Page 89 of First Light

Lachlan touched her body as he always had, as if they’d been lovers for years. Nothing about him was unsure or hesitant. He knew exactly the curve where her back arched, the spot on her neck that made her cry out.

He lifted the dress over her head, lifted her and placed her in the bed, drawing the bed curtains around them. Then he ripped off his jacket and threw it to the foot of the bed before he started to fumble with his leggings.

Carys sat up, drawing the sheet with her to keep her from freezing in the cold air, then carefully lifted the tartan from his shoulder as Lachlan grew still under her hand.

“You never wore a kilt in California,” she said softly. “I asked about it, and you said it was an old-fashioned thing.”

“It is.” He sat back on his heels, watching her as she slowly undressed him.

“It’s beautiful.” She unwound the heavy wool from his narrow hips and set the yards of woven fabric to the side, leaving him in nothing more than the long tunic stained with wine.

“Were you drinking?” He didn’t seem drunk, but Carys wanted to make sure this was what he wanted in his cold, sober mind. “Were you drinking a lot?”

The corner of his mouth kicked up. “No, Dafydd spilled his wine on me. I probably smell like a wine barrel.”

“No, you smell like you.” She leaned forward and pulled the tunic over his head, leaving him bare in the darkness, his body as glorious as it ever was but his scars making more sense now that she knew the truth.

He had a knife wound on his shoulder. A childish prank, he’d toldher. Carys leaned forward and put her lips on his warm skin, her tongue flicking out to taste the raised flesh. Lachlan’s skin vibrated under her mouth.

“What was it really?”

“A training accident with my father’s soldiers.”

“A sword?”

“Bronze blade. Heavy.”

Her fingers traced across his chest, the gold hair sprinkled over the corded muscles, to the gash a few inches down on his ribs. “And this one?”

“Hunting accident with a very drunk Anglian lord.” He gripped her hair in his right hand and pulled her head back to expose her throat. “Give me your skin.”

“You have it,” she whispered.

Carys closed her eyes as her hands remained on Lachlan’s shoulder and ribs. He kissed her with the hunger of lost months and lonely nights, his lips bruising in their pursuit. He leaned forward, nudging her back onto the pillows before he crawled next to her under the bedclothes and their naked bodies were pressed together.

He was heat and life, and she’d missed him so much she had tears in her eyes. Lachlan kissed her like the lover she’d known, cherishing the taste of her mouth, then peppering kisses over her cheeks, fluttering soft lips over her eyelids as she held him close.

“I missed you so much.” His body grew harder and his voice rougher. “I missed you every moment of every day and especially every night. I couldn’t sleep for days after I came back.” He swallowed hard as his mouth left hers and he kissed down her neck. His fingers were rough, the tips callused from playing the harp, and the rough skin scraped across her nipples when he caressed them, making Carys shiver.

It was pleasure-pain that he followed with his mouth and teeth, ravenous to taste her body. His knee parted her thighs, and he pressed up, exposing her sex as one hand left her breast and felt for the heat between her thighs.

“You missed me too.” His breath was hot on her skin, his fingers coaxing pleasure from her sex. “I can feel it.”

“Lachlan.” She ached for him, gripping his shoulder with her hand as her other reached for the hard erection she felt pressing against her thigh. “Lachlan, please.”

Her hand closed around Lachlan’s hard cock, and she arched her back, the pleasure rising as he coaxed her body to release. His touch was magic, the rhythm of his fingers as delicate and relentless as they had been on the harp strings.

She closed her eyes and saw a wash of gold beneath her closed lids as the first crest of pleasure made her cry out. He silenced her with a hard kiss, his tongue dancing with hers as he moved up, bracing himself over her as he took her hand from his erection and nudged her legs wider, his cock finding her heat as he slid inside and seated himself to the hilt, his hips pressed against her parted thighs.

Oh God. He was everything. She needed him and he felt incredible. The climax he’d coaxed from her continued to roll through her body as he drove himself into her sex over and over again, the pleasure building with every thrust.

“Carys!”

“Come.” She dug her fingers into the small of Lachlan’s back, her shoulders pressed down as she rolled her hips up. “Please come.”

She needed him to come. She needed the memory of them together, the sweet release of the bed and the heavy weight of him holding her down as her mind flew.

Lachlan came with a shout and a groan he muffled in her shoulder, his body pressing up and holding, holding inside as his cock continued to release. A shudder tore through him. He panted against her neck, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and rolling them to the side. He slid one leg under hers, pressing her to his chest and wrapping her body completely with his own.

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