Chapter 4
Sleep had stolen over her like mist, thick and luminous.
And in that shimmering haze, a Highlander appeared.
But not just any Highlander. He was the one from the portrait.
Only now, he was no longer paint and canvas now, but flesh and breath.
Lainie had spent years writing about places she’d never truly touched.
Now, in this stranger’s arms, she finally understood what it meant to feel like she belonged.
The air between them felt charged, fragile. If she leaned forward now, the rules she lived by might never recover. Maybe that was the point.
Lainie plunged headfirst into the kiss. Her hands ran up and down the length of the warm, muscular back and then lower, gripping the taut, round buttocks covered by rough plaid.
This fantasy was so real. The man in the painting, the one she couldn’t stop thinking about, had come to life in her dreams. She would have to buy more Merlot and drink some each night.
The taste of the god in her arms was intoxicating, a blend of spicy, sweet, and pure maleness.
She breathed in his masculine scent as she tasted him.
Her eyes closed in ecstasy, and she moaned into his mouth.
His hands were everywhere, massaging her back, her buttocks, and her arms. His fingers tickled their way up her sides, across her belly, gooseflesh following every path his fingers crossed.
He tugged on the tie holding her robe in place and let it slip open.
Every fiber in her body was on fire, begging for more of his touch.
She couldn’t remember the last time passion enveloped her with such intensity.
The ache in her cherry, the need to be satisfied, was overwhelming.
Was her mind and body telling her she needed to find a man?
So much so that now she was having this realistic seduction from a man in a painting?
His mouth never left hers; the kiss only deepened with more fervor as he slipped her silky robe from her body, letting it drop in a pool at her feet. Her body quivered with anticipation.
The man hauled Lainie tightly against him, and she jumped at the feel of her bare breasts on the hot skin of his chest. His chest hair tickled her nipples, and they hardened, sending spirals of ecstasy shivering through her.
His rough hands slid around her waist and up her stomach, gripping the undersides of her breasts.
He lifted them as if measuring their weight, and then his thumbs, gentle as a breeze, rubbed over the pebbled peaks.
She would not have thought a man of his size could be so gentle.
But this was a dream, wasn’t it? And dreams were always the way you wanted them to be.
If this was what her subconscious desired, then she was more than willing to give in.
Her senses swirled, her nerves bundles of firing pleasure.
Lainie moaned, her knees buckling. The man wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed his way down her neck and shoulders to her breasts.
He kissed them softly, his tongue grazing her skin.
His breath caressed her nipples until he finally took one inside his mouth.
The feel of his mouth on her skin sent shockwaves from her breasts to the very core of her.
Her body twitched and pulsed, begging for attention.
The slickness of her folds, were hot and ready for him.
He held her hips as he kissed a path to her belly, his tongue circling her navel.
Her knees quaked, and Lainie didn’t think she’d be able to stand. She bit her lip, moaning.
Her head fell back, a moan spilling from her lips as his mouth moved lower, tracing fire across her skin until she forgot where she ended and he began.
She gripped the back of his head as waves of pleasure coursed through her.
His tongue was like magic, tracing patterns of fire across her, coaxing her higher until she trembled on the edge of reason.
His hands gripped her hips and buttocks, massaging them, drawing her further into his mouth.
Lainie slipped her hands through his dark, wavy hair, caressing its thickness and then down to his shoulders, where his muscles rippled beneath her fingertips.
The white-hot pleasure of his mouth devoured her, driving her to the edge.
No man had ever been able to arouse such pleasure in her with his mouth.
Of course, her dream man would be amazing…
“Ye taste like heaven,” he groaned into her flesh.
The sound of his burr was like liquid butter rolling off the very heat of her.
Pulsing electricity shot through her bones.
Her knees buckled, she gripped his shoulders tight, her nails finding anchor.
She moaned again with the force of her orgasm rocking her entire body.
Her hands slid up his neck, gripping his head against her until the waves subsided.
The sexy warrior languidly kissed his way up her body to her neck before crushing her lips with his. Her musky scent enveloped her as he thrust his tongue into her mouth. She kissed him fiercely back, not able to get enough of this sexy man.
He dragged his mouth roughly from hers, his mossy green orbs burned with passion as he gazed intently at her.
“Your name,” he demanded.
“Lainie,” she choked, the desire coursing through her, stealing her breath.
“Lainie, call me Donell.”
“Donell,” she whispered, as he kissed her from her neck to her collarbone. His velvety tongue was like heaven on her skin; her body throbbed for more. She wanted to feel him inside her, thrusting, pulsing. “I want you, Donell.”
He turned her around, rubbing his thick thighs and rock-solid cock against her. The feel of his erection through the kilt as he massaged himself against her buttocks sent a chill racing through her veins.
“Ye’re so hot,” he whispered as his tongue flicked her earlobe. His fingers traced her hips, the curve of her buttocks, and then slipped into her still pulsing heat. “So wet…”
She leaned back, wanting to take more of him in. His fingers slid in and out.
“Say ye want me again,” he commanded against the skin of her back as he nuzzled her.
“Please, Donell. Come to me.”
He slipped his fingers seductively from her, and she bit her lip, wanting him to ram into her again. Then she felt him, hot and naked on her behind as he rubbed his solid length against her buttocks.
“Lainie,” he moaned.
He pressed against her, sliding inside with exquisite slowness, and then he stopped. She sucked in her breath. He held her hips steady when she tried to roll them back to take him in further. He sucked the side of her neck.
“Slowly, love.” The softness of his breath sent tingles up and down her spine.
Donell plunged into her, filling her. Again, he stopped.
“That feels so good,” she moaned, throwing her head back. His hand gripped her hair, while the other slid down her abdomen to massage the hard nub begging for his touch.
“So hot, so tight,” Donell growled.
He withdrew teasingly so she could feel every inch of his movements. And she was mesmerized by his deliberate and torturous rhythm. Heat pulsed through her core with each tender stroke of his cock, and the mounting pressure from his fingers.
Lainie covered his hands with hers, the feel of his body so real.
He moaned in her ear as he picked up the pace, drawing out inch by delicious inch and thrusting back inside her.
She rolled her hips, squeezing her buttocks tight as he continued to drive deep and hard into her aching center.
Donell stilled and then withdrew from Lainie, turning her towards him.
Lainie lifted the corner of her mouth in a teasing smile. Gripping his hand in hers, she led him to the bedroom.
She walked backward, never taking her gaze from his burning regard as she slid onto the bed and crooked her finger.
Donell crawled up the length of her body, rubbing every inch of his hot skin on hers.
His devastatingly handsome face loomed above her as he bent to kiss her softly, languidly, as if he would simply kiss her all night.
His thick hair tickled her breasts as she arched her back.
There was an intense feeling of being wanted and cherished in equal measure.
This wasn’t who she was. She was deadlines and Wi-Fi and take-out dinners, not heated caresses and whispered Gaelic endearments. Yet every time he touched her, another piece of that armor slipped away. Maybe independence didn’t have to mean isolation.
Lainie couldn’t wait any longer to feel him inside of her again. She prayed she wouldn’t wake before this impossible dream burned itself into her forever. She spread her legs wide and wrapped them around his hips.
“I want ye so bad,” Donell growled, gripping her buttocks and teasing her most sensitive place with the tip of his shaft.
Lainie gripped his hips, her hands sliding to the hard muscles of his ass, and tugged him tightly against her. A loud moan escaped her lips as he thrust hard into her. Their bodies bucked in lustful unison. The long, thick length of him filled her completely.
Lainie gripped his buttocks, squeezing as his muscles flexed with each pump of his hips.
She slid her hands up and down his back, sucking on the side of his neck, as his moans and grunts against her ear sent her spiraling.
She flicked her tongue across the lobe of his ear and was rewarded when his mouth once again took possession of hers.
His tongue delved inside, mimicking the actions of his hardness.
The pulsing heat intensified. She spread her legs wider, taking him in deeper. Lainie’s body stiffened and shook as she exploded into a million tiny pieces, screaming beneath him. Never in her life had she come as violently as she did in this magical dream.
“Don’t stop, I don’t want this to end…” she begged. But even as she said it, some part of her feared that it already had. That she would open her eyes and be alone in a world that suddenly felt too empty. Sleep claimed her, but her heart refused to rest.