Rogue on the Rollaway

by MacLeod, Shannon

  Faolan captured her hands in his and pushed them aside. “Nay,” he said, “Allow me that honor.” He climbed on the bed and hovered over her, unfastening each button so slowly she was ready to scream with anticipation. Once the blouse was off, he unfastened her bra again–the conventional way–and gave a sigh of pleasure when her tightening breasts sprang free from their lacy confinement. He tossed the bra over his shoulder to join the growing pile of clothing on the floor then his large hands were cupping her breasts to lift them to his lips. “They’re beautiful, just as I knew they would be,” he murmured, dipping his head to catch one pert, rosy nipple between his lips. He pulled it into his hot mouth and suckled lazily, twirling the hard nub around with his tongue before moving his attention to the other.

  Colleen whimpered and writhed in invitation on the bed beneath him. Faolan smiled at her eagerness. “Patience, lass. Good things come to those who wait,” he teased, unzipping her dress slacks inch by tantalizing inch. He slid them down over her hips, pulled them off with a flourish of a magician and tossed them over his shoulder. “What beautiful legs ye have,” he said, hooking his fingers into the sides of her Hello Kitty panties to assist them with their departure. Faolan sighed with pleasure as he lifted first one foot, then the other, removing her knee high stockings and placing a soft kiss on each instep. Touched by the pretty gesture, she gave him a tentative smile.

  When she lay before him completely naked, Faolan leaned over to give her a gentle nip at the base of her neck, his chest rumbling with a deep growl of approval for what he saw. With a carnal look he promised, “I’m going to steal yer breath away, mo ruadh, but I swear I’ll give it back to ye one kiss at a time.”

  She shivered at his soft spoken vow. “You already have,” she murmured, running her hand down his chest toward the button on his jeans. He grabbed her hand when she attempted to unfasten it, placing a hot kiss on her palm before releasing it.

  “Nay, I would save yer hands for other things,” he said, tugging his t-shirt over his head. “Ye make me feel like an untried lad, beauty. I’ve got a wee bit of control left but were ye to touch me there, I canna say it would last long and I would savor this.”

  Colleen held her breath, watching those hard muscles in his chest and arms work. When he unfastened his jeans and slid them down over his hips with calculated slowness, she quivered at the golden expanse of prime real estate on display then blinked in surprise at the appearance of the thick nest of sable curls. All that underwear drama at the mall and the man was going around commando.

  Her gaze moved lower and her eyes widened. That wasn’t his shirt bunched up in his pants, she realized with a start, he’s…proportionate. Jesus, he’s bigger than proportionate, he’s …epic, and have mercy, is he happy to be here! This man is magnificent and he’s mine, all…she shook her head, wondering where that stray thought had come from. Don’t read too much into this, she advised herself, just enjoy it for what it is.

  Faolan climbed up on the bed and knelt between her knees, running his hands up her soft inner thighs. “Ah, my angel, ye’d tempt a saint into sin,” he said, cupping her intimately with the palm of his hand. His voice rasped in a low groan. “Yer making my mouth water to taste ye.”

  Colleen tried to sit up, but Faolan placed his other hand on her stomach to keep her still. “Now where are ye off to in such a rush, little rabbit?” he frowned.

  “Nowhere,” Colleen admitted with a blush, “I thought maybe you’d like me to…” She gestured with her hand, and it took him a moment to figure out what she meant.

  With a gentle smile, he pressed her back down against the soft bed. “Nay, lass, I’ll not be taking my pleasure until I’ve given ye yers.” Moments after he lowered his head, her mind lost all ability for cognizant thought. Hard on the heels of her first orgasm came the second, then the third. After the fifth she tried to keep a running count of the bone shattering climaxes he gave her, using his talented fingers to take her to the stars and beyond over and over again. By the seventh, she gave up completely after her brain began to operate only in monosyllables. His mouth was hot, his lips and tongue relentless in their mission. “Once more,” he ordered with a wicked smile, tracing a lazy circle around her sensitized woman’s center with a callused thumb.

  Her head lolled limply to the side as she half laughed, half sobbed. “I can’t, there isn’t–”

  “Och, aye, I’m fair certain there is,” he chuckled, “but I’ll need ye to save at least one more just for me.” When he was satisfied he had wrung from her every remaining shuddering sigh and tremor, Faolan covered her body with his. She smiled up at him in a love drunk stupor. He chuckled, kissing her gently on the lips. “Ye wear yer passion well, but now it’s my turn, beauty,” he said. His deep rumble of satisfaction vibrated against her throat when he entered her, smoothly encasing himself in her hot, wet sheath. He filled her completely and a little more besides, and he gave her a moment to adjust to his size before he began to move within her slick heat. “Am I hurting ye?” he asked, his struggle for control making his voice rough and uneven.

  “No,” she managed to gasp. “You feel…perfect.”

  His breath caught in his chest at her candid admission. “Nay, that would be ye. Ye fit as if made for me, lass.” Slow, gentle strokes turned into deep, possessive ones. He lifted her legs and thrust into her, growling with pleasure at her uninhibited responses. Her short nails lightly scored his back and his entire body shuddered as he surrendered his fragile control to her, giving his arousal free rein. His breath was hot and ragged against her ear. “By the Christ, yer tight as a virgin,” he groaned. “Yield me all, Colleen.”

  Colleen wrapped her legs higher around his back, crying out with each long stroke. “Faolan,” she panted, “I love–”

  He didn’t allow her to finish that sentence. He crushed her to him and slanted his mouth savagely over hers, driving into her with an intense need to possess, to claim, to mark her as his own. Punctuating each syllable with a deliberate thrust of his hips, he whispered against her gasping mouth, “Yer mine now, and make no mistake about it. Mine, and never another but me. Oh God in heaven, Colleen, I canna....” He felt her clench and ripple around him when her climax began yet again and knew he could hold off the impending storm no longer. With a triumphant roar, he shouted his own release and joined her.

  Her breath came out in a soft whoosh when he collapsed on top of her. He immediately rolled to the side. “God, Colleen,” Faolan whispered again, gathering her limp form into his arms and clutching her tightly to his chest. Without another word, he pulled the down comforter up over them both and murmuring sweet sounds of contentment they drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  * * * *

  It was the gloaming before Faolan roused from his slumber. Still curled up against his side like a wee kitten, Colleen lay nestled in the crook of his arm. He laid a soft kiss on her forehead and gazed unseeing out the window in a thousand yard stare. How in the hell could he have let this happen? He’d gotten careless, let his guard down. No, he decided, it couldn’t be helped. Colleen was the only bright spot in his dark, tormented existence for more years than he cared to remember, a cool breeze over the arid desert that his life had become. He really was a rutting bastard. She was going to say it, his little voice whispered. She was going to tell him she loved him. This changed everything.

  His gut knotted with fear and instinctively he pulled her a little closer. As long as she didn’t get the idea to offer him the amulet, all would be well. Closing his eyes he sighed and drifted off to sleep again, all the while wondering when he had fallen so in love with the beautiful woman resting peacefully in his arms.

  * * * *

  Just after midnight, Colleen awoke with a start, peering at the man sleeping with his arms locked around her in a protective embrace. She moved to ease out of the bed so as not disturb him, but with inhuman speed he gently caught her wrist and tugged her back to his side. “Where are ye slipping off to?” Faolan tea
sed. “Always running off, ye are.” He stretched like a cat and sat up, his stomach rumbling in protest. “’Tis food I’m needing now.”

  “I thought you were asleep.” She smiled down at him, “but I’m hungry too. We missed dinner.”

  “Aye, we did, but ‘twas for a worthy cause,” he grinned, taking her by the hand as he rose. He didn’t bother to put any of his clothing back on.

  Merciful heavens, the man couldn’t be prettier if you dipped him in chocolate. With sagging shoulders, Colleen considered her own lack of clothing and nibbled her lower lip in indecision. Modesty winning the internal battle, she gathered up her silk robe when they passed through the bedroom door.

  He stopped her abruptly, taking it from her hands and tossing it back to billow like a cloud across the chair. “Nay, I’ll be keeping ye naked, lass. Took me long enough to get ye that way, and I find I like it.”

  A telling blush spread over Colleen’s entire body and Faolan laughed. “Ye work in a museum, Princess, surely ye understand wanting to admire works of art,” he explained. When she tried to turn away, he stopped her progress with firm hands on her shoulders. “Yer body is a beautiful thing to behold. Doona think to deny me the pleasure of seeing it as nature intended.” He ran the palms of his hand over the curve of her waist and hips, pulling her against him so his hot whisper caressed her ear. “And if ye get dressed, I’ll feel I have to as well out of politeness and heathen that I am, I prefer being naked.”

  “Well, yeah,” she said with a self deprecating laugh, waving her hand from his head to his feet. “But just look at you. You’re perfect, and I’m–”

  He sobered suddenly, cupping her chin in one large hand. “I’m a far cry from perfect, lass, truly not deserving of…a woman such as ye.” A look of stark pain flashed across his eyes, but disappeared so quickly she thought she must have imagined it. “But I know perfection when I see it, so…” He slanted a dark eyebrow at her abandoned robe, “…naked it is, then. My mind’s made up, so off ye go.” He gave her a light smack on the bottom then quick as a wink dropped to one knee and kissed the pink spot his hand had made. “Shall we?” he grinned up at her.

  Relenting, Colleen giggled and allowed him to lead her into the kitchen to raid the fridge. “You get the drinks and I’ll see what I can make for us,” she ordered.

  He poured two glasses of iced tea then took his seat at the table, regarding her with a thoughtful expression while she moved around the kitchen. “I’m in the mood for vegetables, I think,” Faolan remarked a moment later. “Would ye mind getting the carrots out of the bottom drawer?”

  She frowned. “Raw?”

  When he merely smiled and nodded, she shrugged. Not thinking any more about his odd cravings, she bent over to open the crisper and place the plastic bag of whole carrots on the counter. She had begun rummaging around in the covered plates when he spoke again. “Is there any celery left?”

  With an absent nod, she tugged the drawer open again and dug around for a moment before pulling out a partial bag of celery and laying it beside the carrots.

  “Mushrooms, lass, any of those about?”

  Suspicion reared its head, but Colleen struggled to keep a straight face in order to see how far the façade would go. “Yes, there are some mushrooms left. What are you planning on cooking?”

  Faolan tapped his chin while he thought. “I doona know just yet. I suppose it would depend on whether or not there were any onions. How about taking a peek to see?”

  Colleen glanced over her shoulder with a fierce scowl. “You’re just doing this to watch me bend over,” she accused.

  “Well…aye,” he admitted with a sheepish grin, “and ’tis truly sorry I am for…” He shook his head at the obviousness of the falsehood he was about to tell. “Nay, I’ll not lie to ye. I’m not even a wee bit sorry,” he grinned. “Ye’ve a bonny plump arse, and I’m enjoying myself far too much to tell ye any different.”

  “Plump?” Colleen shrieked at the ceiling. “Of all the…” Her voice faded when Faolan’s lips made contact with the smooth indentation at the base of her spine. She hadn’t even seen him move, but when those large hands slid over the front of her thighs and pulled her to him, she nearly swooned with a sudden rush of desire. “Faolan…” she began, bracing her arms against the counter.

  “Whisht, now…” he whispered, nibbling his way down one cheek, “I apologize for deceiving ye into displaying yerself for my own selfish ends. I probably shouldna even tell ye how arousing it was, watching ye bend over like that, and how it made me want to…” His fingers and tongue got into the act and Colleen gasped with pleasure “…make ye sigh just like that.” Two long fingers curled inside her, looking for the elusive sweet spot and when he found it, her knees crumbled beneath her. It was only fast thinking on his part that kept her from hitting the floor when she came again with a sudden, hoarse cry.

  The landscape beneath her shook with the vibration of his laughter. “Och, aye, yer a lusty one, all right.” He grinned up at her sprawled atop him. “I ken I’m going to have to keep my strength up if I’m to keep ye satisfied.” He smoothed his palms over her lower cheeks and gave them an affectionate squeeze. “And plump or no, it is a mighty fine arse ye have there, my wee wanton.”

  Happy in her warm puddle of contentment, Colleen gazed down with a beautiful smile curving her lips. “I cannot possibly be expected to make anything resembling edible food under these conditions.” She sighed.

  “Aye, ye canna,” he agreed, rising to his feet with her still cradled in his arms. “It has occurred to me I’ll be doing the cooking this night if I plan on eating.” He deposited her gently on the chair and brushed a stray curl back from her eyes. “Rest yerself there now, and I’ll see what’s in the fridge to slake our hunger.”

  Her eyes suddenly heavy, she propped her head up on one fisted hand. “Don’t forget to put the veggies back,” Colleen said.

  With a wave of acknowledgment, Faolan gathered up the plastic produce bags on the counter. He opened the fridge door and with a wiggle of his fingers, the crisper slid open. Dropping the bags inside and pushing it closed with his foot, he turned back to Colleen with a mischievous grin.

  “Spoilsport,” she pouted.

  “Ah, doona fret so,” Faolan teased, pulling out the wrapped dishes and setting them on the table. “I can promise ye we’re far from done this eve.” He took a seat and patted his leg in invitation. “Come ye here to me now that we may eat.” Not needing a second invitation, Colleen climbed onto his lap and they took turns feeding each other bites of cold leftovers in between kisses and caresses.

  Their hunger sated, they wandered back to bed where they made love again, slow and sweet. Afterward, Colleen lay against his side, her leg nestled between his heavy thighs and his arm holding her close. She was not quite asleep when the quiet declaration she had been longing for reached her ears. “I do love ye, Colleen,” he murmured against the top of her head. “May heaven have mercy on us both.”

  Colleen was too near sleep to answer, but awake enough to think she imagined the pair of iridescent eyes watching from the deepest corner of the room, glowing with dark satisfaction.

  * * * *

  As the long rays of sunlight poured in through the windows the next morning, Colleen stretched to turn off her alarm before it could wake Faolan. When she looked back, she found him regarding her through heavy lidded eyes. “Good morrow, Beauty,” he said with a lazy smile, pulling her over to rest on top of him.

  “Good…oh!” she said, realizing his intent. “Wait…I, uh…I need a shower…”

  “Nay,” he murmured. “Doona be shy with me, love. Yer beautiful just as ye are. Warm and willing, all a woman should be on such a lovely spring morn.”

  She thought fast and decided resistance was pointless. More to the point, she didn’t want to resist. What was a girl to do? “Sweet talker.” She rubbed her nose against the dark stubble on his cheek. “Och, aye,–prickly as a burr, ye are.” She giggled in a pre
tty good imitation of his accent.

  He threw back his head and roared with laughter. “We’ll make a Highlands wench out of ye yet,” he proclaimed, right before he proceeded to kiss her senseless.

  Afterward when both were able to stir again, Faolan rolled out of the bed and extended his hand to assist Colleen. “Shower,” she said with a firm nod.

  “Shower,” he agreed, leading into the bathroom and turning on the water. He waited until it was hot then pulled her under the spray with him. It wasn’t like any shower she had ever had before. Faolan washed every square inch of her, kissing most of it in the process. When she was scrubbed to his satisfaction, she turned her attentions to him, much to his delight. “The very first night,” he confessed as she lathered the curls on his chest with a mesh sponge, “I stood in this shower and dreamt what it would be like to take ye here.”

  With a wicked smile, Colleen traced soapy fingers around the outline of his eight pack, then lower still until she closed her fingers around his growing interest in the subject at hand. “So what’s stopping you now?” she asked, giving him an experimental tug.

  His response came as a deep, shuddering groan. Before Colleen realized just what floodgate she had opened, her back was pressed against the cool tile and her legs lifted to wrap around his waist. The large muscles in his upper arm bunched as he held her with one arm and guided himself into her with his free hand. God, he was so strong, Colleen thought, breathless from the powerful rhythm with which he moved inside her. She fought back a giggle at the unlikely revelation that followed–Marc didn’t have the first clue what he was doing–then all thoughts fled when she got caught up in the currents of ecstasy, allowing herself be pulled under by his dark tsunami and swept away into paradise itself.