Page 102 of The Very Virile Viking

With a heated face, Angela placed herself so that Magnus could pleasure her with the fingertips of one hand… and with his mouth… without even raising his shoulder. It was the most embarrassing…

exhilarating thing she had ever done. And when she came in this way, she felt as if she'd given him a great gift… and herself, as well.

"You are so beautiful," he said, watching her face closely while she came to orgasm.

Angela felt beautiful. Tomorrow she would probably be mortified. Today she felt beautiful.

"Ride me now, sweetling," he said in a voice that was husky with emotion.

"Don't you want me to… uh, reciprocate?" she asked as she moved her hips lower again.

"Not now. Mayhap later. For now what I want is to be inside you."

Magnus was a big man, and he was big there , so it took a little doing to lower herself down over him.

She need not have worried about how she looked, though, because Magnus had his eyes scrunched tight and he was panting heavily. She was pretty sure she had excited him to the point of mindlessness. She was pretty mindless herself.

"A little help here, Magnus," she said with a laugh.

Opening his eyes, he laughed, too, especially when he arched his hips up off the mattress, and her eyes almost bugged out. Then, with his one good hand and his other weakened arm, he showed her the way he wanted her to move.

Just before they exploded with mutual bliss, he whispered against her ear, "I love you, Angela, more than life itself. I do not know what tomorrow will bring, but for today, just know this. I love you."

Angela thought that was more than any woman could want. Then Angela was unable to think at all.

Summertime, and the livin' is…

August in wine country was a little bit of heaven.

There was a lush greenness everywhere the eye could see. The air smelled of growing things…

vegetables, flowers, grass—and, yes, grapes, most of all. The cycle of life so apparent in the land always drew strong emotions to the surface of even a big man like Magnus.

Grandma Rose reveled in this time of year, too, especially since dozens and dozens of her prized rosebushes were in bloom. She grew almost one hundred varieties, of all sizes and colors, which was amazing to Magnus… first, that anyone would spend so much time and money to cultivate a flower, which yielded only beauty; and second, that so many varieties existed. There were not enough cows in all of the Norselands to produce the amount of fertilizer that Grandma Rose used.

Now that Magnus's shoulder was almost healed, he worked daily in the vineyards, and it was a labor of love. The people in this new land—California—took for granted the good weather, which would have been considered a gift of the gods back in the cold Norselands. Good weather was critical to all growing, and thus far the grapes at the Blue Dragon were flourishing. If there was frost in the spring, the grapes would never reach maturity. If the sun got too hot, the vines would just shut down in self-preservation.

Too much rain and the flavor of the grapes was diluted.

There was an element of gambling to a farmer's life, whether the product be wheat or grape. But now Magnus was nervous. Only a few short weeks till harvest, and anything could go wrong.

The vintners who would be buying the Blue Dragon's grapes this year stopped by almost on a daily basis, wanting to make sure the fruit was just right. The man who had come this morning had walked all the aisles with Magnus and Miguel, randomly checking for phylloxera, which had apparently hit a vineyard north of them. Phylloxera was a licelike parasite that killed the vines with its saliva while eating away at the roots. There was no cure, except for digging up all the stock. Luckily the Blue Dragon was safe… thus far.

Traveling workers, known as migrants, would be arriving in early September to help with the harvest.

Angela had told him that they would hire at least a dozen for a three-week period to supplement the regular workforce.

Speaking of Angela… well, thinking of Angela… there she was now. He put down the clippers he had been using to thin the clusters of grapes and walked down the aisle toward her. She was looking especially lovely today in silky white braies , leather sandals, and a black tanking-top. But mayhap she was looking so good to him because he had not seen her for the past five days while she worked in the city.

She walked into his arms, gave him a long greeting kiss, then walked back toward the house with him, their arms linked. Dinner would be served in an hour or so.

"Did you stop to see Jogeir?" he asked.

"Yes, and he has improved so much, Magnus. It's hard to believe that the operation was done only a week ago. He'll need lots of physical therapy, and of course we won't know for sure how successful the operation was till the cast comes off… still, the doctors are amazed at his improvement so far."

" 'Tis a miracle," he concluded.

She laughed and laid her head against his shoulder. "Well, a miracle of medicine," she conceded.