Naughty Brits: An Anthology

by Sarah MacLean

  Oh, he looked like an elf prince or the devil himself.

  “Elspeth,” he said, and she felt his voice touch her, slipping along the cold bare skin of her arms and legs, upwards and inwards, gathering in a tight, hot bow right in her belly.

  She walked to the patio, stepped up the slight rise, and looked down at him. “You’re awake early,” she said lightly, trying for blithe.

  “Jet lag,” he said, snapping the lighter closed again. He didn’t move at all to straighten his shoulders or move his long legs. But his eyes, impossibly dark in the pre-dawn gray, looked slowly at Elspeth’s entire being, and she clenched her fingers around the tray too hard.

  “Isn’t it the middle of the night in the States?” she challenged, to put herself on firmer ground.

  He smiled dark and slow. “Okay, beautiful. Jet lag and insomnia.”

  “Maybe if you didn’t smoke, you’d sleep better.”

  Daniel caressed the lighter with his thumb, the air around him thick with sorrow, then tucked it into the pocket of his slacks. Same ones from yesterday. But he wore a thick sweater over the slacks, and his shoes were polished black military boots, one cuff half tucked in, the other slumped over his laces. “It isn’t mine,” he said abruptly.

  Then he drew up his legs, planting his boots solidly on the patio. He leaned forward, gaze down. “It was my friend Alvin’s. He died three years ago this Tuesday.”

  “I’m sorry,” Elspeth whispered, gutted by the years. Her dad had been dead the same amount of time.

  “I sleep worse this time of year, since.” He lifted his eyes, and in the dim pre-dawn they looked to have a swirl of grief, until he spread his lovely mouth in a smile. “But I was glad to have your book, keeping me company.”

  Elspeth returned his gentle smile. “Oh, good. I hope you liked it.”

  “Got me rather hot and bothered, too,” Daniel added.

  “Oh,” Elspeth said again, the tray of scones cutting into her stomach, she pressed it so hard.

  He stood. “What’s this?” he asked, moving close enough only the tray kept them apart. She had to look up just a little bit. Rising silver-gray light softened the cut of his jaw and she found a cool glint in those bitter-chocolate eyes. Last night, she’d put him around thirty years old, but in this moment, he was ageless and perfect as that elf prince she’d imagined.

  “Scones from my mum,” she murmured. “For your breakfast.”

  “Can I help you with them?”

  Elspeth nodded wordlessly, and Daniel took the tray, but he didn’t back off. Her tongue was dry, and she didn’t want the eerie, timeless moment to end.

  A breeze blew and Elspeth shivered noticeably.

  Daniel frowned. “You’re cold. Do you . . . want a jacket?”

  She smiled at the helpless-sounding offer. “I just need to get going on my run. Want to come?”

  Surprise at her own invitation kept her lips parted after the last word. She never had company for her runs—for three years they’d been her time to expunge whatever anger and grief plagued her most, so she could put it aside and help her mum or run The Fort. It had been more than a year since she’d broken down in sobs halfway up the mountain, but she still needed the routine to herself.

  Daniel’s eyes shifted down to her mouth, then back to her widened eyes. He started to decline.

  “No, I mean it,” Elspeth insisted. She nodded firmly. She did mean it, she wanted him to say yes, wanted him to go with her. “Go with me. Exercise helps with insomnia, too!” she added the last as a cheerful challenge. She’d wager he couldn’t back down from a challenge.

  “Okay, I’ll take these in and put on the right shoes,” he said, turning with the tray of scones.

  Elspeth followed into the warm guesthouse, feeling like the world was tipping under her feet.

  Chapter Four

  Daniel did not know why he’d told her about the lighter. Or Alvin.

  No, he did know, and since his therapist liked to say he couldn’t work through his trauma if he couldn’t be honest with himself about what he felt when, Daniel forced himself to admit he’d told her because he’d wanted to. He felt like if Elspeth Gwenlan gave him half a chance, he’d never stop talking. He’d tell her whatever she’d listen to, just so she’d stay close, stay looking at him in that hungry, sultry way.

  He didn’t remember the last time he’d craved confession.

  As long as he didn’t confess he worked for Pella. It was too late for that now, after not coming out with it last night.

  He dashed upstairs and pulled on Army sweats, a T-shirt and his trainers. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes before he jogged back down to find Elspeth hugging her bare arms while she talked to Agatha Priddy, her back to him.

  The spandex shorts she wore were so tight he could see the imprint of the line of her panties pressing the flesh of her ass, and he wanted to bury his face in it. Kneel down, peel off the spandex, grab her thighs, and lift her up so she had to brace forward on the counter, and find out what Elspeth tasted like.

  God, he was hard just thinking it, and hadn’t even touched her yet.

  Agatha said, “Daniel, take one of my water bottles, this one refuses.”

  Cold panic flashed through him.

  He’d forgotten the older woman was even in the kitchen, and she was standing right there. He’d not been aware of everything in the room—he had to stay aware. If he didn’t keep track of every inch of space around him—

  But it was only a damned guesthouse. This was Wales. Nothing was going to explode.

  Fuck this anniversary.

  “It isn’t that far, Agatha,” Elspeth said, turning to flash him a grin. Her reddish-brown flyaway hair was in two short pigtails, and when her gilded eyes met his, Daniel felt his chest loosen. He was fine. Everything was fine.

  With a half-smile, he said to Agatha, “I’ll have to defer to my guide on this one, Mrs. Priddy.”

  “Off we go, then,” Elspeth sang, actually pushing on his chest to back him away.

  Before he could do much more than register her hands on him, brushing against his nipple through the T-shirt, they were out the door and into the cold dawn, and Elspeth jogged past him.

  “Come on!” she said, and took off.

  Daniel took a deep breath of the cold air and followed. Behind her, he had an excellent view of her long legs, that delicious ass, waist pinched in by her spandex, and the soft dips of her back where her sports bra bound her tight. He wanted his hands all over her. It was so good to simply want.

  He was going to fuck this up. Honestly, he reminded himself, I already have.

  That relaxed him a little bit more. If he’d already ruined his chances by not telling her who he was, he didn’t have anything to lose.

  Elspeth led him northwest out of town, and thanks to his memorization of the Ordnance Survey, he knew the road she turned onto would wind up the small mountain. The pavement crumbled into hard, furrowed mud, twisting between trees. Under the canopy it was dark, and he saw the little flashes of reflectors on her trainers.

  The road was steep, and it wasn’t long before he had to concentrate on the exercise instead of the way her body bounced. Elspeth kept her pace, never flagging, though she did glance back at him sometimes and smile. She seemed so pleased he was there, exactly the same distance behind her; it pleased him in turn. Time stretched, and the glow of dawn slowly soaked the forest. Birds tweeted, the breeze rustled the full, still-green leaves, and their footsteps crunched in perfect rhythm.

  When they burst out of the forest and onto a gorse-covered hillside, the sun flared on Elspeth’s hair, casting it gold and Daniel pushed harder to catch up with her. “Where are we headed?” he asked, voice rough from hard work and disuse.

  “There’s some ruins another quarter mile up,” she said, sounding like she’d been doing nothing more strenuous than a nature walk.

  “Sure,” he said, and couldn’t help adding, “You’re not even winded.”

&nb
sp; Elspeth laughed. “I usually sing full-out while I make that run, so this was a break.”

  “Sing!” That hadn’t been what he’d expected.

  She slowed down to a quick walk and her smile broke off as she looked away from him. “It keeps my lungs at their best potential, and is better than . . .”

  In her trailing quiet, Daniel thought he understood what she’d been about to say. Better than crying. There was a longing in how she stared out over the valley.

  Resisting the urge to touch her cheek, he followed her gaze. The valley was lush and dark green in most places, with a few gray slate roofs peeking out along the edges of town, and he could just see the open space where the village green had to be. The sky, though, was pink and orange and brilliant blue, with silver-edged clouds rippling near the horizon. Epic and open. Daniel took another deep breath, filling his own lungs, and thought about that: keeping her lungs in shape. A few things fell into place. “Opera,” he said.

  Startled, Elspeth looked at him. “How . . . I . . .” her mouth gaped adorably.

  Daniel moved closer to her, so their arms brushed. “I thought it was an odd choice for a tourist pub to be playing Italian opera.”

  “Oh, of course,” she said, and now she sounded breathless, which Daniel liked.

  He leaned nearer, holding her gaze for a longer moment. Her creamy cheeks had gone pink, and she suddenly took his hand, glancing down at it. Her fingers were cold and dry, and Daniel curled his around hers, ecstatic at the contact. It was barely anything, but he felt it down to his bones.

  She said, “I left school when my dad got sick, but I was studying opera, of all things. Nobody studies opera anymore.”

  Keeping hold of her hand, Daniel tugged her on again.

  They walked in silence for a moment, until she nodded at his sweatpants and said, “Were you in the Army? Are you . . . still?”

  It was stamped along his thigh. ARMY in bold proclamation. Daniel nodded. “For six years, but no, not anymore. Not since . . .”

  “Three years ago.” Next she’d ask what happened. “Why did you join?” she asked instead.

  Relieved, he quickly replied, “To piss off my folks.”

  Elspeth laughed brightly. She squeezed his hand.

  “It’s true,” Daniel smiled nostalgically, thinking of his stupid, defiant twenty-one-year-old self. “My family business is business, two generations before me, the self-made kind that has this sense we paid our dues a hundred years ago, so now the world owes us success. I hated it, and other than studying opera probably, the military horrified them most.”

  Her laugh this time was louder, but trailed off, and she said softly, “My dad didn’t understand opera, but it didn’t matter. He bought me this soundtrack to a movie—Children of Men, I saw it too young, I think, but I barely remember what happened, because I was so taken by the singing. It was opera, but eerie and disorienting. I asked to see the movie again and again and finally he realized what I truly wanted, and bought me the soundtrack. I repaid him by trying to sing it myself, while doing chores. I screeched like a cat, but I loved it. He told me I could work for singing lessons, and, well . . .”

  “Sing something for me,” Daniel said. “If I’m what’s keeping you from your morning song, don’t let that stop you.”

  Elspeth slid him a wry look, and when he kept his expression as open as possible, she pursed her lips.

  He was going to kiss her. It was the only thing he wanted more than to hear her sing.

  She let go of his hand and ran.

  Daniel chased after. He caught up around a bend, and Elspeth flashed her teeth at him, pushed harder, and he had to work to pull ahead. They both were laughing, gasping for breath, when suddenly Elspeth darted off the road, vaulted a crumbling stone wall, and landed hard in an overgrown, scraggly field. “Watch out for shit!” she called merrily as he scrambled after, grimacing as his trainers landed in damp grass. But he didn’t let it stop him.

  Elspeth had slowed, picking over the uneven ground.

  The smell of sheep lifted off the earth, though Daniel couldn’t see any. The hill bent up and away, and at the crest there were two big standing stones tipped against each other.

  Elspeth pointed and he nodded, and they trudged up the field.

  When they reached the stones, Elspeth immediately flattened her hand against one. She smiled almost tenderly, and he had the urge to disrupt the moment. Daniel put his hand on her back, just like she touched the rock.

  He felt her surprise, but she didn’t pull away. It was as if for that moment they were both part of the ruins, connected by touch and purpose and mystery.

  Then Elspeth slowly turned, letting his fingers trail along her shoulder, over it, and onto her collar.

  Pushing gently, Daniel backed her up until she was fully against the standing stone. Her chin tipped up, almost defiant, as she stood there, chest hardly rising though she breathed hard. He stared down, loving the play of sunlight on her hair, the way it plastered against the gritty gray rock, and her flushed cheeks. The skin beneath his splayed fingers was so pale he could see its flush, too. His eyes drifted lower over the shell-pink exercise top to tightly bound breasts. That sports bra, the tight pants, they looked good, but they’d be a bitch to get into. Especially on this inhospitable hillside. Would she even let him try? He slid his thumb along the edge of her shirt. At her soft inhale, he looked at her eyes again. She stared intently at him. Waiting. She was nearly as tall as him, so he didn’t have to lean down, just bend toward her.

  Then Elspeth lifted her hands, grabbing his shoulders.

  The breeze was cold, pinching his sweat and reminding him just how warm he was, his body thrumming with race adrenaline. Her fingers dug into his T-shirt, then she slid them to his neck, nails scraping the nape, and Daniel kissed her.

  Her mouth was hot and sweet, and she opened up immediately, lifting herself onto her toes like she was eating him for breakfast. Daniel groaned low in his chest and pressed full against her, moving his hand from her collar down over a breast and her ribs, and he took her thick hips in both hands, grateful for the spandex. She arched against him, her mouth demanding his attention again with slow, eager kisses.

  He tugged her bottom lip with his teeth, then kissed her jaw, nuzzling to her ear and whispered, “Sing for me.”

  Elspeth grasped at his hair, where it was too short, and her nails scraped lightly again and again.

  “Sing something,” he repeated, then bit her earlobe.

  Her gentle cry was almost like a song.

  Working along her neck, he kissed and sucked, holding her hips firmly against him. He groaned again at the pressure on his cock, how warm she was, with only thin material between them.

  “Oh,” she whispered.

  Daniel caught her mouth again, sweeping his lips against hers, dipping inside. Her arms wrapped around his neck now, all her weight against him or the standing stone.

  He kissed lightly at the corner of her mouth and insisted, “Sing.”

  Her smile curved against his own. “I’m busy,” she murmured, pulling herself up, sliding one thigh up his.

  Grabbing that thigh, he moved his other hand to her ass and picked her up properly, pressing his hard cock right at her center.

  Elspeth gasped a perfect, singsong note, rolling her hips to rub against him.

  “There you go,” he managed, catching her eye. “A song just for me.”

  With a moan that vibrated through her and into him, she hid her face in his neck, tightening her thighs around his hips. She was laughing softly.

  Daniel rocked against her again, and she moved with him, her whole body working. All he had to do was support her, hands on that ass; he could feel the muscles through the flesh, soft and hard and soft as she flexed into him, and his breath fluttered. Elspeth put her lips to his ear and deliberately sang a soft, “ah,” shifting herself on him, giving him exactly what he’d asked for, and goddamn did he want inside her.

  “Elspeth,”
he said, and her head fell back, revealing her throat. He put his lips to the hollow and dragged up, biting just enough she moaned again and rocked faster against him. He could feel himself tightening, feel the close, closer, hot sinking feeling before he came and he couldn’t believe it. “Elspeth,” he said again, surprise lightening the tone.

  She nodded, and didn’t stop nodding, and swiveled her hips. “Yes,” she said, and her hands were lost in his hair, scrambling over his ears, cupping his face, and she tugged until he met her eyes. Elspeth’s were wide, bright with the rising sun, and she moved still, her lips apart, gasping little notes of passion, the best song he’d ever heard, faster and faster, eyes locked to his until he was terrified of what she might see. Just before he could no longer bear it, her eyes fell shut and her brow wrinkled and she stopped moving, holding still with her pussy pressed perfectly hot on him. A shiver ripped through her, and she sighed.

  Daniel kissed her mouth, and moved himself, rubbing in longer strokes. She wiggled, but held on, and it was easy for him to coax her into meeting his long strokes with her own, her body looser now, and her movements languorous, teasing almost. “Daniel,” she said, and it sounded like a promise. God, he wanted inside her. He wanted—he was so close to her skin, barely separated, and he imagined it, the hot opening very ready for him, slick and pink and eager.

  “I’ll sing you a better song,” she murmured, squeezing her thighs. “Come on, darling, I promise. If you come for me.”

  Her voice was deeper, the words so sexy and commanding, and it rattled something loose in him. He wanted to give her what she wanted, do exactly as she ordered, to feel her clenching around him. “I want—I want to be inside you.”

  “Me too,” she answered, kissing his jaw. “It would be so good,” she said. “So good. Come for me like this, and later—later it’ll be my mouth on you.”

  “Elspeth,” he said, almost begging, and she licked at his mouth, offering her tongue to him, then she pulled his bottom lip into hers and sucked.

  The orgasm hit and he groaned, nearly dropping her as his body jerked again and again. But he held on, and she held on, arms wrapped about his head, riding it with him. He put one hand against the standing stone, shuddering, pressing her between the rock and him, as if they could both melt into it.