“You still want me.” He says it casually, stepping closer. More than that, the bastard sounds smug.
“Yes,” I grind out, teeth clenched.
“You wanted me before, too.”
“Obviously.”
“So it wasn’t all an act.”
Ah. That’s what this is. The prince still has doubts, and who could blame him? It’s not like I’ve earned his trust. So as he walks me back against my apartment wall, I don’t stop him. I don’t want to. Instead, I lift my arms and loop them around his neck. “No. None of it was an act. Not the parts between you and me.”
The breath that shudders out of him sounds like relief. Like a prayer. And when Prince Alden lowers his head, I can’t freaking believe my luck, but I still push up onto my toes and meet him halfway.
Our second kiss is soft. Tentative. A brush of lips while my heart bounces madly around my chest.
Is this really happening? Is he truly kissingme?As Bea?
But then I tease his bottom lip with my tongue, and it’s like the floodgates burst. Restraint flies out the window, and Prince Alden crushes me against the wall, licking deep into my mouth, and yeah. This is happening. This feels deliciously familiar.
His hips rock against mine, the hard length of his cock rigid against my stomach, and his hands areeverywhere.Grasping, stroking, kneading. Plunging into my hair, then trailing lower and teasing my nipples through my sweatshirt.
“Oh.” I didn’t—didn’t expect this. But after the bone-scorching onslaught on the palace driveway, I really should have. Because I already knew: Prince Alden kisses like a wildfire. He’s relentless and consuming. Powerful and hungry.
“You’re mine.” A broad hand slides down my front, then cups my pussy through my pajama pants. It’s so sudden but I moan, rocking into the steady heat of his palm, already slick and swollen and aching behind the fabric. Of course I’m ready for him. I’ve been ready and wanting him since the moment we first met in that library. “This is mine, Bea.”
“Yours,” I gasp, head swimming and cheeks burning. I couldn’t agree more.
Alden growls, kissing me again, hand grinding against my pussy, and I scrabble at his shirt. Try to work his buttons loose with clumsy fingers. Because if we’re doing this, if we’re touching each other like this, I wantin.I want under those fine clothes.
And after a few seconds Alden leans back, blinking down at my useless efforts. “That’swhat you’re doing.” He sounds delighted. “Do you want me naked, sweetheart?”
Yes. Yep, that’s exactly what I want, right this second, please. Screw long, drawn-out apologies. Screw dwelling in hurt feelings and past mistakes.
The prince ishere.He wants me. Bea.
And the only way for us is forward.
I tug the tails of his shirt free. “Yes. Off. Take it all off, Your Majesty.”
* * *
I bet Prince Alden of Caledithia doesn’t get bossed around much, but he’s quick to follow my breathless order. Strong fingers work down the line of his buttons, flicking his shirt open inch by inch, and he kisses me all the while, still rocking his hips against mine.
Alden kisses me like he resents needing to come up for air.
He pushes his body against mine like doesn’t want a single molecule between us.
And once his shirt is undone, the sides hanging open to bare his toned chest, he growls with approval as I shove it off his shoulders.
“Did you miss me?” The prince lets the white fabric drop to the floor then grips my hips again, squeezing tight. “Did you miss me, Bea? Did you think about me at night?”
“At night. In the day. Every second, Your Highness.”
Alden snarls and lifts me into the air.
“I’m not doing that again. Never spending time away from you. You’re mine, Bea, you understand? And I’m yours. From now on, we stay together.”
He says it like an order, but there’s no freaking way I’d ever argue with that.