Chapter 24

The kiss was heavenly because it was a true kiss. She knew that she was not kissing Arthur Roy. She did not know the man that she was kissing, and at the same time, she did. His lips were firm, hard even. The embrace that went around her body was strong, unbreakable. His hands went through her hair and she shuddered with pent-up desire at the touch. She ran her fingers along the line of his jaw, a jaw of stone. She caressed his angular cheek, feeling the planes of his face which felt hard even while the skin itself was soft. Marcus touched the back of her neck, holding her against his lips, refusing to grant her the freedom to pull away if she so chose. Not that she would choose. Pulses of pleasure were thrilling through her and she did not want to lose those sensations.

In fact, she wanted them to deepen, become more intense. The thought flashed through her mind that they were not married, that according to the rules of society, their passion was immoral until they were married. She did not care. Her body craved his. She wanted to be possessed by him, wanted to possess him in turn. She moaned softly as his fingers found her throat, caressing her there with teasing strokes. She wanted to hear that moan from him. A few spots of rain dotted her cheek, forcing her away from him. She looked up in irritation, seeing the clouds that had gathered over their vale, sealing it in with a leaden roof. More raindrops were falling, increasing in number and tempo. Marcus took her hand, getting to his feet.

"Come on, there's still part of a roof to give some shelter."

He led her inside the ramshackle stone cottage. Where the roof had gone, a tree filled the space, gnarled branches spreading in all directions but reaching for the daylight above all. One half of the roof had survived and Marcus led her beneath that. He took off his coat, folding it to make a cushion for her. They sat, she on his coat and he on the hard ground, their backs to the wall as the rain began to drum on the roof above. Selina shivered and Marcus put his arm around her once more, rubbing at her body as though to stimulate warmth. She kissed his cheek, then burrowed her lips beneath his jaw to kiss his neck. She bit gently, something she had always wanted to do but which Arthur had disliked. Marcus lifted his head, exposing more of his throat for her and Selina's breath wavered at the surge of pleasure this brought to her.

When Marcus whispered her name, as she kissed, licked, and bit his neck, she squeezed her legs together. Her toes curled in her shoes and a torrent of sensation washed through her, driven by the excitement of hearing her own name pronounced by Marcus in such a way. It sounded like the utterance of a man dying of thirst on the edge of a clear, pure pool. It was a tone of desperate yearning. She ran her hand across his chest, marveling at the feel of iron-hard muscles. From his pectorals to his stomach, his muscles quivered at her touch but somehow remained as unyielding as rock. She caressed lower, feeling the ridges of his abdomen before spreading her fingers wide against his stomach, as though trying to encompass all of him. To possess all of him.

Marcus seized her face with both hands, his kisses becoming inflamed with passion. He was hungry for her, an unquenchable hunger. The more he took of her, the more he seemed to want and need. One hand grasped for her bosom, cupping a breast and squeezing. His grip was hard enough to hurt, especially when he found the area of her nipple, tweaking the tender spot through the material of her clothes and producing a squeal of delight. Selina wore a square cut neckline, which exposed an expanse of skin to Marcus' attention but remained two inches above the flowering curve of her bosoms. Marcus's head dropped and she moaned aloud at the feel of his hot, hungry mouth against her skin. It went lower, tongue and lips working against her bare skin to make her shiver and squirm.

Then he took a firm hold of the neckline and pulled down. A seam popped at the pressure. A button at her back pinged against the wall. Then another. She did not care. He could tear her clothing to shreds for all she cared. The dress itself was one for which the skirt had been essentially removed, to make way for the breeches that enabled her to ride more comfortably. It ended at her waist, the clumsy termination of the garment screened by a coat that fell to her hips. That coat now hung at her elbows and the top of the dress had been yanked down to expose the upper curve of her breasts. Selina fell back against the wall, hands falling to her sides and head lifting, feeling a few rogue spots of rain against her face.

The heat within her was the explosive fire of a volcano, building up, wanting to break free. Marcus kissed his way down her left breast, pulling impatiently at the material to expose more of it, biting and licking. Selina helped him, lifting the breast free of its covering of fabric. When she felt the cold air, and then another random spot of rain on her nipple, she gave a squeal. Then the warmth of Marcus' mouth enclosed it. He sucked, drawing it into a hard point before relaxing the pressure, caressing it back and forth with his tongue. Selina squirmed, wanting to be open to him, to be exposed. The dress and breeches felt a terrible imposition. She wanted to be bare, to feel his eyes on her naked body like a touch. His hot, lusting gaze upon her naked body would be almost as exciting as the feel of his hands, or the merging of his body with hers.

Marcus moved in front of her, kneeling astride her legs. He tore at the laces of his shirt, then tugged it free of his breeches over his head. He threw it from him before descending upon her once more. Her arms went about him and the feel of such masculine strength made her lift her hips toward him. Marcus responded by slipping a hand beneath her, caressing her buttocks. With his other hand, he thrust suddenly between her legs, forcing them to part for him. Then he ran his fingers, stiff and together, in a downward motion across her womanhood. Selina cried out, grabbing his hand. Whether to stop the intrusion or encourage it, she had lost all reason to tell. The motion began again, inward and down. Each time her heels drummed on the ground and she clutched and scratched at him.

Her dress was torn asunder, the material parting down the front under pressure from strong hands. Those hands were Selina's. The garment, weakened by Marcus, gave way before her frantic pulling. Coat and torn cloth were stripped from her upper body, then by Marcus, and thrown over his shoulder. His hair flowed about his harsh, angular but beautiful face. He grinned boyishly as he threw her clothes away and Selina giggled impulsively.

His forehead touched hers and her hands found their way to the bulge in his breeches. His eyes were tightly closed and his breath shuddered. Selina felt his body respond and her desire rose to a peak that demanded release. Her love-making with Arthur had never gone so far, not progressed beyond gentle touching and kissing.

Marcus opened his eyes, meeting Selina's. Both worked with their hands, wanting to bring the other to the peak of pleasure. Both knew that would be the end of the adventure for now but that they would have saved themselves for their marriage in just a few days. Selina bit her lip, squeezing Marcus. She nodded, answering the unspoken question that had passed between them. She did not want to wait. Marcus fumbled with her breeches, laughing.

"I am not familiar with undressing a man," he chuckled, "other than myself."

"It is not familiar to me either," Selina admitted.

Then her breeches were open and Marcus was pulling at them. She felt the air and the rain on her thighs, her legs and her most intimate area, as the breeches slipped past her ankles, shoes torn off and discarded. She sat up to undo Marcus' breeches but he halted her progress.

"No, not yet. You're mine now. Let me pleasure you," he whispered in a raspy breath.

He looped his arms from under her knees and parted her legs wider as Selina's eyes fluttered shut. He controlled her body so effortlessly with his strength as if she were as light as a feather, and each manner in which he contorted her limbs for his needs only surged within her a deep desire that began pooling between her thighs.

Then, he kissed at her navel. Another smattering of cold raindrops landed just above his kisses, setting off implosions of heat beneath her skin, as they trickled down to her womanhood. Her face grew flushed, as she realized the wetness between her legs was not purely from the rain.

"I'm…I'm sorry," she whispered, suddenly conscious of her state.

His carnal gaze rose to match her, before he replied, "no, you're perfection." In one smooth swoop, he pulled at her hips, drawing her away from the wall to lay flat. He kneeled above her so that she was face-to-face with him. "Selina, I've wanted to pleasure you as much ever since I first set my eyes on you. And I will, but I first need to hear you say it. Say what you want from me."

Selina felt her entire body grow scarlet, but she could not tear away from that intoxicating stare. A breath passed between them. Then two. She placed her hands on either side of his cheeks before whispering, "I want you to take me. To ravish me, to make me yours. Only yours."

She was met with a wolfish grin. Before another breath, he grasped both of her tiny wrists in his large hand and tucked them above her head. His face dipped below her navel, and the coolness of his lips pressed against her womanhood. And just as suddenly, her legs began squirming at the intense pleasure that soared before her eyes, like scintillating fireworks on a stormy night. He began to suck and nip at her folds, and her spine arched in ways unbecoming of a lady.

"Marcus, what are you…" was all she could utter.

Her legs knotted above his shoulder, instinctively pressing him firmer against her womanhood, but it only intensified his assault. Scarcely stopping for breath. The control he held over her body was unmatched, unswayed. His spare hand rose to play with her breasts and hardened nipples, squeezing and rubbing at them, and it only elicited deeper pleasure from within her.

"I want… you to… watch me," Marcus whispered between his kisses.

Before her eyes, his handsome face pressed between her legs brought an intense feeling to her core, but as her eyelids eventually fluttered shut once more, she felt herself storming towards a peak, its pace only matched by the frenzy of her moans. Marcus' gasps seemed to mirror hers also, and before she could warn him of the impending pinnacle she was racing toward, his hand released her breasts, and his fingers slipped into her slickness at a tantalizingly quick rhythm. She squirmed, but her wrists couldn't come loose from his iron grasp.

"I…" she moaned in a pitch so low, she couldn't recognize her own voice. "I can't… I'm… I'm going to…"

But before she could utter the rest of her sentence, a wave of sensations, like the rush of a cascading waterfall, swept over her. Her body convulsed in pleasure-filled agony, and the world around her seemed to dissolve, fading into oblivion. Each breath that escaped her lips brought with it the subtlest intonations of satisfaction, as each was laced with only one name, Marcus.

He looked up at her beyond hooded eyes, and he raised to kiss her panting lips, stealing each breath from her once more. Then his face lowered, down her neck, caressing its way down her collarbone, before settling on her breasts. She held his face against her there, the rising and sinking of her chest against him bringing her to tranquility. It was perfect.

He allowed her a moment's rest before he tore himself away from her again and gazed into her soul through her eyes.

"I'm not done with you…not yet," he growled in a low voice that morphed into a rumble of thunder that followed a prior flash of lightning overhead. Goose pimples erupted all over Selina's pale, bare skin, and she bit her lower lip at her lover, nodding silently, acquiescing. All her life, she had wished for agency, to be independent, but now, before the demigod of a man before her, she could only bring herself to accept all his demands.

He once again pulled back slightly from where she lay, his body still atop hers, knees to either side of her waist, holding her down. His hands shuffled with the buttons of his breeches before releasing himself from them one leg at a time, revealing his burly thighs, and then calves.

As much as Selina tried, and at first, succeeded, in refraining from watching him in this act, her gaze kept irresistibly being drawn back. It wasn't long before she lost that battle and it proved too much. His glorious manhood came into full sight, and her core pulsed in both fear and anticipation of what was to come next.

Acting on pure instinct, she parted her legs, allowing his body to touch hers. Her face fell back, and the rain seemed to seep through the roof as a single droplet fell against her closed eyelid, and then another against her forehead. And then another, and another, until it all suddenly stopped. A hand that felt sculpted from cold marble stone, encircled around the nape of her neck, tilting her head a little for the lips that soon came pressing against her own. Her mouth opened and a questing tongue found its way inside, which she nipped teasingly at. Before long, their lips parted.

"Open your eyes, Selina," Marcus whispered.

Her eyelids flickered open, and she found her face shadowed by the beauty of Marcus, his tousled hair, his devilishly handsome face, and his deep black pupils that she could sink into.

Her palm flattened against his muscular pectorals, and she leaned up a little to kiss him and bite down on his unyielding skin there. Then, her fingers traced a delicate contour across his chest, before drifting lower and lower, to where their bodies were inches away from joining. "Make me yours," she finally breathed.

Through Selina"s eyes, the world seemed to narrow down to just her and Marcus, their bodies pressed together in the dark cottage. Rain continued to patter softly on the roof, its rhythm mingling with the sound of their breaths. Her legs wrapped around him, inviting him closer, as his length teased the entrance of her womanhood. The sensation grew too much for the two of them, and she pressed down her hips.

"Are you sure?" Marcus whispered, his voice laced with concern for Selina"s comfort.

Selina nodded, her blue eyes glistening with equal parts passion and vulnerability. "Yes," she breathed, her fingers digging into his back. "I… I want this, I want you."

With exquisite care, Marcus began to move, each thrust slow and measured as if testing the limits of her body. Her breathing hitched and her grip tightened as she adjusted to this new, overwhelming sensation, never having experienced anything like it before. She could feel his length stretch her in ways that had her squirming in equal parts pleasure and agony. A few stray droplets of rain found their way through the leaking ceiling, speckling her heated skin, but doing little to cool the fire burning in her core.

In time, Selina"s initial discomfort gave way to a mounting pleasure that left her gasping, her nails running along the planes of Marcus" shoulders and back. "Marcus," she moaned, "Give me everything…"

Emboldened by her response, Marcus picked up the pace, his movements growing more confident and assertive. His hands roamed over her body, teasing her nipples and hips, stoking the fire that burned within her. Selina arched her back, offering herself completely to the man who had stolen her in more ways than one.

"Selina," Marcus groaned, his dark eyes filled with raw desire and something deeper, perhaps even tender. "You"re a goddess."

Their bodies stirred in harmony, a dance of passion and love that seemed to defy the boundaries of their very existence. Selina felt herself spiraling closer and closer to the edge of ecstasy, her body trembling with need as Marcus awakened sensations inside her she had never known she could feel.

"Marcus," she whispered again, this time a plea for release, her voice barely audible over the drumming rain.

Marcus, sensing Selina"s growing confidence, gently lifted her and spun them around until he was lying on his back and she was straddling him.

"Take control, my love," he encouraged her, his voice husky with desire. "Show me how you want it."

Selina hesitated for a moment, then planted her hands against his steel abdomen and began to grind her hips slowly, finding a rhythm that matched her body"s own needs. With each movement, she grew bolder, riding him in earnest now as she felt a powerful surge of pleasure taking over her senses.

The cold raindrops now splattering rapidly against her flushed skin contrasted sharply with the fiery intensity of their connection, leaving her shivering with delight.

Selina moaned, her blue eyes locked onto his as she dug her nails into his muscular chest. Hearing the sounds he made – groans of pleasure that seemed almost pained – only served to arouse her further, driving her to push herself harder, faster, deeper.

"God, Selina," Marcus gasped, his fingers digging into her hips as he tried to keep up with her frantic pace. "You"re incredible."

Feeling bold, Selina leaned forward, capturing his lips with hers as they continued their sensuous dance. The taste of him, a mixture of sweat and need, intoxicated her, making her dizzy with excitement.

"…Selina," Marcus warned, his breath hot against her ear as he struggled to maintain some semblance of control. "I can"t…hold on much longer."

"Neither can I," she admitted, her voice barely above a breath.

With one final, desperate burst of energy, Marcus sat up slightly, pulling Selina closer to him as their slippery bodies strained together. He bit down gently on her neck, leaving a tiny mark that would later remind her of this night. The volcano within surged and roared as Marcus' body thrust against hers, harder and with more ferocity than before. Every fiber of her being was aflame, every sense heightened.

And then the volcano erupted and every muscle tightened, liquid pleasure surging through her, making her feel faint. Marcus' head fell back with power as he spilled his seed inside her, and Selina shuddered through her climax once more, clinging to him for dear life. Then her limbs were water and she was limp, Marcus sweating and panting below her, their limbs intertwined, bodies joined.

As the storm outside raged on, Selina collapsed onto Marcus" chest, feeling his heart pounding against her ear like a wild drumbeat. She smiled deliriously, reveling in the heavenly sensation of their shared release, and knew without a doubt that she had found something truly special with this man – something that transcended time, space, and even the darkest corners of their pasts.