Torn by Kate Hill

for months, and he hadn’t even asked where he’d been! He was willing to wait for a report?
    Torn nodded, and Honey Wine followed him and Rain to the door. Torn glanced over his shoulder to Mahir who had returned to his reading. “I’m glad to be back.”
    “I’m glad you’ve come back, son.” Mahir nodded, the expression in his pale eyes revealing the emotions his calm face did not.
    They walked back down the stairs to the hallway lined with doors.
    “This one’s empty.” Rain stopped in front of one of the doors and opened it for Honey Wine. The small room contained a quilt-covered bed with a trunk at the foot of it. The stone floor was covered with a rope carpet, and a fireplace took half of one wall.
    Rain stepped inside and kindled a fire. “Would you like me to find you something to eat?”
    Honey Wine shook her head and thanked him as he left her and Torn alone.
    She walked to the bed and sat on the edge of it. Torn stood in the doorway, so tall his head almost brushed the top of the door, his hands folded in front of him.
    “My room is next to yours, to the right, if you need anything,” he said.
    Honey Wine nodded slowly, her heart throbbing as she gathered the courage to speak the next words. “You’re not married, are you, Torn?”
    He chuckled. “No.”
    “Thank the Goddess, right?” she grinned. “After all we’ve shared together.”
    “Honey Wine,” he walked to the bed and sat on the edge, “I know we were forced into some things, and I regret how it was done, but I don’t regret you.”
    “No?” Her smile softened.
    “Never. You’re a magnificent woman.”
    “If I ask you something, will you answer me honestly?”
    “Yes.”
    “I don’t want you to do this because you feel that you owe me. I wanted to escape just as much as you did, so all we did was help each other.”
    “What do you want, Honey Wine?” His dark blue eyes stared into hers. They were so calm, so powerful, those eyes she’d become accustomed to. What she had once seen as arrogance, she now knew to be strength. She could no longer recall what it felt like to hate him.
    “Will you stay here with me today?”
    He paused so long that her stomach twisted. He was going to refuse.
    Torn locked the door. Shrugging off his robe, he turned down the bedcovers, and stretched out on the mattress. She lay beside him, suddenly hesitant to touch him.
    He pulled the blankets over them and tugged her into his arms. Her cheek rested against his smooth, hard shoulder; one of her legs entwined with his.
    “Do you know how many nights I dreamed of this?” she asked, tilting her face up to his.
    He kissed her. His tongue caressed hers with long, soft strokes while his hands warmed her ribs and belly.
    “I want to touch you,” he whispered against her lips.
    She took his hand and placed it on her breast, closing her eyes as he kneaded the soft mound. His hands slid beneath her billowy nightshirt so his fingertips could caress her nipples.
    Honey Wine moaned and reached for his trousers, tugging his cock free.
    “Honey Wine,” he groaned as she tightened her fist on his cock and stroked him. She ran her thumb over the head and her fingertip along the underside, then pumped the entire shaft until he tugged her hand away and pushed her onto her back.
    Pinning her hands above her head, he lifted her shirt and took one of her breasts in his mouth, rolling his tongue over the nipple and sucking the hard little nub until she moaned. His hand stroked her inner thighs, slipping higher until his fingers dipped into her wet pussy, gathering her juices before he circled her clit.
    Honey Wine’s hips thrust against his hand until she throbbed against it. He continued caressing her sensitive nub and moist folds of flesh until her passion ebbed and she relaxed completely. He took her hand and placed it over his chest, holding it here so she felt the steady rhythm of his heartbeat against her palm.
    For the first time since she was a child,