Thork nodded his head suspiciously. What was she up to now? Lord, she would have to be blind not to see his raging need. Hah! If she would only come a little closer, he would teach her a few memory games. He forced himself to remain calm, to wait for just the right moment to pounce.
“Remember when we were walking to Olaf’s house, and you said you could never be attracted to a woman like me, that Viking men liked women who were softer and less waspish?”
“I remember it well. Surely, you do not hold that over my head now, of all times! Come to bed, sweetling.”
“In a minute.” The mischievous maid turned slightly, giving him a wicked view of her rounded buttocks. Thork felt his arousal swell practically to bursting. He gritted his teeth as she looked back at him over her shoulder and asked in a low, seductive voice, “I was just wondering… don’t you think I’m sweet at all?”
“Sweet! ‘Tis the last word I would use to describe you. Maddening, alluring, yea. Sweet, never!”
Ruby’s lips twitched. “That’s just what I thought you’d say.” She turned and picked up a small crock with a spoon in it from a table near the bed.
Thork sat up and stared at her. It was a pot of honey. Did she intend to feed him? Now? Holy Thor! That was not the raging hunger he needed to appease, but he did not want to hurt her feelings.
“I wouldn’t want you to be married to a woman who wasn’t sweet,” she said coyly and dipped her fingertip in the thick syrup and coated’ her lips with it. Then she took the spoon and… oh, my God!… drizzled the honey over her breasts, onto her stomach, down the inside of her thighs, then… for the love of Freya!… between her legs.
Thork lurched from the bed and tried to haul her back with him, but she eluded him by ducking under his arm with a low, sensual laugh.
“Don’t be so anxious, husband. I want this to be a wedding present you’ll never forget.”
A wedding present! She will put me in my grave, instead.
With the palm of her hand pressed against his chest, Ruby moved him back to the bed, teasing, “I thought you were going to have a slow hand.”
“Slow hand! Hah! You will not even let me touch you.”
“Lie down, sweetheart,” she ordered gently.
“Why?” he asked suspiciously. “Come with me.”
“I will. Just relax.”
Relax? Was she bloody, out-of-this-world touched in the head?
When Thork was on his back once again, Ruby stood at the edge of the bed and streamed a thick dollop of honey in a steady stream from his neck to his burgeoning manhood. He almost shot off the bed at the intensity of pleasure caused by the warm syrup oozing around his rock-hard staff. With a smile, she laid the crock down and crawled onto the bed.
“It’s just as important that men be sweet as women.”
“Woman, this bed is going to be sticky as a beehive by morn,” Thork growled appreciatively, pulling her into his arms.
“Oh, really, I don’t think so. I always lick my plate clean. How about you?”
Thork almost lost his control then. Almost.
Ruby moved over him, rubbing her honey-slick breasts across the hairs on his chest. At first they both just laughed at the mess they made, but their laughter soon died and turned into breathless pants as the slickness of their rubbing skin created tingles of aching sensation wherever they rubbed.
“Thork, do you think I’m silly trying all these outrageous things to please you in bed?” Ruby asked shyly in a low, aroused whisper, her eyes downcast.
Thork put his forefinger under her chin and raised her face. Her eagerness to please him touched Thork deeply, almost as much as her uninhibited ability to share in sexual gratification.
“Oh, Rube, I love you so. Do you not know that everything you do pleases me?”
Tears welled in her eyes, and she seemed to have trouble speaking. “I love you, too, husband.” She put her hand up to his face and stroked it softly. “Let’s promise each other, Thork, that this night, our wedding night, will be the first of an eternity of nights for us.”