by Eliza Knight
Slowly Fin stood, leaving the man in the care of the younger lifeguard. He shook hands with several of the gawkers before making his way to her.
“Let’s go,” he murmured, taking her hand.
“You did a wonderful thing back there,” Kari said.
“No less than any man of my experience would do.” He brushed aside her compliment.
“Not true. Not every man would risk their own life for another. I think you’ve found your calling.”
As if in answer to her words, the young lifeguard ran up to them and handed Fin a business card. “Man, you’ve got to call my boss. He’s looking for a replacement since he’s retiring. I think you’d be a great lifeguard to work for. I’d love to learn to swim that fast, and the way you took control of the situation—wow. This beach could use a man like you.”
Fin’s eyebrows raised, and for the first time, a truly genuine smile broke his lips. Not a teasing smile, not a sensual smile, but a smile of hope, of excitement.
7
Six months later…
The moon shone above, casting silver fingers of light on the ocean below. Kari snuggled closer to Fin—cuddling beneath a blanket on top of a lifeguard stand. Fin was now “officially” known as Finley MacClintock—a citizen of the United States—as far as anyone would know considering his papers were doctored. He was also the general manager of the Ocean Valley Elite Lifeguards, a team of high-risk lifeguards. They not only guarded the beach but occasionally boated the waters to make sure all was safe.
And, as it turns out, they wanted a full-time nurse on staff as well to help with any patients in addition to training the guards in life-saving skills. Kari—now Kari MacClintock—was only all too happy to take the position. The last six months had been the happiest of her life.
“I do not think I will ever get over the taste of that barbecue pulled pork between slices of bread,” Fin said in his thick brogue. “And the ale…’Tis so much better than the watered-down stuff.” He picked up a bottle of dark beer and drained it.
“I don’t think I’ll get used to watching you eat it,” Kari said with a smirk, reaching over to wipe a bit of sauce from the corner of his mouth.
And neither would the servers. Fin had a way about him when he ate food. He closed his eyes and savored every bite, sometimes eliciting a moan or two in the process. When he opened his eyes, they were filled with such pleasure that it rivaled the looks he gave her while they made love. Which was why she’d insisted on carryout tonight, and eating beneath the stars on the beach.
Just the thought of lying naked with Fin had her body reacting, nipples hard and aching, her core pulsing, and her sex growing slick. Kari pushed their dinner out of her way.
She was glad she’d decided on a dress tonight—no panties. She slid in to straddle his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. His body was warm and hard beneath hers, his cock already thick as it pressed through his shorts against her center. She smiled. He was always hard and ready for her.
“Now, let me taste you,” she said, brushing her lips over his.
Fin reached up, stroking her spine and then threading his fingers through her hair. She shivered, hungry for what Fin had in store for her.
“The best thing that ever happened to me was falling at your feet,” he said, his lips brushing along the column of her neck.
Kari tilted her head to the side to better feel his lips and tongue along the flesh of her neck. She craved his lips on her. Already frissons of pleasure raced from the place his tongue swiped all the way down to her bud.
“Thank God for Gordana,” Kari whispered back, nipping at his shoulder. His skin tasted of salt and spice.
She slid her hands under his shirt, pulling it up over his head and then caressing over the sculpted expanse of his chest, letting the thin, light hairs tickle her palms. Even now, having made love dozens and dozens of times, she still delighted in the feel of him. She kissed his chest, pinched his nipple, then licked the stiff peak. Fin’s flesh trembled beneath her fingers and tongue. A low growl from his throat.
“And for miracles.” Fin’s hands roamed over her legs, skating beneath her dress to grip her bare ass. “And for your arse…so smooth and round.” He dipped his head, tugging her dress down with his teeth to expose a hardened nipple. “Mmm…”
Kari’s head fell back as he laved at her nipple, sucking, nipping. While he worked at her breasts, a finger dipped into her slick woman’s flesh.
“Oh!” she moaned.
He stroked her inside, delving deep, and then he withdrew. She rocked against him, craving his finger back inside her. She wanted to touch him—needed to feel the flesh of his cock against her palm. The man was hers, fallen from heaven to make her life a dream come true. She undid the button and zipper on his shorts and pulled his stone-hard cock free. She loved the way he felt in her hand, heavy, thick. Wrapping her fingers around the hot base, she glided upward, over the head.
Fin moaned deep in his throat and sucked harder at her nipple. Encouraged by his reaction, she stroked his cock faster, squeezing gently along his thick flesh. God, he was big, his skin so silky.
She rubbed the head of his cock against her wet folds, repeating the action across her sex. Her hands shook, her body quivered with desire, and she moaned with pleasure.
“I want you,” she whispered as he lifted his face to kiss her mouth.
“I want ye too. I need ye, lass.”
“No more than I need you.”
“’Tis debatable.” He slipped the head of his cock inside her, and she clenched her thighs tight.
“Tell me again…” she whimpered, not letting him enter her farther.
“I need ye,” he said gruffly. “I want to thrust deep inside ye, hear ye scream.”
She let him in another inch. “Tell me more…tell me what you said earlier.” Her voice caught on a moan as the thumb on his other hand stroked over the heat of her.
“I love ye, lass.”
She cried out, unclenching her thighs and permitting him to thrust home. When his cock was buried deep inside her, she swept her tongue over his lips, nibbling on his lower lip. She was filled, stretched, and pulses of pleasure consumed her. “I love you too.”
He pulled out slowly, then drove deep inside again. Kari’s head fell back, a loud moan escaping from between her lips. Fin continued his exquisite slow torture. Kari’s legs shook; her breathing hitched. She could no longer speak, only moan. This was how it was every time they were together. He took her breath, made her believe in magic.
Their bodies rocked as one, his hips rising to thrust, and she sank down to take him all in. They undulated back and forth, up and down. Their movements were slow, their kisses lazy, neither one wanting to end this perfect night. They made love beneath the moonlight on the beach. The place where Fin had once wished he were, he would always be.
Just when Kari thought she might die from the erotic pressure building inside her, Fin gripped both of her hips with his warm hands and set a purposeful, stronger pace.
He murmured dirty things against her ear as his tongue licked at the flesh of her neck. With every word she felt herself climbing closer and closer to the brink of an orgasm.
“Ye’re so wet for me, baby, so tight. I’m going to fuck ye ’til your legs shake, and ye scream out again and again.”
But she was already screaming, and her legs were already shaking. Pure ecstasy consumed her, ruled her. Her mind was blank to anything but his thrusting cock, his heavy hands at her hips, his tongue on her skin. Well there was one other thing—undying love for this man. If he asked her to give over her soul, she would. This man who’d given up any chance of finding his world for her.
“Tell me when ye come, baby,” he murmured, biting at her earlobe.
She gasped, nearly choking on her breath as the first trembling of an orgasm began. “I’m coming!”
“Oh aye, ye are,” he growled and thrust harder, faster.
Kari could no longer keep up wit
h his pace and let his hands guide her hips as her body exploded in the most intense orgasm she’d ever experienced. She shrieked, her fingernails digging into his sinewy shoulders, her thighs clenching tight. Her sensitive flesh vibrated with pleasure while her insides quaked.
“I can feel ye coming,” he groaned. “I’m right there with ye.”
Keeping one hand to guide her hips, his other hand grasped her head and pulled her low for a tongue-thrusting, carnal kiss. A kiss that told her just how much he wanted her, enjoyed her body, loved her. Fin shuddered between her thighs as he bucked upward with a frenzy, a guttural groan in his throat. She rode him breathlessly until his movements slowed, the warmth of his seed filling her insides.
She collapsed against him, her face pressed to his chest. When she finally could catch her breath, she glanced at his face. He gave her a lazy, sated smile, his eyelids still heavy with pleasure. Threading her fingers in his hair at the nape of his neck, she tugged him for a tender kiss.
What Kari had thought would be an adventurous tryst with a Highlander had turned into a very meaningful, emotionally enriching relationship—one that would never end. For here she was in the lap of her warrior husband. He made her feel safe, comforted, cared for. And she couldn’t ask for anything more than that. True happiness was wrapped around her heart, body and soul.
“Are you happy here?” Kari asked the question she’d voiced often. Needing every so often to hear the words and assure herself that he had no regrets.
Fin’s answer, patient and kind, was always the same, just as it was tonight. “Aye, love.”
“You know, if we could figure out a way to go back to 1243, I would go with you.”
“I know ye would.” He kissed the top of her head, his fingers dancing up and down her arm as he held her. “But there’s nothing left for me there. My life is here, with ye.”
“Are you so sure about that?” Kari pushed away slightly, and reached for her purse. She’d been waiting for just the right time to present him with a special gift. “I have a present for you.”
Inside was another printout from the library, along with two airline tickets to Scotland. She handed him the packet she’d worked on putting together, just for him. On her way home from the grocery store a few days before, she’d had the sudden idea of swinging by the library, just to see if anything had changed in the MacClintock history. After all, when things happened in one dimension, didn’t it change what happened in another?
As it turned out, her hunch had been correct.
A quick call to a travel agent, and she had first class tickets book to her husband’s homeland.
Fin glanced at the sheet of paper, and she shined the flashlight of her phone on the information that was printed there. Thank goodness she’d learned how to search for the material herself, or else she would have had a lot of explaining to do to the librarian about how medieval history and the annihilation of a clan could change in the span of months. Who knows what she’d be accused of, if anything. But it wasn’t worth the headache.
“What is this?” Fin glanced at her eyes wide, then back down at the paper as he read. “Is this a hoax?”
“No. It’s true. It’s Fate.” Kari explained about how she’d gone to look out of curiosity.
“It says here that the MacClintocks were a clan who thrived, and an alliance was formed between them and the Douglas clan that spanned hundreds of years. The MacClintocks prospered until the modern era, and their castle is a British heritage site.”
“Yes, Fin. Your people, they didn’t perish. They thrived. Your castle is still standing, and people visit it every day to pay homage to your people.” She tapped the next page. “Look, that’s you.”
There on the paper, was a large portrait of Fin hanging over the hearth in the great hall. The caption stated that Fin was the fearless laird of the clan who led them into prosperity until he one day disappeared without a trace. That the clans had bonded together to search for him, to no avail.
“But how? How is that possible?”
Kari placed her hand over his heart. “Magic? What do you think?”
“Is it possible Gordana was able to put a spell on the Douglas to make him change his mind about his brutality, his need to conquer?”
Kari shrugged. “If she was able to send you back in time, maybe she was even able to go back in time herself to change the circumstances.”
“I suppose that is entirely possible.” Fin sounded hopeful. “I canna believe this… My people survived.”
“And they worshipped you. I have another surprise for you.” Kari held up the tickets. “We’re going to go to Scotland. To visit your land.”
Fin seemed at loss for words, staring at the paper. Even in the moonlight she could see that his eyes glistened when he glanced up at her.
“Thank ye, mo chridhe, thank ye so much.” He leaned in and kissed her hard, and when he drew away there was a bit of dampness on her cheeks from his tears.
She’d touched him so incredibly with her gift, that it brought tears of joy to her own eyes. The pain she’d known he held within him, she’d been able to heal, finally.
“What does mo chridhe mean?” she asked.
“My heart, my love.” He swallowed hard, the lump in his throat bobbing. “I’ve never told ye the words that Gordana spoke right before the Douglas was about to take my head. She said: Travel to a place where love rings true…Where two souls join as one…Let not time nor bounds stop love from interpreting each soul.”
Kari was stunned speechless.
“She sent me to ye, lass. Fate knew we should be together. But I didna believe it, not with the torment I’d left behind. Ye stole my heart, though, mo chridhe, through and through. That is no magic.”
“And you stole mine, probably from the moment you first spoke.” Kari stroked his cheek. “Though nearly eight-hundred years separated us, there was no stopping what we’ve got.”
Fin chuckled. “Not at all.” He held up the tickets. “Does this mean we’re getting into another massively large metal beast?”
Kari laughed so hard tears came to her eyes. “Consider it our honeymoon. We barely got one since we both started working for the Elite pretty much the day after our wedding.”
“Ye have no idea how excited I am to show ye my world, now that ye’ve shown me yours.”
“I can’t wait to see it through your eyes. Though I warn you, there will be a lot changed from what you remember.” She tucked a lock of his hair behind his ear.
“More metal boxes?” He winged a brow.
“Yup.” Kari chuckled. “But they still have plenty of ale, whisky, fish and chips.”
Fin grinned, pure joy radiating from his features. “I do love all of those things, and it will be even better when I get to share them with ye.”
“Good. We leave in the morning. And don’t worry, I’ve already told our boss that we’ll be gone for two weeks.”
Fin grimaced. “A fortnight? I dinna think I can take off that much time. How did he take it?”
“Just fine, I promise. You can and you will. We’ve left them more than prepared to work without us.”
They cleaned up their mess from dinner, and climbed down the lifeguard stand, heading toward Kari’s car, only this time it was Fin behind the wheel. He weaved gracefully in and out of traffic until they reached the cozy beach bungalow they’d rented, a space of their own without the sour memory of her past relationship to ruin any moments they had together.
“I’m so proud of you,” she said when they climbed out of the vehicle. “You’ve really adapted so well to modern times.”
“Lass, anyone who’s had to wipe their arse with moss can adapt to toilet paper. And dinna get me started on the hot showers… I used to swim in a frigid loch.”
“Technically you’re still swimming in frigid waters,” she pointed out.
“True, but at least now it’s by choice. And, speaking of warm showers…” He tucked her close against him in front of their doo
r, the key dangling in the lock. “I have ye to warm me up.”
Kari laughed. “You’re a dream come true.”
“Nay, lass, we were meant to be.”
Don’t miss out on the next book in Eliza Knight’s Touchstone series: Highland Heat
Sixteenth-century Highland Laird Camden MacLeod wakes up in the modern world. Confused with his surroundings, he haphazardly throws on his kilt and goes in search of whoever has played such a foul trick on him. What he finds instead is beyond tempting…
Amanda Bennett is thoroughly exploring the medieval Scottish castle she’s rented for her best friend’s bachelorette party. Not only does an oddly shaped stone in tower catch her fancy—it somehow brings her dream man to life.
* * *
Have you read the other books in the series?
Highland Steam
Highland Brawn
About the Author
Eliza (E.) Knight is an award-winning and USA Today bestselling author of over fifty sizzling historical romance and rip-your-heart-out historical fiction. While not reading, writing or researching for her latest book, she chases after her three children. In her spare time (if there is such a thing…) she likes daydreaming, wine-tasting, traveling, hiking, staring at the stars, watching movies, shopping and visiting with family and friends. She lives atop a small mountain with her own knight in shining armor, three princesses and two very naughty puppies. Visit Eliza at http://www.elizaknight.com or her historical blog History Undressed: www.historyundressed.com. Sign up for her newsletter to get news about books, events, contests and sneak peaks! http://eepurl.com/CSFFD
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