Dream of Me/Believe in Me

granite thigh, her fingernails raking him lightly. “A smart man might think that a woman would find a way to get back at him for playing with her like this,” she reminded him.
    “I am playing,” he admitted without a flicker of remorse. “I love
playing
with you … touching you … discovering you—” His hands slid lower over her belly, moving between her thighs, his touch suddenly so soft she was scarcely sure she felt it until, abruptly, he thrust a finger deep inside her and rubbed his thumb tightly against her distended nub.
    She came in a rush, her body bowing as seemingly endless spasms of pleasure seized her. They had just barely begun to ebb when Wolf lifted her off the bench. He sat down on it, placed her with her legs straddling his iron-hard thighs, and lowered her onto him.
    “Your turn,” he rasped, the cords of his neck standing out in high relief as he fought to keep himself from coming at once. His hands braced her back beneath the luxurious fall of her hair. Slowly, hesitantly, she began to move. She felt almost overly sensitized, overly filled, stretched to unbearable proportions. Almost, not quite. She clasped him fully, savoring the freedom to move as she would, drawing herself up almost completely before lowering herself again inch by delicious inch.
    He groaned, his head falling back against the wall of the sauna. She saw the sheen of sweat on his burnished skin, the flexing of muscles and tendons in his massive shoulders. Saw, too, the hard glitter of his eyes as they met hers.
    Again she rose, smiling now, lingering at the very tip before drawing him deep once more. Her mouth took his. She found his tongue, sucked it, bit his lower lip ever so lightly.
    “I like this,” she murmured, clasping his head between her hands, clasping him within, kissing him again.
    Her breasts rubbed against his chest, her hips rose and fell faster, her tongue thrust deeper. She felt the big, smooth tip of him begin to pulse, felt him try to hold back, and deliberately contracted her muscles, compelling him to yield.
    Her name on his lips was half blessing, half curse. He exploded within her, convulsing over and over, his powerful body slamming into the bench. Her own response came hard and fast. Their cries of pleasure drifted on the hot, perfumed air of the firelit chamber cupped in the palm of the earth.

Chapter FIFTEEN

    W HEN CYMBRA WAS NEXT AWARE OF anything at all, it was of staring at her husband in bewilderment. He had spoken, she thought she had heard him, but what he had said made no sense at all.
    He was lying stretched out on one of the benches. She lay draped over him. From her position, she was just able to raise her head and look down at him, trying to see if he could possibly be serious. “The river? The river out there?”
    He nodded, although it seemed to cost him. “That's how a sauna works. First you heat up with the steam, then you run outside and jump in the river to cool off. It's very invigorating.”
    Since he sounded rather hesitant himself, Cymbra couldn't help but laugh. “Oh, I'm sure it is. Go right ahead. Just leave me out of it.”
    “Truly, if you're going to have a real sauna experience, that's the way you should do it.”
    She raised her head higher and grinned at him. “I didjust have a
real sauna experience.
It might not be the usual kind but believe me, it counts.”
    On a sudden thought, she added, “And please, don't make me describe what would happen to you if you gave even the teeniest little thought to carrying me out of here and tossing me in that river.”
    He propped an arm behind his head, gazed up at her, and smiled. “Something terrible?”
    “Something
excruciatingly
terrible.”
    “Too horrible even to speak of?”
    “Much too horrible.”
    He flopped back down on the bench and ran his hands along her sleek flanks. “Well, terrible woman, since you have drained me of all strength, I suppose you're safe enough. For the moment.”
    They lay awhile longer, gathering themselves, before Cymbra murmured, “Besides, I have a much better idea.”
    She rose gracefully, stretched so that her fingers brushed the curving roof of the sauna, and lowered them to find her husband studying her appreciatively. With a flush, she searched among the items he had brought until she found one of her bars of scented soap.
    Delighted, she appropriated one of the buckets of water beside the firebox and dipped in a finger to test the temperature. “Perfect.”