Men of Sherwood (A Rogue's Tale Book 1)

by Sarah Luddington

  The kiss deepened and I found Robin pushing me back into the mattress but he didn’t lie on me, instead he made certain to keep his weight to one side, just allowing one hand to rove across my waist and ribs over my shirt. When he broke off from the kiss we both trembled.

  “I cannot take much more of that, Will. You feel like Heaven in my arms,” he confessed.

  All of me yearned for more. “You feel like temptation in mine,” I said.

  He chuckled and I rolled onto my side so we could look into each other’s eyes. “I want to touch you.” I trailed my fingers over his chest, feeling the spring of almost reddish hair twist around the tips with gentle intent to keep them in place.

  “You can touch any part of me, Will. You are already touching parts of me that have lain barren for a long time.”

  My belly squirmed with nerves when I reached the top of his braies. I closed my eyes.

  His hand gripped mine. “No, if we do this, you look at me. I want to see everything about how you feel and I want you to see how you make me feel. I want to be the first man who makes you feel joy. I want to be your first, Will.” The earnest need in his expression surprised me and I felt a little more of my fear dissolve.

  “You are my first real kiss,” I confessed, my colour rising to warm my cheeks.

  “Really?”

  I smiled, shy now, my fingers still on his jutting hipbone. “I tried with a man, once, he was a little older than me. He’d stayed at the inn a few times and he seemed to like me. Bess understood my needs, though it was unspoken, but when he touched me, in the stables – it felt wrong, all wrong and not because he was a man, it just… He didn’t have any patience,” I finished, my voice fading.

  “He scared you?”

  I nodded, ashamed for my fear that day and all the times someone had flirted with me. “I became very good at being nice but closing men down. I couldn’t handle it. Every time I felt desire I would feel fear more and it would stop me in my tracks because I couldn’t risk a dangerous situation.”

  “This man scared you?”

  I nodded. In fact he’d almost raped me, but Bess heard the scuffle and had thrown him out, then wrapped me up and held me close as I wept. We’d never told anyone what had happened and she’d helped me recover.

  “You must tell me if I ever scare you like that, you must, Will. Promise me.” He held the back of my head, forcing me to look at him.

  “I promise.”

  “And I am so sorry I’ve scared you already.”

  “You’re never going to forgive yourself for what was an accident, are you?”

  He shook his head. “No, I will never forgive myself, and your scars, when I am given the gift of your naked body to feast on, are going to be a permanent reminder of how weak I can be when pushed to anger.”

  “You weren’t angry, Robin, you were scared. I scared you because that world – what you once were, what you are supposed to be – scares you and I understand why.”

  He leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. “We should sleep.”

  I had to admit the moment for gentle exploration seemed to have fled. I nodded and Robin asked me to roll over so he could mould himself to my back. The weight of his arm over my ribs, and his palm against my heart, made the world feel safer than I’d known it since my mother had died. Robin was an oasis of peace in my life.

  11

  I WOKE WITH AN awareness of something large and solid trying to burrow into my left arse cheek. As I shifted away Robin’s arm tightened around my waist and he huffed into my neck. A shiver of fear travelled through me. Would he wake before trying to satisfy his lust? Would I have to fight him off? I wasn’t ready for this and the swell of panic made my chest heave in its attempt to find enough air.

  “Will? You alright?” A sleepy response, more murmuring than words.

  “I need to take a piss,” I said.

  A grunt, his arm sliding from my waist and he rolled onto his back. I glanced over my shoulder and saw he slept again. I rose and hurried to the back part of the cave. My unruly emotions made me ashamed, as I had no reason to fear Robin, other than experience from my life before him, but the past coloured the present and it burned through me. Once I’d finished I returned to the sleeping area and checked on Tuck. He lay on his face, still trapped by the peace of sleep. I looked at my bed and the large, rough-hewn, golden man who lay there. In sleep Robin’s face relaxed and he looked years younger, the cynicism, anger, and his guarded approach to life were gone. Over the last few days his reddish beard had become a little unruly, and his russet blond hair looked streaked with a thousand shades of sunlight and fire. The scar made him seem vulnerable when the hard blue of his eyes weren’t focused on you.

  I thought about the man who had saved his life, Ghaalib, an Arab and a Muslim, a lover and friend. Robin’s heart must have broken a thousand times over Ghaalib’s loss and death. If he ever gave it to me it would be with the scars of his lost love forever trapped in its fragile depths.

  “I can hear you thinking, Will. Come back to bed. It’s early yet,” Robin muttered, one blue eye sliding open.

  “I think I should start the day, the horses need moving.”

  Robin rolled onto his elbow and propped his head in his hand. The muscles under his skin flexed and I swallowed hard. “The horses don’t need moving but if you feel safer getting the day started then that’s what we’ll do.”

  I huffed, looked at the ceiling of the cave, blackened from our fire, and grabbed my fear with both hands. “No, I would like to come back to bed,” I said, defiant and determined.

  Robin smiled and lifted the blankets and fur rug for me. Before I could second or third guess myself I strode back to the low bed and lay down. Robin’s smile widened and he lay down. “Relax, Will, I’m not going to jump on you. Just enjoy the peace and warmth of this moment.”

  I felt like an old maid, clutching the bedclothes to me while bad men robbed me blind.

  “Look at me,” Robin ordered in a low rumble.

  I turned my face towards him and looked into his deep eyes. They were full of compassion and tenderness. He traced a finger over my cheek. “Sorry,” I blurted.

  “Don’t… You never have to be sorry with me. I want you to feel something for me other than maddening desire and terrible fear, but that’s going to take time.”

  I felt like admitting I was feeling more than those two things already, but instinct kept my mouth shut. He kept stroking my cheek, then my brow and I closed my eyes. He tipped my face a little and I felt the lightest of kisses on the skin of my cheek. More kisses followed but he avoided my lips and moved to my neck. My body soon took over, needing more of his lips, tongue, teeth and as they explored I realised the small whimpers were coming from me. He snuffled into the space between my collarbone and neck, and I shivered again but not from fear. His left hand slid down my body and up, under my shirt. His rough fingers were ghost light but I found my hips rolling upwards, wanting more. My brain shut down, all I could think about was how to get more of Robin to touch more of me.

  “May I remove your shirt, Will?” he asked in my ear, earning another shiver.

  I nodded and was rewarded with a kiss, a deep, soul capturing kiss. He pushed the shirt up by rolling me partly onto his chest, so when it slipped over my head and our kiss had broken I lay over him. Our bare chests were touching for the first time and I wanted more of that springy prickle against my hairless flesh. I shifted over him, my hips touching his and he let his legs widen enough for one of mine to slide between his. His hardened cock rubbed against mine, our thin undergarments the only barrier. I had never felt my cock this hard and my balls pounded in time with my heart, aching and tight.

  Robin closed his eyes, placed both hands on my hips and rolled up against me, holding me down so as to feel more of my weight. When he opened his eyes, I watched him stare at me as if I were a flower of the rarest kind, found in a world gone to misery and loss, a small flower of hope and therefore joy. He
laced his fingers through my hair and pulled me down for another kiss, his tongue sliding into my mouth and exploring all of me as his hips rose against mine.

  The moment he broke the kiss he asked, “Touch me, Will. Like you wanted to last night. I need you.” He savaged my neck and rolled me back, leaving a space between us. I gazed into his face as his eyes looked at me in the soft light filtering into our cave. “I want to give you such pleasure,” he said.

  More kisses followed, some soft, many hard, and my hands soon slipped under his braies. I palmed the solid muscles of his buttocks and he groaned into my mouth, then I became bolder and my right hand reached for his cock. Robin stilled, his face buried in my neck and he breathed deep and slow, holding still so I could explore at will.

  I felt the rough hair and a long, thick, mass of soft steel. I rubbed my thumb over the flared head and felt moisture leak, so I spread it over the tender skin and Robin’s breathing hitched, a small moan escaping. He kissed my neck again before raising up enough to look at me. “Thank you for your trust,” he said, a tremble blurring the words a little as I dragged my hand up and down his shaft.

  “What should I do to make this right?” I asked. “I want to feel you come for me.”

  The words were simple but I might as well have set him on fire. His tongue plundered my mouth and his hand snared mine, tightening my grip, moving it faster as he pushed his hips forwards to match my speed. My cock screamed in need and my balls hurt, I wanted release as well and I reached for myself. I was thinner than Robin, but slightly longer, and when he twigged as to my need, he reached behind me and forced my hips towards his, pushing my braies down over my arse. He dug his fingers into my backside and our cocks touched. We both stilled.

  “Take both in one hand,” he said.

  “My hand isn’t big enough,” I whispered against his lips. We shared our breath, our kisses, our desire, I wanted to share it all. “Take over for me.”

  “Are you sure, my beautiful man?” he growled, beyond words for the moment.

  “Yes, God, yes, Robin.”

  His larger hand pulled us together and squeezed. I swear he wanted to make us one in that moment. Then he collected the sticky fluid we both leaked and began a slow torment, rising up and down our shafts as we traded kisses. Our hips pushed into his palm and I clutched his backside hard enough to bruise him, but still he stared into me as if I were spun from mist and magic and I might vanish at any moment.

  My balls tightened further and I felt harder than ever before, I certainly never felt this pleasure alone, and need burned through the very fabric of my being. “Robin, I need you to finish this,” I whispered into his mouth. “I can’t… I can’t…”

  “Come for me, Will. Look into my eyes and come for me.” His hand worked faster, harder, and the need to let go pounded in my blood and through my weary heart.

  I whimpered, so close but unable to surrender. “I can’t,” I cried out in frustration.

  “I’ve got you, Will. You’re safe. Let go. Give me everything. Give me your desire. I want to taste your soul on my lips…”

  The words faded. My body gathered up its long and fear induced celibacy and rejected it.

  Robin, sensing my shift in mood, plunged his tongue into my mouth and swallowed down my cry as my hips surged against his body. He matched my impatience and a deep growl smothered my feral cry as hot fluids surged upwards and over our hot bodies. His thighs and knees clamped tight over mine as he kept us wedded together, rocking through the orgasm and drawing forth more whimpers from me.

  “So fucking beautiful, Will.” He kissed me, rolled me back and lay over me at last, his weight pinning me down as he brought his hand up, covered in white juice, our juice and I watched him lick, tasting himself and me.

  “Robin…”

  He grinned over me. “Want some?”

  I giggled, breathless because of his weight and our recent tussle. He offered me his hand and I took a tentative lick. Salty, tingly, earthy, lovely. He smiled in benediction of my brave confidence and lowered his lips to mine, tongue diving in to share more of our combined pleasure.

  “Well, that was more than I was expecting this morning,” he said.

  “I took advantage of you,” I said, holding his hips over mine.

  “Any time. You can take advantage any time you like.”

  I smiled into his blue depths and felt something of me slip away, even as more parts of me joined up to make the whole of Will Scarlett.

  A wavering smile had Robin’s expression soften and a tender kiss brought me a silent reassurance. “We should get up now, we need to be decent before Tuck wakes up.”

  “I can’t believe we did that with him still asleep.”

  Robin shrugged. “Just be grateful, he’s not going to sleep that deeply again. We’ll have to sneak off somewhere.”

  “You planning on doing this again?”

  “I’m planning on doing a great deal more to your beautiful body, but that’s for later, right now I need to eat,” he said, kissing me once more before groaning as he climbed out of our bed. I looked down at myself, mess didn’t quite cover it; a sticky cold goo covered my stomach and torso.

  “A clear downside to being horny,” I muttered.

  Robin appeared from the other cave and threw a damp cloth at me. “You’ll get the hang of it.” He started to whistle. I sat on the edge of my tangled bed and watched him whistle while he worked on breakfast.

  I wiped down my chest and everything else, a strange tingle coming from my cock as it started to twitch to life and found Robin grinning at me. He winked and started whistling again. I shrugged into my clothes and checked on Tuck.

  “Hey, brother, time to wake up,” I said, shaking him.

  12

  A SMALL GRUMBLE TOLD me to leave him alone.

  “Tuck, come on. Time to wake up. You need some food inside you and we’re seeing Marion soon, you don’t want to miss that.”

  His eyes opened, and the colour of blue washed mist stared at me. “Will? When did you get home?”

  Robin stopped whistling.

  “Last night, don’t you remember?”

  “No.”

  He moved to rise from his bed and yelped at the pain it caused. Like a dog who snaps at a bee and wonders why it has been stung. Bits of Tuck’s mind wouldn’t join up to make sense.

  “Take it steady. You are hurt,” I said, keeping a hand on his shoulder in a sad attempt to anchor him to the new day and not revisit the past.

  His eyes filled with tears and I knew I’d failed. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

  I sat beside him and wrapped my arm around his shoulders with great care. “It’s alright, Tuck. We stopped you before too much damage was done. Can you tell me why it happened?”

  He sniffed.

  “Was it because of me?” asked Robin. I glanced at him, crouched by the fire, trying to be small and harmless. I also saw his naked vulnerability. If Tuck said yes, what would be my reaction to his continued presence?

  Tuck shook his head. “No. I didn’t know you were still part of our lives.”

  “Then why, Tuck?” I asked.

  “I saw them.” He glanced at me, then his hands. They shook where they hung between his skinny knees.

  “Saw who?” I asked.

  “The monks. I was on my way to the village. To hear confession if anyone needed it and to keep busy like you said, but when I reached the road I saw them. The monks from Rufford. They were in procession. Going to Nottingham. I just… I thought they were coming for me, Will. I was so scared and you weren’t here…” His voice trailed off and I pulled him close, kissing his dark hair. He no longer had the tonsure but I couldn’t convince him to let his dark curls grow longer. It made him look older, harder, more ascetic and less joyful than he should be.

  “Don’t be sorry, Tuck. You have no reason to be sorry,” Robin said, keeping his voice low and even. His hands though said a different story and if the wooden tools I’d made for c
ooking were any slimmer he’d have snapped them.

  “Robin’s right. No more sorrys, Tuck. You’re safe now. We won’t let anything hurt you. I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

  “What you do is important,” he murmured. “I should be able to cope.”

  “You will, given enough time,” Robin said.

  He continued to cook while I helped Tuck wash and dress, cleaning the wounds and reapplying a salve of herbs to his back.

  By the time the sun had reached midmorning the clouds had turned leaden and Sherwood looked like she were preparing herself for a coming storm – everything was too still. We rode to the old well and hid in the trees, off the ground, waiting for Marion.

  I tried to concentrate on the present but my mind kept drifting back to the morning, back to feeling Robin’s desire wrap me up in safe arms and carry me off to my enchanted orgasm. Every thought made my cock twitch to life and had me fidgeting on the tree branch I lay on to watch the small clearing.

  “Something wrong?” asked Robin, after I almost fell out of the tree.

  “You,” I grumbled, keeping my voice low. Tuck was in the next tree, Robin in a lower branch of my tree.

  He sat up without any obvious effort. “What did I do wrong?”

  “I can’t sit still and think about you at the same time,” I growled, glancing at Tuck who seemed to be lost in his private world. I hoped it was a happier one than the day before.

  Robin grinned. “It was fun wasn’t it?”

  “Hardly the point right now.” I pushed down on the branch hoping it would discourage my stupidity. It didn’t.