Highland Bear (Book 4)

Chapter 50

AN - Hi everyone, thanks so much for being so patient with me! Real life, I am afraid, caught up with me. In the last month I have had two observations, over a hundred mocks to mark, book trawls and other things. But now I am confirmed a good teacher, and the summer holidays have official started, so here is a chapter...finally! Enjoy, Az x

Chapter 50

Laying her on the narrow bed, Artair glanced up at Rohesia's face, the fear seeping into her eyes made him pause. Yet it was the determined jut of her chin that made the small smile of pride flit over his own face. Brushing back a soft lock of her hair, stroking the satin skin of her cheek with his thumb, he tugged her bottom lip from where she bit it between her teeth. When her eyelids lifted from a long blink she fixed her eyes upon him. "I am so proud of you." His thumb feathered over her cheek once more. "Are you sure you wish to do this?" The tip of her tongue appeared before her bottom lip disappeared between her teeth once more.

She nodded her head slowly as if to make sure he saw it fully, that he did not miss it, to be sure that she was completely on board with this. She reached out to touch the scruff on his face, her fingertips rasping against it, the texture soft and spikey all at once. Releasing her bottom lip from her teeth, she wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. "Yes, I want this...I just, I don't know what to do." Her eyes flitted away from his too keen eyes. They saw everything, down to her very soul and she could not let him see just how nervous she was at this moment.

A slight smile tugged at the side of his mouth. Relaxing her and causing the knot which had balled up within her stomach to loosen momentarily. Artair looked away from her for but a moment which caused the ball to tighten all the more within her. What was wrong? Had she done something already to put him off? What could she say in order for Artair to just look at her as he had before? Was he changing his mind about her? She tried wracking her brain for anything that could be said to convince him she was worth the chance. Her hands hit his chest palms and fingers pressed tightly against the warm solid heat of him. The rough texture of his shirt gave her something to focus on while her mind tumbled over her own thoughts.

She felt his chest expand before she felt the large sigh that he released. His head hung down, his hair falling forward as she desperately tried to hold of the hysteria she could feel bubbling up within her. He was pulling away, she could feel it. Her fingers curled a little into his shirt, trying to cling on as long as she could hold him to her. The tears were starting to sting the backs of her eyes and she had to bite her lip, in order to stop it from giving away the tremor, which was currently quivering through it.

When Artair finally looked back, he focused on her point above her head, while making sure that she could still see his lips as he spoke clearly for her. "Rohesia, I have done this...many times before." Licking his lips he had to look away again, he was ashamed of how he had acted in the past, knowing none of what been in the past was anything like what he had now. What he had with Rohesia was real, it was almost touchable, palpable as it pulsed in the air. The emotions were ripe for all around them to see, it was a fruitful relationship which seemed to blossom the longer they were together. Yet he still had a past which he had to get past first. This was not the time to be bringing this up, but he felt he had to go into this with a clear conscience, she could not accept him whilst knowing that he was not as pure as her in this. She thought she did not know what to do, when in fact he wished he did not have half the knowledge he had, as that meant he had not savoured something that was in deed precious.

Now it felt right deep in his being. This was the one person he was supposed to be with. While he may have found pleasure in the warmth of other women nothing could ever come close to this moment with the right person. By God was she the right person for him, his very soul sang it out, shouting out to the heavens a praise for the fact Rohesia had fallen before him and he had been the one to pick her up.