Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Sorrel was hardly aware of the rain that lashed at the bedroom window as the storm raged outside. Inside, she was kissing Tam Blackwood, and it was as if the ten years that they’d been apart melted away into nothing.
Their lips met softly, and everything she remembered about kissing Tam came back to her, like a book she knew by heart. A book she hadn’t read for ten years, but still knew every word of.
Tam had always been a great kisser, and that hadn’t changed. He’d never been one of those guys who had treated a kiss like a conquest, or some kind of competition for who could twiddle their tongue around the most, or press the hardest, gnashing their teeth against yours.
No, Tam was gentle, sensual, took his time. His lips were soft but purposeful, and when he kissed her, Sorrel always felt as though he loved her. Love and affection and tenderness were always there in his kiss; he would touch her face as he kissed her, stroke her hair, gaze into her eyes.
‘Is this okay?’ he murmured, drawing back and gazing at her. ‘I mean… you were upset, I don’t want to… if it’s not the right time.’
‘It’s okay.’ She drew closer to him and gazed up into his eyes, then kissed his bottom lip. ‘I want to.’
‘Okay.’ He grinned, and took her in his arms. They lay back on the bed, Sorrel on her back, looking up at Tam.
He stared down at her, his eyes darkening with desire.
‘So beautiful,’ he breathed. ‘You always were so very beautiful. Sorrel, The prettiest girl on the island. I was always so proud to be by your side.’
‘Just the island?’ she said, playfully, reaching up for him. But his words ignited her heart. It had been so long since anyone had looked at her with such longing, such adoration.
‘The whole of Scotland, then.’ He kissed the tip of her nose. ‘My beautiful queen. I missed you.’
‘I missed you too,’ Sorrel breathed, as Tam’s hands caressed her body.
His touch lit her up. The chemistry was still there, had always been there, when they were together.
It was effortless, joyful, fun. There was an unspoken language of delight that his touch traced on her skin; when he kissed her, desire took over her whole body: an irresistible sweetness.
Tam was kind, funny, patient. But when he took her in his strong arms, he was all man, and she couldn’t resist him.
Tam’s voice grew more husky. ‘I know that it might not be the right time, but I want you, so badly. I’ve wanted to adore your body – worship you, like you deserve, like I used to – from the moment I saw you back on the island.
I can’t stop thinking about you.’ He kissed the nape of her neck, and her whole body thrummed with a forgotten but familiar delight.
‘I haven’t been with a woman since Beth. It’s been a long time.’
‘I want you too. Now.’ She wrapped her legs around him, drawing him closer to her body. He groaned with desire.
‘You’re making it hard for me to stand up right now,’ he muttered, kissing her deeply. She felt the thrill of him all the way from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.
‘Then don’t,’ she whispered, reaching up to him and pulling the weight of his body down on her.
He let out a long groan that ended in a throaty chuckle.
‘You were always a bad influence,’ he muttered huskily against her ear.
He propped himself up on one elbow so that he wasn’t crushing her, and then ran the fingertips of his other hand along her jaw, down the line of her throat, and then, maddeningly, brushed the fabric of her white T-shirt softly where it pulled taut over her breasts.
‘You’re the one lying on top of me right now,’ Sorrel murmured. ‘With a very mischievous look in your eyes.’
His hand strayed to her jeans. Just the weight and heat of his hand on Sorrel made her want him. He leaned in and kissed her again, his lips brushing hers unhurriedly.
‘Mischievous? No. Hungry… yes,’ he murmured between kisses.
‘How hungry?’ she replied, twisting her hands in his hair, kissing him back.
The kiss got deeper, more wanton. He groaned; she could feel his arousal.
‘Starving,’ he growled, moving to her neck and baring his teeth against it gently. ‘I think I might pass out, unless…’
‘Unless what?’ she breathed.
Instead of answering, he pulled Sorrel’s shirt up over her breasts and buried his face in them, pushing aside the cups of her bra. She gasped at the sensation of his mouth on her skin, and then, his tongue on her nipples. She cried out.
Without stopping what he was doing, Tam reached down, undid her jeans and pushed them down. Sorrel wriggled out of them.
‘You’re very overdressed now,’ she chided him. ‘Your queen demands you to strip.’
‘Oh, does she now?’ Tam looked up with a grin on his face. ‘Then I would be a fool to disobey.’
He sat back on his heels and pulled his sweatshirt over his head. Underneath, he wore a plain light blue T-shirt, which he pulled off, too.
Sorrel gazed up at his chest, unintentionally biting her lip as she watched him strip. Goddamn, he is a beauty.
Sorrel knew Tam’s body. Or, she had known it, ten years ago.
But ten years was a long time. Now, Sorrel could see that Tam’s chest and torso were wider, more heavily muscled; he had more hair on his chest now than he used to.
She took a deep breath, taking all of him in with her eyes, greedily, wanting to stare at him, consume him with her gaze.
His arms were also definitely bigger than they had been.
An image of biting one of them came unbidden into Sorrel’s imagination.
‘Enjoying the view?’ he asked, his voice low, as he gazed down at her.
‘It’s all right.’ She grinned. ‘Maybe just… flex a bit?’
When they’d been a couple, Tam and Sorrel had always been playful like this.
She’d always loved that their sex life was silly as well as sensual – she’d always felt that she could be herself with Tam.
She was safe with him, and he’d never been anything but kind and gentle with her – apart from the heat of the moment, where they were both passionate.
But there was no guarantee that it would still be like that between them; as they joked gently with each other, she felt a glow of relief, safety and sweetness in her heart.
What a long time it had been since she’d felt that. Tam was the only person who had ever made her feel safe and seen in quite that way. A part of her felt sad at the thought.
Tam laughed, got up and took off his jeans, standing at the side of the bed.
‘I feel self-conscious,’ he chuckled. ‘You’re looking at me like you’re deciding which steak to buy.’
‘Well… maybe I’ve been hungry, too,’ Sorrel replied, shyly. She got up, on her knees, to the edge of the bed and rested her head against his chest. He took her in his strong arms, and she shivered in delight at the sensation of being held.
I wish I could just be held for the rest of my life, she thought. Just like this.
Tam reached for her chin and turned her face up to his.
‘We can’t have that,’ he murmured, and, slowly, laid her back on the bed.