Page 78 of Beneath Pearly Irish Skies
Who said it was overrated? She thought about pulling her clothes off, but then she had a moment of doubt. What if he didn’t want to make love to her yet?
Donal O’Dwyer, you’d better not be stubborn about this stupid doorbell.
She heard his heavy bootsteps on the path six minutes later.
“Bets? Are you really up there, girl?”
“Yes, come on up.”
Clenching her hands, she waited for him to climb the ladder. When his body came through the opening—a tight fit—she almost laughed. Yes, it was going to be a tight fit.
“What in the hell is this?” he asked, his towering frame making the space feel better suited to leprechauns and fairies. “You’re not planning on sleeping in your boy’s old tree house because you’re missing him so? Oh, Bets.”
She glared at him. “Oh, Donal! Do you not see the rose petals and the candles? This isour love lair—one of many—a present from my very romantic son.”
His face blanched. “You son made you love lairs?”
She almost laughed. “No, he madeuslove lairs. You should see the one in the shed.”
“Jesus,” he said, running a large hand through his thick silver hair. “I’m rather embarrassed by this, Bets.”
“And the doorbell isn’t embarrassing?” she asked. “Even my friends know what we’re about. Now we don’t have to try so hard to be alone. Liam made us places—well away from the house. He also reminded me of the power of spontaneity and imagination.”
Donal’s mouth tipped up. “Seems I owe your boy a pint at least.”
“At least,” she said, clutching the coverlet with a fist. “Unless this doesn’t work for you.”
He sank to his knees in front of her and cupped her cheek, looking straight into her eyes. “Doesn’t work for me? Bets, I feel like a man who’s walked a thousand miles through the desert and finally found water.”
How lucky was she to have such romantic men around her? “Then make love to me, Donal.”
He leaned forward and kissed her, slowly at first, but when he opened her mouth with his tongue, she dove at him. He groaned as she wrapped herself around him like the vine in the very tree supporting them. Thenshemoaned, needing his bare skin. Her hands pulled at the work shirt tucked in his trousers, and from that moment on, they’d kiss and then take a piece of clothing off and kiss again until they were naked and breathless.
All the months of wanting had them gripping each other as they kissed again and again and again. With a moan, he finally pulled away and gently tossed her back onto the bed, his smile downright devilish.
“This isn’t going to be slow,mo ghrá, but it’s going to be so good.”
“Yes, it is,” she said, panting.
She lay back and opened to him. He cradled her against him as he pressed inside, the tenderness of the gesture weaving with the passion raging within her. Overcome with desire, she pressed her lips together as he slid into her. Carefully. She’d known he was going to be big, but it was tight and hot and absolutely wonderful.
“All right?” he asked hoarsely.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, the tension both beautiful and unbearable.
Closing her eyes, she pushed her hips up to meet him, feeling the burn in her belly. He let loose an anguished sound, lowering his forehead to rest on hers, and then he was thrusting inside her. She couldn’t get enough of him, nor he her, because he gripped her hips with one of his large hands and pumped into her, groaning deeply in his throat.
“Oh, God,” she whimpered.
“Oh, Jesus,” he hissed.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing closer, and then she was crying out, pulsing, every cell in her body beating in time with her heart. She heard him call out her name, following her, his body hot and heavy and oh so wonderful.
She let her body sink into the bed, as if she were weightless in the sea. She drifted, loving the feel of their bodies pulsing in time with each other. His face rested against her neck, his breath like the most perfect wind. She felt a kiss pressed to her cheek, and then he was sweetly nuzzling her. When she opened her eyes, he rose up, his green eyes shining with love and awe.
“Bets, it was more than I could have imagined,” he said quietly as the candles flickered around them.
“Me too,” she said, touching his face.
