Page 48 of A Virgin for the Icy Highlander
He swept her hair back from her neck and leaned in, grazing a kiss against the sensitive spot below her ear. “English gowns,” he murmured against her skin. “Stay very still.”
Her first thought was of the cost of the gown, purchased at her father’s expense. Her second thought was of satisfaction, for the very same reason. She’d never much liked this particular gownanyway, though she would have been sorry if Hunter had sought to destroy the one with the roses.
The breath she drew into her lungs as he cut the laces of her bodice was a thing of majesty and sweet release. And as he tossed the garment to the ground, she didn’t care if it remained there forever, as a sign that this night was really happening.
“Infuriatin’,” he purred before kissing the nape of her neck, sending a delicious tingle down her spine.
It was a feeling he seemed to chase with the tip of his blade, expertly wielded, as he lifted her chemise and cut through the laces of her stays, too.
She was slightly relieved when he sheathed his dagger once more, though she didn’t waste much thought on it, distracted as she was by far better things. Namely, the touch of his hands as he lifted her chemise over her head and tossed it to the ground.
Next, he untied the knot of her skirts with a single pull. Her petticoats fell a moment later, and she stood naked in that pool of fabric. She was clothed in nothing but her stockings.
“I shouldnae have blown out the lantern,” he murmured as his arms slipped around her waist and pulled her against his bare chest.
She didn’t confess that she was glad of the dark, for she might not have been so confident in the harsh truth of the light.Indeed, she worried that he might not have been so enamored with her if he had been able to see her properly.
Without that worry, though, she leaned back against him, resting her head on his shoulder as he bent his head to kiss the curve of her neck. Meanwhile, his hands wandered.
His rough palm created the most delicious friction against the smooth swell of her breast. He grabbed a handful, squeezing gently, as he rocked his hips, letting her feel him through the coarse wool of his kilt.
A moment later, his hand traveled up the column of her throat, urging her head further back. As it did, he found her mouth and kissed her with such urgency that she didn’t know how she was supposed to endure the anticipation any longer.
At any moment, she was certain she was going to explode with the pleasure of it all, though she couldn’t have known how close that was to the truth.
Kissing her slowly, sensually, his hand gently holding her by the throat, his other hand journeyed in the opposite direction in a tingling caress. He honored her curves by trailing his touch over the soft contours. The curve of her stomach, the plump hourglass of her hips, were all found despite the dark, for he reveled in every part of her.
But what does this all mean?
She might have had time to let that question spiral and tangle, losing her confidence, perhaps asking him to stop, rushing to cover herself again, if he hadn’t chosen that moment to slide his hand between her thighs.
The first brush of his fingertips against an unknown tinderbox of pleasure made her entire mind go blank. Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t even gasp. The crackle of bliss was too powerful, too unfamiliar, too much of a revelation to do anything but freeze, wide-eyed. She was shocked and awed in equal measure.
He touched that sensitive bundle of nerves again in a slow stroke, deliberately teasing.
“I cannae continue if it isnae mine to touch,” he purred, kissing her mouth.
She swallowed thickly, thawing from the delicious shock as heat ricocheted through her. “What a pity that would be.”
“A temptress, eh?” He tutted, surprisingly playful. “I wouldnae have suspected it of a boarding school lass.”
She smiled, biting her lip. “I didn’t say you couldn’t try to claim me, but I haven’t yet decided to be yours.”
“Careful,” he growled. “I’m nae sure ye ken the power of yer words.”
“Oh, I’m somewhat aware,” she teased in reply. “But if you can’t continue, then I suppose you—oh!”
Her words transformed into a moan as his fingertips strummed that secret center of pleasure, slow and teasing. She pressed back against him, curving her arm up to hook around the back of his neck, needing to feel his mouth on hers as he ignited something dangerous and glorious inside her.
But he didn’t kiss her, denying her that as he said, “I cannae kiss what isnae mine to kiss.”
“Then kiss me,” she panted, crying out as he took her desperate permission and began to circle that bundle of nerves. “Yes, Hunter! Oh… oh, yes! Kiss me!”
His mouth grazed hers in a searing press, her tongue gliding against his while her head swam with so many sensations all at once. She couldn’t understand it, how such intense bliss could be conjured like that, and it wasn’t exactly something she could ask Maddie to study.
“Are ye mine?” he growled.
She nodded deliriously, gasping with every swirl of his talented fingertips.
