Mal gravely replied, “Then I hope that my actions prove to you my sincerity.” And he meant it with his whole heart.
Chapter 22
Scarlet hesitated on Mal’s front step, her hand lifted to knock. Should she just go in? Should she simply materialize inside? She didn’t know the rules of engagement for having a mate.
Just as she decided to knock, the door opened and she sucked in a breath. Mal was wearing pants, and nothing else, the broad expanse of his chest like a landscape of toned muscle.
“I wasn’t sure if you needed to sleep,” she said apologetically, lowering her hand.
Mal was gazing back at her. “You are so beautiful,” he said in awe. “I keep thinking I’ve imagined you more gorgeous in my mind than you could possibly be, and then I see you again and you are so much more.”
Scarlet hadn’t thought a compliment could undo her so completely. She felt her cheeks heat and felt like a trembling sapling all over again. “I... I...” His bare chest didn’t do much to help her keep her thoughts together.
Then he closed the distance between them and Scarlet was eagerly meeting him.
To her shock, he lifted her up into his arms, kissing her as he carried her into his cottage. She felt his hand make a gesture behind her and the door swung shut behind them. No one had ever carried her anywhere, and Scarlet savored the unexpected delight of it, wrapping her legs eagerly around him.
He laughed against her lips. “You weren’t kidding about that whole lusty business, were you?”
“Let’s find out together,” Scarlet suggested, moving to nibble his ear.
Mal’s arms tightened and he hissed in pleasure as he navigated them to his bedroom and laid her down on the broad bed. A stack of books was swept carelessly to the floor to clear space for them.
It was like being offered a buffet with too many delicious options: she wanted to kiss his amazing lips, and she wanted to spread her hands over his strong shoulders, and she wanted to wrap herself around him, and she wanted to run her fingers through his silver-touched hair, all at the same time.
And most of all, she wanted him in her, filling her physically as well as emotionally. She craved his warmth inside of her, his skin against hers, his weight... she was whimpering, tugging at the closure of his pants.
But he pressed her down onto the bed with gentle, slow kisses, thwarting her desperate efforts. “Shhh,” he said, putting first one of her hands, then the other, above her head. “Shhh,” he repeated, kissing sweetly down her neck.
Scarlet squirmed, but left her hands above her head obediently as he reached for the buttons of her blouse.
He unbuttoned her so slowly that Scarlet had to force herself not to hasten the process by simply unmaking her clothing out of impatience. His hands caressed everything he uncovered, in slow, unhurried worship. He followed his fingers with kisses and nibbles as he finished with the buttons and pulled her into a seated position so he could slip the blouse off her arms.
They kissed there a long moment and Mal unclasped the bra and slid the straps from her shoulders. Scarlet could not help gasping as he cupped her breasts in his hands, growling against her lips.
“Mal,” she begged, clawing at his gorgeous shoulders. “Mal...” He was still wearing pants, and Scarlet was beginning to think this was a desperate injustice.
“Shhh...” he said again, leaving a trail of butterfly kisses across her cheek. Then he was pressing her back down into the bed and kissing down her belly to unzip her skirt. Scarlet lifted her hips to let him slide it down off of her, hopeful, longing, waiting for the sound of his zipper, and she was disappointed when he threw aside her skirt but returned to the bed still clothed.
Then his mouth met her nethers and Scarlet gave a cry of surprised pleasure as she took double-handfuls of the quilt beneath her. His tongue teased her, licking and probing gently, slowly, drawing out the orgasm that washed over her.
When she could see again, Mal was once again straddling her and she could feel how hard he was through his now-hated pants. “Mal...” she begged. “Mal...”
He bent to kiss her, and she tasted herself, tangy and salty, on his lips. She wrapped one leg around him and pushed him over on his back, rolling over to straddle him confidently.
“Scarlet,” he started to say.
“Shhh...” she told him with a smile. Then she kissed the base of his throat, drawing a groan from his lips as he tipped his head back.
She kissed slowly down his chest, then unbuttoned his pants with her teeth, nibbling at the muscles that tensed in his stomach as she used her fingers to unzip him at last.
He sprang into her hand as she wrestled the pants down around his hips and she teased him and bent to kiss him, to draw him into her mouth as slowly as she could manage. His hips squirmed as she licked and sucked and her own desire was mounting to a new pitch as he growled her name.
When he was reduced to fragments of sentences—please, you have to, Scarlet, wait!—she crawled up his intoxicating body and lowered herself onto him in one smooth motion that made them both cry out. The orgasm was only the first of several, as Mal managed to hold off his own pleasure by sheer force of will and bring her again and again to climax. Scarlet wondered if he was using a spell to prolong things, he was so keyed up, and then decided to stop overthinking it and let herself enjoy the pulsing waves of bliss that he woke in her body.
At last, he joined her in one final release, desperately holding her hips as he thrust into her. Still coupled, Scarlet sank down and they lay together as their bodies shivered off the last spasms of their lovemaking.
“Scarlet,” Mal said breathlessly, leaving little kisses on her forehead. “My mate.”