Page 94 of Truly, Madly Viking

She waited for him to finish, but he could not. In truth, he had closed the door to the den chamber in hopes of a quick swiving. He had not intended to spout such nonsense—at least, that was what he would have called it at one time— but the words just came out. Perhaps it was not just a quick swiving he was after... or not the only thing he was after. Why does everything have to be so complicated in this land?

"You need what, Joe?" Mag-he asked softly.

He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them, staring at her bleakly. "I need to be touched," he confessed.

"Oh, Joe."

She was ripe for the plucking now, if he wanted to take advantage of her vulnerability. Somehow Jorund could not do that. He did not want to seduce her tonight. He wanted her to want him as much as he wanted her.

She bit her bottom lip with indecision and reached a hand out, cupping his jaw.

That touch that mere touch was almost his undoing. He moaned and turned his mouth to her palm, kissing it gently.

She moaned, too, a soft, feminine sound of capitulation. "I need your touch, too," she admitted. "I have missed you so much this week."

He nodded, waiting for her word to proceed. Jorund was a warrior. He knew when to advance and when to delay. Now his instincts said to wait for her cue.

"They'll be back too soon for us to do anything."

"Not for what I have in mind."

She arched an eyebrow. Yes, she was interested, despite herself.

"Something I heard about on the TV world box," he answered, backing her up against the closet door, beside the glittering Christmas tree. Even as he brushed his mouth over hers, restraining himself from deepening the kiss, he was already at work, loosening her belt. "A wall-bang-her."

Maggie gasped with surprise. He wasn't sure if it was because of what he intended to do, or because he'd already lifted her off the floor, shoved her tights down to her thighs—and yes, he had been right...

thank the Lord... she was not wearing undergarments—and pulled his braies down far enough to release his erection... which was immense again. Oh, for the tears of Thor! It resemble a tree limb. What is happening to my male parts in this land? I ne'er thought I would say this about my virility, but "tis embarrassing. Before she could blink, or raise some objection, he adjusted her legs to hug his hips, and plunged inside. Luckily, Mag-he had gone back on something called birth-control pills, and the condoms were no longer necessary.

"We can't." Maggie was already wrapping her arms around his shoulders and adjusting her legs more tightly about his hips, locking them at the ankles behind his back.

"We can," he said, then beseeched her in a raw voice, "Touch me, Mag-he. Touch me, touch me, touch me."

She undid the rub-her band holding his hair back and ran her fingers through the long strands lovingly.

She traced the line of his jaw and his eyebrows with a forefinger. She rubbed his shoulders and caressed his back. Everywhere her hands and fingers could reach, she touched him.

Only then did he begin the long, slow strokes that he knew she enjoyed so much.

The friction of her inner walls tugging at his staff on each backward stroke was sweet agony to him.

With one hand under her buttocks to hold her up, Jorund reached his other hand under her shert and began to massage one breast. He lifted its fullness from underneath, then palmed the whole, rubbing in a circular fashion till the tight bud in the center stabbed at his flesh. Mag-he had the most sensitive breasts, and it was only seconds before she was moaning aloud, and peaking around his pounding erection.

He wanted her to continue peaking for him till he came to his own release. So, even before she stopped her erotic spasms, he was fluttering his thumb against her sex-bud... a continuous, rapid, back-and-forth motion that prompted another orgasm from Mag-he. The whole time, he continued his long strokes, which were becoming shorter and faster as he approached his own imminent exploding point.

"I love you," she cried out in the midst of her ecstasy, still alternately clutching and caressing his shoulders. Then, "Tell me, tell me, tell me," she begged.

He knew exactly what she wanted to hear, and perhaps it was the sex, or perhaps it was the Christmas spirit in the air, or perhaps he was finally surrendering to the inevitable, but Jorund couldn't help himself then. "I love you, heartling. I love you, I love you, I love you." He said all this to her as his seed burst into her body.

And for that moment, at least, Jorund's life seemed to have come full circle. He was complete.

"I said no, and I mean it," Maggie said, straightening out her clothes.

There was no afterglow period to their lovemaking this time, as much as she cherished Joe's words of love. She didn't blame him for the wild sexual interlude. She had needed his touch as much as he'd apparently needed hers. It had been as beautiful in its spontaneity as some of his long, drawn-out loveplay often was. But now Maggie felt awful, unable to savor what should be such a special moment.

She couldn't seem to help herself. The girls would be back soon, and she had to settle the absurd question of their taking off across the country to some tourist attraction that wasn't even open to the public during the winter.

Joe stared at her, his eyes desolate and pleading. "Why is it so important to you?"