Chapter 13

The first flick of Tad’s tongue was just a tease to Catreena, a hint of what more could be done. The second touch was firmer, claiming that part of her body. Her hands flung backward, and she knocked over vials of herbs, but neither one of them cared enough to look. He started possessing her body with passion, plunging his tongue into her and rocking her on the table.

Catreena could hear the moans escaping her. They were out of her control, filling the air around her.

She couldn’t believe that she was doing this with Tad. Now that it was happening, she wondered why on earth they had not done this sooner. All that mattered now was that Tad keep doing it, exploring her, loving her in that way.

It wasn’t sport, as he had once called it. This was something infinitely deeper, and she knew that for Tad, it was no longer sport either now. Even as he explored her, his right hand gripped her hip tight. He was keeping her as close as possible, as if the thought of her escaping from his touch was impossible.

Even the mention of Callum had driven him wild. He had stopped mentioning her brothers and thought only of this instead.

“Tad, please,” she started to beg.

She knew what she wanted. She didn’t just want to know his tongue but wished to know everything.

“Talk tae me,” he said, moving his lips to her hip and whispering against her skin as his fingers drove into her center. He moved two inside of her, the sheer depth making her arch and gasp at the pleasure of his touch. “Beg me, and I’ll dae anything ye ask.”

“Dinnae stop,” she continued on, wishing to break his resolve. Last night, she thought there was a chance she was going to lose him, that the fire might have claimed him. She couldn’t bear the thought. She just wished to keep him, to be this close to him, without any thought of Cillian and his soldiers coming to hurt them.

He curled his fingers in such a way that made her hips threaten to rise off the table.

“Ah, Tad,” she moaned his name. “Please.” He moved up toward her, kissing her as his hand still pushed her, working her body toward that oblivion of pleasure she had only tasted once before. “Show me everything,” she pleaded.

“Ye may nae want that.”

“Oh, I ken what I want.”

“Nay, Cat.” He bent his head toward her, burying it in her neck and kissing her there as his fingers began to move faster. Her lips parted as breathy sounds escaped her. “I told ye a lover like a wolf isnae a bad thing, but I’d be rough, Catreena. It’s what I like. I like tae see ye undone by me touch. I’d take ye in every position I could think of. Here, like this, then on yer hands and knees in the middle of this room, with me behind ye. Then ye’d straddle me, with me hands on yer hips, guiding ye.”

His words were pure seduction. She wanted everything he said, needing it. She rocked her hips up into him.

“Show me it all,” she begged.

“God damn it, Cat.” His fingers suddenly pulled out of her. “Up.” He curled his finger as he stood up, reaching for his shirt. “Clothes off.”

She didn’t question his orders this time but did as he said. Rather than them removing each other’s clothes, they removed their own. She watched, in awe, as Tad took off his jerkin and shirt, then kicked off his boots and reached for his trews. Her gown was gone, but she stalled with the corset, too busy watching as his length was revealed. Once again, she was amazed at how big it was, wondering how on earth she was supposed to fit him.

He strode toward her, took her waist and spun her around, reaching for the laces of the corset. Evidently, she was taking too long getting to them herself.

“Impatient?” she teased him.

“Desperate,” he said with a heated kiss to the back of her neck as he swept her hair to the side. It had completely fallen out of its updo now, loose down one of her shoulders.

He tore the corset from her body then took hold of her chemise. He hesitated, not quite lifting it over her shoulders.

“Trust me?” he whispered into her ear.

“Ye ken I dae,” she whispered back. It was an intimacy, a moment of soft warmth amongst this tense heat and passion.

With that promise uttered between them, he lifted her chemise and tossed it to the floor. When Catreena was wearing nothing, she turned back to face him. The look he gave her, those gray eyes drinking the sight of her, made her bite her lip.

“Oh nay,” he whispered, moving toward her and nodding at her lip. “I’m the one that gets tae dae that now.”

She smiled before he clashed his lips into her own. It was the heated kiss he had promised, biting her bottom lip. His hand cupped against the curve of her breasts made her tremble with desire.

She backed up to the table where she was swiftly returned to the position she had just been in, though now she was naked, not a part of her hidden from him. He grabbed one of the blankets from off a nearby nook and pushed it beneath her head. The simple kind act of giving her a pillow made her moan his name.

“Tad.” Her fingers raked down his bare chest.

He was taking care of her, protecting her, even now.

“Please,” she begged when he hesitated. He bent down over her, his hips between hers, kissing her. It was soft and sensual, as her hands explored him, reaching up to curl under his shoulder blades, his superior height and strength rendering her a puddle of desire.

Then she felt his length nudging her entrance. It was slow, as if he was testing her, to see if she would change her mind.

“Tad,” she complained against his lips, pushing him in the chest. He rested his weight on his elbows, staring at her. “Please,” she begged, rocking her hips into him. “Please!”

“I love it when ye beg me,” he muttered.

Love… he had said the word.

Then he entered her. The sudden movement was fast and swift. The pain that accompanied it startled her. Her hands gripped his shoulders and she inadvertently touched the bandage on his skin. He didn’t complain now. He kissed her throughout her own pain, moving his lips across her cheek and down her neck.

“It will pass,” he whispered. “I promise ye, Cat… me Cat.” The sweet and possessive words were intoxicating to her. Suddenly, she didn’t mind being little Cat anymore. “Every other time will be a thrill. There will be nay more pain.”

Then he rocked his hips into hers. It was gentle, slow, and surely enough, the pain was gone. She gasped at the pleasure now shooting through her abdomen, the growing sensation of need and thrill escalating by the second.

“More,” she found herself pleading with him again. “Tad, more.”

“That’s it,” he whispered against her skin. “Me name, Cat.”

“Tad!” she moaned again.

He drove his hands down onto the table and pushed into her, hard and fast. That feeling of pleasure grew so much, she quite forgot the rest of the world. All that Catreena could think of was Tad above her, the sheen of sweat on his skin, the way it beaded down his firm chest, the way his gray eyes looked at her, with pure hunger.

His hands moved. He no longer used the table to rock himself into her but grabbed her legs and stood straight. He rocked into her from this standing position, drinking in the sight of her as he did so. Unable to touch him anymore, Catreena drove her hands into the wall above her hand, taking the weight of him rocking into her.

She couldn’t believe the deepness of the sensation, how much he could reach inside of her, nor the way he took her as if they were just animals, unable to stop.

“Tad,” she moaned, but then he changed.

He reached for her waist with one arm and lifted her off the table, so she was being carried in his arms. With her legs straddling his hips, she stared at him, uncertain where they were going now. She only just remembered what he had said he longed to do to her, before he acted out that fantasy of taking her on the floor.

He grabbed the blanket which had been her pillow and threw it to the floor, then laid her down on the floor. He drove into her in this position first, his length never leaving her, with her legs wide about his hips. Her hands went from gripping his shoulders to one hand exploring him. It trailed down his chest then went up to his hair, pulling on it playfully. He growled in that possessive way, leaned down and kissed her again, his movements stilling. She writhed beneath him, not done, not wanting this moment to end.

He pulled out of her.

“Tad!” she moaned loudly in complaint.

“I told ye tae trust me,” he said with a deep chuckle as he took hold of her hips and flipped her over. She moved to her hands and knees as he took hold of her lower back, just as he had done on his bed the day before. He parted her legs, his length nudging her entrance again.

She could no longer utter words as he entered her again, this new position so overwhelming in its pleasure. He drove into her not as fast this time, but tortuously slowly. He was teasing her with his seductive pleasure, and it worked so well that her eyes fluttered closed. She was in danger of tearing the blanket beneath her into pieces as he drove in and out of her, again and again.

“Mine, Cat,” he said possessively behind her, bending over her to kiss her down the arch of the back. “Say it,” he begged. “Say it, Cat.”

“Yers,” she found the word falling from her lips. “I’m all yers, Tad.”

He growled and drove into her faster. It was the thing that tipped her over the edge. She felt that oblivion of pleasure claim her. She could have sworn she was lost to darkness as her whole body clamped down, tightening around him. Her body was bathed in sweat, the moans falling from her lips when she felt him suddenly pull out of her.

“God, Catreena.” He moaned her name as he finished too. She felt him spill onto her back and looked over her shoulder, strangely seduced by the sight of him reaching his climax too. His face was flushed red, his lips parted in a perfect o shape as his seed spilled onto her skin.

Why is that such a seductive sight?

“Tad,” she whispered his name as he finished. He moved toward her again, taking her hip and rolling her over so she was on her back, then collapsing on top of her. No more words could be said between them as they kissed, limbs entangled, bodies pressed close together.

Let this moment never end.

Tad wasn’t sure how long he and Catreena lay there together, but it could have been hours, and he wouldn’t have minded. Each time he tried to pull himself from her, to even consider potentially changing, he caught sight of her bare body again and was easily drawn back down toward her on that blanket.

They kissed, they explored each other, and Tad couldn’t stop. His hands frequently went to exploring her breasts, squeezing playfully, and when he dared to drop his lips to her breast and take on in his mouth, the sounds she had made he didn’t think he would ever forget.

“I wish we could stay like this,” Catreena whispered as the sun started to dip beyond the window.

“Me too.” Tad knew they could not though. “I will have tae talk tae yer braithers soon. I cannae stay away after this.” He moved to kiss her, then stood, reaching for his clothes. “Speaking of which, yer braither and me sister will be waiting fer us at dinner, wondering where we are if we dinnae join them soon.”

Tad looked back at her as he pulled on his trews. Her blond hair was wild about her shoulders, pleasantly mussed. He had frequently tangled his fingers in that hair as they had lain side by side, talking of nothing and everything. He had a plan the next time they were like this, he’d bind that hair in his hand as he entered her.

“They will nae mind, will they?” she asked, as she reached for her chemise and pulled it over her head.

“I think they’ll gut me.” Tad went to help Catreena. He tied the corset at her back, aware that he had torn some of the laces and frayed them in his attempt to get to her. “Maybe they’ll take it in turns tae injure me. Damn it, Cat.” He bent down and laid his head on her shoulder. “I wanted tae dae this right, tae talk tae them, tae court ye first, tae…” He cut short from saying to marry her, for he had heard something.

Were those footsteps on the spiral staircase?

“Tae?” she urged him on.

“Someone’s coming.”

“What?”

“Someone’s here, Cat.” He hastened across the room and pulled his shirt over his head, just as Catreena jumped up and pulled her gown on too. She hadn’t yet pulled it up all the way when the door flung open.

“Tad, one of yer guards said ye came this way…” Then the words faded.

It was Bran.