Page 77 of Highland Games
He stared at her with passionate intensity. She felt the unbreakable connection between them. His cock nudged, rubbed and tormented her, as his fingers brought her towards another climax. His hand moved faster. Thunderclouds built, the wind picked up, and electricity rushed through her body. Rory was the storm, his eyes the lightning, his breath the wind. She was battered by desire, completely at his mercy.
Her legs widened, preparing to take in all he could give, pulses of energy building for a cataclysmic release. Her love for him, the words she wanted to say, bubbled up, pushing before them an unstoppable force of emotion. She couldn’t contain it any longer.
‘I love you,’ she cried. ‘I love you, Rory.’
His eyes widened and he plunged into her, stretching her, filling her, completing her. She stiffened and shattered into a million pieces of light, as her orgasm ripped through her body. She clenched her inner muscles tighter around him, the pleasure rolling through, wave after wave, exploding out through her skin, through the top of her head, obliterating her. He cried out above her, his own release pumping into her, as he gasped her name over and over again.
She had never experienced anything this intense before. The loss of all perspective, all rational thought, all sense of self. It was as if she had experienced the birth and death of the universe, the whole of time and space experienced in one perfect moment.
The sensations subsided and she drifted back into her body. The love she had for him overwhelmed her, pushing itself out in tears.
‘God, Zoe, what’s wrong? Did I hurt you?’
She shook her head. ‘No, no you didn’t,’ she sobbed. ‘It’s just I love you so much.’
He rolled onto his back, pulling her with him and held her tightly. ‘Not as much as I love you,’ he replied.
He lent down and kissed her gently. ‘I’m sorry for everything, Zoe. For what I did, for how my parents treated your mum and Willie, for what my mother did to you. I’ve spent my whole life chasing love and acceptance in all the wrong places. I should never have expected my parents to behave differently, to give more than they did.’
She pulled back from him, frowning. ‘Stop that right this second. Now you listen to me, Rory lots-of-unpronounceable-Scottish-middle-names MacGinley, every child deserves unconditional love from their parents. It wasn’t your failing, it was theirs.’
She wokethe next morning to a mug of tea by the side of the bed and Rory behind her, kissing her neck and stroking down her body. She had never felt so present before, so complete.
‘I love you,’ she said happily.
He lifted his head to nuzzle her ear. ‘Are you talking to me or the tea?’ he asked, suspiciously.
She giggled and turned to face him. ‘It’s a close-run thing, but you can bring me a mug of tea, and a mug of tea can’t bring me you. So, you’re always going to come out on top.’
He kissed her. ‘You’re all my Christmases and birthdays rolled into one.’ He swallowed, and a cloud of worry drifted across his face. ‘Are you sure you still want me if I lose the castle and don’t have a penny to my name?’
Zoe cupped the side of his face. ‘I fell in love with a man who didn’t have a castle and looked like he lived in a hedge. Nothing’s changed. And we’ll find a way to make it work, whatever happens.’
She grinned mischievously. ‘Although if Brad Bauer shows up, he might give you a run for your money. Do you think we should put some posters of him around the cabin? I know how much you want to be like him.’
Rory raised an eyebrow and she let out a shriek of laughter, disappearing to hide under the covers. He burrowed in after her and trapped her under him, their faces almost touching in the half light of their duvet cave. He brushed her lips with a tender kiss. ‘I love you, Zoe,’ he whispered. ‘I want to make you so happy Brad Bauer wouldn’t stand a chance.’
She wrapped her arms around him. ‘That sounds like a good plan to me.’ She sighed happily, pulling his mouth to hers.
26
After a leisurely morning in bed, Rory reluctantly allowed Zoe to drag him out so they could go to Morag’s for a late lunch. Before they’d left the castle the night before, he had brought a small bag with clean clothes with him from the workshop, so after washing on the porch he dressed in a slightly rumpled shirt and a pair of smart trousers. Zoe looked him up and down and raised her eyebrows as he brought out a comb and attempted to drag it through his damp hair.
‘Are you trying to impress someone?’
He felt the heat in his cheeks. ‘I want to make an effort. It could take years to get in Morag and Fiona’s good books.’
Zoe wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. ‘It’s going to be fine. If I’m happy, they’re happy.’
He stared into her chocolate brown eyes as his heart burst its banks. She had brought him to a river, the border between two countries, the boundary between two lives, taken his hand and walked him over a bridge he never even knew was there. His life was the same but different. Forever changed, forever better. The castle, his mother, Lucy, memories of his father, the wars he’d fought, everything that had weighed down on him for years was now gone. He was lighter, calmer, free.
He stroked his thumb over her adorable freckles, as if reassuring himself she was actually in his arms. She was everything he never even knew he wanted or needed, and so much more.
‘I should be scared by how much I love you,’ he said. ‘But I’m so happy right now, there’s no room for anything else.’
She smiled and reached up to kiss him. ‘I’m sure there’s room for a couple of steaks.’
Zoe experienceda mix of heart-popping pride and overwhelming shyness arriving at Morag’s back door, her hand encased in Rory’s. The door was flung open by Morag, dressed to the nines. She craned her neck as she looked up at them. ‘Ah, there you are. I don’t know whether to bow or curtsey.’
