud of ecstasy, Archer filling her with each stroke. She grabbed onto his back, digging her fingernails into his flesh.
She wanted all of him. She wanted to be swept away on the cloud of pleasure and never return. She wanted to remain there with him forever, feeling him plunging into her depths over and over.
Her eyes fluttered shut, white light dancing behind her eyelids. Still, he thrust into her over and over, his stamina unrelenting, like a woodman cutting down a tree, one stroke after another after another.
She couldn’t decide where she ended and he began. She no longer knew what pleasure was and was not because she could only feel pleasure. That was her new resting state.
Her walls clamped around his thick shaft as he surged forward like waves crashing against cliffs—like waves lapping at her shore.
She held onto him for dear life as he drove into her again, and that pressure in her belly exploded like a cannon being loosed on an enemy ship.
The cannonball hit the water and sucked it down, before it spurted back up.
“Oh!” Eileen cried. “Dinnae stop.”
Archer didn’t. He slammed into her again and again, his hips bucking, gyrating. He kissed her neck, her collarbone, the swell of her breast, then nipped her upper arms, sucked on her earlobe, and whispered in her ear.
“Let go.”
She did as she was told and fully let go, giving herself to the pleasure, giving herself to him. She reached out her hands to the sides, past the blanket, gripping the grass and ripping it from the earth so she wouldn’t float away.
“Aye, that’s it,” Archer murmured.
“Aye,” she moaned.
He slowed his thrusts, pulled out to the tip, then slowly slid back inside her and held himself there.
“Oh! Oh, aye! Oh, me goodness.” Eileen let out a guttural cry, like a feral wolf howling at the full moon.
Her body convulsed and quivered with pleasure until her back, coated with a thin layer of sweat, fell back to the blanket.
“What do ye do to me?” she panted.
“Only what I want to,” Archer rasped. “And ye drive me crazy enough with desire for me to want to do it to ye over and over and over again.”
“I never kenned I could feel like this,” Eileen admitted.
“Ye’re mine now, lass,” he declared.
Eileen knew he did not mean it, but it still filled her with a warmth that made her ache for more.
“Dinnae move,” she begged. “I like ye on me like this.”
“I’m nae goin’ anywhere,” he assured her.
“Good.”
She opened her eyes to see him staring down at her, his eyes shining like emeralds once again. She became lost in them for a second before shifting her gaze to his plump lips. She lifted her head and kissed him, sucking on his bottom lip before pulling back.
She looked down at her squished breasts, before running her eyes up his neck to his tight jaw. She raised a hand to his cheek, barely holding back the tears.
“This is where I want to be,” she croaked.
“We dinnae have to go anywhere.” He rubbed just below her eye with his thumb as a tear was shed. “We can stay here for as long as ye like, but I’m nae done with ye yet. I cannae stop pleasurin’ ye, Eileen. I willnae stop. Do ye hear me?”
“Aye, I hear ye, and it’s all I want. I want to feel this way with ye.”
“We’ll stay until sundown,” he said. “Just ye and me, together. We’re free for today.”
“Aye,” Eileen whispered, before closing her eyes.
She was free, but not really. The time to leave would soon come, and she was not ready for it. She needed more time with him. She needed to understand what she truly felt.