Page 52 of Bound to a Warrior
Mercy wasn’t ready, wasn’t sure what to do and when they rose out of the water, a moment later, her arm wrapped tight around his neck, she was coughing and spurting.
He wiped the rivulets of water from her face. “Easy,” he cautioned. “Breathe easy.” He demonstrated taking slow breaths himself and when she finally maintained the rhythm on her own, he apologized. “I forgot you are not accustomed to the water.”
“Teach me,” she insisted.
“Now?”
She nodded. “I never want to be caught in such a position again. The next time it is necessary for me to jump or dunk in a river or stream, I want to do so with confidence.”
He hesitated and she knew why and commiserated. She, like he, had expected this time to be one of intimacy. But the unexpected dunk beneath the water had frightened her, chilled her to the core with the memory of jumping off the cliff. And while he had been there to keep her from drowning, the truth was that she couldn’t count on him always being there. Even though he claimed he would always be there for her, there might come a time when she was on her own.
He suddenly seemed to understand. “You do need to learn to swim.”
“I do,” she agreed hastily.
“It may take more than one lesson.”
“I learn quickly.”
He grinned. “That is good to know.”
She chuckled. “Of course that depends on what kind of teacher you are.”
His laughter was more a seductive growl. “I’m an excellent teacher…in all things.”
She brought her lips close to his. “Then I look forward to learning from you.”
He stole a kiss and while she knew he intended it to be a quick one, it wasn’t. Once their lips touched, their hunger took command and nothing mattered, nothing at all, expect satisfying their voracious appetite for each other.
They feasted, enjoying every succulent taste, drinking in the nectar of their passion while never quite appeasing it.
His hands drifted to her bare bottom and hoisted her up against him. That he wanted her was undeniable, she could feel his strength, his thickness, his hungry need, and her own.
She tingled between her legs so badly that she wanted nothing more than to feel him hard and bulging inside her, to satisfy her aching need. It would be easy and done with and that sudden realization quickly cooled her ardor.
She did not want her first time with him to be a quick spurt of lovemaking. There was more between them that needed to be explored and felt, and understood. She reluctantly ended the kiss nibbling along his lip before she was finally able to pull away.
“I—I—” She stuttered unable to voice what she was feeling, since she barely understood it herself.
She wasn’t surprised that he already knew. He seemed to have the uncanny ability to understand her before she understood herself.
He nuzzled her neck with his mouth and then his lips drifted to her ear. “Our first time making love will be special. It will not be planned, or done in haste. It will come naturally, as it should, and we will remember and cherish it always.”
She laid her hand to his moist, heated cheek. “You are a good man.”
“What happened to chivalrous?”
She smiled. “You are that too.”
“And I am a teacher,” he said, “and you my pupil. Now you will learn to swim.”
He turned her over on her stomach, his free hand around her waist and his chained one extended so that she could have use of hers.
“This will be difficult due to the shackles,” he said.
“I believe if I acquaint myself with the fundamentals, then I will be able to learn fast.”
It was more difficult with the shackles than either of them imagined and several times Duncan had to keep her from sinking. Finally, Mercy stood and slapped the water hard sending it splashing over the two of them.
