Highland Warrior by McCollum, Heather (good summer reads .txt) 📕

gently swaying rope, he climbed over the ring of rocks marking the well. Immediately, he felt warmth radiating upward and lowered toward it. Glancing below he saw red cinders. It was a chimney to a hearth. Lined with stones in a broad rectangular form, the tunnel dropped a good twelve feet before opening into a dug-out space. Releasing the rope, he landed with his legs wide, straddling the remains of a fire, the heat funneling right up his kilt. He hopped off to the side, his hand instinctively reaching back for his sword that wasn’t there. Fool. He’d left it above, his lust making him careless. He looked up the well at a rectangular space of night sky.

“I am here,” the woman called, and he turned to see her lighting an oil lamp. His breath caught at the sight of her, bare breasts perched on the bindings around her ribs, her hair skimming past her shoulders and along her full breasts, where it hung like pale silk that he already knew was soft and fragrant. She unwound the bindings, dropping them so that she was naked down to the edge of her trousers. Hips swaying with natural grace, she walked toward him as she unlaced the front ties of her trousers. Keeping her gaze centered on his face, she stepped around him, teasing him by skimming close without touching him. She crouched before the embers to blow them back to life and added two bricks of peat from a pile that was stacked in a small tower nearby.

When the peat caught, she stood tall and straight, turning to him, and he fisted his hands to keep from reaching immediately for her. “Welcome to my den,” she said, a half grin turning up one corner of her lush mouth.

“Are ye Calisto, the woman turned into a bear and living in the stars?” he asked. He inhaled as her gaze dropped to his obvious arousal pushing against his kilt.

She tipped her head as she met his gaze. “Have no fear. I will not maul you…too much.” Her fingers slid down her stomach into the V made by her open trousers, touching herself.

The sight, mixed with her playful words, shot another jolt of want through him. “Bloody hell,” he murmured. He felt like he could rip apart anything that stood between them, his need to mate stronger than his need to breathe. His breath came ragged as his gaze roamed the contours of her strong, beautifully unique face.

Joshua tugged his belt open, and the folds of woven wool dropped to his boots, leaving him bare and hard as the rocks around them. Her eyes widened, but she met his watchful gaze with a small smile. In two strides, he stood before her. As he was about to reel her in, she turned away, bending over. Her shapely arse, still clad in the trousers, lifted into the air, and she untied the fur wrappings and her boots. Och, but he wanted to take her from behind, but then also in a way he could stare into her face as she shattered in bliss. He would tease every little tingle of pleasure out of her.

Joshua nearly tripped over the pooling of his clothes, cursed, and bent to untie his own furs and boots, shucking them before she could turn around. She straightened, her blond hair pulled to one side, exposing the slim muscles of her back and the seductive spot at the base of her skull. He came up behind her, his naked body pressed against her still-covered arse, his jack hard and lifted between them. His hands were icy, so he pressed them against the outsides of his thighs, hoping his body heat would warm them.

Leaning in, his hot mouth trailed across the space between her shoulder and neck. Her hair spilled backward as her face tipped up to the low ceiling of rock, giving him access to her throat. His mouth settled against her thrumming pulse. She smelled more delicious than any sweet he’d ever tasted, a mix of warm spice and womanly lust. Everything about her called him: the softness of her skin, the heat from her body, her scent and bravery to bring him into her secluded home.

Reaching around, he cupped her breasts, lifting them as she pressed her back against him, moving her arse in a wanton circle. His groan rumbled up from his chest on a long exhale. Stretching her arms upward, she turned, and he watched the graceful length in them and her fingers. Her long limbs lay down over his shoulders where she pulled his mouth back to hers, slanting immediately into a hot, open kiss. Their mutual touching was well underway, and Joshua couldn’t think of a better prize for finding her.

She rubbed against his jack, and he slid his hands down her sides, following the slopes inward and over to the front of her open trousers. Down in the center, his fingers dove, drawn to the wet heat of her. She pushed into his hand and moaned as he entered her.

“Och, but ye are soaked and so hot inside, Kára lass,” he said, his voice rough. She moaned as he worked her flesh. Lips parted, her hands plucked at her trousers, sliding them down to her feet to kick aside. Her beautiful body was completely bare. Full breasts and flared hips, she was no virginal girl. Nay, Kára was all exquisitely ripe woman.

“Stay with me, Highlander,” she whispered at his ear, kissing along his jawline and neck as she rubbed the crux of her legs against him.

With a little hop, she lifted her legs up around his hips again, kissing his mouth with wild abandon. He caught her arse in his two hands, backing them up toward a large area of furs and quilts. His legs took them there without conscious thought. Their breaths mingled, and he lowered them, until she was flat upon the furs.

The firelight cast her skin in gold and shadows as