Carefully he worked all the excess water from her hair until it lay damply against her back. Then he collected her comb and began patiently working the tangles from her hair.
No one had ever attended her thus. It was a marvelous feeling. She felt important. Like she was the lady of the keep and beloved by her laird.
He pressed his lips to the back of her head and kept them there a long moment. “Tonight you will obey my every command. Aye, I’ll see to your every need because ’tis my wish. But this night you are mine and will cede to my wishes.”
His hands slid up and down her arms, and his mouth moved to the side of her neck. “Think you that you can agree to not say me nay?”
Her insides squeezed unbearably and she was breathing so rapidly that she was light-headed. The power and sensuality in his voice excited her beyond measure. Didn’t he know she would never deny him anything?
She nodded, unable to voice a single word around the knot in her throat.
He turned her head so that their gazes met. His eyes burned into her and his expression was fierce, every inch the warrior he was. “The words, Keeley. I would have the words from you.”
“Aye, I agree,” she whispered.
Chapter 26
Alaric lifted Keeley into his arms and strode toward the bed. The linen that he’d wrapped around her body loosened and fell to the floor, leaving her naked. He eased her onto the mattress and took a step back, his gaze never leaving her.
She felt intensely vulnerable and she swallowed with nervous excitement as he slowly began to disrobe.
His arms and shoulders rippled and bulged, and his taut abdomen stretched over tightly corded muscles. Her fingers itched to trace the lean lines and explore every hard spot on his body.
“Spread your thighs for me, Keeley. Let me look upon your womanly softness.”
Blushing, she relaxed her legs and then slowly drew them apart. Alaric reached down and circled her ankles with his fingers and then pushed upward until her heels were dug into the mattress and her knees were bent double.
The position bared her completely to him. Left her open and aching for his touch.
He knelt at the bedside and ran one finger through her damp petals, pausing at her entrance before pushing ever so slightly inside.
She gasped and arched her hips, wanting more. He withdrew and then lowered his mouth.
She held her breath until she was light-headed. Every part of her body tightened in anticipation of the brush of his lips.
But it wasn’t his lips that touched her. He licked from her entrance to the tight, straining bud sheltered under the hood of flesh at her apex.
She cried out and her body convulsed. He gripped her thighs and held her in place as he continued to lap at her. The roughness of his tongue sent indescribable flashes of pleasure splintering through her belly up to her br**sts where her ni**les beaded painfully.
Gently he sucked at the tiny mound and then flicked his tongue back over it, coaxing it to a hardened point.
It was simply too much. Her body shattered. It was as if she were leaves scattered on a windy day. After so much pressure and unbearable tightening, suddenly she was so light that she floated, drifting downward in a gentle spiral.
Bewildered by the intensity of her release she raised her head. “Alaric?” she whispered.
But he didn’t answer. Instead he gently turned her onto her belly and drew one hand behind her back. To her shock, he wrapped a linen strip around her wrist and then pulled her other arm back to bind her wrists together.
Butterflies swarmed in her belly and her knees trembled uncontrollably.
When he was finished, he tested the binding and it held firm. Then he pushed her onto her knees so that her cheek rested against the mattress and her behind was high in the air, her hands tied securely behind her back.
As he rose, his palm caressed the curve of her bu**ocks. Then he palmed both of her cheeks and pushed upward and out so that she was spread to him.
“I hurt you this way when you were nearly a virgin still. Tonight I’ll only give you pleasure.”
One hand left her and then she felt the brush of his knuckles as he positioned his c**k at her opening. He pushed and his thickness filled her, stretching her around his shaft.
She moaned softly. It was a wondrous sensation as he forced himself deeper. Her body clasped tightly to him and rippled over his hardness. When he pulled back, her swollen tissues protested the movement and clamped wetly around his cock.
“Does it pain you?” he asked.
“Nay,” she whispered.
He thrust into her, harder this time. Never had she felt so stretched, so full. After he was assured that she could take him this way, he began to ride her more vigorously.
He reached up and grabbed on to her bound wrists. Holding her tightly, he pulled back as he thrust forward.
The smacking sound of his thighs pounding against her bottom filled the air. As gentle as he’d been before, now he took her ruthlessly, setting a pace to please himself.
Faster and harder and then he paused, buried deeply inside her. She was opened wide and defenseless against whatever he wanted to do. It only heightened her excitement. She wiggled impatiently, but he held her still as he remained lodged inside her.
Then he withdrew and pounded forward. Much slower and methodical this time. He was in control, his thrusts measured. Hard. Deep. Over and over he retreated and then plunged forward until she was begging him to give her release. She needed more. She needed him to move fast and hard, to provide sweet friction.
“Have not I said that you are to obey me this night?” he asked huskily. “ ’Tis I who say the commands, Keeley. You will say naught but aye to whatever I ask.”