“Say you want me.” I nipped at her bottom lip, capturing it in my teeth, sucking at its fullness. Sophie moaned against my lips as I stroked my hands up and down her sides, wanting to take but refusing to plunder until she gave her consent.

“Lachlan,” Sophie moaned, thrusting her hips toward mine.

“Say you want me to taste you.” I nibbled kisses along her jawline, finding a sensitive spot behind her ear. “Say you want to feel me inside you.”

“I…I…” Sophie blinked eyes clouded with lust up at me, and I returned my attentions to her swollen mouth, calling on every ounce of my willpower not to rip her leggings from her thighs and bury myself to the hilt in one powerful thrust.

“I’m mad for you, Sophie. I…I need you.” At that, my voice cracked, but I didn’t care. I was beyond understanding anything other than needing this woman.

She was my answer.

My absolution.

“Yes,” Sophie whispered, and I groaned, ripping the jumper over her shoulders along with her shirt. She stood before me, trembling in that neon-pink bra, and went to cross her arms over herself. There she was. My shy yet fearless woman. The dichotomy was bound to drive me mad, as I bounced between admiring her and wanting to protect her. Kneeling before her, I gripped the waistband of her leggings and kissed the soft skin of her rounded stomach.

“Kick off your shoes. Or I’m going to tear these leggings off you.”

“No! Don’t. I mean, they’re my favorite pair.” Sophie gasped and hopped awkwardly on one foot. I enjoyed the hopping, her large breasts swinging in my face, her soft stomach rippling attractively as she did so. I wanted to live in her curves and be enveloped in her softness. Her body was made for touching, and I’d die this night if I didn’t touch every last bit of it.

Once her shoes were gone, she made to sit on the blanket, but I kept her pinned to me, one arm looped around her muscular legs, and peeled away the leggings and her underwear along with it. Once she stood there in only her bra, I buried my head between her legs, keeping her locked against me, and gripped her large bottom with my hands. Sophie let out a soft shriek as I widened her legs with my knees, finding her slit with my tongue and opening her for a taste. I pulled her closer, so that she would ride my mouth, and when she trembled in my arms, attempting to step back, I pinned her to my face, forcing her to ride me.

She was my Knight, after all.

I lingered over her, savoring her cries, lapping softly against her folds as I circled her clit with my tongue, enjoying the way her legs shook against my head. Over and over, I licked her, circling her, tasting her as if she was the most exquisite meal I’d ever had. And she was, at that. I could have spent hours in just this position, bringing her to the peak of orgasm over and over, enjoying the heady rush of dominating a powerful woman.

Even when she didn’t fully understand her own power.

Instead, when Sophie tugged at my hair, her cries echoing across the room, and begged me for a reprieve, I relented. Moving forward, I lifted her, bringing her with me so she lay back on the blanket, and she blinked up at me in surprise.

“Forget who was down there?” I asked, acknowledging the surprise on her face.

“No…I just…” Sophie shook her head and seemed to have some internal battle with herself. “Nobody I’ve been with before is able to lift me so easily. It’s…disconcerting.”

“Stop dating weak men,” I said, kissing my way up the soft skin of her stomach, and then lapping her hard nipple through the silk of her bra. She gasped, arching into my mouth, and I wet the silk, enjoying how all of her softness shifted beneath me. Sophie was a dream come to life, and I needed to be inside her.

“Sophie.” I palmed both her breasts, tweaking her nipples lightly, and she moaned again. “I want to be inside you. But I don’t have a condom.”

“I’m protected,” Sophie said, blinking up at me. “I have an IUD.”

I reared back, ripping my shirt over my head and divesting myself of my shoes and jeans faster than anything I’d done in my life, worried she’d change her mind before I could rid myself of this burning need to be inside her. Sliding between her legs, I rubbed my cock against her, feeling how wet she was for me, and played with her while I drew out the anticipation. Remembering her words about the men she dated, I wrapped my arms around her back, and she let out a shriek when I rolled so she was on top of me.

“How did you?” Sophie gasped, slapping a palm down on my chest to steady herself, the other hand brushing her mass of tangled auburn hair from her face.

“I’m strong, Sophie.” I laughed up at her, reveling in the sight of her straddling me. Never had I seen a woman more beautiful, her skin flushed pink with desire, her hair in a riotous mass around her head, and her large breasts heaving with each breath.

“I see that.” Sophie gasped, steadying herself.

“You are, quite possibly, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. Just look at you…” I said, adoration in my voice. I traced my hands up her sides, feeling her body twitch under my palms, delighting in the fact that I had this power over her. “Silky skin. Stunning curves. Breasts I could lose myself in for hours. That mouth I’ve been wanting to bite for days now. You’re a goddess, Sophie, a goddamn goddess. And I swear if you don’t take me inside you this instant, I’ll die.”

“Oh.” Sophie let out a breath of air and then lifted herself so that I slid inside her warm, wet heat, and I shouted as I bucked up into her, not caring about yesterday or tomorrow because absolution was delivered at this moment. If I never woke again, I’d die the happiest of men at the hands of a warrior goddess the likes of which this world had not seen in ages.

When Sophie rocked us both to completion, her eyes wide in shock, we stared at each other, our chests heaving as we said a thousand things with our eyes.

But none with our words.

Instead, we grinned sheepishly at each other, gathering our clothes hastily like naughty teenagers, and crept from the stables in the darkness. Racing through the rain to the front of the castle, I stole one more kiss from Sophie before she disappeared to her room without another word, and I went to the lounge to pour myself a dram of whisky and stare out at the moody waters of Loch Mirren.

I didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but I did know that everything had changed. If only I knew what to do about it.