“This is beautiful.” I allowed myself a moment to take in the view.
“This is where I used to come to be alone when I was younger. One of the nice things about Edoria is that it’s not hard to find solitude when you want it, even if you do live in the royal palace. It’s something that I don’t take advantage of enough.”
“I know what you mean. There is this park in my neighborhood where you can look out over the ocean. It’s amazing, and totally necessary when you’ve had a particularly rough day at the food truck.”
Silence fell once more as we looked out at the sunset.
“I’ve missed—”
“I’m sorry for—”
We spoke at the same time, tripping over one another’s words and laughing.
“Mind if I go first?” he asked. “I’m the one who did you wrong, after all.”
“I’ll never turn down an opportunity to hear someone tell me I was right.” I followed this up with a little smirk and a wink.
“Well, in this case, you are. Regardless of what your father might’ve ordered me to do, I shouldn’t have simply cut you out like that. It’s not considerate behavior.”
My smirk faded. “Yeah. It hurt, Luc. I thought that we were at least OK being open with one another.”
“We were, weare. It’s just that… the truth of the matter is that being around you is hard.”
“Hard?”
“A temptation. After what we did together, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to be with you again. But I knew that was impossible—the first time was a mistake; a second time simply couldn’t happen.”
“And why not?”
He laughed. “Because you’re the princess. Because you’re my best friend’s daughter. Because you’re almosthalf my age.”
A tension formed between my legs. “You know, all of those reasonsshouldmake me not want to do it again. But…”
“The opposite happens.” He said the words with the tone of someone who’d been doing some serious thinking about it. “Everything about it is forbidden. But…”
I reached over and took his hand. “But only adds fuel to the fire.”
He said nothing, his eyes on my hand.
“It’s tough,” he said. “I’m not sure what to do.”
“Hm. How about this— do whatyouwant to do, instead of what you’re supposed to do.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “You say that like it’s the easiest thing in the world. Life in the palace is all about those I serve.”
“Not right now, it isn’t. Right now, I’m not a princess. Right now, I’m just a girl sitting in the car with you, asking you what you want.”
He turned toward me, passion burning in his eyes.
“I want you, Ava.”
“Then take me.”
That was the end of the discussion. Luc brought his hand from mine to my cheek as he leaned over to kiss me. The moment his lips touched mine I realized how intensely I’d been longing for him, how desperate I’d been for his touch, his scent, his nearness. His tongue sought out mine and we kissed long and deep, his hand moving from my face to my breasts to between my thighs.
“Touch me,” I begged. “Touch me the way that only you can.”
Without a word, he opened the button and zipper of my jeans and slipped his hand underneath my panties. I moaned, closing my eyes and focusing on the warmth of his hand as he teased me, making slow circles around my clit with his fingertip, causing the pleasure to rise inside of me.