Page 118 of Blood & Claw

His gaze raked down her, scalding in its intensity, and likewise, she drank him in. The breadth of his shoulders, the corded strength of his arms and torso. The scars that marred his skin. It was a body that belonged to a man, one who’d lived, not a lad.

Her breath grew shallow and fast. She itched to touch him, to explore that strong body.

The fire cracked softly beside them, sparks drifting into the dark.

For years now, she’d ached to be intimate with a man, to learn about the things other lasses whispered about. This was a rite of passage she’d been denied for too long. She’d thought Lewis would be her first lover, but she’d been wrong.

She was giving herself to Darach.

They hadn’t known each other long, yet this journey had brought an intimacy she hadn’t been prepared for. Day after day, traveling at this man’s side. Facing danger with him. Fighting alongside him. Learning his secrets and revealing her own. All of it had brought them to this moment.

The way he was looking at her.

It made her feel … powerful.

Her gaze slid down the muscular expanse of his torso and halted upon the erection that strained against his belly. Heat pulsed between her thighs. Unaroused, he’d been impressive, but now …

Nervousness fluttered up then, yet she shoved it aside.

She could do this. She was no coward.

She approached him silently, took his hand, and let him draw her onto the soft mattress of fur.

Standing there, he pulled her into his arms once more, his hands sliding down her naked back, while she linked her arms around his neck. Their mouths found each other, tongues tangling and teeth clashing now as hunger overtook them once more.

Moaning, Ailsa rubbed her nakedness against his, her core aching as the hot, thick length of his rod pressed against her stomach.

And unlike in Ardroth, there weren’t any layers of clothing between them now.

Eventually, he dragged his lips from hers and began to kiss and lick his way down her jaw and throat, unwinding her arms from around his neck so that he could bend to her breasts. He scooped them up in his calloused palms, gazing at the swollen pink tips. Her breasts were small and round. She’d always thought them unremarkable, yet the way he gazed at them now—lips parted, eyes glazed with lust—made her arch her back so that she thrust her nipples toward him.

Murmuring something under his breath, he captured one of her breasts, sucking languidly.

A hot shaft of pleasure arrowed straight down to her quim, and she gasped.

He made a soft sound in the back of his throat and sucked harder.

She threw her head back, wriggling against him.

He shifted his attention to her other breast then, drawing her nipple deep into his hot mouth.

Ailsa couldn’t help it; she whimpered.

Releasing her breast, Darach sank to his knees before her. Hooking one hand around her leg, he lifted it over his shoulder, splaying her wide for him, before his fingers slid between her thighs.

Ailsa gasped. She was wet for him down there. Embarrassingly so. But by the ragged sound of his breathing and the fixed expression on his face as he explored her with his fingers, he liked what he’d found. The tip of his finger slid up and down her quim, circling the hard pearl of flesh nestled there and causing her to buck against his fingers.

Then, he cursed. “This isn’t enough.”

He’d lifted her leg over his shoulder, but a moment later, he shifted, drawing her back down with him onto their cloaks. And then, to her surprise, he pulled her astride his face.

“What are you doing?” she gasped.

He looked up at her and gave her a wicked smile that made sweat rise upon her skin, before stroking the dark nest of curls between her thighs with his knuckles. “Let me show you.”

With that, he took hold of her hips, lowering her onto his mouth.

And when his tongue speared into her, she shuddered, her ragged cry echoing through the corrie.