Her words come out in a rushed whisper. “You’re a very large man, Cormac McCarthy.”
“Aye.” I can’t help but give her a wry smile. “Serves me well in this trade.”
“What’s your role?”
I don’t hesitate. Our roles are fluid, changing with the seasons and time, but Keenan’s needed muscle he can trust. “Bonebreaker. Clan Captain, having taken his role when he took the throne, I’m second in line as Chief.” That makes me his confidante as well.
“Aren’t you all, though?”
I look at her with curiosity before I respond. “Are we all bonebreakers?”
“Aye.”
“Well, no. We have different roles in our Clan. I’m the larger one, trained ealaíona comhraic.” As an Irish girl, she’ll know what I mean, as many of us are trained in martial arts. “Trained at St. Albert’s. Captain.”
“Oh, that’s right,” she says. “My dad said y’all were posh. Had a finishing school.”
I definitely don’t like her father.
“Aye.” We all attended St. Albert’s, the finishing school for our Clan, and learned everything from reading and writing to boxing, wrestling, and stick fighting.
“So you’re the strike force, then?”
“Aye. When we need to strike, I’m called. I’m also second in command.”
“Keenan’s first?”
“Aye.”
She takes it all in with a serious nod.
“And if you’re second in command, that means you prepare for the possibility that one day you’ll be first in command.”
“I do. Keenan’s a fair leader, and he likes my counsel as well.”
She nods again, her words coming fast and furious now. I wonder if she’s stalling. “Will you introduce me to all of them? Tell me their roles?”
“Aye, in time, lass.”
She takes a step back from me, and her back hits the doorway. She conks her head and winces. Christ, but the girl’s bravado has failed her. She’s scared.
We’re not prolonging this anymore.
“Come here, Aileen.”
“You say that a lot.”
“What?”
“Come here.”
“Eventually you’ll learn to come without me telling you,” I say, crooking a finger at her. “Now come.”
She holds my gaze across the room, a little bit of the vixen returning. “Now that we’re married, will you punish me if I disobey you?”
“Especially now that we’re married.”
She doesn’t like that. Her brows furrow and she purses her lips. “Excuse me?”
“Enough talking, lass. I said come here, and I mean it.”
She takes in a deep breath, squares her slender shoulders, and walks to me. When she’s a foot away, she stops, lacing her fingers behind her back primly.
I reach for her, grip the back of her neck and squeeze. Not hard. Not soft. Just enough to remind her who I am. Who she is.
“Why, Cormac?” she whispers. “Why do you want me?”
I bend my mouth to her ear and whisper. “Because it’s time, lass.”
“I—what if I want a shower first?”
“No.”
“But you took one. It isn’t fair that I—”
My grip on her neck tightens. “I said no.”
After I’ve fucked her, after we’ve consummated our union, I’ll take her to the bathroom and clean her myself, with my own hands. But for now, I want her as she is, disheveled and vulnerable.
I want in her.
Now.
“Will you always be so—”
I silence her backtalk with a kiss before she earns a good spanking. It will happen, I’ve no doubt, as the only discipline I’ve administered was under the guise of another man. She hasn’t yet learned to obey her husband. She will.
Her eyes flutter closed and her head bends back as I explore her sweet, sensual mouth. She tastes like peaches and cream, sweet and rich, and the more I taste, the hungrier I get. I don’t want to break this kiss, not when we’re just beginning. So I lift her in my arms and walk her to the bed, our lips still joined.
I lower her, then kneel beside her, bracing my arm above her head, effectively caging her in, before I heighten the kiss.
Has she kissed a man before?
I’m no virgin, but in that moment, when her beautiful mouth yields to mine, it feels like this could be the first time I’ve ever kissed a woman. I groan as I slip her robe off her shoulder, massaging her sweet, soft skin. She moans, and I’ve only just touched her shoulder. My cock strains against the towel.
If she’s this responsive to a kiss and chaste touch, how will she respond when I really begin to work her body? When I suckle her nipples and fondle her breasts? When I finger her secret folds? When I eat her sweet pussy and she comes on my tongue?
I pull my mouth off hers with reluctance, only long enough so I can issue a command. “Robe off,” I say, helping her do it by slipping the white fabric off her other shoulder, while she unties the belt at her waist.
She places both her hands on my shoulders, her eyes wide and fearful like they were just moments ago in the doorway. “Cormac.”
“Aye?”
“How will you… what will they…” her cheeks heat pink. “How will they know you’ve taken my virginity?”