Page 74 of Here in Your Arms
She’d thought it earlier and it returned to her now: Tiernan felt safe, like the only thing she could trust or depend on in this time.
That was the irony of it. The great, brutal irony. That in this world, in this century where nothing made sense and nothing belonged to her, he was the one thing she trusted. He was danger and fire and stubbornness incarnate, but somehow, he was also comfort. He was certainty. And though she knew he’d leave in the morning, return to Druimlach, to a life weighed down by duty and mourning, for tonight, she could have one more taste of him.
He knew nothing about her, not really, certainly not of the desire she felt for him, as she’d never felt for another man. He didn’t know that his nearness warmed her or that the sound ofhis voice made her heart skip a beat. And maybe he didn’t need to, not for this, just one more kiss. One last kiss.
Tiernan kissed her with surprising gentleness. With his hands on her cheeks, he kissed her again, holding her face up to his. His breath was sweet and honeyed, and his tongue filled her mouth in a slow, silky caress that made her pulse jump. Rose slid her hands further up his rock-hard chest to encircle his neck, her fingers sliding into the tousled hair at his nape. He groaned and deepened the kiss, his tongue exploring with mounting intensity. She was imprisoned against the solid wall of his chest, felt his heart knocking against her breasts. A sensation of expectant heat filled her as he brought her closer, one of his large hands settling on the top of her butt to keep her close.
Rose kissed him with her own increasing ardor, her tongue stroking and dancing with his, wringing murmurs of approval from him, deep and low, and Rose had never felt so womanly in all her life. Suddenly, she was older, experienced, seductive even. At the same time, all notions of reason dissolved. There was only Tiernan.
And then, he was gone, his kiss taken away from her. He lowered his face and tasted her neck, drawing in the sensitive skin there, her pulse hammering against his lips. It was not until his hand touched her breast that she realized the plaid that had enveloped her was gone, dropped, forgotten. Rose felt the heat of his caress through the thin linen of her shift. It was profound, intoxicating, and her blood began to boil there, under his touch. Tiernan’s lips moved over her neck and collarbone as his hands moved across her breasts, his rough fingers kneading and caressing until her nipples lifted and hardened. He rolled the peaks gently between his fingers and Rose trembled, desire filling every inch of her body.
When one hand abandoned her breast, rising to push the wide strap off her shoulder, first the left side and then the right,and the shift fell and held at her hips, her aching breasts exposed to his hungry gaze, Rose knew then what was about to happen.
Holy crap, I’m about to lose my virginity in the fourteenth century! To Tiernan!
There was no apprehension, no shame, no hesitation, only want and need, and an enormous degree of certainty—this is what she wanted.
Tiernan straightened to his full height, his gaze drifting over her body, pausing at her breasts.
Brazenly—a word she’d never have ascribed to herself—Rose slid her thumbs inside the soft linen hung at her hips and persuaded the shift down over her hips until it pooled at her feet.
He swallowed, his Adams apple undulating up and down while muscles corded in his neck as his hot gaze slowly trailed down the naked length of her.
For the first time in her life, Rose didn’t feel small and insignificant—she felt powerful. It was a heady feeling. Only a small decision to be made then, when to tell him that this would be her initiation to sex. But that concern was stripped from her as well when Tiernan moved.
With one swift step, he closed the distance between them, his mouth taking the place of his hands at her breast. Rose moaned and arched against him, lost in pleasure she didn’t know existed. Desire, previously, had been a warm emotion stirred by rare kisses and even less frequent petting. Second base was as far as she’d ever gone, but oh, what she’d been missing. Almost immediately on the heels of that thought came another: she’d missed nothing until now. This was Tiernan, and any other hands and mouth on her breasts would not have flooded her with such emotion, both physical and emotional. Threading her hands again into his hair, feeling the heat of his mouth, the possession of his teeth and tongue, Rose drew in a ragged breath. Again and again his mouth closed over herbreast, his tongue stroking the nipple, his teeth pulling at the taut prize. Rose swallowed back a cry, stunned by the sensations overwhelming her.
“They are perfect, Rose,” he whispered hoarsely, his breath hot on her nipple. “Firm, round, so bluidy eager.”
A grin and thought came unbidden. “They are very happy boobs,” she told him and immediately thought herself an idiot for saying so ridiculous a thing.
But her embarrassment was short-lived. Tiernan lifted his head and met her frozen, mortified gaze. Slowly, his beautiful lips lifted at the corners, a rare smile evolving miraculously before her eyes.
Stunned, nearly breathless, she confessed, “Every inch of me is eager.”
His smile turned wonderfully wicked. “My aim is to make every inchhappy.”
She nodded jerkily. “Yes. Please.” He could do that. Tiernan had that power, she knew.
He ducked his head and kissed her again with a slow, burning intensity, simultaneously scooping her up in his arms, and conveying her to the bed.
Rose knew a moment of panic and tore her lips from his. “Your shoulder,” She reminded him, even as she was quite sure he was well aware and reminded of his injury.
“Aye, and a week-old wound to the back of my arm,” he acknowledged, “and I dinna feel a thing, nae in those places.”
He lowered her onto the bed he’d only vacated moments ago, and followed her down, gathering her into his arms. Rose sank back easily, allowing his weight to press her into the soft mattress, welcoming his kiss once more.
She moved her hands hungrily over him, scraping her palms and fingers over his shoulders and back, delighting in the feel of the hair at his chest brushing against her sensitive nipples.She might have wished to be more coherent, to be more in control, wondering madly how one could achieve that when his kiss was so spine-tingling. Any diminishing wish for self-control evaporated completely when Tiernan began moving his strong hands, stroking the curve of her waist and sweeping his rough palms over the swell of her hips before he eventually explored the susceptible flesh of her inner thigh as he nipped at her shoulder and moved his lips again to her breasts.
Fire raged within her as he possessed her with his mouth and his hand delved further between her thighs. With apparent expertise, he found the small hidden nub and gently circled it with his thumb. Rose’s breath caught and she squirmed against his hand, aware of an instant, unbearable tension deep in her womb. Of their own accord, her legs fell wide open to him, and she moaned.
“I’ve...I’ve never done this before,” she whispered in a weak, passion-shrouded voice. “Gone this far, I mean. I’m not saying that to stop this. I just thought you should know,” she thought to clarify.
That gave him pause—but only for a breath. He lifted his face from her well-loved breast. “It will be on ye to stop me, Rose, if that should truly be yer wish,” he said, his voice rough, barely leashed. “For such power is nae longer mine.”
He wanted her. Wanted her so fiercely, so completely, that he was beyond the ability to resist. And somehow, those words—gruff and unguarded—struck her more deeply than anything else he’d said. More than even any look he’d given, or any touch he’d thrilled her with. They were neither sweet nor tender, but raw and honest. The desire in them, the vulnerability, the warning... it was its own kind of seduction.
If she’d had even a flicker of doubt—she did not, she knew—it would have been gone now, swept away by the overwhelming truth of what she saw in his deep blue eyes.
