Abruptly, he was flying.
Conall had never moved so fast in his life, and he was bloody speedy.
He heard the crash of a door seconds before he landed on his back on the small double bed in their tiny cabin.
Amusement and arousal flooded him as Thea was a blur of movement, undressing.
“Are you trying to get caught, lass?” He grinned, taking in her nakedness with much appreciation as she crawled over his body. She’d just used the full force of her speed to take them back to the room, and now Conall knew that when she ran with him, she was holding back.
Thea pushed his shirt up just enough to bare his stomach, and Conall’s breath stuttered when she pressed kisses along his waistline. She stared up at him with those soulful eyes. “I’ve never kissed a man like you kissed me last night.” She tugged on his belt and then his zipper, shrugging him free. “I want to.”
Conall shuddered at the question in the words. Another gift from his Thea. He nodded, reaching out to caress her beautiful face. His heart almost exploded out of his chest watching her mouth bend toward him, and then he was in fucking heaven.
Hours passed.
Everything ceased to exist beyond Thea. She was everything. Every inch of her. It had never been this way for him. To want with this kind of madness. When he was inside her, he wanted the world to stop—to freeze them in that moment—with a desperation that fucking terrified him.
And yet he couldn’t stop.
He couldn’t stop touching and tasting and wanting her.
Needing her.
At one point their fucking was so primal, he cracked the small wooden headboard of the cabin bed right down the middle, he was holding onto it so hard. In fact, Conall was almost sure they were moving the entire bloody boat with their thrusts.
As the night wore on, they became less frenzied, less savage with fear that time was running out. They began to savor the moment instead. It became an exploration. Conall was certain no woman would ever know every inch of his body as well as Thea, and no man would ever know hers. The thought of any man touching her, knowing her like this, caused him pain he buried as quickly as he felt it.
He stared at Thea, her lush breasts cupped in his hands, as she rose slowly up and down his length, a tight sheath of heat slowly wrenching a climax from him. He held taut beneath her, wanting her to come first. Her low-lidded gaze locked with his and Conall mentally captured the image, to keep with him always.
Thea’s panting grew faster, her rocking a little more frantic, until finally she tensed, her fingernails biting into his shoulders as she rippled in deep, throbbing tugs around him.
Conall let go, burying his hoarse shout of release in her breasts.
She trembled in his arms and he lifted his head to kiss her, but the shimmer of tears in her eyes made his heart stop.
He cupped her face in his hands. “What’s this, Thea?”
In answer, she slid her arms around his back and buried her nose in his neck. Tremors moved through her, different from those brought on by their lovemaking.
Worry pierced him.
He should never have touched her.
He’d let this go too far … and he was hurting the one person he didn’t want to hurt.
Fuck.
“Thea?” he asked, voice gruff with an emotion he hadn’t wanted to feel. He slipped his arms around her back, holding her tighter, closer.
She turned her face from his neck, just enough so he could hear her whisper, “It’s been so long since anyone just held me.”
His hold on her tightened, his throat thickening, burning. His eyes stung strangely too.
Who would hold her when he had to let go?
And why did the thought of Thea alone, without him, make him want to tear the world apart for its cruelty?* * *Conall knew before he even opened his eyes that Thea wasn’t in the room. He could smell her on the pillow beside him, but it was a lingering scent. Panic slammed through him and he bolted upright. Where was she?
He tapped into his connection with her, relaxing a little when he sensed her near. Of course she was close. They were on a bloody boat, for Christ’s sake.
Still, he didn’t like that she’d left the cabin without him.
The smell of sex was thick in the room as he got up to use the facilities he could barely squeeze into. He wished Thea were here. The scent of their time together was making him hard again.
Conall closed his eyes and hung his head as he stood over the tiny sink. Would this want of her never go away? Would it drive him fucking mad for the rest of his life?
Why her? He growled.