Cuckoo in the Coven

That tickled her. “Oh, I’m not about to argue with that, especially with you in my arms.”

He smiled and stroked her hair. “Let’s follow nature’s way and bring the orchard back to life.”

She laughed as he knelt and finished stripping her, leaving her barefoot.

He looked for her agreement with a lifted eyebrow.

“Okay, whatever you say about the orchard, I’ll take your advice.” She sidled against him.

He darted one hand between her thighs. “You’re very hot.”

She was, but she shivered at his touch nevertheless. “It’s been a hot day, and now you’re making me even hotter, Mr. Thaine.”

“Let’s go outside into the night and cool off. There’s a full moon, the light is good.” He undid his shorts, stripping off alongside her. “Come on.” His gaze was demanding and possessive.

Outside, naked? She picked up her glass and took another swig of wine. She offered it to his lips and he drank from her hand.

He watched her set it down and then grabbed her hand, leading her out of the house.

After the heat of the day, the late evening air was cool against her naked skin. The hum of insects and sounds of the night resonated somewhere deep in her mind, but most of all she was focused on him, on how magnificent his body looked in the moonlight, strong and sure as he stalked through the grounds with her in tow.

They passed quickly through the gardens and into the orchards beyond, where the moonlight falling between the leaves cast eerie patches of light to mark their path.

Sunny reached out to nature as they went, thrilling as she felt the natural world respond. The trees dipped, as if a breeze had directed them just to her and her lover, and the sounds of wildlife in the undergrowth grew more resonant, as if the creatures were drawn to them, instead of scurrying away.

Cullen led her deep into the heart of the orchard, where the oldest trees stood and the first of the planting had taken place, many years ago. There, the lines of trees radiated out from an old stone marking the centre spot.

“Do you think this is the magical heart of our home?” She touched the stone reverently.

“I’ve been thinking that myself, while I’ve been tending the orchard.” He glanced around at the trees, starkly outlined in the moonlight. “Fate has brought us together here on this land, Sunny, for the eternal circle of nature.”

He was so right.

He drew her up against a tree and into his arms. His eyes were wild in the moonlight and she breathed deep, her heart racing, the atmosphere heavy with the scent of the undergrowth and of their desire.

His hands moved over her, down over the curve of her belly and around her hips to her buttocks. He molded them in his hands, lifting her easily so she was crushed against him, his erection solid against her belly. She whispered his name and her core clenched with need.

“We must offer it up to the earth for the sake of a good harvest.” His voice was husky. “Feel nature all around you and let it be inside you. Trust in what Celeste said,” he added when he saw the misgiving in her expression. “I heard it many times before, in my world. It’s nature’s way, you’ll see.”

With that dark, suggestive smile he was giving her, she wasn’t about to argue. She moved against him, kissing his chest, tasting the salt from his skin, absorbing the rhythm of his body into her own. Somewhere nearby, she heard creatures rustling through the undergrowth, but it only added to the strange mysticism of the experience. She let it enfold her, breathing deeply the scents of the earth and echoing the distant sound of an owl in her soul. “I can feel it,” she murmured, her body pulsating with desire.

He took her roughly, turning her to face the tree, spread-eagling her, pushing her up against the tree trunk with his hands and moving her against it with his first deep thrust.

He drove again, and again, filling her completely, moving her entire body. She moaned into the night and the night answered, the stars brightening and the branches at the edge of her vision lifting on the ebb and flow of the night air. Nature was all around them, and alive within her. Cullen was strong at her back, and inside, mating with her, fierce and elemental.

She pivoted against the tree, offering herself to him, eager to be marked with his rising sap, riding his thrusts with abandon. His hands roved, claiming every part of her body for the earth. Sensation spiraled through her. Their mutual victory cries filled the air. She felt herself sexually bared as she’d never been before, a creature at one with nature. When she came, her entire body shuddered.

“Open your legs wide,” he panted, “we must give it up to the earth.”

It felt strange, but so right and true. “Yes,” she whispered, clutching at the tree, her breasts studded with rough bark, her thighs slick.

He whispered words of love to her and stroked her arms where they were pressed up against the tree, until their bodies grew cool and the evening mists wisped up around their bare feet. Then he turned her in his arms, looking at her in the moonlight.

“Pleasured, my love?”

She was trembling. It had been aggressive sex, and more, it had been somehow sacred. “Yes, pleasured, lots of pleasure.”

He pulled her closer for a cuddle, then led her by the hand back to the cottage.