She let go—a keening high-pitched cry of release as he held her tighter still and slid another luscious drag of his tongue inside her lips. She fell. But he had her. His grip on her tight and sure as she shuddered and bucked against the hot cage of his body. Bolts of pleasure fired through in an orgasm so quick and hard but that left her impossibly hungrier still. And when she opened her eyes and saw his? She felt both a qualm and a resurgence of excitement. He looked as wild as she felt—as tortured by this heat and need. But they were here, now, and he would hold nothing back. That he felt this hunger? That, beneath his perfect royal facade, the man who was dutiful and good was greedy too? That made her breathless and giddy.
He kissed her again and she instantly yielded. She would let him do anything in that moment and he knew it. His sudden smile said it all. He stepped back and she realised he’d unzipped her dress while kissing her senseless. She grabbed the front of the frock before it slithered to the ground. Where a second ago she’d wanted to be naked, now she verged on embarrassment. She’d never been naked in front of anyone. But as he lowered his gaze the hunger in his face burnished her returning confidence.
‘Drop the dress, Elsie.’
His order fired her blood. ‘Pardon?’
‘My dauntless rebel.’ His smile broadened. ‘Drop the damn dress.’
‘I’m not going to obey your every command,’ she said, resisting the urge to do exactly that. Knowing that his instructions were intended only to please her.
‘Oh, but I think you are.’ He tugged the front of her dress playfully. ‘Just as I’m going to obey yours.’
‘Really?’ A fierce longing trammelled through her and she couldn’t resist testing him. ‘Take off your clothes.’
His gaze shot back to hers. ‘All of them?’
‘Yes.’ She swallowed as he stepped back.
She watched, transfixed, as he stripped. A resurgence of arousal struck—she was so close, just from watching him obey her...and the revelation of his beauty? A dangerous smile played around his lips as he unfastened his shirt, then his trousers. He arched his brows as he removed each item—displaying such wicked charm as he laughed in the face of her fierce blushing silence.
He didn’t laugh enough—she liked the sound. She wanted to hear it more. But now she drank in the show until he stood before her—naked, strong, proud, fearless. Hers. Everything she ever could have wanted. A lithe, strong body—muscular and gleaming and utterly perfect.
‘Elsie?’ There was a thread of laughter in the steel. ‘I think it’s your turn.’
She dropped her dress. She was shaking, now clad in nothing but a tiny pair of navy silk knickers and her breasts full and tight and aching for his touch. He flinched and locked his muscles—maximising their already thrilling definition.
She couldn’t actually stand any more. He caught her as she trembled.
‘Time for bed, sweetheart.’ A warning. An order. A release. He stared into her eyes as he lifted her into the centre of his massive bed. His mouth lifted in another lazy smile. ‘Time for me.’
Her panties were already damp from the orgasm he’d wrought from her so easily earlier but with just his words, his expression, her body grew slick and ripe, ready for the possession of his. But it wasn’t enough for him, she realised, because he set about kissing every inch of her. He wanted more.
‘The scent of you drives me crazy.’ Feral hunger sounded in his husky tone. ‘I want to taste you too.’
Like an animal. He peeled her panties off and gently stroked her, exposing her to his touch, his tongue, his whole hot, wicked mouth. Gasping, she reached out, caressing the parts of him she could. But he moved down the bed—down her—and licked and nuzzled every centimetre.
‘I want to hear you again.’ His rhythm was unrelenting, his words driving her wild. ‘I want to hear you lose it, Elsie.’
Overwhelmed by the onslaught, she spread her legs wider and arched, exposed in an ultimate invitation. And he ate all she offered. His hands gripped, holding her still as she writhed uncontrollably. Panting and moaning and utterly out of control, she didn’t care that she was begging as she came hard for him.
‘Now we’re here, we have all the time in the world,’ he growled.
‘We really don’t.’ Exhausted yet elated, sated yet somehow still starving for more. ‘Don’t make me wait any longer.’
There was an emptiness inside her. A literal emptiness that she needed him to fill. She wanted him in her arms.
His expression both softened and flickered with satisfaction and amusement. He stroked her hair back from her flushed face. ‘I couldn’t take my eyes off you that day at the café,’ he admitted with a laugh. ‘I wanted you here, behind the palace walls.’
He reached in his drawer and pulled out protection.
‘You destroyed me before you even spoke,’ she mumbled as she watched him prepare himself to take her. ‘Before you made me mad. Before you made me laugh. I wanted you and I knew I wasn’t going to have you.’
‘You can have me now, sweetheart.’ He parted her legs so he could push between them. ‘And I can have you.’
The hunger in his voice and his gaze made her shiver, made her excitement tighten again. ‘Yes. Please.’
The wanton luxuriousness in this most secret of hours made her fearless and bold.