Chapter 14 #3
In his heart was the fear that she would leave him soon. That the last few days were all some imagined dream and that he would awaken alone in his castle with no one but servants who feared his very presence. He couldn’t imagine a day without her gentle teasing. A day without her laughter.
He didn’t want to even try.
“Would you two go on and kiss already.”
Callie laughed and turned to face Simon. “What?”
Simon opened his eyes and pinned them both with a bored stare. “I’m not dead and I wasn’t really asleep. I feel like the devil used me for tilting practice, but still I’m quite sure I shall live. That is if someone will stop trying to tie my intestines into a knot.
“Being as I am in pain, the last thing I want is to watch the two of you all lovey-dovey over there. My stomach is quite queasy enough. Sin, tell the woman you love her for Peter’s sake. Callie, do the same and let me lie here in my sweet misery all alone.”
Sin stroked his jaw with his thumb as he eyed his friend irritably. “Little brother, at the moment I should like to tie your intestines into a knot myself.”
Simon was completely unperturbed. “Have at it, then, just make the pain stop.”
“Can I get you anything?” Callie asked Simon.
“Nay, just promise me the next time I see a cake, you’ll slap me before I take a bite of it.” He rolled over. “Now may I preserve what little dignity I have left?”
Sin smiled. “Look to the bright side, Si. You didn’t empty your stomach on a guest.”
“So say you. Now leave.”
Callie led Sin toward the door, then paused and looked back at Simon. “If you need anything, call.”
Simon rolled over and gave her a peeved glare.
“We’re going,” she said, taking Sin’s hand and pulling him from the room.
Sin thought he had a reprieve from Simon’s tirade until Callie cornered him in the hallway outside Simon’s room. She pegged him with a penetrating stare that let him know he was in serious trouble. “What did he mean by that?”
“By what?”
“That you love me. Do you?”
Sin swallowed. He thought he did, but who was he to know the difference? So he answered her honestly. “I don’t even know the meaning of that word.”
She looked as though she couldn’t decide if she should kick him or strangle him. “Stubborn man. But at least you’re not like the others of your kind, quick to declare your heart and then ever quick to reclaim it. At least this way, should you ever say the words, I shall know you mean them.”
He stared at her in awe of her inner strength. “You’re not mad at me?”
“I am merely mad for you, Sin. One day, I hope you’ll feel the same for me.”
Stunned, he watched as she walked off.
“Oh, I am a fool,” he whispered under his breath. She had offered him so much of herself and he had offered her so little.
And for what?
Fear?
Stupidity?
You’ve been alone all your life. You know you can survive solitude. You know you can survive conditions that would make hell seem paradise.
So why was he so afraid now?
And so what if he ended up like Ewan? He already lived that way. Lost in his solitary company with no friends save a tankard of ale.
“Callie.”
He hadn’t realized he’d spoken her name aloud until she turned to face him. “Aye?”
He stared at her in the hallway, her red hair curling around her shoulders. She wore the dark blue, green and yellow plaid of her father, her black kirtle hugging her lush figure.
He’d never beheld anyone or anything more beguiling or precious.
“Can you teach me what love is?”
Callie couldn’t breathe as the quiet words reached out to her.
There was so much pain and heartfelt yearning behind them that it brought tears to her eyes.
He was so vulnerable standing there. He stood proud and tall before her and yet she sensed just how easily she could hurt him if she rejected him. Not that she ever would.
Laughing and crying, she ran to him and threw her arms around his shoulders. “Aye, my love. I would be delighted to.”
Sin hadn’t realized until that moment just how afraid he’d been of her rejection. Just how much of his heart he’d left exposed to her.
His wounded heart soaring, he scooped her up in his arms and kissed her. The taste of her lips drove him to madness. The feel of her body so pliant and warm against his...
He had to have her. Now. This instant. He couldn’t stand another moment of being without her.
With determined strides, he carried her to their room and laid her gently on the bed.
Her cheeks turned bright pink. “‘Tis the middle of the day.”
“I know.”
“What if someone comes looking for us?”
He bolted the door.
Callie laughed, until he turned around and she saw the raw hunger in his eyes. The look burned her.
He moved slowly, languidly toward the bed, peeling off his clothes as he came until he was naked before her. She trembled at the fierce sight of him. The sleek rippling of his muscles as he joined her on the bed.
“I want you, Caledonia,” he breathed, unlacing the neck of her kirtle. “I want to taste every inch of your body. Slowly, until I’ve devoured you.”
She shivered at his demanding tone and the feel of his hot hand cupping her breast.
“I want your heart, Sin.” She ran her hand through his hair.
He pushed her dress down her body and removed her clothes until she was fully exposed to him. “It’s battered and useless, but what remains of it is all yours, milady.”
No one had ever spoken more beautiful words to her. His eyes hooded and dark, he stared at her bare body as if he relished every piece of it.
He ran his hand over her skin, gently testing the texture of her.
Callie arched her back, her body on fire for more of him.
He pulled her leg up to rest against his chest and kissed her knee while his hands ran up and down her thigh, sending chills all over her.
He locked gazes with her as he tilted her leg toward him, exposing her to his questing fingers.
She moaned as he touched her core.
“I love the way you look when I do that,” he whispered, nipping her bent knee.
His fingers continued to torment her while he shifted his body to lie between her legs.
Callie looked down at him as he nudged her legs farther apart so that he could stare at the most private place of her body. Heat scalded her cheeks. Surely this was indecent and yet it made her entire body burn with erotic pleasure.
He brought his other hand up, and slid it down her wet cleft, then he gently separated her nether folds and placed his mouth upon her.
Callie threw her head back and moaned as pleasure ripped through her. Never had she felt such unbridled pleasure or heat.
Sin growled at the taste of her. He’d never tasted a woman before and yet he doubted if any could compete to the rare treasure he’d found.
Closing his eyes, he savored her. He felt her body quivering to every lick he delivered, felt her thigh muscles involuntarily contract as he took his time pleasuring her.
She buried her hands in his hair, pressing him closer to her as she lifted her hips in invitation.
She looked wild and beautiful in her abandon.
Callie shivered and burned from the sensation of his mouth tormenting her. She’d never experienced anything like this at all. It seemed she was all conflicted emotions. Weak and strong, hot and shivery.
And still he gave her pleasure. She’d never dreamed anything would feel like this. And when slid two fingers inside her, she really feared she would die from the ecstasy of it.
The feeling of his hands and mouth on her was more than she could stand. Her head swirling, she felt her body rip apart into spasms of pure bliss.
Sin growled again as he watched her face while she came for him. Aye, he loved the sight of her that way. The feel of her body clutching his.
And he wanted her in a way that bordered on desperate. Licking and nibbling his way up her body, he lay down behind her.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice breathless.
“I want to try something different.” It was something he had heard of from other men and had seen a few times from men and women who hadn’t been particularly bashful about who saw them flagrante delicto.
Kissing her on the shoulder, he rolled her over until she was on her knees.
Callie frowned at him, but trusted him completely. She knew he would never hurt her.
He came up behind her, wrapped his arms around her, and holding her back against his chest, he ran his hands all over her body. She sighed contentedly at the warm feel of him. His hot, pulsing shaft rested against her hip as he gently ran his tongue down her neck.
“Oh Sin,” she moaned, her body on fire from his touch.
“I will never get enough of you, Caledonia,” he said raggedly in her ear.
He ran his hands down her arms until he captured her hands in his. Then, he gently pushed her forward until her hands rested on the carved headboard. He laid a tender kiss on her shoulder and spread her legs wide.
Callie bit her lip nervously, not sure what he intended. He pulled back from her and braced his hands on her hips. Two seconds later, he drove himself inside her, up to the hilt. She cried out at the pleasure of his body so hard and deep inside hers.
Hissing in pleasure, she felt herself go weak from it. Saints, how she loved this man. Loved sharing her body with him and knowing he was hers. All hers.
He buried his face in her neck as he moved against her. Hot and slow. In and out, he slid, making her quiver. She loved the way he felt inside and behind her, the way his lips and tongue teased her flesh.
Acting on instinct, she matched his strokes until he paused and held himself still.
“That’s it, my love,” he whispered to her. “Show me what feels good to you.”
Sin ground his teeth as pleasure ripped through him while she rode him slow and easy. She pushed herself away from the headboard until she was leaning back against him while she writhed in his arms. She reached over her head, pulling him closer to her as she claimed his lips with hers.
He gladly obliged while he ran his hands over her taut breasts and down her soft belly until he reached the moist, tangled curls.
Their tongues danced in time to her strokes as he separated the tender folds of her body and slid his fingers against her.
Callie groaned at the feel of him. This was so incredible. She’d never dreamed such a thing existed. His touch branded her. Made her ache and yet gave her comfort.
And when she came again, she held his head close to hers and screamed out from the fierceness of it.
Sin laughed softly at her hold on him. He could barely breathe, but he didn’t mind in the least. He waited until the last spasm had left her body before he took control again. Leaning her forward, he thrust himself faster into her warmth. Aye, she was heaven to him.
And when he found his own release a moment later, he held her close and whispered her name.
Entwined and fully spent, they collapsed on the bed.
Sin lay there, holding her back to his chest, his mind wandering. He’d never had an afternoon like this. Never experienced the comfort of loving arms.
He wrapped his arms around her and listened as she quickly dosed off.
Smiling, he leaned over her to watch the tranquility of her features while her breath tickled the flesh of his arms. If he could, he would stay here forever. Lost in this peaceful paradise that was her.
Closing his eyes, he did what he hadn’t done since he was a small boy. He prayed. He prayed for the politics of Henry and her brother not to come between them. Prayed for some miracle that would see them with a future together.
And as he lay there, behind the lids of his eyes he did another thing he’d not done since early childhood. He hoped. He saw in his mind the children he would love to have. Little boys and girls with their mother’s warmth and spirit.
He wanted this dream. With every piece and part of him, he ached for it.
He had to have it.
And yet even as the peaceful thoughts lulled him, in the back of his mind he feared that hope.
Because the realist in him knew better. Dermot was out there, right now, plotting the downfall of his own clan.
And if Aster couldn’t put a stop to it tonight, then one way or the other, come morning, Sin would.
He only hoped that when he did, his wife could really forgive him for doing that which he’d sworn himself to.