He smiled then.
And she did, too.
With a joyous whoop, he took her by the waist and threw her onto his bed, then landed himself at her side. The bed ropes creaked, but fortunately held.
“You must tell me what to do, Vagn.”
“Nothing. For now. Just let me look.” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “And explore. If there is one thing we Northmen are good at, it is exploring.”
“Comes from a-Viking all these years, no doubt,” she teased.
“For a certainty, my saucy maid.”
And explore he did. With his eyes, his fingertips. And finally his mouth… he had been saving that for last. Well, not last. But he’d been putting off this particular feast. He fingered her nipples, then put his mouth over one of them.
She gasped. “You have no idea how good that feels.”
“I know how good it feels to me.” He sighed at the sweet taste. “Like succulent raspberries they are.” He laved them, and nibbled, and kissed, then suckled and suckled and suckled till it was unclear who was keening in pleasure, him or her.
“I cannot believe that I deprived myself of this bliss for all these years,” she said, pulling his head up by his ears. “Why do women hide this news from other women? Oh, I can see why. Fathers would have trouble keeping their daughters virgin if this temptation was waving in front of them.”
Vagn did not like this train of thinking. He did not want her to think that just any man could bring her ecstasy. “It is not always this good, sweetling.”
“Oh? Is it just you, then, who is so skilled in the bed arts?”
He nipped a nipple with his teeth for her making mock of him. “Yea, just me. And do not forget it.”
She probably would have said more, but he had his palm on her belly now, way down, and he could see that he had her attention… there. He pressed rhythmically several times and watched her face. Her lips parted with wonder, which made him feel… well, wonderful.
“Have I ever told you how much I adore your mouth?”
“About a dozen times,” she said. Then, “Tell me again.”
“I… adore… your… mouth,” he said against her mouth.
“What else do you adore about me?” she asked playfully.
“Your breasts.”
“Oh, that is such a lie.” She tried to sit up in indignation but he forced her back down.
“It is not a lie. You have made me appreciate small breasts. I do not think I will ever be attracted to big-bosomed women again, and that is the truth.”
“You ooze charm like sweat, you rogue.”
“Flattery will get you everything, m’lady sharp tongue. But enough of this piddling around. ‘Tis time to discover some truths about you, Helga.”
“Piddling? You call what we’ve done so far piddling? It does not seem piddling to me. What truths?”
“Like whether you have turned into a raisin down below,” he said and dipped his fingers into her damp woman-folds before she could shriek her outrage. Her warm honey welcomed him.
“And have I?” she gasped out.
“What?” Somewhere between her enthusiastic response to their bedsport and the wet signs of her readiness, Vagn had lost his power of reasoning.
“Turned into a raisin?”
He inserted a forefinger into her tight inner folds, which clasped and unclasped around him. He might have gurgled then, but he was not sure. “Nay,” he said, shaking his head. “You are more like a lush, succulent peach.”
“Good,” she said.
He rolled over on top of her, and she spread her legs wide for him. The ridge of his staff nestled in her woman channel, like a longship coming home. But there was one more thing he had to say. “There is still time to change your mind, Helga,” he said. “Once I enter, you can no longer claim virginity. If you choose to wed someday, your husband will be cheated.”
“Would you feel cheated if I came to you without a maidenhead?”
“Nay, but surely you know a maidenhead is prized by many.”
“I come to you willingly, Vagn.” She put a gentle hand on his cheek and let the fingertips trail down his jaw, his neck and the center of his chest. “It is time.”