"O-o-oh," she moaned, tingling warmth coiling inside her.
"Shush, lass, just feel." He tightened his arms around her, crushing her against him and deepening their kiss. A tempestuous melding of tongues and hot breath. So deliriously good, her entire body shook with such incredible pleasure she feared she might die of its intensity.
"I am yours, Mara." He drew back to look at her, his eyes ablaze with passion. "See what you have done to me. I canna breathe without you. I no longer even care about your name, though I'd rather give you mine."
"Yours?"
Her breath caught, but he'd seized her face in his hands and was kissing her again. This time rough, swift, and furiously.
"I must have you," he vowed, the words claiming her. "Forever. No matter what it takes to keep you. Remember that on the morrow."
"On the morrow?" She blinked, his tone frightening her.
But he only pressed his fingers against her lips. Worse, he pulled away and the loss of physical contact lamed her, set her reeling.
"No-o-o! Don't leave me!" She grabbed for him, afraid he'd vanish, but he only flashed another of his devastating smiles and shifted his position, slinging a leg over her hips to straddle her.
"I'm no going anywhere," he purred, looking down at her. "Not this night."
Mara blinked, another little tremor of ill ease rippling through her, but she chose to ignore it.
This was, after all, her dream.
So instead of fretting about what he might or might not have meant, she thrashed and twisted on the bed, kicking away the covers and arching her back, letting her hungry body beg him to ravish her.
And he did.
Unlike the last such dream, when he'd simply stood frozen above her, this time he acknowledged her. He'd already kissed her to the very edge of a climax again, and now he was looking deep into her eyes as he knelt above her, his powerful thighs rubbing sinuously against hers. She bit her lip, the feel of his naked skin brushing hers exciting and thrilling her.
"You are mine, Mara, and ne'er you forget it," he growled, his silky-smooth burr melting her, the hot carnality streaming off him, heating her blood. "I've waited too long for you and I willna let you go now that I have you."
I do not want you to let me go.
The admission almost split Mara's heart, but her throat was too thick for her to release the words. Instead, the sweetest golden warmth spooled through her, its possession both unsettling and incredibly dear.
A muscle in his jaw twitched, almost as if he'd heard. He eased her down against the covers, splaying a hand across her belly to hold her in place. "Be still and just lie there, Mara. Let me look at you, for I've a need."
"I have a need, too!" she cried, the throbbing between her legs a torment she couldn't bear much longer. "You're my dream and I want you. Now. Please!"
Before I wake up and lose you again.
She grabbed his hips, digging in her fingers and holding fast, drinking him in. She wanted to drown in the wonder of him, imprint his image on her soul and keep him there.
For the empty nights when she failed to dream.
When he was gone to her.
But she pushed all thought of the future from her mind and reached out to touch him, skimming her fingers along his shoulder and collarbone, then down over his sculpted chest muscles. She toyed with the smattering of hairs there, marveled at their beauty and softness. They glistened like spun gold and, to her, were infinitely more precious.
Just the feel of them beneath her fingers almost undid her. He felt so real. Her breath caught at the impossibility and her throat thickened in a painful way.
But she blinked back her cares and kept looking at him, glorying in every magnificent Highland inch of him.
Especially the
good
inches.
Those inches, too, were fully displayed, and such a chance might never come again, so she meant to enjoy it to the fullest. She'd outdone herself with this dream, or else all her conjuring stars were in place. Why else would he have waltzed into her sleep full naked?
So wet and shimmering. Gloriously bare.
She shivered, all her senses alive. He was so beautiful, it almost hurt to look at him. His hard, well-muscled body gleamed in the pale moonlight, and his hair was damp, as if he'd just stepped out of a shower.
He smelled good, too. Clean, fresh, and… manly.
Deliciously sexy.
And so ragingly hard her breasts swelled with longing and her nipples puckered. Streaming anticipation flooded her and
that
part of her pulsed and tingled with such urgency, she would've screamed had her mouth not gone so dry.
His entire maleness hovered not a hand's breadth above her, its nearness and heat making her burn. Only a shiver of air and the lace of her teddy's crotch piece separated them.
She wanted him more than she'd ever desired another man.
Hot waves of pounding need raced through her, and if she weren't dreaming, she'd surely break apart from the force of her passion for him. The all-consuming hunger overwhelming her so powerfully that just breathing in the same air as he did nearly brought her to her knees.
But since she
was
dreaming, she'd ride her bliss.
After all, it was her dream.
"Okay, Hottie Scottie, two can play this game." She lifted her chin and slipped a hand between her legs to undo the tiny clasps of her teddy. "I know you enjoy looking—"
"Hottie Scottie?" He blinked, confusion flashing across his face. But only for a heartbeat, because the filmy material of her teddy's crotch fell away, freeing her to his view as boldly as he'd presented his wares to her.
He looked down at her. "O-o-oh, lass, I will show you hot," he purred, a slow smile curving his lips. "Shall I love you as only a Highlander can love a woman?"
Mara bit down on her lip. Her heart flipped and she couldn't speak. Deep inside her something wild and primordial was unraveling. Coming undone and letting her revel in the intimacy of being so exposed to him.
Thrilling excitement whipped through her, seizing her breath and making her part her thighs, baring herself even more. Her pulse roared in her ears and her heart hammered so fiercely, she wondered it didn't spring from her chest.
"Well, lass? Are you mine?" He kept his gaze on the triangle of her sex, reached down to cup her, rubbing slowly. "Will you burn for me?"
I am burning
, she wanted to scream, but the words jammed in her throat. She was crazed with wanting him, could only nod and rock her hips. Quiver and tremble as her knees opened a bit more, giving him greater access.
"Och, aye, that's good," he said, sounding pleased. He tilted a smile at her, teased his fingers across her intimate curls. "Show me more, Mara. I would see all of you."
"And I would have all of you." She narrowed her eyes, looked pointedly at his arousal. "Inside me."
"In time, sweet." He touched a hand to her breast, palmed and tweaked her nipples. "I will lose my seed so soon as I enter you and I've waited too long for this pleasure not to prolong our enjoyment. You are beautiful and it pleases me to look at you."
His eyes darkened then and he drew back his shoulders, his gaze raking her intimacies. His expression turned feral, almost like a ravening wolf eyeing a plump rabbit he meant to devour.
And she wanted to be devoured.
Ached
to be consumed by him.
"Touch me again. There, like you did before." She pushed her legs against his thighs, opening herself, hoping to seduce him with a more thorough view of her womanhood. "I will explode if you don't," she breathed, quite certain she would. "I need you."
"And you shall have me," he vowed, seizing her knees and pulling her legs up through his, urging them wide until her entire femininity was opened to him.
"O-o-oh, yes," she moaned, loving it. An exquisite, almost unbearable pulsing began beating through her, hot and lascivious. Scintillating beyond endurance.
She trembled, her craving for him shading her every sigh, melting her.
"See, lass, you like having me look at you." He touched her again, traced the very center of her. "Or will you deny what I can see writ all o'er you?"
"No, I won't deny it." And she couldn't.
There was something maddeningly tantalizing about being so fully opened to a man's lustful stare. Feeling
his
stare on her was a bliss so dazzling she could hardly breathe.
Never had she experienced anything so erotically rousing as his rapt perusal of her most intimate flesh. His gaze absorbed and burned her, sent little flickers of flame everywhere he looked. Irresistibly delicious flames that licked at her, flicking over her as light as air one minute, lapping leisurely and thoroughly the next.
"You must look at me, too, Mara." He circled his fingers around his hardness, bringing it closer to her heat. "Is this what you want?" he asked, rubbing the swollen tip over her dampness. "Can you feel me this time? Do you need me inside you? You must tell me. Say the words."
She reached for him, knocking away his hand and wrapping her own fingers around him. "Yes, of course I can feel you," she cried, her voice breaking. "You are granite hard, all hot and silky in my hand and I need you inside me. Deep, deep inside me. You know where."
She arched her hips off the bed, rocking frantically and trying to thrust him inside her, but he only smiled and closed strong fingers over hers.
"Not so fast," he warned, sliding his shaft up and down her softness, his steely grip on her hand making it impossible for her to sheathe him. "I am not yet done with looking at you."
He arched a brow. "Or are you not enjoying yourself? Is this not what you wanted? For me to pleasure you?"
I want you to be real
. She stared at him, the silent words ripping her soul.
I want you to love me. Need me and want me as much as I need and love you
.
But instead of crying out her deepest wishes and perhaps shattering her dream, she turned her head to the side and nodded, letting her body beg him for release rather than risk having him see her heart's weeping in her eyes.
An orgasmic dream was better than not having him at all.
Lots better.
Any moment she'd explode into a thousand tiny pieces, flood herself with the streaming wetness of her climax. But she didn't care if her glory cries carried across every hill in Scotland. Pleasure-spending sex god or no,
this
Hottie Scottie was only a dream figment.
If ever her real ghostly Highlander returned to her, he needn't know she'd wantoned herself so brazenly.
Besides, if he saw her in the throes of a rollicking orgasm, he might take mercy on her and do more than toy with her clit and pluck at her nipples.
She knew he wanted her. His bucking shaft and tight balls proved his desire.
But he remained poised above her, keeping up his sensual rubbings and leaving her no choice but to thrash about and hope he'd soon put an end to her misery.
Not that she didn't feel good already.
Her Highlander knew what to do with a clitoris. And having him stare at her so intimately was positively decadent. No man had ever done such a thing, and she doubted she would've allowed it. But with Hottie Scottie, it felt right.
No, delicious.
A glorious, tantalizing bliss.
Her bliss
. And so rousing to watch Alex's entire body strummed with the wonder of it. Never had he seen a woman wear her arousal so beautifully.
Peaking arousal, if the rich, earthy musk rising off her was any indication. He breathed deep, holding in the scent of her, letting its potency drench his senses. So soon as he released it, he slid one finger down the soft dampness of her cleft and slipped it inside her, finding her hot, sleek, and wet.
Tight, wet, and convulsing around his finger.
Alex groaned. She arched against him, the urgent thrusting of her hips telling him everything.
It was time; she could wait no longer.
And neither could he.
"Och, lass, I will have you now." He stretched out beside her and pulled her into his arms, kissing her hard. She kissed him back, clamping her legs around him and pressing close, her breath hitching, her every wild, open-mouthed kiss more frenzied than the one before.
"That's it, minx, show me you need me," he urged, cupping her bottom, kneading and squeezing the plump rounds, the feel of her smooth, naked skin in his hands making him crazy, setting him on fire.
"Yes!" she cried, grinding herself against him, showing no mercy. She rubbed her breasts into him, jammed a hand down between them to seize him and slide his aching shaft all over her slick wetness. "Oh, Alex, you feel sooo good."
"Not half so good as you," he purred, nearly spending when she tightened her fingers on him, not stroking as she'd done before but holding him in a firm, possessive grip and thrusting him inside her.
Not far, only an inch or two.
But enough to make all the stars in the heavens explode in his head. They crashed down around him, blinding him and making his world spin until he was sure he'd slide right off. He blinked hard, his entire body shaking with the power of her passion, the glory of her.
"Sweet lass," he got out, somehow rising up on his elbows to look at her. "Dinna move or I'll plunge full deep and this will end before we've started."
"I want it to end!" She clung to him, rocking her hips, her frenzied movements drawing him in another inch or so. "I've waited too long to have you."
"Nay, you err," Alex hissed, using all his strength to pull back until just the tip of him hovered inside her. " 'Tis I who have waited—an eternity. And I would savor you. Every precious moment with you."
He focused on her stormy, lust-glazed eyes, tried to ignore the frantic windings of her body, the wondrous, velvety heat pulsing so close, waiting to sheathe him.
"I want to love all of you," he breathed, palming her breasts, circling a moistened finger around one puckered crest, then lowering his head to lick and suckle the other, drawing it deep into his mouth.