Page 32 of Bound to a Highland Beast
“So, let me make me own mistakes,” she said, chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath, her hands reaching for him to pull him closer.
When Tiernan kissed her again, Isabeau melted into it, falling right into his arms. His touch was like flames licking her skin, his lips a little rough and chapped from the cold, but gentle and passionate as he deepened the kiss. He wasted no time before he began to undress her, pulling off the rest of her clothes and letting them fall to the floor until she was fully nude, and it wasthen that Isabeau felt a sudden wave of apprehension, her arms moving on their own accord to cover her body.
No man had seen her like this before. No man had ever gotten so close, and she had never thought anyone but her husband would.
With slow, tender movements, Tiernan moved her arms to her sides, his gaze falling to her body. Isabeau breathed heavily, trembling under this close scrutiny. She couldn’t help but wonder if Tiernan liked what he saw; she had always been tall, with a boyish figure, while the other girls around her were voluptuous and feminine. Tiernan must have been with plenty of such girls, she thought. How could she compare to them when everyone claimed she looked sickly?
But then he fell to his knees before her, looking up at her with something akin to awe. He placed his hands on her shoulders and then dragged his fingers down, caressing her chest and tracing the swell of her breasts in a way that sent shivers down her spine. When he rubbed his thumbs over her nipples, a jolt of pleasure shot through her and Isabeau jerked, surprised by it, a soft moan escaping her lips.
“I’ll worship ye like ye deserve,” he told her, his voice barely a whisper but still loud in the silence of the room. His hands closed around her waist as his lips brushed a path down her stomach, his tongue flicking out to taste the soft skin there. “Nae one has ever touched ye here, have they?”
As he spoke, his gaze fell to her mound, his breath ghosting over it. Isabeau could only shake her head, her hands coming to rest on Tiernan’s shoulders, her breath catching in her throat. It felt as though her entire body was on fire, and her feelings went from embarrassment to need. She didn’t know whether to pull away from his terribly intimate touch or to press into it, to give in to what she wanted the most.
At her response, Tiernan moaned as though he was the one close to ruin. The sound reverberated through her body and Isabeau could feel it in her bones, her entire body trembling in Tiernan’s grasp. Then, as he began to scatter kisses over her hipbones, her thighs, taking care to kiss every inch of her save for the place where she wanted him to touch her the most, she could only hold onto him, her fingers tanging in the strands of his dark hair.
Dragging one hand down her torso, Tiernan reached between her legs to gently, teasingly rub at her heated flesh. Isabeau jolted upwards, the touch as foreign as it was pleasurable, her core throbbing with need.
“How does it feel tae be touched fer the first time?” Tiernan asked, his hand idly moving back and forth, as if all he wanted to do was tease her. “Ye’re already drippin’… I bet ye taste so good.”
Isabeau had no words for that. She could only whine softly as she tried to pull him closer, to get him to give her more, anything to stop the unbearable teasing. Tiernan laughed, gazing up at her with a mischievous look in his eyes, his hand circling her to close over the swell of her rear.
When he finally moved to her mound, lips pressing against a spot that sent an overwhelming wave of pleasure through her, Isabeau’s knees almost buckled under her, her trembling legs no longer supporting her. Tiernan was quick to grab her, his other hand closing around her with a moan as he buried himself between her legs and licked at that sensitive spot once, twice, three times, until Isabeau couldn’t hold back her moans anymore. Nothing she had ever experienced could compare to this, to the hot, wet drag of Tiernan’s tongue over her folds, the gentle suction of his lips, the soft touch of his fingers as he reached around her and teased her opening, spreading the wetness that had gathered there. With every touch, with every tender lick, she lost herself more and more in her desire, until she could think about nothing else other than the points of contact between them. Her embarrassment and her hesitation both melted away, giving way to her cresting pleasure.
“Ye dae taste good,” Tiernan said, pulling back for just a moment to look up at her. “Ye taste like heaven. Let go… I wish tae feel ye come apart on me tongue.”
Tiernan gave her no time to even process his words before he dove back in, burying his face between her thighs. His fingers digging into her plush flesh, his mouth pleasuring her relentlessly, Tiernan brought her closer and closer to the edge with every swipe of his tongue. When he dipped the tip just inside her, Isabeau shook with pleasure and it only took a few more flicks of his tongue for her to fall apart in his hands, moaning his name as her orgasm crashed over her.
For a moment, the world seemed to go black, everything else stopping—even time. There was nothing but the warm, tinglingsensation that spread from her core all the way to her limbs, pulling her under into a comfortable, pulsing darkness from which she never wanted to escape.
When she returned to her senses, Tiernan was still kissing her—her stomach, her thighs, the top of her mound, any place he could reach from where he was on his knees. Isabeau couldn’t help but watch him, remembering the words he had spoken to her only a short time earlier.
I’ll worship ye like ye deserve.
The knock on the door startled Isabeau out of her daze, though. Within seconds, she had thrown Tiernan aside and herself under the covers, pulling them all the way up to her chin just as the door opened and the innkeeper appeared, grumpy as always.
“I brought ye the blanket ye requested,” he said, all but shoving it into Tiernan’s hands. The man looked at him for a few moments, then glanced at Isabeau, and he instantly seemed to know what it was they had been doing. His scrutiny ignited another fire in her—this time, it wasn’t one of arousal, but rather one of shame as she thought about all the things he must have been imagining about the two of them.
He wouldn’t be off the mark, not by much.
“Thank ye,” said Tiernan stiffly, his tone clearly dismissing. Even so, the man didn’t move for what seemed like eons to Isabeau, simply standing there and staring. By the time he turned aroundto leave, she had turned a deep shade of red, her entire face burning uncontrollably.
What have I done?
All her life, she had kept herself pure. All her life, she had stayed away from men, never once giving them anything more than morsels of her attention, and now she had allowed Tiernan to pleasure her like this. She had enjoyed it, of course; there was no doubt about that, and yet the shame that followed was so strong that she could hardly stand it. Her stomach tied itself in a knot so tight that nausea gripped her and her head swam with all the thoughts that plagued her now.
Will Tiernan think less of me? Will people find out? Am I forever ruined now, unfit tae wed any man?
She didn’t know what to do or what to say, and so she remained there, silent. When Tiernan undressed and came to lie down next to her in bed, though, gathering her in his arms, she couldn’t make herself believe that what they had done was wrong. The warmth of his body, the solid strength of his arms, everything about him convinced her that allowing this had been right. Even so, the shame still lingered, and she couldn’t face him. She could only curl up next to him, facing the wall as she clung onto the arm that was wrapped around her.
It was only when he pressed a soft kiss to the back of her head that she relaxed a little, lulled into a sense of safety by his presence. Even so, her fears didn’t entirely subside.
“Isabeau,” Tiernan called gently, sitting up a little to take a better look at her. “Are ye alright?”
“Aye,” Isabeau was quick to say, as she didn’t want to worry him. This was for her to confront on her own. “I’m fine.”
“Ye’re lyin’.”
She wasn’t expecting him to call her out like that. In fact, she expected him to accept it as the truth and simply go to sleep, but he was relentless.
