Part 11 (1/2)
His fingers trailed lazily up my bare thigh and skirted just beneath the tail of his s.h.i.+rt. It was as if fire coursed through my veins as his fingers teased my skin, awakening my nerve endings.
Devon continued his a.s.sault of my senses as he leisurely placed kisses up and down my neck.
Oh how this man affects me. I think I'm falling in love with you Devon McClain.
He scooped me up effortlessly and laid me on the ma.s.sive bed. His eyes blazed with pa.s.sion and I was relieved to see that his earlier look of worry was long gone, the weight no longer heavy on his shoulders from his meeting with Collin.
He settled on top of me, supporting his weight with his elbows. The fire cast a warm glow on his face, and as he looked down at me and brushed my hair tenderly back behind my ear, I felt wanted, cherished and almost loved.
”I could watch ye like this forever,” he whispered, tracing the line of my lips with his thumb. ”How I want ye, Kate,” his words were strained.
I reached up and put a hand on his chest, feeling his heart thunder beneath my palm.
”Ye do that tae me. Only ye can do that tae me Kate,” he said, reaching up and placing his hand over mine, holding my palm to his heart.
”You do that to me too,” I said boldly, moving our hands to my own heart, closing my eyes as I savored the feeling of his palm against the skin between my b.r.e.a.s.t.s.
He groaned appreciatively and moved his hand to cup my breast through the thin linen of his s.h.i.+rt. I gasped in surprise as his touch sent s.h.i.+vers of pleasure down my spine.
He looked down at me, watching me respond to his touch. His thumb grazed lightly over my nipple and I moaned softly, never having felt such a pleasurable sensation.
Devon smiled approvingly and bent down to kiss me softly, he ran his tongue over my bottom lip asking for entrance to my mouth. I opened my mouth in invitation and he deepened the kiss. I felt his desire for me building as his tongue dueled with mine, with each thrust of his tongue into my mouth his kiss grew more needful, more pressing.
His thumb flicked lightly over my nipple again and I cried out with pleasure, not being able to contain myself under his sweet torment. Devon growled deeply in his throat and took my nipple between his thumb and forefinger, driving me to the brink of insanity.
”Devon!” I cried out against his lips, my breathing ragged and my voice nearly unrecognizable as my own.
His hips pressed against me in response to his name. My body reacted instantly, surging my hips up to meet his. His fingers left my breast and slid down the length of my body.
No! Don't stop...please don't stop!
I sighed in relief as he worked his way up under the tail of my s.h.i.+rt, gliding his fingers over my flushed skin and back up to my breast. The feeling of his fingers against my bare skin without the barrier of the linen s.h.i.+rt was exquisite.
When his fingers returned to my breast and he began to tease my nipple skin to skin, I became wild with desire, calling out his name again and pressing my hips up against him again. I had never before felt such delicious pa.s.sion and I threw my head back against the pillow, succ.u.mbing to Devon's expert fingers as they played my breast.
Devon trailed kisses down my neck as he continued to tease my sensitive nipple with his fingers. His breath was warm above my breast and his lips hovered just above his skilled fingers as his eyes watched me respond to his touch. His mouth came down on my nipple through the linen fabric and I came undone. The sensation of his wet mouth on my breast was so foreign, so arousing. I arched my back in response to his a.s.sault and when I thought that I could take no more, he began to suckle through the fabric, teasing my nipple with his tongue and his teeth.
My hands were everywhere, clawing his back, running through his hair, pulling him closer.
His teeth nipped playfully at me through the fabric and his eyes met mine. They were clouded with desire. He smiled that lopsided smile as he continued to torment my nipple with his fingers. Playfully, he blew on the wet fabric, and I inhaled sharply as the chill of his breath caused a tantalizing sensation on my skin.
”Ye like that do ye?” he whispered devilishly, as he held eye contact with me and s.h.i.+fted the neckline of his s.h.i.+rt so as to bare my breast. His palm cupped me and he again flicked his thumb gently over my nipple, eliciting a groan from me at I antic.i.p.ated his sweet torment. ”Yes,” I whispered, unashamed that I did like what he was doing to me.
Ever so slowly, he brought his mouth down to my breast, taking me into his mouth a flesh against flesh. I writhed in ecstasy beneath him, as his tongue licked my sensitive skin and caused my nipple to harden with arousal. I came undone when he began so suckle, growling deep in his throat.
He groaned loudly and suckled my naked breast, teasing me with his tongue and biting me gently. He wors.h.i.+ped my body with unflagging joy, finding his own pleasure by giving pleasure to me.
”Oh my sweet Katherine,” he growled, pressing himself against me.
I froze, tensing beneath him. My pa.s.sion was instantly gone, and my thoughts sprung back to reality.
”What's wrong, sweetheart?” he asked, now looking up at me with concerned worry in his green eyes.
I watched as the pa.s.sion faded from his eyes. His overwhelming concern for me, his innocence in this situation coupled with the fact that he had just cried out her name brought my walls cras.h.i.+ng down.
He's falling in love with her. With Katherine Berks.h.i.+re, not me.
Hot tears stained my cheeks and I sat up abruptly, covering myself with his s.h.i.+rt. Devon looked confused, hurt and unsure of how to proceed. He raised a hand to touch me and then thought better of it, retracting his hand and placing it on the bed between us.
Seeing him like this was painful. It was all because of my lies.
”I'm sorry, Kate,” he whispered, raking a hand through his just-tousled hair. ”I've pushed ye tae soon, and I'm sorry.” His eyes searched mine for a response and he still did not more to touch me.
I wiped away my tears and looked away from him, biting my lip. I remembered how that drove him wild, and promptly stopped biting my lip.
”It's not you, Devon...it's alright. You didn't do anything wrong,” I stammered, fl.u.s.tered by my overreaction. ”It's just that my father used to call me that a Katherine, and...”
”Hush, love, it's alright,” he said as he cautiously brushed my hair back from my face, gauging how I would react to his touch. Seeing that I did not flinch or move away from him, he reached up and wiped the remnants of my tears away with his thumbs. ”Ye doona need tae explain it tae me now,” he purred, gentling me and gathering me softly against his chest.
I was so confused. I had let down my guard with Devon, had almost been successful at forgetting about Katherine Berks.h.i.+re. I was so embarra.s.sed by my overreaction and I wondered what Devon must be thinking about me now.
”Lay yer head, la.s.s,” he whispered as he rubbed my back soothingly and settled me next to him in the ma.s.sive bed.
I curled against him, feeling supported and safe. His hands stroked my skin rea.s.suringly, but I could tell that he had been caught off guard by my unexpected reaction.
”Hush, Kate...everything's going tae be alright. I'm here now,” he whispered.
My heart wrenched at his statement. There was simply no way that everything was going to be alright. It was only a matter of time...
Chapter Eleven.
”No, no, no! Not like that!” Leti exclaimed, dropping her own knitting into her lap and grabbing my hands, which were hopelessly twisted in the grips of the tangled yarn.
”Urrghhh,” I grumbled in frustration.
”Ye wrap the yarn with this hand,” she instructed, firmly holding my left hand in the correct position, ”And then ye use the point of the needle in yer right hand to come from behind the yarn and loop it,” she continued, guiding the movement of my hands. She guided me through a few more slow, tedious st.i.tched, then cautiously removed her hands from guiding mine, eyes remaining watchful as I tried to follow her instruction.
The yarn felt foreign between my fingers, and I couldn't quite wrap my brain around how exactly one was to hold the knitting needles, and the yarn, and loop the yarn, while still holding both the needles. There was simply too much going on, and I needed at least one more if not two more hands to make this knitting thing possible. Slowly, and cautiously, I churned out two more st.i.tches under Leti's watchful eye.
”There ye go,” she encouraged, picking up her knitting, and resuming the clicking sound that the needles made as she knitted the yarn into something useful.
”Can't I just buy him socks?” I questioned.
”Hmmph,” Leti snorted, clearly disapproving of the fact that her new sister-in-law was completely incompetent in all of the womanly arts. ”That would cost a fortune, Kate! Every girl learns to knit in the Highlands. I still can't fathom how ye never learned to klickit. What did ye do all winter?”
”If only you knew,” I muttered under my breath. Thoughts of reading next to a cozy fire danced in my head. In England, I had enjoyed a life of privilege and never had the need to learn ordinary skills such as knitting. Suddenly, I was ashamed at just how spoiled my upbringing had been. In a place as rugged as the Highlands, my skill set was utterly useless.