To Tempt a Scotsman (19 page)
His shoulder brushed her as he lifted her foot. The movement unbalanced her so she had to grab his hair to steady herself. He didn't seem to notice, and she found she needed the feel of him.
His fingers rubbed her toes, between them, into the arch and up her heel. He pressed both hands together, an erotic vise that squeezed her ankle, her calf, the bend of her knee. The pads of his fingers touched, then slid apart as he eased up, over the curve of her thigh, higher to the dip just below the dark curls of her sex.
Alex's body tightened, the pulse beat sharp and painful as she waited for him to touch her, finally—to ease her. She was so close.
"Please, Collin. I'm—"
"No." His hands stilled.
"Please. I'm almost-"
"No. Not yet. Wait."
Shaking her head, she twisted her fingers in his hair.
"Yes, caitein. You'll wait." And he moved away, away from her center, denying her, destroying her.
Alex squirmed and shifted her own hand from her side, reached to touch herself since he would not. "If you'd prefer to do it yourself, Alex, I've no idea why I'm here in England."
"I'd prefer you!"
"You've another foot needs washing."
Growling, glaring, she splashed her foot down and spun to face him. She lifted her right foot to where her left had perched and opened herself before him.
"Do it," she whispered, wondering if she begged.
His eyes caught hers, held for a moment before falling to the sight she'd presented him. He leaned closer, closer, till her breath squeezed from her chest and ruffled the mess of his hair. But he was only searching for the soap. He drew away when he had it in his grasp.
I might beg him, she realized as he sat back. I might. But then she saw his fingers shake as he reached for her foot and knew she wouldn't have to.
He soaped this foot more slowly, no doubt a punishment for the interruption, but Alex didn't complain. She could wait. She could wait now that she knew he shook with need as well. It appeased something between her legs even as it tightened her there, tightened until she felt her body draw up and open for him. He just might fit. The prospect of penetration lost its terror.
They stared, together, at his hands. She wondered if he watched as she did, looking beyond the hard sweep of his fingers to what they would do to her minutes from now. Again he proved more patient. By the time he reached the start of her thigh, her hips were twitching, easing forward in a blatant attempt to claim his attention. His eyes strayed from his hands, caught by the sight.
Triumph blurred the edges of her vision until his face was all she could see, his face as he leaned in, his mouth as her hips drew him. That cool breath again, this time against her belly and the flesh beneath it. His hands, forgotten for a moment, gripped one thigh and then the other, even as he pressed his lips into the dark shadow of her sex.
Her hands—her whole body—shook at the picture before her. . . his dark hair mussed against her bare belly, his shoulders square beneath her hands.
"Alexandra." The word rumbled through her fingers, through her stomach and the bones of her pelvis, up to her spine. "You smell of everything right in the world."
A laugh caught in her chest, thickened into something close to tears.
"You taste of everything I've ever wanted."
Yes, she wanted to scream. I love you, she needed to cry. But she only growled wordlessly, because she knew never to confuse lust with love, no matter that it felt more. It wasn't love, not even when he pressed small kisses to the wet seam of her body. Not even when he raised his head and searched her face with night-black eyes. Not even when his fingers finally found her.
She cried out then, but not of love.
He traced the shape of her with a touch as light as fur. More twitching from her shameless hips until she pushed at him, not begging with words, but pleading nonetheless. Finally . . . Finally he stroked into the wet, rubbing the side of one long, callused finger into her folds. He laved her, worsened her need, forced a hum past her mouth.
He still refused to enter her, but he pushed farther, sweeping the thick edge of his hand along her, back to front and back again. A soft abrasion over that little nub of nerves, over her opening, farther still to the crease of her backside. Oh, please, she thought.
"Sit."
Alex clenched her thighs, trapping his hand as she squirmed. He slipped away. "Sit."
"Bastard," she huffed as she fell into the water, happy to splash him as she rinsed.
Collin laughed a growl. "Yes."
But she had little time for resentment. He plucked her from the tub, soaking up the water with his own clothes as he bounded up the stairs to the bed that waited above. She didn't even have time to shiver before he stripped off his sodden clothes and covered her with his body.
The weight of him was just right, regardless that it set the bed ropes creaking. The hard, jutting length of him pressing into her thigh, warm and smooth against her, was the perfect weight as well.
Collin's mouth fell upon hers and she opened to him, opened to the strong stroke of his tongue and the taste of hot need. She couldn't stop her hands from feeling him. Hungry, starving, they ran over his back, his waist, his shoulders and neck. She skipped over his ribs like piano keys, grasped his buttocks to test their give. He seemed to like that, pressing himself firmly to her hip and kissing her with a deeper thrust. So she did it again and dared to run her fingers into the crease of his bottom as he'd done to her. Collin gasped and reared back.
"Please tell me you're not afraid."
"No. No, I want it. Please."
He'd shifted his weight as he spoke, freed a hand to smooth down her belly to cup that whole throbbing-soft place between her legs. A small shudder flew through her as his fingers pressed gently.
"Are you tender?"
She shook her head, frantic.
"What about here?" One long finger eased into her body.
"Oh!" Alex squirmed hard against the heel of his hand. "No!"
"And this?"
"Oh," she repeated as a second finger pressed against her, urged her flesh to give way. Her body took him snugly in with the slightest twinge of discomfort. "Just a little."
"Mm. And here?" He smiled as he asked, smiled as he rubbed his hand in a firm circle that rolled her eyes in her skull.
Wet heat touched her breast and her eyes popped open to find his head bent over her nipple, to see the flick of his tongue as he teased her.
"Oh, God," she moaned as tendrils of sharp heat squeezed through her body, flickering up and down on invisible threads that linked her breasts to her womb.
His mouth left her, his fingers too. She moaned a protest, but was held speechless by the continuing sparks of pleasure. A soft touch urged her legs apart, and when she opened her heavy eyes he was poised above her, face fierce and edged with that wildness. A firm length rubbed her, sent sparks flying again, then he was stretching her, filling her with one slow push of his hips.
Alexandra's mouth fell open to suck in air. The pressure was tremendous, a little uncomfortable, but good in a way she couldn't have imagined. He eased something deep inside her, pushed her wide and open, making a place for himself inside her body that she hadn't known was there.
His hips finally sat tight in the curve of her thighs. There. There. He did fit. Tears filled her eyes. She arched her head away to hide them but heard his sharp breath all the same.
"Alex?" he started to lift up.
"Yes," she gasped and clasped her hands behind his neck.
His whole body heaved with a sigh before he curved into her and kissed her deeply. The tug of his body sliding out made her writhe until he thrust back in, less gently this time. Another withdrawal. He eased further up her body then, shifted his hips and this time, this time, when he thrust he rubbed against a spot that sent pleasure breaking along her skin like cracks in weakening glass.
A high croak jumped from her throat.
"Ah," Collin moaned, a pleased sound.
Oh, God, he moved again, pushing and rubbing and filling until she screamed. In and out and in again, so smoothly that it all blended together into one long assault of pleasure twisting her insides into knots of joy.
Some small part of her mind felt the skin of his shoulders give under her nails and reveled in his hiss of pain. His hurt got tied up somehow in her pleasure and she knew she should stop and couldn't. Couldn't let go her grip on him, and the harder she clutched the harder he thrust, until the tight coil in her belly finally sprung loose, overwhelming her as nothing ever had.
Alex screamed, screamed till her throat hurt and the sound died, but she still gasped and sobbed into his neck because he didn't stop. He kept driving into her and it came again, exploding waves that jerked her hips even under his weight.
She couldn't bear any more, almost asked him to stop, but she opened her clenched eyes and the sight of his face stilled her words. He was beautiful, strained and stark and blind with pleasure. The tendons of his neck stood out like metal under flesh. His cheekbones pushed against his skin. And then she saw it coming over him even as it built again in her. As she closed her eyes and opened herself, he quickened and roughened and shuddered. When he slipped out of her body, she wanted to weep, but clasped him to her instead, holding tight as she could while pleasure wracked him.
The world swirled around their bed, settling and stilling as the minutes passed. Alexandra stared in disbelief at the timbers of the ceiling above.
"You were . . ." She swallowed her hoarseness. "You were right. We fit splendidly."
Collin's body shook above her. She took it to be laughter, but he didn't make a sound. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder. "I've never fit quite so well in my life."
"No?" A pleased warmth swept over her, coaxing a grin.
His weight lightened as he raised to his elbows to peer at her smile. He smiled back. "No."
Alex threw her arms around his neck and laughed aloud.
Chapter 12
When Collin woke, the evening sun fell across their bodies in a hot line. Alex had thrown aside the blankets so her naked body glowed a soft peach in the light.
Collin turned onto his back. He didn't need to watch her, couldn't bear to. A few days more, a week, that's all he had. And he'd already memorized every slow curve, every hollow.
Her soft thigh pressed against his in a line of damp heat, so that he felt her waking long before she stretched.
"Dinner." Her stretch ended with a tantalizing wiggle of her bottom as she burrowed into the sheets. Collin smiled at the ceiling and pressed his hip more firmly against her arse.
"I took care of breakfast. Isn't it your turn to serve?"
A hand emerged from the linens to wave him away. "Hungry. Food."
He shook his head and decided to indulge her. Better to have her in his debt for the rest of the evening. There were far more tantalizing things than food she could present to him. His body pulsed to life at the idea.
Collin slipped from the bed and padded naked to the kitchen. He gathered up food and plate, wine and water, more wine. By the time he returned to the room, Alex was smiling sleepily in his direction.
"Good evening, Mr. Blackburn," she purred, her words a glide of satin over his bare skin. "Are you going to serve me in bed?" Her bold words were in delicious contrast to the blush that fired her cheeks. Everything about her was delicious and contrary.
"Aye," he answered, approaching with the oak tray. "I am obedient in all things."
"Oh, not true, sir. You are willful. Insolent, even."
Collin filled a glass to the brim with wine and held it carefully out. "I am only looking out for your good, Mistress. You are known to be rash and hurried in some arenas."
"Mm. I'll concede that. You were exceedingly instructive today."
"Perhaps you shall promote me to tutor."
Alexandra took a long sip from her wine. Collin watched the slide and swallow of her white throat. When she licked an errant drop from her lips, her eyes fell, caught by the swelling of his body. "A tutor. I should like that very much." Collin felt his skin stretching. "Will you teach me how to please you, then?" She licked her lips again, glanced up through lashes to gauge his reaction.
"My God," he laughed. "You are shameless." His tone and his tumescence left little doubt where he stood on the issue. Her shamelessness aroused him completely. "Eat your dinner, caitein. We'll continue this discussion later."
She sighed as if in grief, then set to her food with an enthusiasm that belied her acting. Her sheet fell away, exposing those small breasts that had branded his hands. Collin watched with sheer appreciation as he sat down on the bed, the tray a temporary barrier between them. The woman had not a stitch of modesty. She sat there, naked, and dined with him as if she attended nude dinner parties on a regular basis. Even the most experienced of women he'd bedded had always developed an odd consciousness of their bodies after the lust wore off. Not Alexandra. She buttered her bread and raised her glass with nothing more than a friendly sparkle in his direction. Her breasts bobbed with each motion, utterly distracting him.
"Aren't you going to eat?" she asked at one point. "Of course," he answered and fed himself without tasting a morsel.
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