“Now kiss me, lass.”

It was the perfect angle for kissing and Davina took full advantage of it. The fires of her passion were quickly rekindled. She felt but a small glimmer of trepidation when his hands took hold of her hips, lifted her, and then eased her down onto the tip of his jutting erection.

A fine sheen of sweat broke out on her upper lip as she lowered her hips, trying to take him into her body. Her inner muscles softened and stretched, the wetness from her earlier release making it a bit easier.

Still, it was a tight fit and not an entirely pleasurable feeling. Yet she wanted more. She tried to push his penis farther inside her, but James circled her waist and held her in place.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Ye’re a virgin.”

“What?” She was concentrating so hard, she barely heard him speak.

“Ye are a virgin, Davina. I can feel yer maidenhead.”

“Oh.”

“Do ye want to stop?”

“No!”

She punctuated her response with a downward thrust. The pain was sharp and swift, but it faded the moment she met James’s eyes.

“Did I do it right?” she asked.

He groaned and lifted his hips. She reached frantically for his shoulders to steady herself, then drove down, burying him to the hilt. His chest heaved and he groaned again. Davina rocked her hips slowly, delighting in the sound.

She set the pace, pushing downward harder and faster, but they moved together, in a primitive rhythm as old as time itself. James ran one hand down her hip and reached between her legs. Lightning raced through her body. Davina cried out as his thumb rotated over the most sensitive part of her womanhood. She could feel the heat and wetness emanating from her body and it heightened her excitement.

“More,” she whimpered.

His hips bucked upward and he thrust deeply, quickening the rhythm. Heart thundering, she answered, pushing her hips against him again and again. It was exhilarating. She closed her eyes and allowed her body to feel everything, allowed these glorious sensations to sweep away her haunted memories.

The desperate sense of need and tension she now recognized started building inside her. Whimpering, Davina struggled to reach it, pressing her slick flesh more firmly against his stroking thumb.

“Ye’re almost there, Davina,” he whispered.

Her inner muscles tightened, pulsed. Her eyes popped open in astonishment. Again? How was that possible?

Beneath her, James looked to be in agony. His jaw clenched, his shoulders arched, his breathing loud and harsh. Had she breath to speak, Davina would have asked if aught were amiss, but all she could do was hang on as they raced together to the peak.

Suddenly, James stiffened and shouted her name and Davina felt the hot flood of his seed deep inside her. She stroked his hair, uttering sweet words of nonsense, then clung to him, seeking the comfort only he could bring to her wounded heart.

Tears were running down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them from her face with the back of her hand, fearing that if James saw them he would misunderstand. ’Twas not sorrow that brought them, but intense relief.

She felt a lightness in her heart, a wholeness in her spirit. It was as though the shattered pieces of her life that she had struggled so long to repair were finally mended.

She resisted the urge to burst into giggles, thinking the moment too meaningful for such levity.

She could love again, and equally as important, she could accept the love and affections of a man. Completely and without reservation.

James rolled her to his side and drew her into his arms. She rubbed her cheek back and forth over his shoulder and curled closer. Her body tingled with sated pleasure, but it was the realization that for the first time in five years she felt whole again that gave her the greatest ease.

“Are ye tired?” he asked.

“Hmm.”

She could feel his body tense against hers. “Davina, love, we need to talk.”