Page 74 of Wedded to the Twisted Highlander
Astrid wanted nothing more than to give him everything she had. As their bodies joined, it was their souls that fused like molten rock. He would be the strength she needed, and she would be his fire.
“Thomas,” Astrid gasped when she felt as if her body would burst into uncontrollable flames.
Thomas held her tighter, refusing to let her go. He was after all the only support she had keeping her upright.
In a flash, it wasn’t gravity that anchored Astrid to the earth, but Thomas’s will and strength. It was his willingness to cover her and pin her to the earth before she had a chance to fly away. Arching her back, she swooned into the pleasure as it seeped through every fiber of her being. It was as if she had been born anew. Not in the flesh, but in the euphoria of life.
“That’s it,” Thomas purred as he brushed his fingers delicately over her cheekbones.
Astrid’s lips parted as she gulped in the air. How long had she been like this? The colors around her were far brighter and crisper than before. As she opened her eyes, it was like she was doing it for the first time.
“Is it always like this?” she asked as Thomas eased off her.
She hated the cold his absence left. But instinctively, she knew they couldn’t stay like that forever.
“I couldnae say,” Thomas said as he brushed a strand of hair from her forehead.
“Why do I nae believe ye?” she asked, arching her eyebrow as she studied him intently.
“That is on ye,” Thomas answered.
Astrid snuggled into the crook of his arm and threw her leg over his waist. She didn’t care that her dress was stained with dirt, nor did she care that she had lost all track of time.
For the first time since she had arrived at McFair Castle, Astrid felt at peace.
“I cannae tell ye what ye should believe,” Thomas continued, a devilish smirk playing on his lips. “That is something ye’ll have to figure out for yerself.”
“Ye ken what I mean,” Astrid protested as she swatted his chest.
Thomas made a mock grimace but then let out a hearty chuckle as she rested her head on his chest.
“I suppose, then, that ye’d believe that I have never lain wit’ a lass before?” he whispered. His voice was so low that Astrid thought she had imagined the words.
“Come again?”
Thomas let out a heavy sigh as he extricated himself from her arms and rose to his feet, pulling his breeches up as he went.
Astrid didn’t understand the sudden cold shoulder. It was as if he had somehow turned off all the warmth in the world and left her stranded in the freezing room. She reached out to him, hoping to find some way to coax him back into her embrace.
“Ye heard me,” Thomas said over his shoulder. “But it’s as I thought—ye wouldnae believe me.”
Astrid took a moment to let his words sink in. Why had she thought all this time that he was experienced? Was it because of the way his hands roamed over her body? Or maybe it was the way he managed to play her like a fiddle that made her think he had done this before.
Astrid jumped to her feet and fixed her bodice as she moved over to him.
“Are ye sayin’ that ye’ve never done it? Nae even wit’ a whore?”
“Ye would think, aye? But nay. Ye… ye have been worth the wait, if I may say.”
Astrid didn’t know what to think. All her life, she had thought that men were secretly taken by their fathers to brothels to become ‘men’. Yet, as she looked at Thomas, she was shocked to see the boy shining through his rough, battle-hardened exterior.
“As were ye,” she whispered as she took his hand and cupped it to her face. She loved the way it made her feel, knowing that he was there, sharing this moment with her. “But tell me truthfully…”
“I speak the truth. Ye are me first. And now that I’ve had me fill of ye, I find meself starvin’ once again. Will this craving ever goaway?” Thomas asked as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.
“Astrid? Thomas? Where are ye? Are we still playin’?” Melody’s voice rang through the atrium, pulling them up short.
Astrid stared at Thomas longingly. She wasn’t ready to let the world into their space, but how much time had passed was the question. She had completely forgotten the concept of time. Thomas made it impossible for her to keep track of anything when he was so close.
