The Barbarian's Stolen Bride (Northmen Barbarians 1)

“Let me walk you there,” he said and gestured me forward.

I felt that warm flutter in my belly and lowered my head, my hair loose and falling forward, hiding my face.

He started leading the way, but I could tell he kept his pace slow and steady so I could keep up. He was bigger, his legs longer, his stride farther. And as I glanced over and up at him, I felt another smile curve my lips that he thought of me, even in this small instance.

We walked in silence, but it was comfortable. A part of me wanted to reach out and slip my hand into his, sidle up close to him, because I felt like he’d keep me safe above all else. I’d never been the type of female who needed to rely on a man to feel protected. Living in a village where you work tirelessly to survive every single day hardened someone until they were forced to stand on their own two feet.

But the protection I knew I got with Fen wasn’t as if I was helpless and weak. It was the feeling a wife got with her husband because she felt like his entire world.

I didn’t know how long we walked, but it seemed far too soon before he was ushering me toward a short hallway, and at the end were twin glass doors.

I could see through the panes of glass to the garden outside, thick swatches of green foliage broken up by colorful flowers. I felt my heart start to race a little bit more with excitement, a small sound of happiness leaving me.

And I felt that smile spread wider across my face when I looked over at Fen, seeing he was already looking at me, this almost intense expression on his face.

I felt bashful once again in his presence, my cheeks getting hotter. I went to shield my face by ducking and using my hair as a wall, but he made a deep sound of clear displeasure and gently cupped the side of my face, forcing me to keep looking at him.

“Don’t hide yourself from me,” he murmured in that husky voice that had more wetness slipping from my virgin body.

For long seconds he just gently held my face as he stared into my eyes. This little voice inside me wanted to beg Fen to lean in and close the distance that separated us. I wanted this kiss.

I want it so badly.

And the more time that passed, the fact that neither of us moved nor broke eye contact had this light sheen of sweat covering my body in anticipation, in excitement… in arousal.

I shouldn’t want this man as much as I did… right?

The circumstances that had brought us together should have nothing but distance between us.

But I didn’t want that. I wanted the furthest thing from that, in fact.

And there was no denying I was highly attracted to him, and experiencing this gentle, almost loving side of this hardened warrior made me fall for Fen faster than should be humanly possible.

So when I took a step closer to him, it felt right and good and the way things were supposed to happen in that moment.

When I placed my palms flat on his hard, warm chest and felt his heart beating steady under his lightly sweat-slicked skin, I knew this was how this moment was supposed to go.

He didn’t move away, didn’t let go of my face. He kept cupping it gently and in fact started stroking his thumb along my cheekbone.

Back and forth. Slow. Deliberate.

“I would have waited an eternity just to have you near, just to experience this moment,” he muttered softly, so low I almost didn’t hear him. His focus was on my lips, and I licked them, wanting to press my mouth to his with this urgency that shocked me.

“I’m here,” I responded even though I had a feeling he spoke to himself.

Take me. Kiss me. Love me.

There was this stretch of silence as we both stared into the other’s eyes, as our breathing started to pick up identically. I was vaguely aware of Fen taking a step closer and me taking one back.

He did this until I felt the hard, cold wall greet me, stopping our movements, his big body caging me in. He still caressed my cheek, but he had his other hand placed on the wall beside my head, his entire body blocking everything else out. He made me feel even smaller than I already did around him.

And I was embarrassingly soaked between my thighs, this throb settling right in the center of me. I ached for him.

Fen groaned again and then closed his eyes, his jaw locking tight, a muscle ticking underneath the scruffy skin.

“Fen,” I said softly, but I realized it sounded more like a moan, one that was extremely needy and desperate.