Page 28 of Shaw

“We were about to die, so I probably would have said yes to anything, like tattooing your name and whatever the dark thing is called on my butt.” When he stiffened she stroked her hand down to his inked forearm. “Don’t be mad. I’m only joking.”

“’Tis the deadliest of the Pritani spirits,” he told her as he tried to push her fingers away. “Jests and laughter prod the thing’s temper.”

“Come on. I think it likes me. Watch.” She brushed her fingertips over the enigmatic markings again, and they began to move on his skin. “Did the people who inked you ever tell you its name?”

“The tribe believed speaking such aloud would end them.” Shaw gripped her wrist as she slid her palm past his elbow. “Dinnae trifle with death, woman.” His mouth curved. “Trifle with me.”

In that moment Julianne became dazzled by how he looked when he smiled. With his gorgeous face and amazing bod he could have been a male supermodel, but his charm and warmth were even more attractive to her. Every part of him seemed to glow a little now, even the tats on his arm. The Big Bad didn’t scare her, and she was ready to dump her Mitch baggage. Maybe it was time to see just how much Shaw and his beast liked her. If she could help him stop acting like Satan, maybe everyone would treat him nicer, too.

That made this okay, Julianne decided. Happy Shaw seemed way better than Satan Shaw.

“In my time we call this sex.” She walked toward him, making him step backward until his legs collided with the edge of his boxy bed. “I’m kind of built for it, and I like to do everything too. Well, not like hanging from the ceiling upside down and in handcuffs while you stick a…are you even listening to me?”

Shaw nodded and sat down on the bed, his gaze fixed on her lips, but his expression looked a little scared. Crap, was she scaring him now?

“You know, maybe not. You’re medieval, and I don’t even know what’s okay in this time. I don’t want to traumatize you for like your entire immortal life.” She backed up, only to be jerked forward which made her topple over onto his chest as he stretched out on his back. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Chieftain.”

It didn’t help that her boobs were about to explode, but she could leave. Maybe. If she crawled a lot.

“Kiss me before you go, Julianne.” When she frowned he wrapped his arms around her and pouted like a little boy. “’Twill soothe me.”

Yeah, but I left my vibrator in the twenty-first century.

“That’s a lie, too. Let’s be straight with each other, okay?” The way her heart had started doing the bust down and the ginormous wet spot forming on her panties made it crystal clear what the rest of her wanted to do. Before she could get naked with him, however, she needed to make sure he was okay with that. “We can try one kiss first, and then we’ll see how much more you want to do with me.”

Shaw moved her hips and legs over his. “Aye, my lady.”

“Julianne. I like how my name sounds when you say it.” She sat up, hugging his torso with her knees, and pulled his arms from around her and pressed them up until she had him pinned. “Close your eyes. All the way.” Once he’d obeyed her, Julianne stretched up and pressed her lips to his brow. “It’s okay. I really want to do everything with you, Shaw.”

His hands caught her wrists as he flipped over with her, tucking her long body under his so swiftly and naturally she hardly realized what he was doing. That was when the heat and weight of him poured over her, making her heart and her boobs start doing the samba together. On his arm the tattoos began to move restlessly.

“I think your Big Bad just woke up,” she whispered, transfixed by the shapes and patterns his ink was making on his flesh. “Does it hurt when it starts moving around like that?”

Shaw released her as if she’d punched him below the waist.

“Forgive me, my lady. I’ve no right inflict such on you.” He started to rise, halting only when she pressed her hand against his marked arm.

“Stop. You’re not inflicting anything. I like it.” She ran her hand down to his wrist, lightly scratching him with the tips of her fingernails, and then stroked back up to his shoulder. The caress made his ink writhe under her touch. “See? I can shake up your tats, my man.”

She knew she was also making Shaw nervous, but she had been watching his tattoos every time he came close to her over the last few days. His dark magical thing reacted to her, and yet it didn’t fill the chieftain with rage or despair. On the contrary, every time his ink moved in her presence, he became intensely focused on her.

That thing is definitely into me. Maybe as much as Shaw.

“As soon as I can I’m going back to my time, remember,” she said, wanting to remind him of that before they went past the point of no return. “You seriously okay having fun with me, and then letting me leave your time?”

“You wed me.” His voice had dropped so low he basically growled the words.

“You know that wasn’t the real deal.” Julianne rested her hand over his heart, and watched as his ink poured down from his shoulder and danced around her fingertips. “For now we need to figure out the thing inside you, and get it under your control. I’m thinking sex might actually work. Any thoughts?”

“Duncan claims a mate may appease a Pritani spirit, only every female I’ve bedded hasnae tamed the beast—and I’ve bedded near every unpromised wench on Caladh.” His throat moved as he swallowed, and watched her hand move down to the front of his pants. “Julianne.”

“You don’t have to be a virgin. I’m not. Say sex will work.” She bent down and pressed her mouth to his chest, and the cold heat of his ink moved under her lips. “Say yes, Julianne, you can do whatever you like to me and the Big Bad.”

She could almost taste the darkness of the enchantment, and had a sense now of how it had spread to every part of Shaw. It might have been a separate thing once, but over time she suspected it had become part of the chieftain’s insides. He might not want to admit it, but he had become almost equal parts MacMar and beast.

He shifted his hands to her back, almost caressing her. “I cannae promise you what the spirit may do.”

“It’s part of you, Shaw, so I’m not afraid of it. Besides, it seems to like me kissing it.” Julianne stroked her fingers up over his shoulder and down his marked arm to his wrist again, where the ink had formed a strangely pulsing web over his skin. When she touched it, the reshaped tattoo moved under her fingers, and when she pulled back the edge seemed to lift from Shaw’s skin, as if trying to stay in contact with her. “Hey, look at that. I think it likes me a lot.”