"Witch, if you doona stop with your soft palms, you're goin' tae bring me off."
She licked her lip but kept working his throbbing flesh. As he eased a second finger into her, she felt herself on the verge yet again. "Bowen... "
"I'm beginning to recognize that tone. You're no' near done, are you? I knew you'd be like this. I knew it."
Just when she thought he would hastily replace the fingers inside her with his shaft, she began to come in a wet rush and cried out.
"I can feel you squeezing me. S'over." With his free hand, he enclosed hers in a fist, pumping their hands hard, rasping, "I canna hold my seed, Mari." His body tensed, going perfectly still, then he gave a brutal yell. At the last second, he aimed away from her body. She gaped as he spurted out into the sand beside her, over and over, stunned by how magnificent this big male was in his wild pleasure.
When he'd finished with a shudder, she sank down again, and he sprawled on his back beside her, his penis still pulsing. Even as he lay there, seeming dazed, he reached over and seized her hand in his - just to hold it as they caught their breath. After the things they'd just been doing, he felt the need to hold her hand.
They stared up at the muted sunlight, side by side and hand in hand.
Mari, the water just got too deep, and you're in way over your head.
When he turned to her, his eyes were warm amber, and the corners of his lips curled. "You could no' please me more. Could no' possibly." He seemed in an elated mood, as if she'd just capitulated far more than she actually had.
And she knew that Bowen MacRieve was excited because, for probably the first time in nearly two centuries, he truly had begun looking forward to the future.
But she didn't want him to get his hopes up when she had no place in her life for him. Even if she forgave him for trapping her, and even if she knew encounters like they'd just shared would only get more cataclysmic, she also believed that she would have to radically alter her life to be with him. And she wasn't sure she'd be ready to do that for someone she loved, much less for someone she merely desired.
No matter how strong that desire was.
"Now, tae get you ready - "
She pressed his hand away and sat up. "No, I'm done."
"You're done? We're just gettin' started! Did I... did I do something wrong?"
With a shrug, she began dressing. "We need to get going."
His brows drew together. "Do you regret what we've done, then?"
"I'm not unhappy that we were together like this. But I'm not happy either."
He yanked his jeans up. "What would it take tae make you so?"
"Look, MacRieve, I wasn't giving you lip service before - you're not the guy for me. Yet you just assume that I'm on board for whatever you finally decide, and that's not how this will work. While you're trying to make up your mind, know that mine's already decided. There isn't any place for you in my life."
"Even after this?"
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, after all the 'wenches' you've nailed and bailed, you of all people should know that one hookup means nothing."
"Nailed and bailed? What in the hell are you talking about?"
"Cade told me about the female you two fought over."
"Damn it, she crawled into bed with me!"
"And now your cruel comment to him last night makes perfect sense. Of course, you couldn't kick her out of your bed for your friend?"
"I'd had some mead, and dinna even recognize her as the one he wanted."
She quirked a brow. "One wench among many, huh?" she asked, turning from him.
Mariketa was prickly, no doubt uncomfortable at the speed this thing between them was moving. But her coolness didn't daunt him in the least, because he now knew that he could win her. She had just cried out his name. His. He'd been prepared to fight for her; after this, he would only redouble his efforts.
Bowe had feared this witch could make all his sexual dreams come true - and he'd dreamed constantly.
Now he knew she could.
31
If the others hadn't already figured out that she and MacRieve had been intimate, they would have guessed by his behavior.
When the two of them had silently dressed and rejoined everyone, he'd had his shoulders back, sporting a victorious expression. His eyes kept straying to her, his gaze heated, and proprietary.
His obvious sense of satisfaction was a one hundred and eighty degree contrast from the glower he'd sported all morning. Now he was the epitome of masculine satisfaction.
She sighed. And damn, it was a good look for him.
Rydstrom and Tera cast her quizzical glances. Cade - with one of his eyes swollen nearly closed and his jaw already mottled with bruises - again focused on her neck. When she flushed under his scrutiny and glanced away, she heard him mutter to MacRieve, "Still don't see your mark."
His tone so smug, MacRieve said, "Day's no' over, demon."
At that, Cade flashed a look at her, then said, "I'll take point again," seeming to want to get away from them.
The group began following the riverside up the mountain, and again the terrain made for single-file going. Which was good. She needed to process everything that had just happened. Again, all she knew was that too much had.
From behind her, MacRieve said, "Doona worry about what they think."
"Of course, you can say that. They're not going to think you're weak. Or easy."
"No way they could consider you weak. They've seen too many demonstrations of your power. And no' easy either - all they'll believe is that such a young lass as you was no match for the seduction skills of a twelve-hundred-year-old Lykae."