Page 57 of The Cruel Highlander's Healer
The words, however, seemed to ignite something within Conall. She thought he had been devouring her before. But now, he feasted on her like a man starved.
His mouth moved fervently, sucking her between his lips and making her hips buck and her back arched. Higher and higher the pressure within her built.
She felt like she was balancing on the cliffs edge, and any moment now she would hurl herself off of it.
With one final hard suck accompanied by the curl of his finger, Eliza was falling. Wave after wave crashed over her, a pleasure like she had never known filling every ounce of her being.
Her body was wracked with spasms, shaking as she found her release. Eliza cried out Conall’s name, not caring that they were in an inn. Not caring that there were people around them that might hear.
Eliza cared about nothing at all other than the feeling that was coursing through her and the man that had caused it all.
Slowly, the waves of pleasure began to subside. Where they had been hot and violent before, they slowed to a dull, rolling shudder before finally stilling entirely.
She couldn’t breathe. Staring up at the ceiling, Eliza panted her breaths as her mind raced. Never in a million years had she imagined that such pleasure existed.
There was the sound of scuffling between her thighs, and she looked down to find Conall moving from kneeling before her.
His beard was wet and glistening, and her cheeks flushed with warmth as she realized it was a sign of her release. She propped herself up on her elbows as Conall wiped the back of his hand along his mouth, clearing all remnants of what they’d just done.
His eyes met hers, and Eliza’s eyes did not waver. Her heart, which had momentarily begun to slow down, sped up once more.
Is this it? Am I about to lie with this man?
CHAPTERNINETEEN
What happens if I lie with this man?
A moment of doubt flickered through her mind. If she went through with this, if people found out and the Laird did not court her, she would be ruined. But surely he would not have done that to her, would not have feasted upon her from like a man starved if he had no intention of courting her.
She pushed herself up onto her elbows, staring at Conall. His eyes locked on hers, their dark depths glinting at her in the dark. All at once, her doubt was driven from her mind, replaced by a hot, pulsing need in the very center of her being.
Eliza reached for him, ready to guide him onto the bed with shaking hands. She was ready. She knew that without a shadow of a doubt.
His brows dipped together, the skin around his eyes going tight. With a purse of his lips, the doubt that had been within her just moments before flared anew, this time larger and louder than it had ever been.
“Conall?” she asked, unable to hide the hurt lingering in her tone.
He shook his head as if to clear it and then pushed away from her. Eliza’s cheeks flared from embarrassment, her stomach bottoming out as she watched Conall stand and take two steps away from her.
“I shouldnae have done that,” he said, his voice thick with regret.
It took a moment for the word to sink in. But when they did, Eliza had to blink rapidly to banish the tears that sprang to her eyes.
“What do ye mean?” she asked, shame rushing through her.
Her words were wrought with it, conflicting emotions were warring inside of her. The most damning of all, though, was hope.
Hope that he didn’t mean what he just said. Hope that she had misheard him. Hope for a thousand things that would make her laying naked before Laird Conall Shaw of MacKinnon moments after he’d just tasted her most sacred parts less unbearable.
But hope would not win out.
“I was weak,” he continued, driving his point home. “I should have had more strength than to fall upon ye the moment I saw ye undressed. I should have had the strength to place the food and leave. I apologize.”
His words were hollow; each one felt like a knife being driven directly into the center of her chest.
As he spoke, Eliza had begun shaking her head. She couldn’t make sense of it all. What did he mean he shouldn’t have done it?
The entire act had felt so beautiful, so magical. The pleasure of it had been one of the best things that Eliza had ever felt in her entire life.
