Time of the Draig (21 page)

Faolan buried his hand in her hair. “Do you ken how much I crave the feel of your hair?” With a tug to her tresses, Samantha shifted to bare her neck. She shivered as he whispered against the delicate flesh below her ear. “I have dreamt of your hair against my skin. To ken it will grace my pillow shortly is enough to make me rush.” Faolan kissed the skin of her neck. “Yet I will take the whole of the night, and I will taste every part of you.”

Samantha cried out as he playfully bit the skin at the base of her neck. Then her body sighed as he soothed the mark with gentle kisses. Her hands moved to free his bound hair, and she clung tight as he kissed a path back to her mouth.

What passed between them was no sweet embrace. Faolan devoured her mouth and plunged deep. Samantha gave back with equal passion. The fire created earlier in the day burned bright with newfound kindling. With everything she had, Samantha stoked that fire. If her tomorrows were limited, she would have the one night in the arms of the man who, against all reason, called to her heart.

With a move that surprised her, Faolan stood and threw her back on the bed. Samantha laughed as she landed on the soft blankets. He stayed on his feet and took her foot in hand. While he unlaced the first boot, he said, “Boots off, Major.”

A squeak came out with the chuckle as her sock was pulled off. She propped herself up on her elbows to watch him attack the other boot with the same ferocity. Samantha answered, “The major is so not here right now. Trust me when I say she would never do this.”

Faolan threw the other sock to the floor and kept eye contact as he bent to remove his boots. He smirked, “Pity. I think I would enjoy having the major in my bed.” When his boots hit the floor, she felt and watched his hands smooth up her calves.

Samantha again cried out in surprise as he used her legs to pull her to the edge of the bed which left her skirts bunched under her back and gathered around her waist. “Tonight you have only me, sorry.”

His hands pulled her to sit on the bed with her feet dangling off the side. Faolan leaned forward as he crouched beside the bed and kissed her with abandon. When he broke the kiss, he held her face. “You are the only woman I want in my bed.”

The sincerity in his tone brought another tear to her cheek. He wiped it away and shook his head. Samantha understood; she was to have no negative thoughts—they only had
now
.

Her lips parted in a gasp as his fingers pulled the ties on both sides of her gown. Faolan held her eyes as he reached for the front laces. She stared into the molten brown of his eyes as he all but pulled the strings from the eyelets.

With a quick hard peck to her lips, he pulled back and, in one fluid motion, lifted the gown over her head. While she heard the fabric hit the floor, she was more intent on Faolan as he lifted the shirt over his head. She feasted on the vision of the dragon in the unsteady light from the fire. As his eyes wandered her almost bare body, his rapid breath made the beast appear alive.

Samantha lifted her hand to trace the creature from his hard pectoral to where it visually ended at his leather pants. With a tug, the rawhide that held the material in place loosened.

Faolan pulled her hand away and said, while he fingered the straps of her bra, “You ken the fate of this garment if it remains over your skin.”

The laughter never left her lips with the intensity of his gaze. He practically snarled the demand. Samantha reached behind her, and the hooks gave way with practiced ease. His gaze was nowhere near her eyes when the garment hit the floor. She teased him as she pointed to her face. “My eyes are up here.”

A choked sound followed the statement when Faolan licked his lips while he stared. Her body sat straighter under his bold gaze, and a slight smile crossed her lips at his obvious delight.

While his hands stalled a fraction of an inch from her breasts, he replied, “I will find your eyes again when I enter you.” Then each hand lifted a breast as if he weighed them in his hands. Samantha gasped his hands cupped her. When his hands shifted again, he offered a light pinch to both nipples at the same time, and her groan sounded as the sensation traveled straight through to her core.

She wasn’t sure what to call the look on his face. One side of his mouth lifted in a mock grin, but it didn’t hold the joy of a smile. Then there was no time to ponder the question as he pushed her back against the bedding. Samantha waited for the kiss that never came.

Faolan bent over her, and she watched his mouth twitch at her expectation. Instead of her mouth, he placed a kiss to the pointed tip of a breast. Her eyes rolled at the exquisite contact, and she knew she should be embarrassed by the sounds she made, as the kiss became his warm mouth covering her. Desire flooded her being as he suckled her tender peaks while her back bowed off the bed to grant him better access.

He whispered, “How sweet you are, my heart,” as his head lifted, and he gifted the other breast with the same sweet torture.

At his words, she buried her hand against his scalp, not sure if she pulled him closer or sought to push him away for a reprieve. When his free hand covered the moist tip he had left behind, she gripped his biceps and held on as if her life depended upon it.

Disappointment sounded in her throat as he left her breasts. Samantha squirmed as he kissed a path down her sensitive stomach. She heard his soft chuckle as he found a ticklish spot.

Faolan’s kiss became a lick to the skin at the edge of her panties. His hands played with fabric for just a moment before they came to a halt. He whispered, “I am a man of my word,” and lifted the edge with his teeth.

No laughter came as he pulled the garment over her hips and used his mouth to do exactly what he had threatened. Strong hands stroked her legs as the fabric left her skin. Samantha closed her eyes, and soft kisses peppered the inside of her thighs, making her wonder how much of his attention she could handle.

A soft cry left her lips when he latched onto her hips and yanked her closer to the edge of the bed. Strong shoulders held her thighs as he placed a kiss to her core and she melted into the bedding. While his nose nuzzled her heat, Faolan growled, “I would hear your passion, my heart.”

A strangled sound released from her mouth as his tongue entered her body. There was no thought, no reality, and only unabashed want as he plunged in and out of her. Samantha’s breath came in ragged gasps as his gifted tongue shifted slightly higher and found a spot she could have never imagined. The intensity burned within as his fingers entered what his tongue had abandoned moments before. The combination of his hand and mouth overwhelmed her very being.

Samantha knew only that it was building as she felt the edge of it deep in her abdomen. She knew Faolan did, too, when he growled deep in his throat as his fingers filled her and his tongue circled in a heavenly pattern.

In a heartbeat, the wave washed over her as if she were merely a rock in the way of the pleasure. She cried, and as he continued his onslaught, she felt the wave begin to form anew. Her hips moved against him with the need for more. She felt the stubble of the day’s growth on his face against her thighs. Subconsciously, her thighs clenched the sides of his face.

Before she could react, Faolan stopped and pushed her legs away from his skin. Samantha swallowed hard and gasped, “Please.”

She heard his chuckle, he said, “When I am inside you, my heart.”

She felt rather than saw the removal of his leather. Hips shifted against her legs that dangled and brushed the light hair from his legs against her skin. There was only a pliant mass that allowed him to shift her back on the bed. Her body rose to meet the bare skin that finally joined her on the bed and lowered to cover her.

With his weight on his elbows next to her head, Faolan kissed her as he covered her skin with his warmth. Her limbs needed no command to wrap around his body. She sighed into the mouth that claimed hers while her hands relished the sculpted muscles of his back.

Faolan broke the kiss and shifted his body to place his hard member at the opening of her core. He whispered, “This time will be hard and fast. I need you now for every time we have been disturbed.” He pushed only barely inside her. “I need you, Samantha.”

A nod was the only reply she could muster. Samantha buried her head against his neck as he began to enter her body. Her hips shifted to a more favorable angle to allow the intrusion. She gasped as the first inch of him entered her body.

Faolan whispered, “Let me in, my heart. Let me love you.”

Samantha wondered only for a moment what the endearment sounded like in Gaelic as he pushed again. She could feel him and the fullness his body promised. Her head fell back on the bed as she took a deep breath and Faolan pushed again, inching more of his hardness inside.

She felt his body halt, and she wrapped her legs around his hips. Samantha whispered, “Don’t stop now.”

His forehead fell against hers. “This changes everything.” Again Faolan surprised her by lifting from her body. Gentle hands scooped her up and pushed the blankets to the side. In the space of four seconds, Samantha found her back on the cool sheets of the bed with her head resting on a soft pillow.

When Faolan again settled within her arms, he kissed her with a slow gentle manner that left her wanting more. He whispered as his body shifted to enter her, “I never thought to ask you . . . I . . . I . . . tell me you want me.”

Samantha gasped as he slowly filled her but stopped at the barrier nature provided. Soft eyes met hers as she reached to hold his cheek. “Give me this one night, Faolan.”

“Say you are mine.” It was not a request. He demanded.

Even though her body ached with the new sensation combined with the need for more, she smiled. “Right now, I am.”

“You come to my bed untouched and give yourself to me. That makes you mine,” Faolan growled. “Say it.”

As he threatened to leave her and end the moment completely, Samantha tightened her grip with her thighs and used her legs to push Faolan deep inside. In truth, she only encouraged because she felt his body move at the silent plea. Her eyes widened at the sudden invasion, and she cried out. The pinch was fleeting and faded to leave an immense satisfaction at having him become a part of her. After a quick breath, she opened her eyes to see concern mixed with desire on his face.

With a ragged breath, he teased, “So much for the major nay being in this bed.” His hands reached to ask her legs to release their hold, and Faolan demanded with a husky tone, “Say you are mine.”

If his voice demanded, his eyes pleaded, and Samantha knew it changed nothing. Covered by the heat of his skin, she was aware of every light hair on his legs that brushed her inner thighs, the feel of his sculpted chest against her breasts, and completed by their joining, but the reality still held. But if they only had
now
, she would never hold back. Samantha smoothed her hands over his back, up his powerful shoulders, skimmed his neck, and then held his face within her hands. When she breathed, Faolan shifted and filled her completely. She couldn’t give him what he wanted, so she gave him the truth. “I love you.”

As the shudder coursed through his body, Faolan replied, “As I will love you for all time, my heart.”

Her head denied his words, and an errant tear slipped from one eye. Faolan gave her a soft smile. “For now, let us ken nothing is impossible.”

She smiled at the acknowledgment and pulled his head down for a kiss. While her mouth wanted all he could offer, Faolan teased her with light brushes of his lips. A whimper sounded with her disappointment, and then he moved within her. Samantha gasped as his body pulled almost completely out of her to move slowly back inside.

Faolan repeated the process until her hips began to meet his. Soft murmurings of encouragement met her ears as he filled her over and over. Nerve endings danced at the exquisite sensation, and any thought of reality and its worry disappeared. As his pace quickened, Samantha gripped his strong sides and moved in harmony with their passion.

When his hips angled and he thrust, a cry left her throat. He reached to cup her breast. “Does this please you, my heart?”

Her legs wrapped around his hips. She choked out, “Yes.”

Samantha’s neck bent up when the hand gifted her soft mound with a light squeeze as he filled her with a thrust of higher intensity. Faolan buried himself deep and ground against her only to again almost withdraw and then repeat the sweet torture all over.

Though his body moved with a growing need, his lips met hers with a leisurely kiss. She tasted the hunger as he filled her mouth the same way he filled her body. Yet the kiss was painstakingly soft and tender with none of the demand she craved.

Faolan broke away from her lips. “Say you are mine,” he demanded again and punctuated his demand with a subtle grind of his hips.

His hand wandered down her side and gripped the back of her thigh and covered the head of her dragon. Again he demanded, “Say you are mine.”

She only knew she gasped his name as the sensation built from the inside and so much stronger than before. As if sensing her need, Faolan softened his movement and filled her with a slow, steady pace that left her on the edge. He whispered, “Does this please you?”

“Yes,” she replied as she covered the dragon’s head on his chest with her hand. Samantha felt the sheen of perspiration and forced her hand to stay in place. She heard the alternating phrases, “Say you are mine” and “Does this please you?” and she was lost.

Her body moved to meet his while she felt his lips on her cheek, against her neck, and again brushing her lips. In her mind she felt the wave building in the distance as Faolan controlled her body. He brought the wave closer only to let it hover just out of reach. Alternating patterns of hard and demanding meshed with slow, intense lovemaking destroyed any shred of her fleeting control.

There was no understanding the question, but she screamed his name and the “yes” as he discovered a place deep inside that should have never existed. The wave hit with the force of a tsunami as he cried out and plunged hard inside. She was dimly aware of the hand that lifted her hips to meet him, and he shuddered against her body.