Page 68 of Beneath Pearly Irish Skies
The sun was out, warming the soft rain still dripping from the trees. She’d seize the moment and bicycle over. These days she didn’t have to change into different clothes. Her pottery and farm clothes were mostly the same, although the pottery dust clinging to her had made Winston sneeze once, which had made her laugh.
A gentle breeze blew through her short hair, and she smelled oranges for a moment. The inviting scent made her smile as she rode past hedgerows dotted with blackberries. Ollie couldn’t talk enough about how much he loved eating the berries he found along the road. His idols had taught him what to look for, and she’d given up the impulse to have him wash them beforehand. The rain in Ireland was cleansing enough. Something she felt touch her skin just then. A gentle mist fell, the sun making the drops golden. Her face grew wet. The drops grew heavier.
She was upon Keegan O’Malley’s cattle. The two cows closest to the fencing saidGrasp.Opportunity.
As the mist turned into a full-on rain shower and the sun disappeared behind pearly clouds, she embraced the elements. Her pieces were becoming masterpieces in the kiln. This wasn’t just a good moment. It was a grand moment, like the Irish would say.
Her clothes clung to her skin as she pedaled down the country lane to Kade’s part of the farm. She was drenched by the time she arrived. Kade emerged from the shed and started to laugh.
“Oh, Megan, the rain had its way with you.”
She swung off the bike and put the kickstand down, using both her hands to press back her dripping hair. “It was so beautiful earlier.”
“That’s Ireland for you,” he said, extending his hand. “Come on. I have a towel in the tack room. You loaded the kiln then? I can see it on your face. You’re lit up like the sun you love so.”
Following him into the tack room, she heard her shoes squish. She put her hands on his chest as he started to hand towel the ends of her hair. When he slid the cloth down her neck, she shivered. Their eyes met, and then he was lowering his head to kiss her. Something inside her seemed to burst. It had been straining for freedom for some time. Heat fanned out inside her belly and up to her breasts. She dug her hands into his hair, and the kiss went wild.
She couldn’t get enough of his mouth. He must have sensed it because he pulled her hard against him and opened her mouth with his tongue. That was good, because today she didn’t want slow and gentle. She wanted him. Wildly. Urgently. Like he was the wind and the rain covering her body. She moaned, a loud, needy cry.
He pulled back, giving her a look that radiated pure heat, those golden brown eyes she loved looking for something. His smile started out slow, but it spread across his face.
“It’s time then,” he simply said.
A punch of heat blasted her belly again, and her hands slid up to stroke his jaw. “Yes, I think so.”
He grinned, tossed the towel aside, and grabbed her hand. They ran out of the shed, mindless of the puddles in the yard. Somehow splashing in them together was fun. She felt young again and alive and so in love that she imagined her heart might fly out of her chest. The sun came out in a blaze of light, the brilliance nearly blinding. But she didn’t need to see where she was going. She knew her destination. Home. With Kade.
When they arrived at the cottage, she was breathing hard. He flicked the door open and slammed it once she’d crossed the threshold.
Taking her face, he looked deeply into her eyes. “I love you. More than I ever imagined loving anyone.”
Her heart took flight. With those words and the love radiating in her eyes, it soared like the great gray herons she often sighted along the shore. “I love you too. Kade, you can’t know how much. But I want to show you. I need to.”
“Then let’s make love,mo chuisle,” he said, caressing her cheek before he lowered his mouth to hers.
She settled against him, savoring the way he pressed one hand to the small of her back while the other tangled in her wet hair. This time she slid her tongue into his mouth, and he shocked her by sucking on it. A tremor rocked her body, and then she was soaking him up, kissing him with complete abandon. He met her passion, moaning low in his throat. She needed skin. His skin. Their skin. She pulled at his shirt, caressing his flesh, and he pressed back and tugged it off.
The pleasure of seeing his bare chest made her mouth water. She laid her hand there, feeling the pounding of his heart.Shehad made that happen, just as he’d set her heart to racing.
She stroked his chest, learning him. God, he was so beautiful. She wanted to tell him so, but the words didn’t seem like enough. She wanted to show him, so she pressed a kiss along the lines of one muscle and then another and ran her hand down the center of his body. He hissed as she traced the line of skin along his jeans. Her fingertips felt more sensitive, perhaps because of all the pottery she’d been throwing. She could feel every movement inside him—and an answering rhythm from her own body. Rhythm. Flow. Movement.
Oneness.
She lifted her gaze to find him watching her, his eyes full of heat mixed with love, the perfect fusion she’d been waiting for her entire life. She reached for the soggy hem of her shirt. His hands moved to aid her, and together they unveiled her body. He traced the line of her simple white bra, and the pleasure of his touch was so powerful she let her eyes close. He cupped her breasts, sensing she needed more, and when he reached back and undid her bra, she felt none of the embarrassment from the past. She was ready for him. Ready for him to see her. Feel her.Touchher. Like she’d never been touched before.
His hands were gentle, sliding along the sides of her breasts, one of the most pleasurable sensations she’d ever experienced. She hadn’t known her sides could be so sensitive, and as he tugged lightly on her hardened nipples, she found herself awash in a new sea of sensation, one she reveled in. She fell into his hands, edging closer, wanting to express the heat building inside her, a heat so strong it could forge anything. A new part of her was coming alive, stirred to wakefulness by their love.
Tugging on her breasts, he took her mouth in the deepest and hottest kiss they’d ever shared. She groaned, the sound shocking to her own ears, but she wanted what was coming. Recognized what was happening in some primal part of her. His mouth was luscious. His touch exquisite. Her entire body flushed with heat, and then she was coming, crying out into his mouth.
She grabbed his shoulders, needing an anchor as the pleasure rocked through her. He continued to caress her breasts, extending her pleasure. When she wound down, her head fell against his chest and his arms slid around to hold her. She came back to herself and raised her head to look at him. “I’m a bit…shocked by that. It’s never happened like that before for me.”
He traced her face. “The passionate part of you was ready to come alive. Megan, from the moment I saw you, I knew you were holding so much of yourself back. This is life, love. This.Us. It’s how it’s supposed to be.”
“I want you to show me more,” she whispered. “Kade, I love you so much. Your love has changed everything for me.”
“It’s changed everything for me too,mo chuisle. And yes, together we’ll both show each other more.”
He held out his hand to her. She took it, and they walked the short distance to his bedroom. The fields were lit with gold outside the window, and the light danced on the ceiling in his small room. He sat on the bed and positioned her between his legs, undoing her pants and sliding them and her underwear down. She toed off her shoes and he lifted her legs onto the bed to peel off one wet sock at a time.
