Bottoms Up (Getting Lucky)

“This is a somewhat new addition. It was a small courtyard originally, but the owner wanted tae renovate it and make it a large greenhouse.” He stepped up beside me, and I instantly smelled the very potent, masculine scent that came from him. “It was unveiled in 2017. They kept the original name, which was the Sun’s Eye Garden.”

I could definitely see why they’d call it that. I bet the morning light hit this part so incredibly that it was like heaven coming down to kiss the flowers.

We continued to walk the cobblestone path, and I took in the small fountain with pebble mosaic work in the center, the trickling sound lulling. The entire scene was like this drugging dream. The sights and sounds, the smells... it all had me relaxing, that scorching desire I’d felt for Cillian from the moment I saw him like being struck by lightning.

I stopped by the fountain and stared down at the twinkling water, the moon’s light casting shreds of diamonds across the water. This entire time had been the most incredible experience. I felt like I was floating, drifting through these fields of pleasure and want the likes of which I’d never experienced.

“This is one of the most magical things I’ve seen in my twenty-five years,” I whispered as I reached out and let my fingers dance across the water. When he didn’t answer, I looked over my shoulder at him. The way he stood back, leaning against a stone wall, the shadows concealing him but his gaze on me like a fierce fire, had a gasp leaving me.

“And in my thirty-three years, I’ve never seen anyone as captivating as ye, Aoife.”

I shivered at the way he said my name in that Scottish brogue. Eeee-faaa. He dragged out the letters, let them roll across his tongue, and I swore I felt them.

We were in this kind of trance, neither one of us breaking the stare, my arousal seeming to race to the surface even harder. He just looked so strong and intimidating, so powerful.

He looked so male.

I felt goose bumps move along my arms, and I forced myself not to fidget, not to twitch under his gaze, but when he pushed off the wall and started making his way toward me, I found myself taking a step back.

A little voice in my head said maybe this was too fast, too intense to be real. We didn’t really know each other. But I couldn’t deny the physical attraction that was so electrifying it left me burned, blackened, and singed to a molecular level.

That little voice whispered again that maybe I felt this way toward Cillian, because I was a virgin, inexperienced in all things. Maybe my libido was just too worked up, because he was too intense. Maybe he was just too male, and I was just too female to resist.

I didn’t want to do the latter though. I wanted to explore where this went, to feel him pressed against me, to give him something I’d never given to anybody else.

It was crazy. Insane. It went beyond reason. It feels so right.

I reached behind me and curled my hands around the stone edging of the fountain, splashes of water trickling up against the back of my hands. He was only a foot from me now, my head craned back so I could look into his face, his blue eyes boring into mine.

We stood there another heartbeat, the sexual tension moving between us like a derailed freight train. And then he lifted his hand and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, the tips of his fingers brushing against my cheekbone.

My eyes fluttered closed, and a shiver wracked my body. I was pretty sure I moaned, which should’ve embarrassed me, but I couldn’t feel anything but searing desire.

I felt his fingers ease down my arm and tease my wrist before he pulled it toward him, twining our fingers together. I let another sexual sound leave me, not caring what it all meant, only caring that this experience was incredibly powerful.

“Look at me, Aoife.”

I blinked open my eyes, not even realizing I closed them again because of his touch. It felt like this hazy, drugged sensation was creating a veil in front of me, taking away all reason and rationale. I felt lost with Cillian.

I never want to be found.

“I want tae kiss you so badly, Aoife.”

I was having a hard time breathing and felt my pulse beat rapidly at the base of my throat. I felt like butterfly wings had taken residence in my belly, this wave of adrenaline washing through me, the kind that had my hands shaking and my face heating.

Cillian’s eyes dipped down to look at my mouth, and it took all my power not to lick my lips under his gaze. His stare was so powerful it was like he was reaching out and touching me, stroking those masculine, big fingers along the soft flesh of my bottom lip.