“A long time ago.”
He arched a brow and examined her closely, doing his best to keep his gaze above her neck. Her chemisette was pasted to the ripe curves of her body, and since they’d been swimming, he had even resorted to reciting Latin to keep his mind from the gutter. “Whatever happened must have been in the year you and I parted. What happened, Willow?”
She huffed an impatient breath. “This line of questioning is over. There is only one thing left for us to discuss today, my lord.”
For some reason, he was no longer turned off from hearing the reminder of his title on her lips. “And that is?” Though he knew from the sensuality suffusing her face.
Her touch, so delicate, uncertain even, yet so seductive, drifted over his chest. “I would like to appease my curiosity.”
“A curiosity, am I?”
There was a pulse of silence that seethed with more than lust.
“You would also be a memory, one I can recall when all else is dark, and loneliness eats at my soul,” she admitted with a frankness that startled him.
From the flush that climbed her cheeks, he deduced she had not meant to be so forthcoming either. And at that moment, he knew he would grant her what she wished for, and indulge in what he had hungered for, for so many years.
The hard chest beneath her hands rippled with power. Alasdair had always been graceful, athletic. He was muscled with broad, defined shoulders. She glided the tip of her finger over the sharp sensual angles of his jaw, up to his hair. The strands of his hair were soft and curled around her fingertips. Images of his grey eyes floated in her mind, and she prayed she would never forget the heat that used to dwell within whenever his gaze had turned to hers.
Warm hands cupped her cheeks, and she shifted her neck slightly and placed a kiss toward his palm. It landed on his knuckles. His fractured breathing rippled through her, pushing away the uncertainty. “I cannot resist you, Willow. Years later and I still cannot resist you.”
Her breath hitched at the raw need in his voice. She also heard the bleakness underneath the layer of desire. “I do not want you to resist. In the past six years, a night has not gone by that I did not think of you,” she breathed huskily, sliding her hand down his chest to his stomach. She was pleased to feel the muscular wall of his abdomen contracting at her caress. The slightly rougher texture of his flesh had her pausing. “What is this?”
“A scar, from the war.”
She traced the puckered flesh with the tip of her finger. “I am sorry you were hurt. Will you tell me about it?”
“Yes.” He inhaled sharply when she dipped her hand lower to tease along his waistline.
Alasdair gripped her hand to keep her from exploring further, drew her roughly against his body and claimed her lips.
Sweet glorious heaven.
There was nothing teasing or gentle about his claiming. Everything faded. The birds trilling in the distance, the soft sound of the water as it lapped at their heated bodies. He kissed her until she was weak and shivering in his arms until she was intoxicated by the pleasure of his taste. He traced the contours of her back, down to her buttocks, and drew her closer to his hardness.
“Yes,” she gasped, never wanting the chaotic sensations engulfing her body to stop.
Alasdair’s fingers glided over her knees up to her thighs to find the source of her heat with aching precision. He stroked across her knot of pleasure, streaking agonizing need through her body. She shifted, clamping her thighs tighter around his hips.
With a groan against her lips, he slipped his fingers down and glided one deep inside her. She sobbed into his mouth, shaking at the fire pulsing between her thighs. Every touch of his hand and every movement of his body against her took her deeper and deeper in want…into desire.
“Please,” she whispered, her voice broken. “I crave something more.” What, she didn’t know, but she needed. “Make me burn, Alasdair.”
She felt his loss of control as he roughly widened his stance, opening her more to his intimate touch. She bit his lip as he pressed deeper, his thumb circling her knot of pleasure in time to the two fingers now plunging into her core. Oh God. He kissed her harder his tongue moving in symphony to the sensual thrusts between her legs.
The sweetest of pain and pleasure combined into burning ecstasy and a wave of heat rolled over her. She moaned, tearing her mouth from his, burying her face in his neck as sheer bliss consumed her, leaving her shaking and clasping his shoulders.
Alasdair waded with her to the shallow end, unwrapping her legs from his waist to place her on the grassy knoll, blanketing her body with his. He was larger than she remembered. A frisson of awareness and lust pierced her. She should have felt vulnerable at his obvious strength, instead exhilaration shot through her. He caressed her shoulders, down to her side with untamed hunger. He pressed a gentle kis
s to her lips, while one of his hands pushed her chemisette to her waist.
He cupped her core, pressing his palm with gentle force against her nub.
Sweet Lord.
A delicious wave of needed roiled through her body. “You promised to make me ache relentlessly. What are you waiting for?” she demanded nipping his bottom lips softly.
A groan pulsed from him, and a smile of satisfaction creased her lips. She loved that she affected him as much.