Page 70 of Heart of the Hunter (Band of Bastards #3)

“C ome here, angel.”

Anora flashed him a grin over her shoulder that made the blood thrum through his veins.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed, stretching her arms to the ceiling as she did every morning as she wriggled her back from side to side.

It was the strangest and most endearing thing he’d ever seen anyone do when they first woke up.

It was also incredibly alluring.

Her white-gold hair hung in a thick mass down her naked back—he’d divested her of her sleeping chemise last night and thrown it somewhere on the floor—and brushed against the mesmerizing curve of her hip.

She turned to look at him over her shoulder.

Her cheeks were rosy from sleep, her eyelids still a bit heavy, and her movements slow and languid.

“I have work to do this morn,” she said, but he could tell by the curve to her lips that she was open to being persuaded to come back to bed. “And so do you.”

“Sumayl will wait. He’d be disappointed in me if I showed up too early when I have a new wife and a new bed, both of which need attention.” He sat up, caught her around the waist with his arms, and pulled her over him.

“I think it is you, husband, who needs attention.”

“You are right,” he nuzzled the side of her neck and nipped at the skin under her ear.

“I do need attention,” He groaned in anticipation as she wriggled her body so that she was stretched out completely on top of him.

He loved the way her soft breasts felt as they pillowed against his chest. He looked down at the perfect globes as he stroked his hands up her backside to her waist.

“Yes, angel,” he said, the sound rumbling in his chest as she pulled her knees in by his hips and sat up, so she straddled him.

Her hair floated around her like a cloud of silvery gold, her pink nipples peeking out from between the strands that hung in front of her.

She leaned forward and let the hair tickle along his chest in a feather-light touch.

He grasped the firm mounds of her perfect butt in his hands and pushed his hips up to grind his painfully hard cock and ballocks against her in invitation.

He was rewarded with her little moan of pleasure as her head fell back and her hips circled so that the hot, wet folds of the place he wanted to be more than anywhere else in the world rubbed against his throbbing cock.

He slid his hands up to cup her breasts, another groan of satisfaction coming from his throat when she put her hands over his and arched her back into his palms.

When he couldn’t take the exquisite torture any longer, he grasped her by the hips and lifted her high, then shifted so his jutting cock was poised beneath her.

She lowered onto him with a long, contented sigh and took him inside her as her warm sheath and tight muscles wrapped around him and pulsed.

He let her set the rhythm and watched in fascination as his beautiful wife undulated on top of him in the most sensual dance he’d ever seen.

He bit his lower lip as the tempo increased, determined she would have her pleasure before he took his, but God, it was fucking torture. He couldn’t stop staring at her as her lips fell open and she turned her head to the side as her breathy pants came quicker.

Every time they made love, his chest ached with his need for her.

She’d told him once that she couldn’t breathe without him.

He felt the same. If anything happened to her, his heart would stop beating, his lungs would stop breathing, and his soul would return to the blackened mound of ash it had been before she came into his life.

He sat up with Anora still straddling him and wrapped his arms around her. “God, I love you,” he rasped as he kissed the length of her collarbone, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

She rocked against him, then put her hands on either side of his head and lifted his face so he was looking directly into her eyes.

“I love you, Hunter,” she between deep, sensual kisses.

Her body tightened and he covered her mouth with his to muffle the sound of her satisfied cries and his deeply satisfied groans as their bodies rippled with wave after wave of pleasure.

When it was over, Anora was draped over him with her head on his shoulder. He lay back down on the bed and took her with him, not quite ready to let her go. They lay contented in each other’s arms for a long while before either of them spoke.

“I think we’ve gone from too early to embarrassingly late to be emerging from our bedchamber,” Anora said against his chest, and he laughed.

He looked around the chamber that Frode had insisted he and Anora make their own now that they were married, and Hunter was part of the family.

It was roomy and bright with large, shuttered windows that let in the light.

The room was on the uppermost floor of the shop and had once belonged to Frode and his wife.

But with his advancing age and failing knees, he preferred to stay in a smaller bedchamber only one story up from the shop.

Hunter had never had a true home. The closest he’d come was the cottage that he stayed at when he was at Hawkspur.

But even with that he spent more time away from Hawkspur and sleeping under the stars to really consider the cottage home.

Now, he’d have to adapt to staying in one place for long periods of time, but he was ready for it.

“I wouldn’t want to embarrass you,” he murmured in her ear. “I think it best we just hide up here all day and not show our faces.”

Anora gave him a teasing slap on the chest and scrambled out of bed before he could catch her again. “You are not a very good apprentice, and Sumayl will have to find another if you do not start behaving.”

“Sumayl wouldn’t dare.”

“Hunter,” a deep voice called from the bottom of the stairs. “Your blacksmith shop awaits, and I am not getting any younger, man.”

“Aye,” Hunter called back. “On my way.”

He got out of bed and went to the basin to wash, then put on his work tunic and breeches.

“When does Hawk expect you at Hawkspur?” Anora asked as she pulled her gown over her head.

“We decided the first week of each month was best. I’ll work with the trainees on hand-to-hand combat and teach the fine art of being sneaky .”

“Oh, be quiet, you.” Anora chided with a playful grin. “I am perfectly sneaky when I want to be.”

“ Mm hm ,” he said as he pulled on his boots. “You still plan to come to Hawkspur with me, right?”

She nodded as she plaited her hair. “Aye. It will be wonderful to spend time with Galiena and the babies. And Lady Alyce says she has a list of items she wants to commission for me to craft while I am there. In her last letter she said Hawk is setting up a workspace for me and has already procured the tools and supplies I need.”

“Does Hawk know how much you charge for your work? Or how many pieces his lady wife thinks to commission?” he asked in mock disapproval.

“You worry about your job and let me worry about mine.” Anora pulled on her boots and reached for the door.

“Wait!”

She stopped and turned toward Hunter. He looped his hand in the front of her belt and pulled her toward him. “Just one more kiss…”