Vera waded deeper into the small pool of water below the waterfall, her arm covering her breasts as she peeked over her shoulder to Owen, the cottage not far beyond the horizon.

“Don’t go too far now.” His voice was a low rumble of that Scottish burr of his.

“No?” Vera turned, lowering her arm. The cold water licked her nipples as she stood before him, naked.

He dove into the water, slicing his way to her with quick, clean strokes. Strong hands tugged on her hips before he emerged before her. “No.”

“Why—”

His lips sealed over hers in a kiss, strong and intoxicating. Her knees bent below her, the ground suddenly too soft. Even the water couldn’t take away the heat in his touch as his hand slowly climbed from her knee to her thigh, wrapping her legs around his waist. She felt his length between her legs and gasped, her breath hard to find as her raced against her chest.

Owen bent down and kissed the column of her neck, nipping the thin skin with his teeth, before wiping away the pain with a stroke of his tongue.

“Owen,” she said in a soft plea. She was sure there was more she wanted to say, she felt the weight of the words against her chest, but nothing came. Nothing except the steady thrum of her heart. “Owen,” she whispered again.

His hands were strong as they stroked up her back and pulled gently at the nape of her neck, forcing her lips back to his for a long, breathless kiss.

“I want to do such bad things to you, love. Do you know that?”

Bad things could hardly ever be bad if they felt so good, surely. There must be some allowance of gratification in sin, or they wouldn’t have a word for what was happening between them now. Sin. Unforgivable, more like unforgettable.

“Please,” she said between a gentle kiss to his shoulder.

“Please what, lass?” He ground his hips into hers, drawing a sound she never knew she was capable of making from her throat. She tightened her grip on his hips, pressing back in equal measure, feeling the now familiar burn between her legs increase. He had brought her pleasure before, and now she wanted to do the same for him.

She cupped his face between her hands and kissed his jaw, drawing his head around so their eyes met. “Owen MacKenna, how many ways do I need to tell you that I want you?”

If he had an answer, it was in his responding kiss, how his lips kissed the corner of her mouth, slowly drawing her lips apart with his tongue before he stroked the inside of her mouth. He was just as hungry for it as she was.

Without a word, he walked them backward out of the water, kissing her neck as he walked them to the cottage. He pushed through the front entry, his lips not leaving hers as she clung to him, desperate for more. She twisted in his arms, circling her legs around his waist, and running her hands through his hair.

“Careful,” he said, his voice a sensuous warning. Owen walked them down the hall as he cupped his face firmly in her hands, her eyes locking onto his.

“What if I’d never fallen in love with you?” she whispered, struck with an enormous tide of emotion. Vera kissed him again, forcing him to slow his pace as she drowned in the possibilities that lay between them.

He laid her carefully back onto the bed, the mosquito netting pooling around them as the night’s damp air filled the cottage. Rain gently fell outside, cascading against the lush green jungle.

“You don’t have to tell me anymore, I’ve dreamed of this enough. Like this. With you here before me. Your gorgeous face.” He reached forward and brushed back her hair, then leaned down to draw her nipple into his mouth, slowly sucking it. “Your beautiful body.” He darted soft kisses down the length of her stomach, crawling over her legs and parting them with his knee. “If you want me, Vera, just know that I’ve wanted you longer. Please tell me this what you want.”

She nodded as he paused above her, his hand resting on her inner thigh. “Say it, lass,” he said in that low burr of his.

“Yes, I want it.”

He sucked in a breath. “Thank God.” He dipped lower, his mouth finding her center, kissing her until Vera bucked up from the intense pressure of the pleasure building between her legs. She screamed out as two fingers entered her and his thumb pressed down at her core, bringing her to a shattering climax.

“That’s it, love.”

But it wasn’t it at all, she was sure of it. Vera grew greedy, grabbing the back of his neck and pulling, tugging until his mouth was back on hers and his length slid between her legs. She ground her hips against him, riding out the pleasure that rippled through her.

“Christ, Vera.”

He drew her nipple into his mouth, sucking hard as he entered her in a slow thrust. Vera threw her head back, biting back a scream that was somewhere between pain and pleasure. With another slow stroke, Owen washed away the hurt, bringing forth a new rush of heat as the tightness in her body began to unravel. His hips moved against her in a steady rhythm, until he rolled over and pulled her on top.

“You’re so damn beautiful.” His hands braced her waist, rocking her hips as he had done except this time, by God, it felt amazing. His hand guided his cock to her entrance. She closed her eyes as the pressure mounted against her. With a steadying breath, she slide down his length. It was so wonderfully strange to be filled with him, to feel him inside her, she mewed.

“That’s it, lass. Let me hear you.”

Owen braced his hands on her hips and moved her, showing her a rhythm her body craved without her ever knowing such intimacies. He sat up, rolling her nipple between his fingers, his mouth hungry at her throat. A wolf, consuming her without apology. She screamed out in pleasure as he bucked beneath her, sliding deeper. The room smelled of sex and the jungle and raw want and she swore the world was spinning much too fast as her body rushed ahead and came around him. He laid her down on her side, stretched her leg up over his hip and slid into her again, his fingers twined with hers. His hips ground against her, first slow, then faster, bringing her to the brink. With his mouth desperate against hers, he pulled out, and spent himself on her stomach.

The moment after was quiet, full of two of them trying to catch their breath and Owen untangling from her. He bowed his forehead to hers and kissed her tenderly. He got up and retrieved a rag, cleaning her before he crawled into bed, pulling her in close.

“Owen?”

His face was pressed into the pillow, his hair messed into peaks. His body was hot and slick with sweat. And still she couldn’t get enough of him, of what just happened between them. She felt as though she finally discovered the language of love the poets had been using for centuries. So this was love? This wonderful, filling, tiring...

His soft snores chased away her question. “Tell me I mean something more,” she whispered, cuddling in closer. “Please.”