Page 69 of The Champion

She lowered her hand down the velvety length of him until she could touch the soft sac below.

Stryder dipped his head to tease her breast, while she explored the part of his body that was so incredibly different from hers.

He sat up on his knees and cupped her face in his hands. “You’ve no idea of how I want to take you, Rowena. How badly I want to ride you.”

“Ride me, how?”

“In shocking ways.” His eyes tender, he kissed the corner of her mouth. Then he moved lower. This time he barely flicked his tongue over her breast before he moved down toward her stomach.

He pushed her back on her arms while he trailed his lips lower and lower.

“Stryder?”

He didn’t answer her as he nudged her legs apart, then buried his lips against her.

Rowena fell back at the incredible feeling of him there. She swore she could see stars as his tongue did the most incredible things to her.

Stryder took his time teasing and tasting her body. He’d dreamt of claiming her since the first moment they had met and she had thrown herself into his arms. Now that he had her, he wanted to take his time with her. To explore every inch of her body until they were both sated and exhausted.

And when she came, he smiled, but still, he didn’t stop. He refused to. He wanted her to know the full sensation of her first orgasm.

Growling, he looked up to see the pleasure on her face as she writhed and moaned.

It was a beautiful sight.

Stryder waited until the last tremor shook her. Kissing his way up her body, he was more than ready to show her the rest of her womanhood.

He spread her legs gently and placed his body there, carefully, so that he would cause as little pain as possible from his breech.

Rowena tensed as she felt the tip of his manhood against her. Stryder took her hand into his and held it tight an instant before he slid himself into her body.

She cried out the instant he filled her. The foreign fullness was shocking and yet strangely gratifying.

So, this was carnality, she thought as he held himself still while her body adjusted to the size of him.

This was what it felt like for a man to claim her...

She’d wondered many times, but no dream could compare to this feeling of sharing herself with him. Aye, there was pain, but more than that there was a special closeness she felt to Stryder.

Stryder held his breath as he fought down the urge inside him to ride her hard and fast. The male, animal part of him didn’t want to be gentle, but he wouldn’t hurt her.

She had given him what no other lady ever had. He’d purposefully avoided virgins for fear of the wedding noose.

Rowena wasn’t out to trap him for a husband. Nor was she out to claim him as a trophy. She was sharing herself with him. Offering him comfort and warmth.

He’d never felt anything like this.

She was special to him in a way no woman had ever been. He doubted if any woman could ever mean as much to him as she did right now.

Rowena almost wept from her overwhelming emotions as Stryder tenderly kissed her hand, that was joined with his, while his gaze never wavered from hers. Slow and easy, he started to thrust against her hips.

She wrapped her body around his as she felt his restrained strength. He was incredible. He could fell a man with a single blow, and yet, here he was with her, even more gentle than a noble minstrel.

It was the fact that she knew what he was capable of that made his tenderness all the more touching.

She listened to his breathlessness, that matched hers, as she arched her hips to draw him in deeper.

Stryder tried to wait for her, but it wasn’t possible. All too soon, he felt his pleasure build until he could hold back no longer. Growling deep in his throat, he buried his face in her neck and inhaled her sweet scent before he released himself inside her.