Page 43 of Bound to a Highland Beast
Slowly, she began to tug at his tunic until Tiernan took the hint and helped her undress him. He had no qualms being entirely nude in the middle of the wilderness, it seemed, since he took off everything, standing naked before her, his manhood straining against his stomach as a bead of moisture gathered at the tip.
In the dying light of the day, Tiernan looked like he was carved from marble, his pale skin glowing in the dim sunlight. Like that, Isabeau could trace the contours of his muscles with her gaze as much as with the tips of her fingers, letting them dip in the grooves and valleys of his chest and stomach. When she reached his hips, she hesitated for a moment, wondering if she could even do this, but in the end, she decided that it could hardly be that difficult if everyone else was doing it.
Tentatively, she wrapped her fingers around his length, feeling the heat and weight of him in her palm, the silky feel of him on her skin. Her touch drew a gasp out of Tiernan and Isabeau could see his body trembling ever so slightly, as though it took all of his self-control to keep himself still and let her explore him as she wished.
“Show me,” Isabeau urged him, and the mere request drew a broken groan out of him, as if the thought of it was enough to wreck him. Tiernan wasted no time before he wrapped his own hand around hers, moving them in tandem slowly over his length, guiding Isabeau’s movements.
“Just like that,” he said, and after a few moments he let go of her, letting her stroke him on her own. Isabeau couldn’t tear her gaze away from him, watching as her hand dragged over his manhood, from the base all the way to the tip. It was a sight she didn’t think she would ever forget, one that had her head spinning and her breath getting shallower and shallower, her lust rekindling itself the more she touched him.
“Ye can dae it faster,” he said, nodding encouragingly as his head came to rest on top of hers, pressing a kiss to her forehead. Isabeau quickened her strokes, each tug pulling a choked off sound from Tiernan’s lips. She loved to hear him like this—she loved to know she was the reason why he was on the brink, that her touch could reduce him to this. “I willnae last.”
At that, Isabeau slowed down her tugs, much to Tiernan’s chagrin. “I want ye inside me,” she told him, surprising even herself that her body could take more—not only that but craved it, even, her core pulsing every time she glanced down at him.
With a groan, Tiernan nodded, pulling Isabeau into a hasty kiss before he pulled her towards the nearest tree, making her brace herself against the trunk with her hips back, the swell of her buttocks high in the air. Tiernan took a moment to drag his hands over her lower body and then, much to Isabeau’s embarrassment, spread her wide, simply gazing at her body for a few moments.
“Even here,” he said, dragging a single finger over the seam of her folds, “ye’re so bonnie.”
Isabeau shivered, half in anticipation and half in embarrassment, feeling as though her entire body was on fire. When Tiernan finally lined up his manhood to her entrance, she took a deep breath, her slick walls parting with ease around his girth. That first thrust was enough to push all the air out of her lungs, the pleasure so overwhelming that her entire body shook with it, her core already throbbing around him. She knew neither of them would last; after reaching her peak twice already, Isabeau’s flesh was oversensitive, responding to the smallest of touches, and Tiernan had already been close after her ministrations.
With every thrust, Tiernan’s hips slammed against her rear, his hands closing around it, fingers digging into her skin. He wouldn’t be the only one bearing marks by the end of this, Isabeau knew, but she welcomed it. She wanted the reminder of this day on her body, the bruises that would form under his fingers. She wanted to feel him on her body for days to come, to have a solid memory of him with her.
Bracing herself against the tree, Isabeau let herself be ravaged, each of Tiernan’s movements rocking her entire body. He was just as desperate as she was, she could tell, his manhood twitching inside her, moving hard and fast against her walls. Her entrance quivered with every thrust, and she could feel herself getting wetter around his length, drenching them both in her slickness.
But it was when Tiernan reached around her, his rhythm never once faltering as he began to tease that sensitive spot, that Isabeau was once again brought to the brink of her orgasm. All it took was a few more thrusts and she was coming once morearound him, clamping down on his length like a vice, her body finally reaching its limit.
It only took Tiernan a few more thrusts to follow her, pulling out just in time as he spilled over her thighs. For several moments, neither of them moved. They were too exhausted and too satiated, but soon, the chill got to Isabeau. Tiernan must have noticed, she thought, as he gathered her in his arms, gently prying her away from the tree and wrapping his arms tightly around her.
“That was…”
He couldn’t finish his sentence and Isabeau found that she didn’t have any words for it either. She only laughed, nodding, which prompted a laugh from Tiernan as well.
“Come,” he said after a few moments of silence, pulling her back to the horse. There, he grabbed the canteen of water they carried with them and his undershirt, wetting the edge of it. Before Isabeau could point out that he should probably wear his undershirt in this weather, he began to wipe her thighs clean, then her mound, as she stood there in shock.
It felt too intimate, like something she should have never allowed him to do, but at the same time, she couldn’t get over the sweetness of the gesture, the sheer kindness of it.
She also couldn’t get over her embarrassment, burying her face in her hands, only for Tiernan to laugh as he pried them away.
“I’ll always take care of ye,” Tiernan said tenderly.
As he spoke, Tiernan proceeded to gather Isabeau’s shift and pull it over her head, and she begrudgingly let him dress her until she looked proper once more. He was, indeed, taking care of her, and it wasn’t as though Isabeau wasn’t used to it. Her maids always took care of everything for her, to the point where she rarely even dressed herself. But having Tiernan do it felt different, so different that she couldn’t untangle the ball of feelings that nestled in her stomach.
There was embarrassment, yes, and much of it. But there was also a warmth, a fondness unlike anything she had ever felt before.
Only once she was clean and dressed did Tiernan focus on himself, despite the chill of the day. Once he was done, he bunched up his undershirt in his hands and stood straight, frowning as he looked around.
“I’ll be right back,” he said. “There’s a creek nearby, I willnae be long. Stay here.”
Isabeau didn’t like the idea of staying there all alone very much, but she also didn’t want to leave the horse and all their—meagre—belongings there without anyone to guard them. She would simply have to hide a little better, to make sure that anyone who passed by wouldn’t see her or the horse.
As she pulled the horse behind the line of trees to her left, she watched Tiernan disappear deeper into the forest, hoping he wouldn’t take too long.
It was even colder in the woods than on the ridge. The wind didn’t reach that deep into the forest, but neither did the sun, and so the temperature dropped, leaving Tiernan with goosebumps on his skin. That, coupled with the fact that he didn’t want to leave Isabeau alone for too long, made him hurry through the trees, his feet expertly avoiding the raised roots and the shrubs that grew around them, until he finally found the bubbling creek he had heard from the ridge.
With a sigh, he knelt by the bank and dipped his undershirt in the cold water. It stung his hands, but it was also refreshing, the waters clear and sparkling and inviting. In a warmer day, it would have been a beautiful place for a dip.
As it were, he simply wanted to finish his task as soon as possible. A part of him cursed himself for not waiting until they were back at the inn to do this, with water he could warm on the fire. Another part of him, though, didn’t know what else to do with his soiled shirt.
He was almost finished with his task when he heard the unmistakable sound of voices over the rushing water. Swiftly, he hid himself behind the trees, in the shadows of the forest, hoping they would be enough to conceal his presence, and waited.
