Page 77 of The Caged Viking

“Why do you keep trying to shock me?” he asked.

At first, she stiffened at his question…he was still lying over her, still buried inside her nether parts…but then she told him, “It’s probably the result of growing up with nine brothers. They had no mercy for feminine sensibilities. So my best defense became a frontal assault. Shock them before they could shock me.”

“But I am not your brother.” He smiled, then turned serious. “I want to make love with you.”

She reached a hand up to cup his cheek. “I want to make love with you, too.”

Thank you, gods…or God. He turned his face to kiss her palm. “Then let us make love to each other, heartling.”

Whatever the cause, Hauk knew in that instant that Kirstin was a gift he’d been given for some predestined reason. Was it a forever gift, or one that would be taken away without notice? He had no idea. Facing that uncertainty frightened him more than a berserker’s axe or a rash on certain body parts. He must do everything in his power to convince her to stay, or leastways he must cherish each moment that he had with her.

With that in mind, he eased himself out of her, almost but not quite the whole way.

She sighed her appreciation, or mayhap she was trying to bridle her own passions.

He stroked in and out of her. Unhurriedly. But only a few times because his body demanded faster and deeper.“I need to slow down,” he rasped out.

“Faster,” she demanded, and clasped his buttocks with her two hands and pressed tightly. He would probably have finger marks.

He tried to laugh but it came out as a chortle. “I’ll hurt you if I lose control, sweetling.”

“I’ll hurt you if you don’t go harder, ding-a-ling.”

She didn’t know what she was asking. He was half again as big as she was. He tried a different tack. “I’ll be done too soon.”

“Did I tell you that in modern times, they have invented a little blue pill that helps men to get and stay hard?”

“That is not my problem at the moment,” he told her.

“I noticed.”

He looked cross-eyed at her. “Truly, we are going to talk? When I am locked in you like a sword in a blacksmith’s vise?”

“Nice image!”

“Aaarrgh! Truly, do you deliberately chatter in an effort to incite me to end too soon?”

“That’s the best thing about sex. We can do it again. And again and again and again.”

There were a few too many “agains” in there for Hauk’s comfort. But the most important thing was that she had her way, which was of course his way, too.

Succumbing to the growing urgency that swept over him, he was mindless with the savage need for completion. With chest heaving and blood roaring in his ears, he pounded into her woman heat. Once, twice, thrice, and his neck arched back as he roared out his ecstasy. Thankfully, Kirstin’s sheath clasped him spasmodically as she reached her own peak.

He collapsed onto her body with his face resting in the arch of her neck. Despite the coolness of the bedchamber, both of their bodies were covered with perspiration. He might have actually fallen asleep for a second or two, as some men were wont to do when satisfied in the bedplay.

But then he felt her body shaking under him. Was she crying? Oh, gods! Had he hurt her?

He raised his body on straightened arms and looked down at her. She was not weeping. She was laughing.

Now that was an ardor crusher for a man, if ever there was one. In truth, he could not recall any woman ever laughing at him after bedplay.

He arched his brows at her. “My lovemaking is cause for mirth? You laugh at me?”

“I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at myself.”

He frowned with confusion. “Huh?”

“I’ve been so hot for you all night, and I promised myself I wouldn’t jump your bones, but that’s exactly what I did, so to speak. I’m a disgrace to the single women’s rule book that says men prefer their partners to let them lead the way, to seduce them.”