and the promise of an ‘audition’ kept my thoughts returning to the after-dinner portion of the evening’s programming.
When the last of the stroganoff was consumed, he turned his sexiest smile my way.
“Dessert?” he asked, causing innuendo to drip from the word in direct proportion to the speed at which juices were gathering elsewhere.
“Um…”
“I didn’t get a good look at our bedroom this morning,” he said as he stood, reaching for my hand and pulling me to my feet. He leaned close and whispered so that his warm breath was in my ear.
“Our bedroom? Isn’t that yet to be determined?”
Keir Culain responded with the most arrogant chuckle imaginable. He clearly didn’t have performance anxiety. “I’d like another tour.”
At that moment I might’ve agreed to anything, even flying around in a starlit sky.
“Um…”
Without waiting for further invitation, he drew me into the bedroom. Seeing goosebumps raised on my arms, he said, “Light the fire.” I looked around for matches, kindling and the like. “What are you doing?” he asked. When I told him, he grinned and said, “Just say the words. Fire. Light.”
“You mean like talking to Alexa?”
“Yes. Except that what happens in your house stays in your house.”
I was nodding, “An improvement to be sure.”
“Try it.”
I looked at the fireplace. “Fire. Light.” Flames jumped to life. “That’s pretty amazing. I mean participating in magic like, um, you can do? And the fire. It’s not too little. Not too big. It’s just right.”
“That’s because you saw the fire you wanted when you said the words.”
“Oh.”
“The house is yours. It responds to you. Maeve, I mean Mum, should have mentioned that.” He looked around. “I like it here.” Then he turned a smoldering look my direction. “I like you here. You know what I want?”
“What?” I asked breathlessly. Whatever it was, I wanted him to have it.
“One of your soul-searing kisses.” Soul-searing kisses? Oh my gods. “No. I want at least three dozen of your soul-searing kisses. For starters. Starting right now.”
Our bodies remembered the state of arousal we’d left at my townhouse door and picked up right there. We went from a civilized veneer of composure to tearing at clothes in sixty seconds.
I barely registered clothes flying every which way. I barely registered decorative pillows tossed aside and bed coverings being drawn back so that nothing remained but virgin-white, real linen sheets lit by firelight alone.
What I did register was Keir’s physique, which exceeded every fantasy entertained by human women since the beginning of time. Quick to follow was self-consciousness about my own body, flawed by the passage of years, childbearing, and the joys of food and wine. This is not to mention neither time nor money for such frivolities as gym memberships. Keir was so in tune with my moods that he caught the shift the moment I began to withdraw emotionally.
“No,” he said. Pulling my hands away from my body so that I was forced to stand with arms outstretched, he said, “You’re exactly what I want. Not too little. Not too big. Just right.”
I smiled at the repetition of my review of the fire. And all thought of anything except copulation with Keir left when he pressed my body into his. The responding groan, which was almost a growl, gave me all the self-confidence I needed to know that I was in the right place at the right time. And maybe Esmerelda was right. Maybe the Powers That Be had decided to throw love into the package as the cherry on top.
It wasn’t a surprise that Keir was a skillful lover. The day we met Maggie had unartfully suggested as much by alluding to his reputation. What was a surprise was my body’s response. I hadn’t realized that I’d never had a sexual encounter with a man who knew what he was doing until I was in the midst of such an event.
Oh. My.
Copulation with Keir Culain was eye and leg opening. Every time I’d think a more frenzied arousal wasn’t possible, he’d deliver a new maneuver that made me crazier and more vocal. I was glad I wasn’t in the townhouse because I was sure I would’ve been heard by all the locals nearby. It was a wonder that my screams of pleasure didn’t set off Romeo’s alarm system.
Three orgasms and the equivalent of a Peloton workout later, I fell to my side facing him and said, “You’re hired.”
He chuckled. “So, I can move in now?”
“No wonder you weren’t worried about your audition.”