Chapter 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Catalina awoke out of nowhere in the middle of the night. She was wonderfully warm and comfortable, with Ivar’s body pressed against her back and his legs tangled with hers. The room was completely silent. And that was how she knew Ivar was awake.

She was burningly aware of him, the heat of him, and his sheer size crushed against her. Where they touched, which was almost everywhere, her skin tingled. She could not help but imagine what it would be like to turn around, to be held by him and kissed.

Stop this at once! He’s Ana’s fiancé, fer goodness sake! Ye ken you shouldnae even be in this room together, let alone this bed, and with nae clothes on too. It’s madness. What on earth would Anastasia say if she could see us? She’d be heartbroken at such a betrayal.

Despite such self-recriminations, she found herself rolling over to face him under the influence of some mysterious power she could not fathom. Almost immediately, as if he had been waiting for her, their lips met in a passionate kiss, which deepened and grew in intensity until all other thoughts fled Catalina’s mind. She was in heaven as Ivar’s arms enfolded her, pressing her against his chest, her body singing in response to his questing tongue.

Without breaking the kiss, she wriggled, pushed herself up, and straddled him, shocked to feel his manhood pressing hard against her thigh. He hissed as she tentatively took it in her palms and stroked it gently, exploring its silky skin and taut, throbbing length as it rose from its nest of wiry hair. She could not get over its size, wondering how it would fit inside a person.

With a low groan, Ivar pulled her closer and kissed hungrily, placing his hand over hers and showing her how to arouse him. The feel of him in her hands inflamed her senses. To realize she had the power to excite him just as he did her fanned the flames burning inside her into a bonfire. She followed his lead, rhythmically stroking his manhood in the way he was showing her, their mingled breaths becoming more urgent and ragged as their excitement increased.

She gasped aloud to feel Ivar grow in her hands as his palms slid all over her naked skin, as if he were trying to commit her shape, the curve of her hip, her waist and, finally, her breasts, to memory. She gasped as he suddenly groaned and flipped her onto her back.

Still gripping him, she threw back her head, vibrating with unknown pleasures as his mouth traced a hot trail of kisses from her lips all the way down the soft flesh of her chest until his hands cupped her breasts, squeezing them and rolling them in his palms with increasing fervor. Pleasure shot through her until she felt weak with desire, unable and unwilling to deny herself the novel and exquisite sensations he was making her feel.

Ivar’s eyes glittered in the dark, and the hunger in his gaze turned her insides to water. Grunting deep in his throat as she pumped him, his arms held her tightly in place as he nuzzled the hardening tips of her breasts with his lips and tongue and teeth. Catalina, entirely gripped by the electric sensations he was sending though her, arched her back, offering herself to him, reveling in his touch.

His appreciative groans as she worked him with her hand and the way he was toying with her breasts fanned the flames of Catalina’s desire in a way she had never imagined possible. Forgetting where they were, she cried out, unable to control herself. She writhed against him, offering her exposed flesh up to him with abandon.

“Och, Cat,” he breathed raggedly against her skin, “ye have nae idea what ye’re doin’ tae me. Ye’re so beautiful.”

“Nay, ye’re the beautiful one,” she gasped, sucking and licking him as he knelt above her and began trailing burning kisses down her belly, grasping her by the hips.

He laughed softly against her skin, the sound muffled by mouthful of her flesh. “If ye say so, but I think ye may need spectacles.”

She smiled into the darkness, a creature of pure sensation. “I never dreamed anyone could make me feel this way,” she murmured, feeling moist warmth pooling between her legs as his mouth crept lower and his manhood hardened even more.

Her eyes widened to feel his large, rough palms gliding sensually up and down her legs, making them tremble. When he raised her leg and his lips touched the inside of thigh, peppering the flesh with tiny, tender kisses, she finally relinquished her hold upon him and lay back, parting her thighs, her hands in his hair, and gave herself up to this new and daring pleasure.

She moaned as Ivar nibbled and sucked his way luxuriously up her inner thighs, the secret folds of flesh between them now burning with desire for his diligent caresses. When she felt his warm breath on her and his tongue parted her soft hair to flick repeatedly across the sensitive nubbin of flesh at the head of her sex, the warm wetness throbbing there was like a cry urging him on.

His fingers parted her legs further and brushed across her rosebud as they delved into her hot, secret folds and explored them intimately in a way she had never imagined anyone would ever do, making her gasp with ecstasy. Wantonly, she pressed her sex against him, all thought but their mutual pleasure cast to the wind.

Wanting more, she opened herself further to him, desperate to feel his touch upon her most intimate parts. Her fingers gripped his locks tightly when he cupped her behind and lifted her closer to his lips, his darting tongue teasing her entrance, his mouth devouring her with the same relish as a sweet, ripe peach.

“Ah!” she gasped, shocked by the sensation as he slid finger inside her. It made her even bolder, and she pressed him into her, so he could pleasure her further. He added another finger, and she moaned as they dived in and out of her rhythmically, pounding her harder, spreading her thighs wider.

Jolts of intense pleasure turned into a wave of irresistible compulsion such as she had never felt before as his mouth and tongue and fingers took her to a realm she never knew existed. A wave of intense pleasure rose from her melting core and moved up her body, making her thrash her head and writhe beneath Ivar’s mouth and thrusting fingers.

She rode the wave as it grew in intensity, urging him onwards until, finally, she reached the top of a precipice. She panted, thrusting against him, pure extasy exploding inside her and shaking her body with such intoxicating pleasure, she could not imagine anything could ever feel more wonderful.

They lay like that for a long while, panting and getting their breath back, their heads side by side on the pillow, staring into each other’s eyes.

“That was… amazing. Like nothing I ever could have dreamed, Ivar,” she whispered, feeling spent and utterly content to be squashed against him in the tiny bed.

“Aye, Cat, it was that,” he whispered, kissing her gently and brushing her damp hair back from her forehead. She kissed him with all the tenderness she felt flooding her heart for him. Eventually, they spooned once more, and Catalina happily snuggled into his chest, glad to be held in his strong arms. She felt utterly content in a way she had never known.

“What does it mean, Ivar? What are we doing?” she whispered.

“I dinnae ken, Cat. Maybe we should talk about it in the mornin’. Things always seem clearer in the mornin’.”

“Aye, we’ll talk about it in the mornin’,” she agreed, incapable of rallying rational thought even if she wanted to, which she did not. “I like it when ye call me Cat,” she said again in a sleepy voice and smiled to herself when Ivar squeezed her harder. They cuddled up together and soon fell asleep in each other’s arms.