Tempting the Crown

by Violet Paige

  I was in Austin for one night. By tomorrow afternoon I’d be on a plane back to Nashville. Tomorrow I could go back to being America’s perfect role model. I could hide my inner hellcat. Suffocate the sexiness I wanted to feel. Pretend nothing mattered more than the purity of heart my brand crammed down everyone’s throat, but for tonight I could let Luke give me what I really wanted.

  A night where being bad was a good thing. A night when all that mattered was how sexy I could be. A night when I could let a hot bad boy fuck me like I deserved.

  He carried me over the threshold of his bedroom and it was dark inside. I could make out large pieces of furniture, and an enormous bed. The blinds were closed, and I knew what was about to happen wouldn’t be something we’d want to share with the outside world. I could be completely free, feeling the protection of Luke’s world around me. The privacy of the ranch. The gated entrance. For the first time I realized how incredible it felt to have this layer of secrecy around us.

  He swung around to a panel on the wall and tapped on the screen. The room glowed with dim orange lights.

  “Candle light?” I searched his eyes.

  “I want to see you,” he growled.

  I felt the pit in my core seize with want at his naughty words. He wasn’t the only one. I wanted to see him too—every ounce of his ripped naked body. I didn’t care if it was electric or computerized light. It didn’t matter as long as I got to feast my eyes on him.

  Luke dropped me in the center of the bed and crawled toward me. I felt like prey and the lion was prowling toward his kill. His teeth grazed over my collarbone.

  My nails dug into his back, desperate to pull the shirt off of him. I tugged the edges, letting my nails drag over his skin as I freed him from the shirt.

  I traced the lines of ink running up the side of his oblique. The symbols were interlaced in an intricate design, crawling across his taunt muscle. The tattoo started at his ribs and wrapped behind his back. I wanted to ask what it meant, but I dug into his skin instead, feeding my need to feel the heat of his body.

  My fingertips grazed the rigid lines of his bare chest. His eyes darkened, watching me explore his athletic body. He was built for endurance. Trained for strength and power. Every muscle connected to another one just as toned and beautiful as the last. I tried to wrap my hands around his biceps, failing to complete a circle before he maneuvered me right where he wanted me—pinned under him.

  I sucked in the air around me. God, he was massive. He was certain with every move he made.

  His fingers quickly picked at my buttons until my shirt was lying open. His mouth fired kisses against the tops of my breasts while I squirmed under him, needing more. Needing it faster. Needing all of him in a fury.

  “Fuck, you’re gorgeous.” He growled into my neck, as he nipped behind my ear and across my throat.

  I moaned when I felt his hand slide between my stomach and my jeans. He twisted my panties against my skin and I whimpered, feeling his fingers rub between my legs. He knew it was my desire for him that had made them.

  I was aching. Every part of my body wanting to feel his touch. Wanting the roughness of him to remind me of how alive I was. I needed Luke to let me be a woman. Not a symbol of morality. I wanted the kind of night a man like him could offer.

  His lips hovered over my breasts, blowing gently before his teeth snatched the lace of my bra away and my nipples hardened under his stare. I pushed up, shoving them toward his mouth. He clamped against the hard point, sucking and growling while I pressed the back of his head tighter to my chest.

  I didn’t care if he bruised me. I didn’t care if he bit me. I wanted my body to feel this tomorrow. I wanted to be able to remember the way Luke made me feel. I liked how he played rough and with intention.

  He unclipped the back of my bra, granting him access to both nipples, and threw it across the room. While he flicked one with his tongue, he pinched the other with his fingers, rolling it with control until I screamed for more. The shivers ran through me as he suckled my tits with the fire of his tongue.

  He had a wicked smiled on his face.

  I arched under him, coaxing him to keep going.

  “You’re a surprise, Lexi Wilde.” Even the deep timbre in his voice made me hot for him.

  “But you’re not.” I clung to his neck, pulling him toward for me a kiss. His tongue shoved inside my mouth. He was everything I thought he would be. A walking sex machine, with a way to back up his reputation.

  “I bet I could still surprise you,” he taunted.

  His fingers slid over my stomach and down my hips. He pushed me against the mattress until his knees landed on the floor between my legs, tugging my precious boots off my feet.

  “I like these. They’re hot, little cowgirl,” he said as he placed them next to the bed.

  He tucked his fingers inside the waistband of my jeans, peeling them off my thighs until they were piled on the floor.

  The first kiss started at my ankle and then moved to my calf. His hand pushed my opposite thigh wide as he kissed up the other leg. I felt the thrill of what was about to happen. I tried to steady myself, but by the time he was against my center I was panting in bursts of want.

  He licked his lips. His eyes bore down between my legs like the hungry lion he was. “You should know ever since I saw you on that stage this is all I wanted to do to you.”

  I groaned. “What? What did you want to do?” My voice was raspy, unrecognizable, and sexy.

  “Lick you. Suck you. Dip my tongue inside you. Taste you come in my mouth.”

  I’d never felt so exposed, or so turned on. His hand pried the white satin away from my folds. The satin was soaking wet. I heard the fabric rip as his hands tore into the lace at my hips. Holy shit. All I could do was wait as he prepared to devour me. One hand splayed across the flatness of my stomach while the other pushed my other knee wide and then with lightning flicks his tongue plunged in and out of me.

  “Oh, God.” I writhed under him wildly.

  He circled my entrance, tasting and sucking. Licking and kissing against my clit. The more I tried to move, the lower his palm pressed, pinning me to his bed. The ache was so deep it was painful. I wanted the release. I wanted him to lick me into the most explosive orgasm of my life. I rocked into the rough stubble of his face, while he dipped and twirled his tongue. The sensations ran through me like electric pulses.

  I couldn’t hold off any longer. I didn’t want to. I wanted the feeling to clutch me and blind me with ecstasy. I grabbed his head, threading my fingers through his dark hair. I throbbed from the inside out.

  “Luke,” I whimpered. “Oh, God. Please. Please. I’m going to come.”

  He drew a slow lick upward. “Show me,” he demanded.

  I looked down as his eyes locked on mine. I could see the lust in his eyes, and I couldn’t look away. My hands lost control as I grabbed my nipples and rubbed my breasts harder as the waves jolted through me. Each one was harder than the last. I felt the vibrations of his growl as he coiled his tongue deep inside, driving my orgasm to the surface.

  Luke clamped against my clit, daring me to break the stare, but I couldn’t. I wanted him to see me come. I wanted him to see what my body could do. I wanted him to know I was sexy and alive, and for tonight I was his.

  9

  Luke

  I kissed the inside of her thigh, my cock was so hard I thought it could split through my jeans. The way she came in my mouth was enough to make me lose it. I don’t know why I thought she’d taste like anything other than sweet sugar. She was heaven against my tongue.

  I unzipped my pants and shoved them off my legs.

  I kissed the soft skin around her navel, moving my lips over her breasts. I slowly licked her tits.

  “I want to fuck you.”

  Her eyes flickered. “That’s why I’m here.” Her nails scratched along my back, and all I could think about was sinking into her. Rocking her hard little body into oblivion.

 
; “My way,” I explained. “No rules. No lines.” I bit on her nipple, waiting for her to cry out, but she mewed with pleasure.

  Lexi was a fucking goddess. She had no idea what she was doing to me. The sounds coming from her throat made me hard. The way her lips parted fucking tore me in half. I wanted to kiss her, but I also wanted to see them wrapped around my cock.

  “I want your way, Luke.”

  I reached for the nightstand and grabbed a condom from the drawer. I ripped the corner with my teeth.

  “Wait.” She stopped me.

  Her hands immediately wrapped around my erection, rubbing and massaging me with gentle pumping motions.

  I leaned back on my heels, feeling the warmth of her hands and her thumb press against the sensitive spot under my tip. She spread the dew over the head and pumped some more until I knew I didn’t want any more foreplay. I wanted to be buried inside this girl.

  I picked up the condom from the bed and handed it to her.

  “Necessary evil.” I winked.

  She rolled it on effortlessly and I didn’t have any control left. I could taste her on my tongue. My cock was pulsing to get a taste of her too.

  I settled between her legs, spreading them wide. She was wet and ready for me. The first orgasm had been for her. The next one was for me. I rubbed my tip over her clit, drawing a moan from those sexy lips and plunged into her sweet, soaking entrance with one long stroke.

  “Fuck,” I growled, feeling her stretch around my dick as I drove my cock home.

  She tipped her hips upward, clenching around me, pulling me deeper, dragging me toward her lips.

  I kissed her furiously while I moved in and out of her. With every thrust she tried to hold me inside and I resisted her, sliding out to do it again. Her hips rocked and tipped under me.

  “I want to ride you,” she breathed. “Let me, please.”

  I rolled on my back, pulling her on top, marveling at her gorgeous body. It was a damn shame she was always covered up, because she had the tits of a goddess. I watched them bounce as she rode me, moaning and grinding into me.

  “This is so intense like this. You’re so thick. God, Luke.” She leaned forward to kiss me, lowering the points of her breasts against my bare chest. My arms wrapped around her small waist, gripping her round ass. I loved it. I loved how she fucked me. How she kissed me. How free she was with her body.

  Lexi Wilde was nothing like what I thought she’d be. I invited her to my place, thinking I was in for a chase. A night of seducing the quiet good girl, but God, she rocked my fucking world.

  She sat forward pressing against my chest and arched backward, her tits pointing toward the ceiling as I slammed her down on my cock.

  “Oh, God, Luke. Fuck me. Fuck me again like that.”

  I couldn’t stop. She bounced up and down with the rhythm from my grasp.

  She had lost control and taken me with her. I brought her down with sudden force as I felt my body split with shockwaves of violent pulses. I sat upright, clutching her sweaty body to mine. Her breasts slid against my chest while she rode me wildly and I pushed up inside her, feeling her come undone in my arms.

  “Ride me, baby. Ride me, harder,” I commanded her, but she was dripping with sweat. Riding my cock, and clutching my neck with desperation as our orgasms hammered through both of us.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I came with a woman. I couldn’t tell you the last time I cared, but the power of holding her in my hands while I pulsed deep inside her was intoxicating.

  I kissed her, forgetting for a second this was a one-night stand. And this was just a one-time fuck. I kissed her like it meant something. Like she mattered. Like she had just given me the best fucking night of my life.

  She leaned back in my arms, and I licked the sweat on her neck. Sweet and salty. I liked that.

  Her eyes opened. The innocent look was still there. The one that the public had fallen for. The one she had given me when she was up on that stage tonight, but now I saw something else. There was more sensuality in this girl than I could describe. With her legs wrapped around me, my arms circling her waist, and my cock still inside her, I didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want to untangle our limbs and let her out of my bed.

  She pressed a kiss to my lips. “I don’t know what to say now,” she whispered.

  “I’m not big on talking.” I bit her shoulder playfully.

  “What I said earlier...” Her nails dug into the small of my back and I felt chills run up my spine.

  “About what?”

  “About you not surprising me.” She bit my lower lip, pulling it with her teeth. Fuck. She was a tiger in bed. “I was wrong. Completely wrong.”

  “Lexi, you are nothing like I thought.”

  “Alexa,” she corrected me. “You can call me Alexa. My fans say Lexi. I want you to say Alexa.”

  “I think I count as a fan.” I slapped her on her ass, knowing I might have left a mark. “I’m a fan of this. And your lips. And your long legs. And everything between them.” I waggled my eyebrows. “But I like Alexa.”

  She smiled, trying to wiggle out of my hold.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” I secured my hands, clasping them together. She wasn’t getting away.

  “Well, I thought you were probably…” she didn’t finish her sentence. My mouth covered hers, sucking the air from her lungs. Kissing her until she felt how my body responded to her.

  My cock was growing hard again. She drove me wild. Her body was better than my best brand of bourbon. She was ecstasy in my arms.

  “Oh?” She looked surprised. “You keep proving me wrong.”

  I rolled her on her back. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but tonight I’m going to fuck you like I want. Understand?”

  She nodded emphatically. I reached into the drawer for a second condom.

  “What time did you tell the driver to come back?” she asked.

  I pulled one of her nipples between me lips, flicking my tongue back and forth. I looked at her. “Six.”

  I sat forward to roll the condom on. I was already hard and we both knew our night was ticking away. In two hours the car would be in the driveway.

  She wrapped her legs around me, pulling me toward her like a vise grip.

  I sank into her, bowing her off the bed. I pinned her wrists over her head and pumped in and out of her. The sweat pooled between us, our bodies slick with sex and heat. This time I didn’t let up until she screamed my name.

  I growled, biting at her. “Say it,” I commanded. “What do you want from me, Alexa?”

  Her head rolled back. “Fuck me harder. Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”

  The words triggered something primal in me. I thrust deep inside her as I felt my release rise to the surface. It catapulted through me with wicked force, ripping through my legs. Tearing through my body until I was so deep in her, I owned her. She was mine. Every inch of her beautiful skin. Her gorgeous breasts. The heat between her legs. It was all mine.

  “Oh, God, Luke. Don’t stop.”

  “I won’t,” I promised, pushing her knees wide so I could hit against her inner walls.

  She screamed out, as her orgasm wracked her body with shakes and vibrations so intense I felt it wrap around my cock.

  “Fuck,” I roared, slamming into her as my release coiled from my spine and fired through my body. She pulled me under, spiraling us into an orbit of pure sin I’d never felt so fucking intensely before.

  I kissed between her breasts and then collapsed on top of her in a heap of useless muscle.

  I felt her fingers trace the lines on my back. But soon I was asleep, never having felt so fucking satisfied in all my life.

  ***

  I rolled over. The covers were flat. “Alexa?” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. It was still early. There was barely any sunlight outside.

  I checked the bathroom. Her piles of clothes were gone. The boots were missing.

  “Alexa?” I walked down
the hall, then looked up at the clock in the kitchen. “Fuck.”

  It was six-thirty. She had left half an hour ago and I had slept through it.

  I walked back to my room and fell onto the bed. The pillow smelled like her. The sheet, the comforter. My whole damn room smelled like Alexa Wilde had been here.

  I rolled on my back, trying to make myself go back to sleep, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. Last night was imprinted on my bed. It was in my pores.

  My phone was on the nightstand. I picked it up to send her a text.

  Good morning

  I waited for her to text back. I stared at the screen, cursing myself for giving a shit. It wasn’t as if last night was different than any other one-night stand. I’d had plenty of beautiful women. But the longer I stared at my phone, the reality started to sink in that last night didn’t feel like those other times. Alexa was different. Taking her to bed was different. We shared something. And I never shared.

  Didn’t want to wake you up

  I grinned when I saw my phone light up. I sure as hell didn’t want to admit I felt a sense of relief in my chest.

  When do you leave Austin?

  What the fuck was I doing? Was I asking her out? I didn’t know. I had a meeting this morning. I had practice this afternoon. With my luck, my new Warriors’ PR parole officer would assign some kind of high-profile community service for me, parading me around town promoting the team’s good name.

  This afternoon

  And then I realized I didn’t give a shit what Charlie or Coach had planned for me today. I was Luke Canton. I did what the fuck I wanted.

  Drinks before you go?

  I sat on the edge of the bed. I put it out there. She could say no and that would be the end of it. I’d erase her number from my phone and never speak to her again. Or she could say yes, and I’d do something I’d never done before.