by Bliss Devlin
"So delicious," Rafe growled between kisses. "I've wanted to do this…ever since you kissed me."
A soft, pleading moan escaped her, muffled by his mouth as his fingers thrust in and out of her, winding her arousal ever higher.
She felt tension gathering like a storm in the pit of her belly and desperately wanted the release that hovered just out of reach. She was burning with need, even as his caresses inflamed her further.
"Soon," he whispered, the rhythm of his fingers becoming faster, more urgent. "I can tell you're close. Come for me now, sweet Shannon."
And then the clouds parted and sweet, hot lightning struck across her senses in an explosion of pleasure. Her breath came in sobs as her flesh fluttered and pulsed around his fingers and his caresses drew out her release.
When the last ripple of pleasure had died slowly away, she curled on his lap, feeling relaxed and utterly content. She kissed him, her lips moving slowly and lingering against his.
"I shouldn't have done that," he said unexpectedly. And to her shock and displeasure, she found herself lifted off his lap. "Shannon, I'm sorry."
Wait, what? She stared at him in shock. He wasn't going to give her the chance to reciprocate his caresses? He was sorry?
"But I was the one who—" she began to protest as he rose to his feet.
She reached for him, and he stepped backwards, out of reach.
"It doesn't matter. I'm your sponsor, and I'm taking advantage of your—your vulnerable position!"
He flinched from her mingled hurt and fury and hastily turned to go. "I'll, uh, see you at dinner. We have the birdwatchers with us tonight."
Oh no, Rafe Magnusson. You don't get away from me so easily, she thought, as the door closed behind him. I know you want me as badly as I want you, you stupid man!
Chapter 8 – Mated
"—and there they were, in a big old dead tree, right next to the river! I could see the two fuzzy chicks, and then one of the parents brought them a fish!" Laura, one of the bird-watchers said excitedly. "Look, I got a photo!"
She swiped rapidly across the screen several times, then handed her iPad to Shannon.
"That's a lovely image," Shannon said with genuine admiration.
It was a very good photo, showing a bald eagle about to land on a huge nest of twigs, its wings outstretched and a large fish clutched in its bright yellow feet. She could see every feather on the eagle's body and the translucent fins of the fish's tail.
"I'm so glad I went ahead and spent the money on a 500 millimeter telephoto lens!" Laura continued breathlessly.
Shannon nodded politely, not certain exactly what Laura was referring to, but she also knew it didn't really matter.
She had quickly realized that most conversations with Rafe's guests could be handled with a few polite questions to start the other person telling a tale, and from that point on, only the occasional noise of encouragement was needed to keep things going.
One of Laura's two companions, an older woman named Shirley, shook her head. "Shoulda invested in decent binoculars. How are you gonna photograph the birds if you can't spot 'em first?"
The lone man in the group nodded. He was very quiet, though his demeanor seemed friendly enough. "Speaking of spotting birds, Drake, I don't suppose you know of any Yellow-billed Cuckoos in the area? They're endangered, but I had heard that there were a few in the national forest around here, and I'd love to add one to my life list."
In deference to his three guests, plus Brett, Drake, and Shannon, Rafe was serving dinner in his dining room tonight, which had a table large enough to seat ten.
He was serving some of his ranch's beef, seasoned and grilled to perfection on the barbecue. Shannon had overheard him informing his guests that he only served organic, grass-fed steaks from his heirloom-breed Belted Galloway cattle.
His words seemed utterly obvious statements of fact to Shannon—what did cattle eat, except grass?—but they pleased his guests, who murmured approving comments about enjoying "locavore cuisine" and the evils of feedlots.
Drake and Brett added their observations about the eagles' breeding behavior and mentioned that there were several osprey nests with chicks a little further upriver, if the guests wished to see them tomorrow morning.
The birdwatchers' presence at his table might save Rafe from the immediate consequences of what had happened between them after lunch, Shannon thought grimly. But the night was long, and she was determined.
So she smiled pleasantly at Rafe and his guests, joked with Brett and Drake, and asked about the tall, long-necked, long-legged brown birds she had seen foraging in the pasture on the other side of the highway from her clinic.
"Sandhill cranes," Laura said instantly, and that was enough to launch another round of conversation and sightseeing suggestions for the visitors in addition to the wished-for Yellow-billed Cuckoos.
"Shannon, I can't quite place your accent…is it Irish?" Laura said, when tomorrow's bird-watching itinerary had been arranged to focus on the cuckoos and the osprey.
"It is indeed," Shannon said with a smile. "I am spending the summer here in Idaho. It's an internship in traditional herbal medicines."
During one of their rare conversations, Rafe and Shannon had discussed what they should tell outsiders about her, if questions arose.
"What part of Ireland are you from?" pressed Laura. "I was there on vacation a couple of years ago. It was beautiful."
"You'll not have heard of it, I think. I'm from a little island off the southwestern coast," Shannon answered.
"But they teach herbal lore in Ireland, don't they?" Laura asked, frowning.
"On the mainland, yes," Shannon agreed. "But not where I was raised."
"Well, why not go to England or somewhere closer to home for your internship? Or even somewhere like New York or Chicago?" demanded Shirley. "Why come all the way here?"
Her words were brusque, but her tone held curiosity rather than challenge.
Shannon smiled slowly at Rafe. He stared at her like a rabbit hypnotized by a snake.
"I have always liked cowboys," she said softly.
Drake and Brett both hooted with laughter at this, and Shannon was delighted to see Rafe flush dark red.
"Shannon? Is everything all right?" Rafe asked as he opened his bedroom door to her a few hours later.
His hair was appealingly disheveled, and he was fumbling to tie the belt of his robe.
Instead of answering, she went up on tiptoes, cupped his bearded cheeks between her hands, and kissed him.
She had lain awake for hours, debating this bold move with herself. Could she really do it?
What if he turned her away? Rejected her?
Then she remembered the way that his hot gaze had followed her during dinner…especially when she spoke with Brett or Drake.
So she had decided to gather up her courage and walk up the short hallway to his room.
"I'm here because I want you," Shannon said to him firmly, when he drew back at last, breathing hard but with a question in his eyes. "Freely and without compulsion."
Rafe smiled down at her, and the joy in his expression was breathtaking.
"Good. Because playing the part of a gentleman is killing me," he growled. "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since I had you on my lap this afternoon."
That was good, because she hadn't been able to stop thinking about it, either.
He pulled her inside his bedroom and closed the door firmly. Then he tugged at the belt of her robe and yanked it open.
Shannon deliberately hadn't worn anything underneath. She shivered at the rush of cool air over her bare skin, her nipples hardening instantly.
Rafe' eyes widened at the sight. He made a low, inarticulate sound and pushed her against the nearest wall. She jerked apart the halves of his own robe. Like her, he slept naked.
He pressed against her, feverishly hot skin over hard muscle and bone. Shannon felt his stiff erection push aga
inst the soft skin of her belly as he kissed her again with urgent hunger.
"I'm going to fuck you now. I can see how ready you are for me," he said, his voice low, intense.
Liquid heat rushed through her at his words. His hands slid behind her hips, lifting her effortlessly. Shannon eagerly parted her legs and felt the broad head of his cock nudge against her slick, swollen folds.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and kissed him as he entered her with a hard, burning thrust. He kept pushing in, as her desire warred with the burning of her virgin entrance stretching to accommodate his girth.
He noticed her discomfort. "Haven't you done this before?"
Shannon shook her head. As if she'd had the opportunity, stuck on an island with only a few men her own age and Granda watching over her like an eagle!
He kissed her. "Ah, sweet Shannon, you are full of surprises. You should have told me—I would have gone slow and gentle."
"I didn't want slow and gentle," she gasped, clinging to him. "I wanted this."
"Good," he said, sounding triumphant.
At last, he was seated all the way inside her, and they were joined skin-to-skin. Shannon liked the feeling of being completely filled by him.
Panting, his face beaded with perspiration, he stood rock still, holding her up effortlessly, waiting until her flesh had adjusted to his invasion.
When the burning sensation had eased, Shannon arched experimentally against him, feeling the slide of his hard flesh against hers.
Rafe groaned. Still holding her against the wall, he pinned her hands over her head and kissed her throat.
"I've wanted to do this ever since I first saw you," he said between kisses, his deep voice rough with desire.
He moved his hips and began to thrust, sliding in and out of her. It felt wonderful, but Shannon needed more.
"Please, Rafe," Shannon begged, not sure what she was requesting, but trusting that he would know.
Rafe chuckled. "I knew you'd be perfect for me," he said, and his hands tightened around her wrists.
He took her hard and fast as she writhed against the unyielding wall at her back, stretched taut in his grip.
As he thrust into her, she felt a coil of pleasure tighten in her body, then burst with an explosion of sensation that made her cry out and convulse helplessly in his grasp, her heels digging into the small of his back.
Rafe growled and stiffened against her, his erection throbbing inside her as he climaxed in a rush of hot seed. He gradually slowed his movements, milking the last few ripples of pleasure from her before loosening his bruising hold on her wrists.
Panting, she clung to him, cradled in his strong arms, her face buried in his neck.
"That was amazing," he murmured into her hair. "But you're not done yet, are you?"
As her heartbeat slowed, she realized it was true. She felt relaxed with the aftermath of the pleasure he'd just given her, but she still ached for more.
"No," she told him. "I want more."
He chuckled, a triumphant sound.
Disappointingly, though, he slid out of her. She reluctantly unwrapped her legs from around his waist. Her feet touched the ground, and she realized how shaky her knees felt.
"Well, I'm glad you're not done yet," Rafe said. "Because I sure as hell am not."
He scooped her into his arms and carried her across the room to the shadowy outline of his bed.
Rafe put her down gently on the mattress, then joined her.
By the light of the moon filtering through the gaps in his curtains, she was reminded that his body was beautiful, densely muscled from years of soldiering and the hard physical labor of the ranch.
She had scarcely dared to look at him the first day they met, when he shifted from bear to man, and stood before her, naked as Adam and twice as handsome.
Rafe lowered himself over her and began kissing her once more. Her lips parted beneath his, and he ravished her with his tongue.
A warm, delicious throb rekindled between her legs, growing stronger as she felt the insistent press of his renewing erection stiffened against her belly.
It felt so good to be stretched beneath this big, naked man as his hard muscles pressed against every inch of her skin from chest to thigh. He was heavy, and solid, and very real.
After a long, languorous exploration of her mouth, he moved lower.
Each touch of his warm lips against her throat and neck sent sparks of heat through her, making her arousal blaze like a bonfire. She tried to reach for him, to return his caresses.
"Don't move," he murmured. "I'm enjoying myself."
Smiling, she obeyed and let him do as he pleased.
Rafe moved his hips against her in a slow thrust, sliding his hard length against her skin. She wanted to feel that hardness between her legs again so badly.
"You're mine now," he said, his voice low, rumbling on the edge of a growl. "All mine."
His words sent a thrill though her. Oh yes, she wanted to be his…but she wasn't going to capitulate so easily.
"What if I don't agree?" she teased, a little breathlessly, because Rafe had returned to kissing her, interspersed with little nips along her collarbone.
His long-lashed gray eyes looked clear as water in the moonlight. "Then I'll just have to try harder to convince you," he said and gave her a breathtaking smile.
It was the expression of a man who relished the challenge ahead of him.
And after the pleasure that he had just given her, she was looking forward to being convinced.
He settled himself firmly against her, and she felt the warm, wet flick of his tongue against the hollow of her throat.
His mouth moved lower, trailing kisses down the center of her chest, and her heart beat faster in anticipation.
Rafe teased her, nuzzling the valley between her breasts, then kissing the tops and sides, moving ever closer to her nipples without touching them.
She squirmed restlessly beneath him, rubbing herself shamelessly against the hard length trapped between them.
Rafe's breath hitched in a gratifying way at her movements.
"Wriggle all you like," he whispered against her skin. "I like it. But you're not getting away before I'm done with you."
"I don't want to get away," she confessed, as he bent his head and blew gently across her breasts, sending pleasant shivers down her spine.
He gave a soft laugh, his breath teasing her as his mouth hovered over the tip of her breast.
"Mmmm," he said. "Shall I make you wriggle some more, sweet Shannon?"
Before she could reply, he circled her nipple with his tongue and drew it into his mouth.
She gasped and arched against him as he began to worship her with his lips and tongue, alternating his caresses between her breasts. As he teased her sensitive nipples to hard, aching points, she writhed and panted beneath him.
"I want to hear you," he murmured, just before his teeth closed gently over one hard nipple.
She whimpered in response, unable to control herself. She thought she might climax just from the intense sensation.
"I want to taste you and hear you scream my name," Rafe told her in a soft, intense voice.
She nodded frantically, tormented by the raging ache of desire.
"Please," she begged, not caring now if anyone else in the house could hear her. "Please, Rafe."
"Anything for you, sweet Shannon." With a lithe movement, he lifted himself off her and slid further down.
She felt him kiss her stomach and move down to her belly with soft, lingering caresses.
"Open your legs for me."
She obeyed eagerly and felt him kiss the inside of her left knee.
Taking his time, Rafe kissed his way up the inside of her thighs, making her squirm with impatience and desperate need before he finally reached the hot, swollen place at the top of her thighs.
She waited for him to touch her as he had earlier today and held her breath. She jumped as
he blew lightly across her aching, sensitized folds.
"I love how you respond to me," Rafe said. "There's nothing better than the taste of a woman who is desperate for your touch."
She gasped sharply as the tip of his tongue, wet and warm, brushed the small, stiff bud of her clit. Lightning raced along every nerve, and she arched, offering herself eagerly to him.
"Oh, gods," she said fervently as he continued to torment her.
Rafe was very, very good with his mouth. In no time, he had her writhing and pleading with him as a coil of pleasure began to tighten between her legs.
He brought her right up to the edge, and then, maddeningly, he stopped.
She arched against the hard hands holding her hips and made an inarticulate sound of protest, desperate for release.
"Do you want to climax again?" His voice was deep and very low.
She moaned.
"Will you stay in Elysia and become my mate?" he asked, his voice a low purr.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
"M-maybe," she managed.
She couldn't think. Consumed by the fire he had kindled, all she could do was feel.
"That sounds like a challenge," he said, still purring.
Then, just as they had done with her nipple, she felt his teeth close delicately on her clit.
A sweet, almost unbearable wave of pleasure swept her over the edge of a cliff and plunged her into the maelstrom of a powerful climax. She sobbed his name as intense shudders wracked her for long moments.
Rafe's caresses gradually became lighter and lingering, and she began to ascend from the storm of pleasure that had nearly drowned her.
He moved back up over her, his hands braced on the bed on either side of her head, and kissed her long and deep.
She felt his erection pressing against her and reached between them.
Rafe squeezed his eyes shut as her fingers closed around his hard shaft and guided him inside her once more.
"I want you," he told her, raggedly, his hips moving against hers as he thrust eagerly into her welcoming depths. "I want you in my bed every night. I don't want to be alone anymore."