Chapter 10

The kiss began almost lazily, as if on some deep level, they had agreed that this time, they would savor the gifts the other had to offer without interruption. They stared at each other for a few intense moments, which to Kira felt like the longest of her entire life.

Her insides melted to see the naked hunger in Alec’s eyes, her chest rose and fell rapidly as she struggled to catch her breath, dizzied at the feel of him holding her and by his gaze. When their mouths met, and his covered hers, the fire inside her lit, and she met his hunger with her own, reveling in the taste and touch of him, a fiery passion drawn deep from her soul.

“Och, Alec, ye make me want ye so much,” she breathed against his lips. Greedy for him, her arms weaved around his neck, her fingers tangled in the corn-colored locks of his hair, pulling him closer, tongues entwining in a tantalizing dance. It was as if her entire body was alight, every particle of her quivering and full of wanting.

The kiss grew in intensity until she was dizzy with pleasure. And she did not want it to ever stop.

Alec’s lips quirked before he plundered her mouth with his own once more, his passion redoubled. Kira gave herself up to the intoxicating sensation of his large, warm hands moving so surely over every part of her. And she, too, freely explored his huge, muscular frame, running her palms over his bulging arm and shoulder muscles, reveling in the strength beneath. But still, she wanted more.

“Alec, will ye help me out of this gown?” she murmured, desperate to see his powerful body fully revealed, to discover his secrets, to have his naked skin on hers.

“With pleasure,” he replied, making her gasp and giggle with surprise when he suddenly flipped her over onto her stomach and proceeded to undo the fastenings of the gown. She shimmied out of it with his help, and then he loosened her stays and slid them down over her hips. The flames of Kira’s desire leapt higher inside her when he turned her over to face him again, and she saw his wolfish expression as he gazed at her in her shift and stockings.

“Wait,” she said, pulling herself up slightly. With one swift movement, she seized the hem of her shift and pulled it over her head, dropping it to the floor, naked but for her stockings.

“Dae ye have any idea how beautiful ye are?” he whispered, gazing at her, an expression of wonder on his face. He slowly ran the flat of his palm over her belly in obvious appreciation before it rose higher to capture her breasts.

“Och, flattery will get ye everywhere,” Kira whispered, arching her back to receive his touch, the tips of her soft peaks already stiffening as his hands toyed with them, cupping them in his palms and squeezing them with frank enjoyment. A small moan escaped her lips, and shivers of delight shot through her body when he bent his head and took them in his mouth to tease her further.

Kira gloried in his obvious appreciation of her body, especially the way his eyes raked hungrily over every inch of her naked skin. But when he grew more intense and moved one arm to grab her by the waist, she put a hand on his chest to make him pause.

“What is it?” he asked, looking slightly worried. “Are ye all right?”

“Aye, I’m more than all right,” she teased, putting her hands inside his shirt and running her hands over his chest.

“Then what is it?”

“’Tis yer turn now tae get naked,” she told him with a coquettish smile, reaching up and sliding his coat from his shoulders.

“Ye dinnae need tae ask me twice.” Laughing softly, he kneeled up. Kira leaned on her elbow watching with delight as Alec pulled off his boots and then proceeded to strip in front of her, pulling his clothes off feverishly and hurling them heedlessly onto the floor.

She tingled all over, her excitement rising apace to see his gorgeous body gradually exposed to her. And when he finally shed his shirt, she took in a sharp breath, half of shock, half of lust, to see strength in his arms and the thick ridges of muscle on his broad chest where reddish-gold hairs caught the light.

She gasped in awe to see the skin of his chest and upper arms was decorated with beautifully crafted interlinking patterns inked in deep blue. Each shoulder and clavicle sported a large, twisting Celtic knot as sported by his ancient ancestors. A blue tapestry featuring strange beasts, stags and deer, salmon leaping, sleek pine martens, a fierce, hissing wildcat, and flying golden eagles intertwined with leaves and heather in a dazzling array of body art across his belly and back as he turned for her.

A pang of fresh desire shook her when her eyes followed the line of light hair down his belly and took in the long, thick member already standing out proud from its nest of blond fur between his powerful legs. The undeniable evidence of his passion for her revealed right before her eyes was truly a heart-stopping revelation.

“Och, Alec,” she breathed, drinking in the sight of him with a mixture of awe and lust. “Ye’re… beautiful!” she gasped softly, beckoning him to her.

“Wheesht, woman,” he said, grinning as he approached her, his manhood bobbing enticingly. “Ye’ve nae seen all me scars. Ye’re the beautiful one.”

Unable to help herself, filled with curiosity and desire, Kira, gripped his length gently in one hand. “Och, and ye just get harder in me hand!”

“Aye, and even more if ye keep doin’ that,” Alec said hoarsely, putting his hand over hers and guiding her caresses.

“So, ye like it if I dae this?” she asked, watching his face. His eyes turned to liquid slits, and he groaned in reply as she became more practiced in her movements and increased the rhythm of her hands. The fever inside her rose higher to see him so completely in her power. “And what if I dae this?” She bent and softly peppered his shaft with kisses, tracing her tongue along its length.

To her great enjoyment, Alec groaned deep in his throat and buried his hands in her hair, the pins falling about them as it came loose and cascaded to her waist. Moist heat pooled between her legs to see him so enflamed, throwing his head back and closing his eyes as she experimented, teasing him ever more daringly with her lips and tongue.

“Kira, Kira,” he groaned, gently pulling himself from her grasp.

“What is it? D’ye nae like it?”

“I like it too much,” he explained, sinking to his knees and gripping her by the hips, pulling her towards him. “I want tae see ye first, tae touch ye, tae give ye pleasure. Otherwise, with the things ye’re doin’ tae me, it’ll end too quick.”

“Show me, Alec, teach me,” she whispered, gripped by strange hot urges. He chuckled as he cupped her breasts in his large, rough hands, squeezing and rolling them in his palms, making sounds of appreciation low in his throat.

“Naethin’ would give me greater pleasure,” he whispered back huskily.

Thrilled by his words, she leaned back, her fingers locked behind his neck, offering her throat and breasts to him. She reveled in the thrilling sensations he was causing as he sucked and licked and tantalized the tips with his teeth until they stood out as rock hard as his swaying manhood.

Kira gasped when his mouth left her breasts and trailed slowly down her belly, leaving butterfly kisses in its wake, before he slid his palms up the insides of her thighs. Gently, he parted her legs, laying her private places bare to his gaze. The fever in his eyes drove her to open herself wider to him, like a wanton. Alec smiled hungrily at her and lifted her legs higher, placing one on each shoulder.

The look on his face as he gazed down on her secret flesh made Kira shiver almost uncontrollably as she lay back. When she felt his fingertips gently touching her and stroking her already hot flesh, she thought she would explode, a series of small moans falling from her lips. Breathing raggedly now, Alec delicately spread her hidden folds and explored them slowly, his fingers delving into every part of her as if he wanted memorize every inch.

“Alec, what are ye doin’ tae me,” she moaned, opening her legs wider and raising her hips to him.

“Och, this is only the start,” he promised huskily, lowering his dark head between her legs. “There’s much more than this.”

“Och, me God!” she cried, her back arching, when his lips closed around the stiffened nub at the head of her sex. He sucked on it luxuriously, as if it were some delicious fruit, grazing it with his teeth, his tongue swirling and toying with her until she gripped his hair tightly and pressed him into her.

His tongue trailed hotly, tantalizingly through her folds and flickered enticingly at her entrance.

“Alec, oh, Alec,” she cried out, gripping his head tightly as he thrust his tongue more deeply inside her again and again, his one hand holding her open, while his thumb toyed rhythmically with her stiffened rosebud until she was writhing in a frenzy of pure, animal desire for him. “I want tae touch ye too,” she begged him, reaching for his member, which was swingling like a wooden club between his legs.

Needing no second bidding, Alec positioned himself so that he could continue devouring Kira’s exposed sex, while she grasped his shaft in her hands and began stroking it in time to his caresses, kissing and licking his length again in the way she had quickly learned he liked. He hardened further in her hand, adding to her passionate abandon when she felt his fingers entering her, two, then three, gently probing at first, then pushing into her more urgently, widening their exploration, opening her up in ways she had never dreamed of. It spurred her to speed up her own quest to take him to the same heights as he was taking her.

Together, they gave themselves up to their mutual exploration, greedily drinking each other in, until Kira was seized with intense waves of an exquisite energy she had never experienced before that shook her from her head to her toes. The waves traveled inexorably upwards, making her moan out loud as Alec panted and buried his fingers and his tongue in her.

“Harder, Alec, harder,” she moaned, the thunder storm raging outside forgotten as her excitement threatened to reach its peak, riding his hand frantically.

“Mmm,” he gasped, his voice muffled by her hot flesh, plunging his fingers into her. She suddenly felt his body stiffen too, his member like steel in her hand. His rapid movements echoed hers as the waves grew impossible to resist and sent them both tumbling over the edge in a shattering, shared climax. “Kira!” he groaned in one long, rushing breath as he held her tightly. “Ach, I never knew it could be like this.”

“Me neither,” she panted, happy to nestle into him. “I couldnae have dreamed it.”

“Now ye ken how much I’ve been wantin’ ye all this time,” he sighed, stroking her hair from her face and peppering her with kisses. “Ye taste so good, and the things ye were doin’ tae me…”

Seeing the dazed affection in his dark eyes, Kira’s heart overflowed with warmth for him. She kissed him back and stroked his cheek with her fingertips, her body still trembling from his touch.

“D’ye feel better now?” Alec whispered, cradling Kira in his arms as they snuggled together in her hiding place, their discarded clothing scattered around them. “I think the storm’s startin’ tae pass now.”

Kira nodded and cuddled closer into his arms, her arms around his neck. “Aye, I feel much less scared now, but how d’ye ken the storm’s goin’ over?”

“By countin’. If ye wait fer the lightning tae finish and then start countin’, when ye hear the clap of thunder, then ye can calculate how far away it is in miles.”

“Is that so,” she asked, looking into his eyes, clearly amazed. “I didnae ken that.”

“Aye, me faither taught me that. Among many other wise things,” he told her with a playful grin, pleased when she smiled back. “So, maybe that’ll help ye next time there’s a storm. Just start countin’, and it’ll take yer mind off yer bad memories of losin’ yer maither that way.”

“Thank ye, Alec. But I hope I willnae have tae be alone again when there’s a storm. Because ye’ll be with me.” The expression of childlike trust on her face just then warmed his insides, summoning a powerful urge to protect her.

“These are beautiful,” she murmured, gently tracing the shape of his tattoos with her fingertips. “I like the birds and the heather and the wildcat best, I think.”

He chuckled. “That’s ye, that little wildcat, eh? A little wild, spittin’ thing.” To his surprise, she blushed and lowered her eyes.

“I’m sorry about how I acted, Alec.”

He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. “Nae need tae apologize, bonny lass. I respect ye more for bein’ true tae yer own feelings. Such honesty is hard tae come by. I ken ye’ll never be able tae hide anythin’ from me because everythin’ ye feel shows on yer face as plain as day.”

She gave a soft laugh, still running her fingers over the decorative, blue coils of his body art. “Whereas the same cannae be said of yersel’.”

He shrugged slightly. “I cannae deny it. I wasnae always that way, but when me faither was murdered, things changed. I changed.”

Kira sighed, and he knew instantly that she understood. “Aye, it was the same fer me and Euan when our faither was killed. I became consumed with the need fer revenge. That was why I decided tae become a warrior, tae fight ye Mackintoshes. Euan, well, he started the feud and began drinkin’ during the days as well as the nights.”

“Some cope that way.”

“But nae yersel’?”

He shook his head. “Och, I drowned me sorrows enough too. But Bran put stop tae that after a while, made me wake up tae me responsibilities as laird. Especially with a war waging between our two clans. Said I had tae be on me game. And he was right.”

“Aye, I have a feelin’ he usually is about most things,” she said with a smile.

Alec could not help smiling too when he thought of his younger brother.

“I often think it would have been better if Bran was the elder of us. He would make a far better laird than me,” he freely admitted. “Without him, I’d probably be dead by now, caught up in some stupid fight, drunk out of me mind.”

“I’m nae so sure. I think ye’re a great laird. Everyone respects ye, I could see that straight away. In fact, it made me angry.”

“Angry? Why so?” he asked, looking down at her, genuinely curious.

“Because I didnae want tae believe ye did anything good, of course, nor that anybody could like ye. It seems very foolish now.”

They both laughed softly. “Listen,” Alec said suddenly, cocking an ear. They both listened intently. “I think the storm has definitely blown over. Shall we go upstairs? Ye must be tired.”

“Aye, I am,” she agreed. “But first, I need tae make mesel’ presentable.” She sat up and gathered her discarded clothing, handing him his shirt and other things.

“Let me help ye with yer stays and such,” Alec offered, touched when she meekly submitted to him assisting her in getting dressed. He took great pleasure in touching her soft skin as he laced her stays and fastened her up into her gown. “’Tis a great shame tae see ye disappearin’ intae yer clothes again,” he told her, pressing soft kisses to her shoulders and nape as he did her up, delighting in her shivers. “I much prefer ye out of them.”

“Likewise,” she said with a giggle as he combed her hair back into place with his fingers. “Thank ye. Now, I shall help ye too.” She shook out his shirt and helped him put it on over his head, then brushed the blond strands of his hair back from his forehead. She giggled as she helped him to dress.

“There ye are, the mighty Laird Mackintosh is back,” she teased, making him laugh. He realized he had not felt so contented and relaxed with anyone for ages, not even his siblings. This new-found intimacy between him and Kira was changing him subtly; he could feel it in his whole being. He was thawing out, and to his surprise, he was not at all afraid. In fact, he welcomed it.