Page 18 of Sadie's Highlander (Highland Protector 1)

Sadie’s response urged him on, reassured him. She purred out an inviting groan, pulled him down, and completed the kiss. Her passion—her unabashed need for more—threatened Alec’s control. By all the gods both old and new, he could take her right here on the path.

She wiggled against him, pressing hungrily against the painfully hard length of him that was threatening to slice through the folds of his kilt.Not here. Not on the trail. Not in the rocks and dirt.Lore a’mighty, he needed her so badly he could barely form a coherent thought. His control waning, he gently shifted back and put a hair’s breadth of space between them.

“Horses.” It was the only word he could rasp out while shuddering with the burn to take this delightful woman that fate had seen fit to place in his life.

Sadie blinked up at him. “Horses?” she finally squeaked. She stared at him as though he’d lost his mind—and he had. All that existed was her.

Alec jerked his head toward a break in the tree line to the far side of the path. In the distance, the light tinkling of swiftly moving water could barely be heard over the breeze tossing the dried leaves along the ground.

“Horses in the clearing—by the spring.”Dammit to hell.She’d surely think him a fool if he didna find the strength to speak in full sentences. He sucked in a deep breath, doing his best to maintain some semblance of control; he couldna kiss her again. Not just yet or they’d ne’er make it to the clearing. “The horses can rest beside the stream while we find a lovely bit of ground—long grasses not yet dry and brittle by summer’s passing—soft enough for a fine pallet to…rest upon.”

Complete understanding and so much more flickered in Sadie’s eyes.

“Good idea,” Sadie whispered in a strained voice. Pushing her way out of his arms, she caught up the reins of her mount and led the way into the clearing.

Alec hurried to follow, whispering to Max as they crunched through the dried leaves, “I’m countin’ on ye t’keep wee Bess out of trouble while I’m enjoying Mistress Sadie’s company, ye ken?”

The great black horse bobbed his head and flicked an ear. His soft nickering response almost sounded like an amused chuckle. Sadie’s mount responded with a huffing nicker of her own and a saucy swish of her long tail. It was almost as though the two horses were chatting about the humans and what was about to transpire in the secluded clearing.

“None of that now, ye rascals, or there’ll be no extra treats for ye this evenin’.” Alec had been around horses all his life. They were nearly as bad as people when it came to plotting mischief. He pulled the thick blanket roll and the picnic basket from behind the saddle, then moved to Bess and retrieved Sadie’s backpack and another blanket roll tucked behind it.

“How about here?” Sadie called out. She stood in a sheltered corner of the clearing, hemmed in by great limestone boulders and the overhanging branches of a trio of ancient pines. Not too far from the soft corner of thick pine needles and rolling hillocks of wild grass was the origin of a tiny creek that gurgled down the mountainside to spill into the Cape Fear River. A crystal-clear trickle of water bubbled from a split in the stones.

“Aye.” ’Twas the only word he could manage.

They quickly set to unrolling the blankets and spreading them across the ground. Sadie’s stolen glances at Alec while she smoothed out the pallet fueled the already raging inferno within him. He shoved the backpack and picnic basket out of the way to the far corner, then took Sadie’s hands in his. “ ’Tis good enough.” He slowly pulled her closer, gathering her up into his arms. “Come t’me. I’ve waited as long as I can.”

Sadie curled her fingers into the neckline of his tunic and pulled him down to her. Her soft groan vibrated up between them as she opened her mouth to his for a kiss that was anything but shy.

Drowning in the taste of her, Alec pushed her sweatshirt out of the way and slid his hand up the velvet of her bare back.God a’mighty, I need more.He worked his hand higher and around to the front until he finally filled his grasp with one of the full, firm breasts that had been teasing him for so long.

Sadie nudged him back a step. “Wait a minute.”

“Wait?” Alec blinked as though she’d just slapped him. He shook away her words and reached for her. “Nay…I canna wait a moment longer.”

Holding up a finger and backing up a step, Sadie gave him a look as though she were about to unleash a scolding. “No. Wait just a minute—” Without another word, she shucked her sweatshirt off over her head, danced away her already unlaced boots, and wiggled out of her jeans. Then she scampered to the center of the pallet, one arm folded across the lacy bra encasing her mouthwatering bounty while her other hand shielded the matching triangle of lace at the juncture of her thighs.

The minute had been well worth the wait. Alec stripped away his tunic and kilt, then stepped toward her, peeling off and kicking away his worn leather boots in the process. He gently pulled her hands away from her body, intertwined his fingers with hers, and held her arms stretched out to the sides. “Ne’er attempt to hide yer beauty from me.” He allowed his gaze to devour every seductive bit of her curves, then leaned closer and locked with her wide eyes. “I’ll ne’er get my fill of ye. Never.”

He pulled her forward, catching her warm silkiness against the aching length of him as he trailed kisses down the racing pulse along her neck and behind her ear. He sucked in a deep breath, inhaling her delicious scent. “I’m drunk with the need of ye,” he whispered into her hair.

He slid the flimsy barriers of lace off her body, a groan escaping him as he rained kisses across the mounded tops of her breasts cupped between his hands.

Sadie smoothed her hands down his bare chest. With an excruciatingly pleasant scoring with her fingernails, she wound delicious circles along the sides of his rib cage, then to his tensed buttocks. She dug in, pulling him hard against her with a teasing grind of her hips. She smiled up at him as she slid one hand between them, then tickled her fingertips up the length of him with a touch that brought him to the balls of his feet. “I’m pretty high on need myself,” she whispered as she wrapped her fingers around his length and pulled, rubbing him against her in the process.

Alec lowered them both to the blankets without taking his hands away from the hardened pearls of her nipples. “The day is ours,” he whispered against the curve of her throat. “ ’Tis time to sate this need.” He sucked a nipple deep in his mouth, tonguing and nipping the hard button while slowly trailing a hand down Sadie’s stomach and under the bit of satin and lace between her legs. He ignored Sadie’s surprised squeak as he ripped her panties away with an impatient flick of his wrist. He lifted his head and kissed her soundly before settling his mouth to her other breast and sliding his fingers inside her.

Sadie panted out a pleased groan, arching her back as she hooked a leg over his hips and ground her body against him. “Oh my God,” she rasped out when he slid another finger deep into her wetness, thumbing the nubbin of her sex with the same rhythm of his mouth pulling on her nipple.

“Condom,” she gasped as she bucked against his hand, wet, hot spasms of her orgasm clutching at his fingers. “Get the condoms,” she moaned as she grabbed his wrist and held his hand tight between her legs, gyrating her hips to meet the faster plunging of his fingers.

Infuriated disbelief hit Alec like a bucket of ice water. He swallowed hard, doing his damnedest to keep from throwing back his head and roaring aloud at his own stupidity.How the hell could I forget condoms?How many lectures had Dwyn given all the MacDara sons about the importance of the modern-day store-bought protection?

Alec slowly pushed himself up to a seated position and slid away from Sadie’s embrace of pure heaven. “I didna bring any,” he choked out. “I am a damn fool.” He huffed out a pained groan as he hugged his bent legs and rested his forehead against his knees. “There will be no consummation of our pleasure today.” He stole a glance back at her, dreading the disdain he’d surely see on her face. “I can pleasure ye—in many ways. But there’ll be no—” He turned away and scrubbed a hand across his face. How the hell could he have been so damn stupid? “There’ll be nogrande finale,as my brother would say.” Aye,grande finale.That’s what Ross always called it when speaking in code about his lady friends in front of their little sister.

Alec forced himself to look Sadie in the eyes as she rolled to her stomach and pushed herself onto her elbows. He could at least be a man about this and face the tongue-lashing for his inconsiderate stupidity that the angry woman was surely about to give him.

Sadie frowned, blinking at him as though she’d just awakened from a bad dream and couldn’t believe he was sitting there. “Bullshit,” she finally said, then rose to her hands and knees and crawled away from him to the far side of the pallet.

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