Page 55 of Ruining a Highland Healer
Valora tilted her head back and gasped when he touched her more intimately. His other hand cradled her cheek, his lips pressing to the hollow beneath her ear.
Every inch of her felt awakened.
Torrin’s hand lingered just beneath the water, resting along the curve of Valora’s waist. He hadn’t moved since she asked him to stay; he hadn’t spoken since she’d whispered to him. But the weight of the moment hung thick in the air between them, every breath shared like a secret.
She shifted slightly, water lapping softly against the copper sides of the tub. Her knee brushed his side—barely a touch, but it sent a ripple of tension through both of them.
Torrin swallowed, voice low. "Dae ye still want this?"
She didn’t respond to him; she didn’t have to. Instead, she reached for him, fingers curling around the front of his shirt. The fabric was damp from where he’d leaned too close, and she tugged it gently, urging him nearer. He obeyed, one hand cupping her face, the other still at her waist beneath the water.
Their lips met—tentative only for a single moment before deepening. The kiss turned slow and urgent, the kind that stole the air from her lungs and replaced it with desire like flames,threatening to burn her from the inside. Her hand slid up to his shoulder, damp skin meeting warm muscle. He moved closer, leaning further into the tub without climbing in, his arm now around her back, anchoring her to him.
He kissed her jaw, her temple, the space behind her ear. "Ye’re shaking," he murmured.
"I’m nae cold."
He gave a quiet sound—half-laugh, half-growl—and trailed his fingers slowly across her ribs. Beneath the water, everything was softened, heated, pliant. His touch, though, was deliberate, almost worshipful.
Valora’s breath caught when his hand slid lower beneath the surface, fingers tracing the curve of her hip, then in again, between her thighs. Never before had she been touched like that. Never before had she known what it felt like, though she had imagined it—and her imagination hadn’t done the reality any justice.
Her head dropped back with a quiet gasp as he found the places that made her tremble, his lips brushing along her collarbone while his hand moved beneath the water. Torrin’s fingers traced her folds gently, the touch feather-light but not hesitant.
She clutched at his shirt, her forehead pressing to his. "Torrin…"
"I’ve got ye," he whispered, mouth grazing hers again. "I’ve got ye."
The water rocked with her movement as she lifted her hips slightly, trying to draw him in. Torrin groaned low in his throat, but held still.
"I dinnae wish tae take somethin’ from ye that ye’ll regret," he said hoarsely.
Valora blinked, dazed from the warmth bath and from Torrin’s intoxicating touch, her heart hammering in her chest. "Ye’re nae takin’ anythin'. I’m givin’ it."
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Torrin seemed too awestruck by her confession to say anything, and so instead, he simply claimed another kiss from her, before he gently helped her out of the tub. Valora let him lead her, stepping outside, her body dripping water on the floor until he wrapped her in a soft drying cloth, pulling her into his arms.
Slowly, Torrin pulled her towards the bed, and Valora followed him. Her breath hitched when he gently pushed her on the bed, his hands on her shoulders to guide her back onto the covers.
She lay back, hair damp against the pillows, and watched him as he descended upon her. When he joined her, the world fell away. She cried out softly as he touched her again, his mouth following his hands, trailing kisses down her throat, her chest, her belly. Then, he settled between her thighs, his breath ghosting over her sensitive flesh and making her shiver.
Soon, his tongue darted out to taste her, and Valora jumped from the surprise of it, her body not knowing if it wanted to pull back or push closer. She didn’t have much time to consider it, though, not when he grabbed her hips and stilled her, moving back in to drag the flat of his tongue over her folds.
It was a sensation the likes of which Valora had never even imagined. Pleasure coursed through her, unstoppable and all-consuming, and she trembled with it, her body yielding to Torrin as he teased her. When his hand joined his efforts, touching her gently as he circled the tip of his tongue over a particularly sensitive spot, Valora’s back arched off the bed, her body seeking more and more of that sensation.
"Please," she gasped, but even she didn’t know what it was, precisely, she was asking for.
Please dinnae stop. Please touch me more. Please keep goin’.
Torrin licked into her like a starving man, pleasuring her relentlessly, without giving her a single moment to breathe. And the more he touched her, the more that clever tongue pressed into her, drawing pleasure out of her, the closer she got to her climax, her body seeking its release.
When she finally had it, she did so with a cry of Torrin’s name, one to which he responded with a low, rumbling groan.
For a few moments, Valora lay there, dazed and heavy-limbed, still and quiet. Then, Torrin kissed his way up her body, burying his face in his neck, and she sighed at the tender touch of his lipson the thin skin of her neck. She let her eyes fall shut, enjoying the moment, and waiting for what was to come next.
But just as Torrin shifted above her, prepared to take the final step, he froze. Valora opened her eyes to find him hovering over her, uncertain.
"Torrin?"
"I cannae," he said, voice raspy and breathless.
