Page 7 of Highland Secret (The Highland Magic #1)

T he bed caught her when Evelyn’s knees refused to hold any longer.

Eyes glowing and jaw clenched, Roderick seemed to be waging an intense battle with his lungs. Dragging his gaze from her, he reached for her bootlaces.

Funny, she’d forgotten she still wore them. Considering how much they’d pained her over the course of the long night, it spoke to his powers of seduction.

He tugged one boot off, then the other, dropping them haphazardly onto the floor with a thunk .

Rough hands slid up either side of her coarse woolen stockings until they reached the twine corded tightly around her upper knee.

Immense relief washed over her when he released the knots and the sensation turned to bliss when he tucked tender fingers inside and stripped them slowly off.

His mouth returned to kiss each irritated indentation left by a long day of wearing them.

She’d given just about anything to afford a proper ribbon to hold them in place.

His unexpected tenderness touched her as a direct dichotomy of his brutal visage and reputation.

She’d half expected him to toss her skirt over her head and have a quick go at her.

He couldn’t know how much his gentle seduction pleased her.

She reached a tentative hand and captured a damp ebony lock as it trailed across the flesh of her thigh.

Silk.

He tracked her movement, hunger sharpening the harsh lines of his face. Joining her on the bed, his muscles bunched and rolled as he crawled up her legs bringing their faces flush.

Would he kiss her?

Evelyn warmed with anticipation and moistened her lips, drawing his notice.

Instead of accepting her unspoken invitation, he brought a hand to the curve of her neck and plunged it into her hair until he lightly supported the back of her head.

Easing himself farther forward, he pressed her down until she stared up at him, prone and completely covered by his sleek body.

Such a large hand tenderly cradling her head seemed a contradiction the possessive heat threatening to singe her from his regard.

Air hissed between his clenched teeth as her fingertips explored his ribs.

She could feel the flex of his cock against her thigh.

Emboldened, she drew her fingers up, discovering the hardness of his smooth chest and then his shoulders and arms. Beneath her questing hands, every taut muscle jumped and flexed.

His eyes demanded that she continue.

Tracing a more direct path, she traveled down his chest, past trembling stomach muscles, to the narrow curve of his hipbones. She hesitated, blushing to her hairline.

“Is this all right?” she whispered, feeling the warmth of her own breath with his face so close to hers.

Of course, Roderick didn’t answer her, but he parted his lips and hot, rapid bursts of air hit her skin in wordless demand. To punctuate, he arched his back slightly giving her hands more room to explore.

She didn’t expect the pure heat of his throbbing sex when she delicately wrapped it in her fingers. The outer skin was a silk glove around pure molten steel. She gently tested its mobility, squeezing as she slid one way and then the other.

His hand fisted, pulling lightly on her hair as he ground his jaws together. Again his hips surged, pushing his need farther into her hand as a harsh gasp tore from him.

A heady sensation washed over her as she realized that for all this dominant man’s dangerous command, she wielded the power. Desire spiked as a world of possibility unfurled before her. What else could she do to his body that would render him defenseless?

Catching her lower lip in her teeth, she explored the rimmed tip of his cock with her fingers. Finding a curious bead of moisture, she spread it around what skin it would cover.

His low growl warned her milliseconds before she found both of her wrists bound by an iron grip above her head. If his muscles corded any tighter, they would surely rip through his straining skin.

Would he kiss her now? She tilted her head to run her burning lips against his neck. His pulse jumped beneath her mouth, its rhythm strong and hard. She rubbed shy, lingering kisses across his jaw line. The stubble of his shadow beard abraded her sensitive skin.

He drew back, shaking his head. A flicker of something like regret passed through his eyes before he blinked it away. He took a breath, allowing his free hand to roam the curve of her waist. His mouth lowered to pay her attention, but the moist exploration began at the hollow of her neck.

Distracted, she twisted beneath him, a slave to the fingers warming her skin, and then to his hot mouth branding it. When he reached her breast he lingered there, taking her nipple into his mouth, causing her back to arch off the bed in helpless accord.

A strangled cry burst from her as his teeth lightly grazed the untried bud, causing the pressure in her abdomen and core to become a wild, unmanageable thing.

As if heeding her undeclared need, his hand languidly trailed the curve of her waist and the flare of her hip until it brushed against the downy nest between her legs.

“Oh!” She gasped, seized by sudden uncertainty.

What if she were too innocent to understand what he required of her?

Would he be revolted by the abundant slick moisture he would find when he touched her?

She knew nothing about pleasing a man, and he couldn’t verbally command her.

What if he found her inadequate in some way?

Did he expect her to do anything other than lie beneath him?

Such insecurities threatened to choke her for a moment, and she found herself wishing he would press his mouth to hers.

She felt the wordless comfort of a kiss would allay her fears.

Instead, a single fingertip traced the seam of her nether lips, and all coherent thought fled.

Her hips surged toward him of their own volition.

Triumph shone on his face as he raised a knee and worked it in between hers, gently forcing her legs to part.

Running the same finger along the identical path, his low growl washed over her again as he encountered the pool of wetness.

Her fears swiftly dissipated as his eyes rolled shut in apparent delight, and he drew his fingers one by one through the silky dampness.

Evelyn’s cheeks warmed in a furious blush.

Still trapped by the strong hand capturing her wrists above her head, she lay helpless to do anything but let out a thin, shocked cry as his slick fingers brushed against the engorged flesh at the apex of her core.

Foreign pleasure snaked through her like the lightning from a violent sea storm, and she bucked against the unfamiliar sensation.

A slow, sensual smile spreading across his chiseled face, Roderick traced soft, glossy circles around her clitoris stopping to dip his fingers and retrieve more of her nectar, which sprung from a never-ending well.

His other hand released her and traced its way through her hair to her neck and shoulders, caressing down to cup and knead her breasts.

Once released, Evelyn wound her arms around his brawny neck and tried to draw his mouth to hers. She needed to be doing something other than lying in a puddle of mystified pleasure.

His eyes locked on her lips. A prolonged blink and the most insignificant pause of his fingers caused her concern before he ducked his head and dragged his warm lips against the sensitive skin of her neck.

Feeling oddly denied, Evelyn only had a moment to wonder before his hot tongue stroked the beaded tip of her nipple, and his fingers began a wondrous plucking rhythm against her tender flesh.

Her blood ebbed and flowed with the expert movements of his fingers as they harmonized with the strokes and swirls of his sinful tongue.

Elusive building tension caused her limbs to writhe helplessly as it rapidly converged into her core before exploding outwards using her body’s intrinsic currents to course pleasure from the epicenter of his ministrations to the outermost recesses of her fingers and toes.

Crying out in astonishment, Evelyn was helpless to do anything but allow the spasms to break over her like the roll of the tides. Wave after wave of sensation carried her deeper and deeper into the fathomless emerald sea that stormed in Roderick’s expressive eyes.

When the pleasure became too much to bear, and his strokes burned the previously untouched nerves, Evelyn whimpered and trembled, arching her hips away from the incessant pressure of his fingers.

Roderick seemed to understand instantly and his warm, magical hand left her.

Within the space of a few stolen moments, her tedious, dismal existence had been utterly altered.

Enthralled, scandalized, and thoroughly pleasured, Evelyn watched as Roderick palmed himself with slick fingers and spread what little moisture he could on his thick shaft.

His skin stretched tighter over high cheekbones, and his breath came in short rasps, heaving from his lungs as if he were carrying a heavy load.

Evelyn instinctively knew what he wanted, what he needed from her. Feeling shy, she widened her knees, spreading herself before him, offering her body for the taking.

The heat in his eyes threatened to consume her as he positioned the hot blunt head of his manhood at her aperture, moistening the tip as he settled his bulk atop her, creating a silken curtain with his dark hair. Their chests heaved together as they each silently struggled for breath.

As his hips nudged forward, he breached the opening of her body. At the first searing hint of pain, her muscles seized and bore down, clamping shut against his entry.

Evelyn winced and caught her lip between her teeth as she watched a fine sheen of sweat break out on his brow. Roderick trembled with visible effort now, yet he stroked her hair and whispered a tender ‘ shhhh’ between his teeth in an obvious attempt to relax her enough to grant him entry.