Six
I dreamed. Alrik, naked, stood all golden and gloriously male in the warm summer sun, beckoning me forward to a longboat filled with cigarettes. The cigarettes turned into little white birds that swirled around us in a tightening spiral, forcing the two of us closer and closer together until the soft little touches of their wings generated almost as much heat as that which came from Alrik.
I woke up shivering with arousal, and craving a smoke.
“You are a heavy sleeper.” A male voice came from out of the darkness. “But you are awake now. Good.”
“What…Alrik? What…hey!”
I was still dreaming. That’s the only explanation for the fact that Alrik had, with one deft move, extricated me from my sleeping bag, hoisted me up into his arms, and, stepping over the still forms on the floor, carried me out of the gazebo to the crescent of apple trees that made up the tiny orchard.
The warm, naked shoulder next to my cheek felt real. So did Alrik’s bare chest, rubbing against my arm. For one wild moment, I debated sliding my hand down along his belly to regions south, just on the offhand chance he had stripped off all his clothes, but I decided that I wasn’t that shameless, even in a dream.
“This is a pretty darned good dream,” I told Alrik. “It would be better if I could have a smoke, though.”
Dream Alrik frowned down at me as he stopped before a strange little structure. “You said you have quit smoking.”
“Yeah, well, that’s in real life. In my dreams, I can do whatever I want.”
“You must forget about cigarettes.”
My feet touched the cold ground, where something sharp stabbed into my foot.
“Ow! Damned sticks…Holy cow.” I hopped around on one foot, as I took in Alrik’s stark naked glory. Even in the moonlight, shadowed by trees, he was a sight to make any woman’s jaw drop. “Wow. You really stayed fit on that ship.”
“We swam a lot. I made this tent for you since Bardi said you would enjoy privacy.”
It took willpower, but I managed to wrestle my gaze off his seductive self and onto the odd little structure that lurched somewhat drunkenly next to me. It appeared to be made up of several long branches, bent into a dome and covered in animal skins. Inside, a couple more skins had been tossed on the ground.
“Huh. Pretty slick, although I don’t want to think about where you got the skins. Um, that’s my T-shirt you’re grabbing.”
“Yes.” Alrik tossed the shirt he’d pulled off me onto the low branch of a nearby tree.
As he proceeded to strip me as naked as himself, it occurred to me that perhaps I’d been wrong.
“This…uh…this isn’t a dream, is it?” I asked as he frowned at my undies. I’d gone along with this because I figured what the heck, a girl was entitled to an erotic dream now and again, and Alrik was certainly a worthy subject. But as I stood there, naked except for my underwear, the night air sending just as many goose bumps up and down my flesh as the touch of Alrik’s hands, it suddenly dawned on me that this felt far too real to be a dream.
Besides which, there was a distressing lack of ciggies.
“No. Lie down.”
I stopped him as he was about to yank off my undies. “Okay, enough fun and games. Do you remember what I said before I went to bed? That whole conversation about not sleeping with guys I just met?”
His eyes glittered in the darkness, their gaze moving between my breasts (now covered by my hands) and my face. “You said you do not swive men the first day you meet them.”
“Exactly.”
“It is past midnight. Technically, it is the second day.”
I opened my mouth to protest that, but couldn’t think of a good argument. Not when I was so close to him I could feel his body heat, and all my girl parts were clamoring to visit his boy parts. As I saw it, there were three options available to me. I could gather up my clothes and march back to the house, sleeping on the floor of the living room—a highly uncomfortable solution, especially since three cousins were stretched out on the available couches and chairs, all of whom had a tendency to frequent nighttime bathroom trips, as my sole night sleeping on the floor inside had taught me. I’d been stepped on so often that first night, I’d sworn then and there I wouldn’t sleep in the house again, so out went option number one. Number two involved an explanation to Alrik that I wasn’t interested in him that way…but that wasn’t true, and we both knew it. If there was one thing I’d always prided myself on, it was my honesty, even to myself. Bye-bye option number two. Which left number three, the most dubious of all my options, but the one my body most wanted: Damn common sense, and give in to the attraction I felt for him.
The only problem was, we had no future together. Once the situation with Momo was resolved, Alrik and his men would be marching off to Valhalla, and I’d be alone again. Hmm. So what would it hurt if I had a little fun with him? I looked at Alrik, really looked at him, and decided to throw common sense out the window and go along with my heart. It might be foolish to get involved with a man with whom I had no future, but a little inner voice told me I’d regret letting the opportunity slip away.
“When I was alive, it was common for betrothed couples to be bedded,” Alrik said as he picked me up and deposited me onto the nest of skins. “It ensured compatibility and fertility.”
“Well, I’m not…Oh, wow. Fur on bare skin is…hoo! Hey!” Just as I was squirming around on the furs, feeling as if I was one giant erogenous zone, Alrik pulled off my underwear, flung himself on me, shoved my legs apart, and without so much as a “Hi, how ya doin’?” thrust into my body. I pushed him back, trying to dislodge him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing! Get off me, you big oaf!”
“It is the second day. You did not say you had a rule about the second day!”
It was dark in the little fur tent, but moonlight slid in through the opening. Confusion was rampant on his face as I shoved him off me.
“No, I don’t have a rule about a second day, but I really am not into wham, bam, thank you, ma’am! Can we take this a little slower, please?”
“Slower?” He looked down at me. “You want me to fondle you?”
“Oh, Lord, don’t tell me you’re one of those men who thinks foreplay is a couple of wet kisses and a pinch on the nipples? Because if you are, we can just call this whole thing off—”
“Foreplay? That is fondling?”
I sat up, all my tingly parts de-tingling with the horrible realization that he truly had no idea what constituted foreplay. “You can’t make me believe that they didn’t have foreplay in your time!”
“I have heard that some women liked to be fondled, but I had never met one.”
“You’re kidding. You mean you just…jump on a woman?”
He rubbed his chin, still looking confused. “No, I do not jump on women. That would hurt them. I simply take my pleasure of them.”
“But what about their pleasure?”
“They get that the same time I do,” he answered, squinting at me. “Are you a virgin? Do you not know how this is done?”
“No, I’m not, and yes, I know how it’s done. But I have my doubts about you!”
He sighed. “Where do I fondle you? And for how long must I do it before I can bed you?”
My jaw dropped a smidgen. “How long…Okay, let’s back up a bit, and start this whole thing over again. We’ll start with foreplay, which is much more than just you fondling a woman.”
“What is it, then?”
I put my hand on the arm he was leaning on, and stroked it up over the muscles. He sat up straighter, looking very attentive. All of him.
“It’s a form of play, really. It’s a way for me to find out what you like, what drives you wild with desire, and what gives you immense pleasure.”
“You will do that if you lie down and open your legs,” he said, his breath sucking in as I slid my hand down over his chest.
“That’s the entrée. We’re still on the appetizers. Lie down.”
He squinted at me. “Are you going to ride me?”
“Possibly. But right now, I want to feel you. All of you. Every last inch of that glorious Viking body of yours.”
He was flat on his back in less than a second, an expectant but slightly befuddled look on his face. “I begin to think this foreplay is worth investigating.”
“You have no idea,” I purred, kneeling beside him. I traced a little pattern down the muscles of his chest, drawing lazy circles through the golden chest hair. “Oooh, nipples! I love nipples.”
He sucked in his breath a second time as I bent over him, giving first one nipple, then the other a quick swirl with my tongue, followed by the gentlest of nips.
“Gods! I had no idea…do that again!”
I did.
He moaned.
“I must tell the others about foreplay,” he said on an outright groan as I kissed a path down to his belly button, nibbling on his ribs and sides along the way. “They will want to know about it.”
“No kissing and telling,” I said, straddling his knees. His penis was bobbing around in front of me, clearly trying to get my attention. “I don’t play that game, and I expect you not to, as well.”
His lips pursed for a moment, his eyes the color of mossy granite. “Will you foreplay me again if I do not?”
“Oh, yes.”
He grinned. “Then they will simply have to learn about it on their own. Are you biting me?”
“Yeah.” I swirled my tongue over the spot on his hip I’d gently bitten. “Do you like it?”
“Yes. I like everything you have done. Continue with the foreplay.”
“Mmmhmm. Let’s see, what do we have here?” I touched the tip of his penis, already crowned with moisture. He wasn’t circumcised, but that didn’t faze me, having had a boyfriend who was similarly equipped.
“My cock. Are you sure you’ve done this?”
“It was a rhetorical question. I know exactly what a penis is. Let’s see how you like this—”
I was about to see just what a Viking tasted like when he stopped me, holding me back as I leaned over him. “You are going to take me in your mouth?” he asked, a frown pulling his eyebrows together.
“That’s the idea, yes. You can’t possibly object to that. I thought men lived for oral sex.”
He looked troubled for a moment. “I would like it, but…”
“But what?” I put my hand on his cheek, my fingers teasing his short beard. “I don’t mind, if that’s what you’re worried about. I’ve always enjoyed doing it, to be honest. Besides, your chest tasted wonderful. I can’t imagine the rest of you will disappoint me.”
“It is not that. It’s just that in my time…”
I waited for him to continue. He toyed with a strand of my hair, looking extremely uncomfortable.
“What? Did you guys do it differently? I don’t quite see how, but if you tell me what you like—”
“Only paid women take a man into their mouth,” he said quickly, his eyes searching mine.
“Paid women? Prostitutes, you mean?” I asked.
“Yes. Wives—proper women do not do it.”
I was stung for a moment by the knowledge that he’d think I was loose, but decided it was a societal thing rather than an insult directed at me.
“Alrik, most women in this time enjoy giving and receiving oral sex. It’s nothing shocking, or immoral, or sinful. It’s a way to give your partner pleasure, that’s all. I won’t do it if you’re uncomfortable with the whole idea, but before you go making a decision, I think you should just relax and let me see what I can do about changing your mind.”
His eyes rolled back as I wrapped my hand around the base of his penis, bending over to curl my tongue around the underside of the sensitive head. I used both hands to explore him, allowing my tongue to dance along the hot, velvety hard length of him, working up a rhythm that soon had his hips moving with me. I waited until his breath got extremely ragged before lifting my head and smiling at the dumbstruck expression on his face.
“Still think that only prostitutes know how to do this?”
“Gods, no!” His hands were clutching huge wads of the skins, his chest heaving as he struggled to breathe. “You’ve convinced me I was wrong. Are you stopping now?”
“Do you want me to stop?” I asked, slathering my tongue around the top of his penis.
He groaned, his hips thrusting upward. “No.”
“Okay.” I wrapped both hands around him and watched as he exploded into orgasm, amazed when he yelled out my name. None of my boyfriends had ever done that.
It took him a few minutes to get his wits together. I used a corner of one of the rugs to clean off his belly, filled with feminine knowledge and power as he pulled me down onto him for another of his brain-meltingly hot kisses.
“Foreplay is good,” he said in a rough voice. “Thank you for teaching it to me.”
“You’ve only seen half of it,” I said, biting his chin. “You have very soft whiskers. I like that. My first boyfriend had a mustache, but it hurt when I kissed him. It was like kissing a hairbrush, all prickly. But your beard isn’t like that at all. It’s soft and silky.”
“I’m glad you like it. What is the other half?” he asked against my lips.
“It is traditional that both people be involved in the process.”
He stiffened beneath me. “Ah. Yes, of course. I was being selfish. You must have your turn at foreplay. Um…you will lie on your back.”
There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but I bit my lip and kept quiet, preferring to know if he was going to be one of those men who was considerate of a partner. I was willing to cut him a little slack due to the situation, but I wasn’t going to be a martyr. I rolled onto my back, my legs relaxed, but closed.
He knelt beside me, looking me over as if I was a deer he was about to gut, his brows pulled together. “I will now fondle your breasts.”
“That sounds like a good start.”
He clamped both hands on my boobs, giving them a rough squeeze.
“Ow! Alrik, not so hard! They’re not udders to be milked!” I put my hands on his to stop his manhandling.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He jerked his hands back. “I won’t touch them again.”
“No!” I gave a little laugh at the frustrated look on his face. “My breasts like being touched. They especially want you to touch them. See? They’re all tight for you. But they like gentle touches.”
He looked worriedly at my breasts. “I do not know how to do this. I will just hurt you again.”
“No, you won’t. You liked the way I touched your chest, didn’t you?”
He grinned.
“I thought so. Just take the things you liked me doing to you, and do them to me.”
The words weren’t even out of my mouth before his head dipped down and he had one of my nipples in his mouth, suckling with an intensity that just about had me coming off the ground. “Holy shit!”
He lifted his head. “Did I hurt you again?”
“No, but…hoo! You took me a little by surprise there. Maybe you could approach my nipple with just a little warning next time?”
He frowned at my chest for a moment, then brushed his jaw against the underside of my breast. I shivered in response, my hands hard on his shoulders. “Oh, yes.”
I’ll give him this—he may have spent a thousand years ignorant of the pleasures of foreplay, but he was a fast learner. By the time he was finished with one breast and had turned to the other, I was squirming on the skins, thinking I wouldn’t last until we’d gotten down to serious business.
I knew I wasn’t going to make it when he laved my belly button, nibbling my belly as he slid his hands under my behind, curling his fingers around to nudge apart feminine parts. And when his breath steamed on those parts, his beard rubbing on my sensitive inner thighs, I knew I was a goner.
“Do you wish me to oral-sex you as well?” he a
sked, his fingers doing an intricate little dance up my legs that had my muscles tightening in anticipation.
“Normally I’d say yes, but I think we’re ready to move on to the entrée,” I said, pulling him forward until he was propped up above me. I slid my legs around his, feeling his once-again-happy penis nudge those parts of me that were now in serious danger of spontaneous combustion. “Oh, shoot. I don’t suppose you have any condoms, do you?”
“Condoms? Sheaths?”
“Yeah. Never mind, I have a couple. My aunt gave me some earlier.”
His eyes were wild as I gently pushed him from me. “Your aunt gave you sheaths?”
“Yeah. She knew I wasn’t likely to have them, and she figured I’d need them after the wedding.”
I felt him sigh. “This is important to you?”
“Yeah. They’re in my purse, next to my sleeping bag. I’ll just go get them—”
“Stay here,” he growled, standing up outside of the tent. “My men are there. It is not fitting for them to see you.”
I smiled as he marched off into the night, thoroughly aroused. He was just as aroused when he returned, the night air having done nothing to quell his ardor. It took me a minute to show him the ins and outs (so to speak) of a condom before he was suited up and ready to get down to business.
“You were right about foreplay,” he said a moment later as I pulled him down onto me again, his eyes glittering wickedly as he pushed just a smidgen into me. My hips bucked upward, trying to take in more of him. “It has enhanced the bedding. I enjoy hearing you groan and watching you squirm when I touch you here.”
His thumb brushed sensitive flesh.
“Alrik!” I grabbed his butt with both hands and jerked him forward onto me, pulling my knees up higher on his hips, but he had both arms braced, and refused my body’s demand that he fulfill my raging need. “Now you’re just tormenting me!”
“Yes, as you tormented me earlier. I am enjoying it. Are you enjoying it, as well?”
“Argh!” I yelled as he gave a short little thrust forward. “Please, if you have any mercy, stop playing with me and just do it!”