“If you’re the merchandise, and I’m a prospective buyer, I think a little due diligence is in order.” He stalls by my head, his smirk tangling with Liam’s deepening scowl.
I can almost taste the animosity between them, and suddenly, I know this isn’t about me. These two have unresolved issues, and I’m the pawn standing between them.
“Open your mouth, princess.”
“What are you doing?” Liam growls.
“Exercising due diligence. If she becomes my wife, I’ll require great head every morning.”
“I assure you, her oral skills are top-notch,” Liam says through clenched teeth.
“Your assurances mean shit to me.” Sebastian brushes his thumb across my lips. “Open.”
I do, and he thrusts his fingers inside my mouth until his knuckles hit my teeth, making me heave relentlessly.
“That’ll be a tight fit for my cock.”
I bite down on his fingers, and he yanks them out of my mouth. “Sounds to me like you’re overestimating size,” I say, glaring at him.
Someone laughs.
Sebastian isn’t amused. “Good luck finding a woman with that complaint.” He wanders to the end of the bench and stands between my spread legs. “Is your cunt as tight and pure as you claim?”
“Why don’t you violate me and find out,” I snap, tone dripping with scorn.
Someone laughs again. “She’s got an attitude, that one.”
I don’t know who’s finding amusement at my expense, because I haven’t torn my eyes from Sebastian’s. As he reaches between my thighs, pushing two fingers against the tight resistance of my innocence, his sea-blue gaze ignites.
My chest rises with a gasp, and I bite my lip when he presses his thumb on my clit. Out of all the hands that have invaded my innocence today, his is the one to drag a reaction from me. I pulse around his fingers, my body flooding with warmth and begging for his touch to go deeper.
To break past the barrier of purity and claim me.
He rubs circles on my throbbing nub, and I’m horrified by the moan that bleeds off my lips.
“That’s enough!” Liam’s voice thunders through the room.
I startle from the sound, but Sebastian doesn’t react at all, other than to withdraw his fingers and stalk away, out of sight.
But not out of mind.
I listen to the thud of his retreating footfalls, followed by the slam of a door.
He just left.
Without a word.
Without a second thought.
Because I’m inconsequential to him. Someone he likes to toy with to get a rise out of his rival. His touch lit me on fire, but he felt nothing.
“Does anyone else need to continue with this charade?” Liam’s voice reverberates through the room, a possessive warning to back off.
“No, chancellor. I think we’ve seen enough.” Landon leaves the room first, and one by one, the others follow. I let out a breath of relief as the door closes behind the last member of the Brotherhood.
Liam remains quiet as he unfastens the restraints. He hands my skirt to me, and I dress as the tension between us grows.
“Are you upset with me?” I ask, wishing I could wipe away the wetness between my legs.
Wipe away the evidence, erase the memory of Sebastian’s touch.
“Why would I be upset with you?”
Heat flushes my face, and I can’t meet his eyes. “Because of my reaction when Sebastian touched me.”
“You can’t help how your body responds, Novalee.”
“But you seem angry.”
“I’m angry at myself.” He rakes a hand through his copper hair, disrupting the perfection. “I shouldn’t have allowed this to happen.”
“You said it yourself—you can’t protect me.”
“I can’t protect you from my brothers, but I can protect us both from getting too emotionally involved.”
“What do you mean?”
“What happened on the balcony today?” He pauses, and the air thickens with the memory of our kiss. “It can’t happen again.”
“You don’t want me?”
“We already went over this. My attraction to you isn’t in question. But I’m not the only one who wants you.”
“I know the number of men who want to marry me. That doesn’t mean they want me.”
They only want a queen to fulfill the tradition. A conquest.
“One does.” He takes me by the chin, a tender edge to his touch. “And by the way you looked at him, I know the attraction is mutual.”
Chapter Seven
Sixteen days.
Sixteen agonizingly long days that somehow pass too quickly. I spend the majority of them hiding in the penthouse, afraid of running into someone who isn’t Liam. But I can’t escape the irony, because Liam’s been avoiding me the way I’ve been avoiding Sebastian.
We barely see each other, except for meals. Those we share, minus the skimpy lingerie.
And he doesn’t touch me.
At all.
I know he wants to.
“This is fantastic,” Faye says, studying my hasty sketch of an evening gown. The dress is backless with a mermaid skirt, and though it’s done in charcoal, I envision a midnight blue, like the bedding in Liam’s quarters.
“It’s okay.” I grasp a pencil and start on another sketch. “The skirt could use more flare.”