Zach made a half turn toward her.
His hand slowly moved from her shoulder to her neck, his fingertips brushing against her sensitive skin.
“Sometimes I think they had it easy.” Zach’s voice was a deep, powerful hum.
“Who?” she managed to breathe. Every fiber of her attention was on the insubstantial brush of his hand.
His other hand came up to close on the lapel of her robe. “The pirates,” he answered. “They ravage first, and ask questions later.”
He tugged on the robe, pulling her to him, and his mouth came down on hers. It was hot, firm, open and determined.
She swayed from the intense sensation, but his arm went around her waist to hold her steady as the kiss went on and on.
He tugged the sash of the robe, releasing the knot, so it fell open. His free hand slipped inside, encircling her waist again, pulling her bare breasts against the texture of his shirt.
Her arms were lost in the big sleeves, too tangled to be of any use. But she breathed his name, parted her lips, welcomed his tongue into the depths of her mouth.
His wide hand braced her rib cage, thumb brushing the tender skin beneath her breast. Her nipples peaked, a tingle rushing to their delicate skin. Her thighs relaxed, reflexively easing apart, and he moved between them, the denim of his pants sending shock waves through her body.
He deftly avoided the portrait as he pressed her against the smooth stone of the wall. His hand cupped her breast. His lips found her ear, her neck, the tip of her shoulder, as he pushed the robe off. It pooled at her feet, and she was completely naked.
He drew back for a split second, gazing down, drinking in the picture of her body.
“Gorgeous,” he breathed, lips back to hers, hands stroking her spine, down over her buttocks, to the back of her thighs. Then up over her hips, her belly, her breasts. She gasped as he stroked his fingertips across her nipples, the sensation near painful, yet exquisite.
His hands traced her arms, twining his fingers with hers, then holding them up, braced against the wall while his mouth made its moves on her body. He pressed hot, openmouthed kisses from her lips to her neck, found her breasts, drawing each nipple into the heat, suckling until she thought her legs would give way beneath her.
She groaned his name in a plea.
He was back to her mouth, his hands moving down, covering her breasts, taking over from his lips, thumbs stroking across her wet nipples.
She tangled her hands in his hair, pushing his mouth harder against hers, kissing deeper, mind blank to everything but his taste and touch. One of his hands moved lower, stroking over her belly, toying with her silky hair, sliding forward.
She wrapped her arms around him, anchoring her body more tightly against him, saving her failing legs, burying her face in the crook of his neck and tonguing the salt taste from his skin.
His fingers slipped inside her, and a lightning bolt electrified her brain. She cried out his name, an urgency blinding her. She fumbled with the button on his jeans, dragging down the zipper.
He cupped her bottom, lifting her, spreading her legs, bracing her against the cool wall.
A small semblance of sanity remained.
“Protection?” she gasped.
“Got it.”
One arm braced her bottom, while his hand cupped her chin. He kissed her deeply, their bodies pressed together, her nerves screaming almost unbearably for completion.
“Now,” she moaned. “Please, now.”
It took him a second, and then he was inside her, his heat sliding home in a satisfying rush that made her bones turn to liquid and the air whoosh out of her lungs.
Her hands fisted and her toes curled as she surrendered herself to the rhythm of his urgent lovemaking. Her head tipped back, the high ceiling spinning above her. Lightning lit up the high windows, while thunder vibrated the stone walls of the castle.
She arched against him, struggling to get closer. Her breaths came in gasps, while the pulsating buzz that started at her center radiated out to overwhelm her entire body.
She cried his name again, and he answered with a guttural groan. Then the storm, the castle and their bodies throbbed together as one.
When the universe righted itself, Kaitlin slowly realized what they’d just done.
Bad enough that they’d made love with each other. But they weren’t locked up in some safe, private bedroom. She was naked, in an open room of the castle, where five other people worked and lived. Any one of them could have walked up the staircase at any moment.
She let out a pained groan.
“You okay?” Zach gasped, glancing between them and around them.
“Somebody could have seen us,” she whispered.
He tightened his hold on her. “Nobody would do that.”
“Not on purpose.”
“The staff are very discreet.”