Free Reluctant (Heroes of the Highlands) (The MacKays #3) by Kerrigan Byrne Page B

sky above. In between existed only him, only them, pressed so close together that she’d thought they’d melded into one form of pleasure and flesh even before he sank inside her welcoming body.
    Though a storm of frenzy raged within her, she was grateful that his movements within her were torturously slow. The same storm turned his eyes from the color of ice to the color of an angry sea as they locked onto hers. She felt every slick, heavy inch of his length as he pressed it in and retracted. His hips were the only part of them that moved, the rest clutched in an embrace that each feared to break.
    When she could no longer stand the open, naked emotion in his eyes, Kamdyn buried her face in his neck and buried her fingers in the flesh of his back and shoulders. She undulated beneath him, not only opening her body to him, but her heart, her soul.
    Neither of them said a word. They communicated in thrusts and moans and the short, curious noises exclusive to love-making. When she felt the web of nerves threading through her moist flesh begin to sizzle and pulse, she fought her release. She willed it to die, needing him for longer.
    Forever.
    But her traitorous body pulled taut and a ragged warning cry accompanied the first clenching, unparalleled sensation. His large, strong hand clamped over her mouth before she realized that her screams of pleasure had become a Banshee keen. Her muscles locked as the storm broke upon her in wave after wave of dizzying, crippling ecstasy.
    He followed her into that place, his movements becoming shorter, stronger. The pulses wracking the whole length of him until he curled over her, uncovering her mouth to replace his hand with his lips.
    She tasted herself on him but didn’t care. His kiss was the sweetest, most lovely thing she could readily imagine. Even after the storm passed, they stayed like that for an eternal moment. Their hands caressed and explored the other’s face as though to commit it to memory, only punctuated by languorous kisses.
    Eventually, Soren rolled to his back and pulled her to rest against his chest. His other arm bent behind to support his neck. He yawned like a big cat and blinked down at her upturned face.
    “You’re still not…afraid?” she asked once more, placing her hand on his chest.
    “Of course not, little Banshee,” he said, pulling her closer. “I already told you that.” And proved his point by promptly falling asleep.
    Kamdyn lie in the warmth of his arms for a long time, her hand pressed to where she could feel the strong, sure beat of his heart beneath her palm. Any moment, a quick and lethal bolt could leave her skin and enter his, stopping that heart forever. Gasping, Kamdyn pulled her hand back as though his flesh had burned her. His muscles twitched, but he remained relaxed, his eyes closed and breaths even. It was her fault he was so exhausted. She’d kept him awake most of the night. He’d Berserked at least three times in the past day, once to fight and win an entire Clan battle. Despite his unparalleled strength, he was still for all intents and purposes a human.
    Kamdyn smiled a little. He was so unapologetically alive . How could he not fear death? She was terrified of it. Not her own, of course, but of his.
    He couldn’t leave her. Not now. Not when she’d begun to—to what? Love him? Logic still insisted that such a thing was impossible in so short a time. But he’d professed the emotion for her in such a way that made complete and unfathomable sense. She had a feeling that lifetimes wouldn’t contain the experiences she wanted to share with him. Even though he was a marauding criminal, at his core he was an incredibly decent man. If only she could be given the time to nurture that part of him. But their time had run out, and if she didn’t kill him now, the consequences would be intense and far-reaching, and not just for her. For her family and Clan.
    “I can’t,” she whispered, curling her deadly hands into fists.