Chapter 11
‘Can I touch you?’ Desperation scratched through Struan’s words.
He’d wanted before, but he’d never needed.
Not like this. The little gasps and whimpers he drew from her with only his mouth were a novelty he’d never get tired of, and he was already imagining what she might sound like when he made her come.
His cock pressed against the restraint of his jeans, as magnetised by her as the rest of him.
Rae faltered suddenly, dark hair fanned out across the picnic blanket as she looked up at him.
In the waning rays of sun, her eyes were closer to amber than brown, shadowed by her dark lashes.
So beautiful he almost couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it sooner – but then, perhaps he hadn’t let himself.
Now, it was all he could do.
‘You want me to stop?’ His voice broke, betraying how badly he wanted the answer to be no.
Rae chewed on her bottom lip, still stained red from the tayberries.
He wasn’t sure how he’d ever separate the two again, that sharp, earthy sweetness entwined with the taste of her.
He saw it in every bit of her: rosy apple cheeks when she smiled, peach-smooth skin, mind as sharp as citrus, lips red as underripe cherries.
Even her smell offered a sugary tang of syrup and pears, more potent at the hollow of her throat.
And when he touched her, those curves moulded to his palms like the juiciest, most tantalising fruit. God, what he’d give to sink his teeth in.
‘I… I haven’t done this in a while,’ she said.
‘No?’ He couldn’t hide his surprise. All those cities, all that success.
Surely she’d been surrounded by talented chefs and wealthy suitors who deserved her far more than he did; someone who would sweep her off her feet with gifts and charm and talent, all things he decidedly lacked. ‘No culinary flings?’
She shook her head. ‘My experience was more like Hell’s Kitchen.’
His thumb traced careful circles into her hipbone. ‘We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Say the word and I’ll back off.’
She tilted her head, considering, then dragged her palm over his erection with leisurely intention. Teasing. His lids fluttered closed, stomach tightening to something unbearable. A huff rolled from him without permission.
‘I want to,’ she said. ‘I want you to touch me.’
And God, he wanted to. With more urgency, he tugged at the hem of her T-shirt, caressing the peak of her belly as he supped on her collarbone.
Her head fell back, legs tightening. As good as it felt to have her wrapped around him, he wanted access, and eased her down to battle with the stiff button of her jeans.
‘Jesus, these weren’t made for impatient men like me,’ he cursed, fumbling over the zip. When he reunited with her simple underwear, he grinned. ‘Hello, again.’
Laughter rippled through her, face turning redder behind her hands. He almost loved that bashfulness as much as he did her moans. ‘Stop!’
Struan pried her hands away. ‘Don’t hide. I want to see you.’
So she didn’t, and for a long moment, he could only drink her in with quiet awe while tracing the outer seam of her thighs, her calves, right down to her ankles, watching every tiny reaction, listening for every catch in her throat, memorising every subtle twitch.
He wanted to make sure he knew exactly how and where to touch her.
She squirmed, but he wasn’t done playing yet. From the basket, he crushed a berry between his fingers and lathered the pulp over the inside of her thigh.
Rae’s eyes widened as he dipped to chase the juice away with his tongue. His nose brushed her core, causing her to quiver against him.
‘Struan…’
He did it again, this time letting the berry drip over the elastic edge of her knickers, where dark hair crept out.
It was the hottest thing he’d ever seen, and it took every drop of self-restraint not to tug that underwear down and ravish her immediately.
He was used to adrenaline pulsing through him, but where it usually focused his mind, now it made him dizzy, like he’d walked into a kaleidoscope where the pink sky and green fields stretched on in shimmering mosaics as far as the eye could see and he couldn’t figure out which way was up.
When he nuzzled into the crease of her groin to lap at the juice, he was rewarded with a whimper. With the way his scalp tingled as she threaded her hands through his hair, he wasn’t sure he’d ever want to cut it again. Not if it meant more of this.
‘If it’s been a while,’ he murmured against her core, ‘I’ll have to make sure it’s good.’
‘Then get on with it,’ she urged.
He laughed, nudging the already damp cotton aside. ‘Look at this… Already so wet. Is it all for me?’
‘Do you provide a running commentary for all of the women you take to bed?’
All. Did she think she was just one of many?
Gently, he parted her folds, intoxicated by the sight of her pussy glistening and ready. ‘So many assumptions, Rae. It’s hard not to take offence.’
‘Are they wrong?’
He met her gaze and said, ‘Yes.’
And then he swirled his thumb over her clit with just enough pressure to make her hips buck. She braced herself on her elbows, panting as she watched. ‘Don’t stop. Fuck, don’t stop, Struan.’
‘Wouldn’t dream of it.’ He increased his pace, teasing her opening until she was arching off the picnic blanket. It was mesmerising, watching her lids close, body tremble, as she chased the pleasure, her pretty mouth shaped around a silent keen like the centre of a rose.
Tension creased her features moments later, fingers balling into her palms. ‘It sometimes… takes me a while. I don’t always get there.’
It awoke a new determination in him, a need to see her fall apart. ‘Then I’ll have to use a different tactic.’
He spread her legs, plunging a finger inside her while his thumb remained on her clit. With his free hand, he toyed with her breast, and then, when he saw her dark nipple pebble under her T-shirt, sucked it through the fabric.
‘Struan.’ She ground down onto him in a plea for more. He added another finger, her slippery walls clenching around him.
‘That’s it. I’ll get you there,’ he promised. ‘You’re so gorgeous, Rae. So fucking sweet.’
He wasn’t done tasting her. He kissed her jaw, her neck, before moving onto her other nipple through the shirt, grinning into her shuddering chest when she let out another taut moan. ‘Take as much time as you need. It’s just you and me here.’
Her lids blinked open, hazy as she sought him out. ‘I think I’m close.’
‘Yeah? Are you going to come on my fingers, sweetheart?’
‘Oh, God.’ Her voice was wispy, desperate, and he loved how much she loved his dirty way with words.
He wanted to talk to her through all of it, wanted to make sure she knew she was safe and she had all of him.
In the end, he did, muttering, ‘My good, sweet girl,’ as her pretty little whines echoed with the birdsong.
When he hooked against her G-spot, her walls clenched, and she rode his fingers until her convulsions crested, gasps shrill.
‘There we go,’ he praised. ‘You look so fucking perfect when you come. Sound even better.’
Her fingers curled into the blanket, brows puckering, before her hips finally sank down. She closed her legs, a silent dismissal. Struan could have spent hours like this, but he pulled out with her arousal dripping down his knuckles.
He placed a final kiss on her nose, then sucked the heavenly taste of her from his fingers.
‘Do you… want to do something about this?’ Rae questioned coyly, brushing a knee against his cock. He’d forgotten about his own lust, but now it stretched into something painful.
‘Only if you want to. I’m not keeping score.’
‘I want to,’ she vowed.
He pulled away, clenching his teeth when his zipper brushed his erection.
She sat up, gulping at the sight of his boxers.
Slowly, she drew her hand down his shaft through the cotton.
He trembled, afraid to move, to find out this wasn’t real – because it couldn’t be.
Nothing felt this good, and someone like her, smart and talented and focused, couldn’t want someone like him, even if this was as far as it went.
She shook her head suddenly, and he frowned. ‘Rae, you don’t have to—’
‘No, it’s not that. I just don’t know how this happened.’
‘Maybe tayberries are an aphrodisiac. If that’s the case, you could make a fortune.’
She snorted, pumping him through his boxers until he was tugging up blades of grass just to clasp onto something. ‘Fuck. You feel perfect.’
‘Are you sure? Tell me what you like—’
‘This. I like this. Please keep going,’ he begged.
She peeled back his boxers to let his cock spring free, then rolled a thumb over his gleaming head, watching his face carefully as though afraid of doing something wrong. It wasn’t possible. Everything she did made his head swim.
‘Come here. Please. Need you closer.’ He tugged her onto his lap, her weight keeping him grounded as his climax approached.
‘How are you both so filthy and so ridiculously polite?’ she questioned.
He chuffed, barely able to muster a coherent sentence. ‘Only for you, sweetheart.’
Her breath was jagged against his cheek, and she traced a tender finger over his lips. He was so far gone that he didn’t think before taking it into his mouth, clamping around it, while his orgasm rushed over him with terrifying intensity.
Only then did he have nothing left to say, words escaping him.
Everything escaping him, save for her.