Light to Valhalla (34 page)

This
is what she’d wanted, yearned for
.

She arched against h
im, relishing the weight of his sculpted
frame
.
Rough
ened
palms ran over her body with unconcealed abandon, stripping away the thin stockings
.
He grasped her hip, sliding a hand around the back of her thigh, pulling her leg up and around him
.
She obeyed every silent command,
her body
desperate for this man to
make
love
to
her completely
.

He settled between her legs, pushing the fitted satin shift up her abdomen,
pressing feather soft kisses
against her belly
as he went
.
He slowed at her breasts, uncovering
each as though
unwrapping
a gift at Christmas
.
Cool air licked her nipples but Charley hardly noticed as tingles and heat
raced
to all the forbidden
places of her body
.
Alex fitted his large palm around the soft flesh
, touching his
wet
tongue to the tip
.

“
Oh
!
”
Charley shuddered,
and instinctively writhed,
relishing
the erotic contrast to the
cold air
.

Encouraged Alex deepened the sensual assault, sucking her breast into his mouth and
drawing leisurely circles with his tongue
.
Charley sank her fingers into his thick hair, urging him on, wishing he’d
turn some of that wicked attention onto her other breast
.
He didn’t leave her wanting long, and shifted his full attention to the opposite side
.

The
response of her body was absolutely shameless
.
Her nipples tensed and puckered,
reaching for Alex, beckoning him forward
, while her knees came up to cradle him above her
.

He
hee
ded the unspoken request to take their lovemaking further, and slid up her body,
greedily
devouring
her
flesh with lips and tongue
until his honed frame lay completely on top of her, pressing her into the soft mattress
.
Charley tilted her face, meeting his mouth for another long kiss
.
Growing bold she slipped her hands beneath his shirt, stroking the muscular expanse of his back
.

Alex shivered and drew back, yanking the shirt over his head, discarding
it
at the top of the bed
.
He then slid the shift over her shoulders and head, leaving her utterly exposed
.
It dawned that she should feel
self conscious
or
try
to cover herself, but she experienced nothing but a sense of rightness
.
In truth
this
was the most natural she’d ever felt within her own skin
.

Alex dr
agged
a physical gaze
across her
naked form
.
“You are so beautiful,” he rasped
.
“Charley, Are you certain about this? 
Now?
  Here?”

The impassioned vulnerability
in his eyes only reaffirmed her decision
.
A smile toyed with her lips
.
Here she was, lying naked in a bed with him, and stil
l he gave her the ch
ance to stop
.

“What better place?
”
She looped her arms around his neck, drawing him
back
to her
.
Drunk from his kisses she wanted more
.
Much more
.
“We are alone
.
Completely and perfectly alone.
”
No servants scurrying about the halls, whispering about the lord and his lady
.
This moment in the cottage was about them
.
No expectation or duty
.
No titles
.
Just they two and the magic breathing between them
.
They’d always been connected
.
Charley had known it since before she
’d
truly understood love or desire, but her heart had always been his
.
She brushed her lips across the dimpled corner of his mouth, beckoning him closer
.
“Make me yours.”

He groaned
,
sliding down beside her, moving
with
a different sense of ur
gency,
his
every action fused with an energy born of purpose… intent
.
His tongue intruded her mouth
with
slow, smoldering strokes as his
fingers glided down
her throat and
trailed
between her breasts, traveling lower… and lower… until—

Charley gasped
.

Any
further
and
he’d reach her most secret place
.
That aching juncture
between her thighs
all but begging to be caressed and kne
a
ded
.
She clenched her fists, sure to expire from the anticipation
.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted him to touch her
there
, but—

Oh!

His fingers wa
ndered into her most intimate of folds
, carefully parting the sensitive flesh
.
Gently he
grazed
the d
elicate nub at her center and p
leasure shocks
erupted
within
her
.
Charley tensed, half lifting
off the mattress before
d
issolving
in a
puddle of
overwhelming
sensation
s
upon the sheet
.
“Alex,” she moaned,
curling her fists in the bedding
,
drinking in the luxurious bliss his clever hand
s
laved upon her
.
Never had she known love making would be like this
.
A
fter a few
divine
moments Alex took his sensual assault to a new level
.
Skillful lips fell to her ear, languidly
s
uckling
the responsive lobe
while t
he oppo
site hand
blazed
trail
s
of fire across
her skin
.
Wave after wave of pleasure crashed through her, building until she was spiraling out of control,
striving
for some foreign magical release
.

Suddenly his hands stilled
.
“Are you ready for more?”

Restless with unfulfilled need she rolled instinctively toward him, boldly reaching for the clasp of his trousers
.
“Does this answer your question?”

Beside her he shuddered and the powerful satisfaction of how her touch affected him swelled within her
.
She fumbled with the buttons
releasing
each with unintentional slowness, eager to slake her curiosity about the hard bulge straining against the buckskin.

Alex
tensed
.
“Easy,” he whispered huskily
.
“
If you
get me too excited
this won’t last long
.”

“Really?” she breathed
.
“How?”

He
grinned, eyes twinkling with desire and mischief
.
“Just wait, Charley, I’ll show you.”

He
rolled
from the bed
and
strip
ped
away the last of his clothes
.
A
pprehensions
gone, she rose on an elbow
to get her first
entirely
uninhibited view of him
.
She
froze,
eyes
so wide she
was certain
they
resembled saucers
.
Alex
was… well, she didn’t know what he was, but it must be good, or perfect, or something she did not right
l
y know how to describe
.

He
chuckle
d
as he returned to the bed again moving over the top of her
.
“Just breathe, Charley.
”
In a manner ever so gentle he braced her in his arms kissing first her right temple and then the sensitive skin along the right side of her throat
.
Slowly his broad hand trailed up the curve of her leg
.
Automatically she opened to him and he settled naturally between her thighs as though made to fit with her… her other half.

“What should I do for you?” she whispered
dragging hungry
hands down his chest and across the flat planes of his tapered abdomen
.
Her fingers found a small silver scar and rested there
.

“Nothing,” he groaned, locking eyes wi
th her
.
“
N
ot this time
.
Today
is about you
.
I have much to make up for.
”

“But—
”

“No buts
.
Just let me love you.
”
Emotion swirled with reckless abandon in his eyes, but
there was more than abandon
.
There was passion and love, and h
is eyes
burn
ed
from deep within his soul
.
In this moment she acutely sensed their souls were touching, entwining,
truly
becoming one
.
Before the thought could travel any further he
shifted
and said, “Hold onto me, love.”

She complied, holding tight
to
his shoulders
.
In a motion as swift as it was gentle and
smooth he slid inside of her, the
sensation unlike
anything
she’d ever known
.
She stiffened waiting for the moment of pain she’d been taught would come
, but there was not so much pain as pressure
and s
oon Alex
filled her
completely
.
S
he
felt
him in every fiber of her being
.
She felt him tremble
.
She felt him breathe
.
His very life forced fused through her
.
For
a long moment he held perfectly still, letting her adjust to his length and thickness.

“Are you alright,” he asked gruffly.

Beyond words sh
e nodded, gripping his back
, waiting for what would come next
.

Slowly he began to move… in and out… reawakening her desires
.

She moved with him, touching him, kissing him, knowing all the while he was pushing her toward
that
magical secret
.
The point of ascension
.
A place
to be craved and desired
…
cherished
.

Alex move
d
faster
.
Harder
.
And Charley’s response was doubly intense
.
Her entire body so tight she could scarcely remember to breathe
.

She was out of control again
.
Delic
i
ously so
.