“Drink?” she offered.
I nodded. It seemed rude to turn the princess down, especially after I treated her like an intruder in her brother’s home.
“So how long have you been seeing my brother?” She poured both of us a vodka drink.
“It’s not really like that.”
She twirled toward me. “It’s not? Hmm.”
I didn’t know if that meant she was surprised or if I had missed her sarcasm. I felt plain in my yoga pants. I was Cinderella before she met her fairy godmother. Isabel could’ve put any Prince Charming on his knees.
“However, you are here and he is not.” She tipped her glass toward me.
I felt the need to explain, but took a sip of the lemony vodka drink. What explanation would I give the princess? I certainly wasn’t going to tell her how I met her brother. And reliving today’s events didn’t seem any better.
We turned our heads when the elevator bell rang.
Isabel rushed to the doors. “I need to talk to you.”
Damon stepped into the residence. He looked past his sister. His eyes landed on mine.
For a quick second I forgot how mad I was. How I was hauled out of the library. How I waited for hours with no word. One look and I was ready to melt into his lips again and get lost in his hands. Damn it. He was infuriatingly sexy.
“Damon,” she urged. “It’s a state matter.”
His eyes cut to her. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow, Isabel? I have plans this evening.”
“Sorry, Molly.” She quickly looked at me over her shoulder. “No, it can’t. Where have you been anyway?”
“With the Bostique prime minister. You didn’t see the press conference? The ceremony?”
I knew he was speaking to her, but I shook my head.
“You’re always doing something.” She sighed. “It’s non-stop.”
“It is part of my job.” He loosened his tie. “Would you like me to stop running the country and drop everything to hear your problems?” He unbuttoned the top button.
I felt like one of the palace servants. I was there, but practically invisible to them as they continued their sibling banter.
“No. But you could at least grant my audience when I ask for it.”
“When do I deny your audience, Isabel?”
“I didn’t want to go to Sangreaux. You know that. Instead of meeting with me, you sealed the itinerary and I was on a plane.”
He closed his eyes. “Let’s continue this in my office.”
He led her across the room and into his private study. I watched until the door was closed. I sat on the sofa with my vodka, waiting for one of them to emerge. I could hear them argue from where I sat. It was back and forth. Neither one letting it get out of hand, but there was no doubt it was heated.
A few minutes later, I heard Isabel’s heels click across the floor. I turned to watch her.
“Good night, Molly. It was a pleasure to meet you.” She tapped the elevator button.
“Good night.” I rose from the sofa.
The door opened and the princess disappeared in a blur of glittery white.
“Bon soir, Molly.”
His voice gave me chills.
I had enough time to prepare to come out swinging. Ample opportunity to perfect the lines I should have said. It could have been eloquent and fiery.
“W-what?”
“I see you already have a drink. I need a bourbon.” He walked toward me, but turned for the bar.
I didn’t know what it would feel like to see him again.
It was like whiplash, snapping between annoyance and giddiness that he was here. Then there was the guilt mixed with irritation that I was ok with any of this. I woke up disappointed he hadn’t contacted me and then was insulted by how he had.
“Do you know your goons removed me from my work and brought me here?” I challenged. “Do you have any idea what that cost me today?”
Damon’s back was to me. He poured his bourbon.
“I wanted to see you.”
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say? I’ve been here for hours. Basically a prisoner.”
His dark eyes landed on me. “Are you accusing me of locking you in my tower?” His smirk was irritating, but sexy at the same time.
This wasn’t some kind of game. And I wasn’t the Rapunzel type.
“I don’t understand why you think this is funny.”
He crossed the room, kicking back the dark drink. My chest tightened. The smile had dropped from his lips. He looked like a tiger tracking his prey. My heart beat, wondering when he would pounce.
“I’m not laughing, Molly. Far from it.”
With his final step, he reached me and I froze. His piercing stare burned my chest. I was paralyzed with a bizarre combination of need and anger. I remembered what it was like to be touched by him. To be under him. To be pinned against his hard body. It took everything I had to control my breathing. The memories flooded me, but I was suddenly defiant. I didn’t want Damon to know what kind of power he had over my body. My reaction to him was undeniable despite how much I suppressed my natural instincts.
“Well, neither am I. Do you have any idea what I went through? I was embarrassed in front of everyone. I looked like a criminal. There’s no telling what they think. And then I was left up here with no information on why I was dragged away. There wasn’t a message. A note. Nothing.” I tried my best to muster a hard glare, but I could tell I was crumbling. He was too close to me. The air was tinged with heat and want. It was impossible to fend off the inevitable.
“And then I sat. And I waited. And I-I don’t think it’s fair how you treated me. Is this what it means to be a citizen here? You just order people around? People have no rights?”
He exhaled. His eyes closed. When they opened the lust in them stole my breath.
“I’m sorry, Molly.” His fingers landed on my shoulder, sliding under the strap of my tank top. “I did try to get here sooner.”
He stroked the side of my arm, letting the strap fall gently. I dared myself to fall for it. I dared myself to soak in the heat of his touch.
“But Galona was needy today.” He bent toward me, catching my lips by surprise. His lips crushed mine. The bourbon burned my tongue as he greedily kissed me. He growled lowly, tearing down the walls I had built during my hours in his tower.
I pressed against his fitted jacket, feeling the strength of his chest beneath my palms. “Why?” I whispered. I needed space if I was going to get my answers. “Why am I here?”
I caught a glimpse of his tanned skin where he unbuttoned his shirt. The tie still loosely dangled around his neck. It was the sexiest thing I had seen.
“I have just spent two days with the prime minster of the Bostique. You were supposed to be here when I was out of my meetings yesterday.”
“I tried to return to the residence, but security wouldn’t let me in the elevator. There wasn’t much I could do.” I needed to defend myself.
He sighed. “Idiots.”
“And then I ran into the royal manager. He said I needed to go home.”
Damon’s eyebrows arched. “Sutcliffe?”
I nodded. I considered describing the man as the one with the stick up his ass, but it didn’t seem like a suitable royal description.
I continued my defense. “I did try to leave a message for you, but it seemed it was best I went home. Georgan took me.” I broke away enough from his hands to lean against the couch. “After the Titan, I knew I was overstepping. And I’m not that kind of person, Damon. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. But I’m not the kind of girl who came here to land a celebrity. I’m in Freychon for my research.” I hadn’t heard my voice this clear and certain in a while.
“The gala was a whim. A crazy, irrational kind of whim that I’ve never given in to. I’m not rash and impulsive. I realize you have every reason to think I am. But that was one night. It’s not the real me. This is.”
I waved my hands from my g
lasses to where my yoga pants bunched below my knees. The woman in front of him was who I truly was. These were the clothes I walked in. The glasses I saw through. The skin I lived in every day.
He rubbed the sharp angle of his jaw.
I couldn’t stop talking. “My work is my life. I left South Carolina for this grant. I left my family and all my friends to do something amazing. Something that fulfills me. I made sacrifices to move here. I’ve worked extremely hard. And it wasn’t to become the king’s side piece.” My chest heaved defiantly.
He finished his drink, pausing to respond. I didn’t know if I had completely pissed him off, or offended him on every level possible. There was a chance he was going to call security and dump me outside the palace gates.
“Did you consider maybe that’s why you are here, Molly?”
He deposited the bourbon glass and divided the space between us. He gently pinched the sides of my glasses, removing them from my face. He placed them next to empty glass.
My breath caught in the back of my throat.
“Now it’s your turn to listen.” He cupped my cheeks, crashing his lips against mine. I felt the weight of his mouth devour me in urgent gulps.
I closed my eyes, knowing I was going under. Drowning in his kiss. Surrendering to his need. Falling harder and faster than a star plummeting to Earth. I was lost. Locked and chained. And Damon Sauvage had hidden the key.
19
Damon
Her lips were sweeter than before. Maybe it was the wait. Two days of craving her. Wanting her. Needing her. Every obstacle placed in front of me.
She had no idea what it took to get to this moment.
I could devour her now. Taste her. Lick her. Coax those precious moans from her lips.
I reached for the pencil holding her hair atop her head and slowly slid it, dropping it to the floor. Her auburn waves cascaded to her shoulders. Her blue eyes followed my gaze.
Fuck. This woman killed me. It was like a curtain of innocence flowed around her.
I lifted her in my arms and carried her to my room. I kicked the door closed behind us. No one entered my bedroom without a direct summons. She was the only one who had that.
She reached forward, twisting my tie around her hand as she pulled it from my collar. I grinned wickedly. There were so many things I could do with that length of fabric. My cock hardened, picturing the silk wrapped against her wrists.
I hooked my thumbs on the band of her pants. The elastic stretched as I wrestled it over her hips and along her thighs. I had one mission. It was clear. I wanted her honey on my lips. I could lap her delicious pussy the rest of the night and be a happy man.
I pushed the hem of her shirt over her stomach. Molly, eagerly took it from me, raking it over her shoulders and off her head. Her tits bounced freely as she settled on my bed.
“Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”
I blew a hot breath between her legs and she moaned. I touched her panties, groaning at how wet they were.
I didn’t know if her speech was to prove to herself that she still had willpower, or if it was for me to relinquish control. Maybe she wanted me to admit I wasn’t some cocky bastard. But I was. I was cocky as hell. Powerful. Demanding. None of those things were going to change. And certainly not in my bedroom.
I snapped the lace over her clit and she whimpered.
“This is what you really want, isn’t it?” I taunted, dragging a finger under the lace trim. I skimmed the hard bud of her clit, forcing her to buck into the contact.
She nodded.
“Then say it.” I grinned. “Say it was worth waiting for.”
She closed her eyes, pressing her lips together. I snapped her panties again, this time taking my finger to the other side, and pried her folds wide enough for a kiss. I pressed my lips to her, exposing the sugary syrup to my tongue. Fuck. She was delicious.
I was hard as steel.
“You shouldn’t have done it like that,” she whispered. “My research …” Her voice trailed off as I sank my tongue between her velvety lips and sucked against her clit. “… my laptop … my bag … at the library.”
I rose from between her legs, eyeing her. I had to suppress a groan. All I could think about was ripping the panties from her and fucking her with my tongue relentlessly. But I needed her to say it.
“It was worth every fucking minute you spent waiting here to have my tongue on your pussy, wasn’t it?” I ran my tongue to her entrance, shoving the panties out of my way.
“Oh shit.” She clutched the covers in her fists.
I looked up again.
Her skin was flushed. Her tits hardened in pointy peaks. She was a fucking goddess. I unzipped my dress pants, releasing my cock from the strain. With a few flicks, my buttons were off my shirt and it was on the floor with the rest of my clothes.
I climbed on top of her, sliding toward her breasts. I stroked one nipple, massaging it with my thumb.
“Oh God,” she mewed.
Her voice kindled a jerk from my cock. It beaded with dew. Her eyes settled on my crown with heady lust. She swirled her tongue over her lips.
“Why can’t you say what you want?” I pushed her. I wanted those dirty words on her lips as much as I wanted her lips on my cock. “Tell me to fuck you, Sapphire,” I teased.
Her eyes fired sparks of cobalt and navy. She was holding back. Was she trying to prove the girl I met no longer existed? Was she someone new now? A student without an ounce of sexual desire. I didn’t fucking buy it for a second.
I leaned back, yanking her panties in my fist. She yelped. My fingers squeezed her nipple roughly. She hissed as my cock pressed to her lips.
“You can have all of it. Fucked everywhere. You know how I make you come. How I make you scream.”
She inhaled sharply.
“You have to ask the king for what you want, baby.”
I slid along her body, lying against her, grabbing her hair at the base of her neck. She gasped.
“Do you want me to let you go?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Then talk,” I demanded, drawing her lips to mine.
I could feel her breath rapid and frantic. Her eyes darted back and forth. There was no fear. Only carnal desire dripping from her gaze.
I had her.
20
Molly
“Oh God,” I whispered. His lips were like lava, burning and searing my mouth with promises I couldn’t refuse. He taunted me. Tempted me. Left my body open like a live wire bouncing with no way to be grounded, except by him.
He could soothe me. Satisfy me.
If only I’d say the words.
Somewhere in this mind of mine, I was Sapphire. The reckless girl who gave into her sex kitten side did exist. Only, I didn’t know it until I met Damon. I never pictured myself that way before. Never considered submission to be something I’d love or even crave. Never knew asking for what I wanted could be as much of a turn on as a touch. That dirty words could take me to a far off place where I dwelled in waves of lust.
I liked that place. And with Damon’s naked body hovering over mine, he reminded me how amazing that dirty place was. But I had to be willing to take the leap. I had to travel there on my own, or I was going to lose my ticket. The king had the power to revoke my passport to this new land of sex my body had just discovered.
He wasn’t patient enough for me to sort out a list of pros and cons. That wasn’t how impulsive desire worked.
“Fuck me,” I whispered. “Please.”
His eyes darkened. “More, Molly.”
I met his demand. “With your mouth. I want your tongue in my pussy.”
“Fuck,” he groaned.
The words did something to him.
He sank to the floor, dragging my ass to the edge of the bed. I heard the cotton rip between my legs as he yanked the lace out of the way. He threw my legs against his shoulders, sending my knees wide.
“Oh shit,” I gasped jerking off the bed.
His tongue surged inside my entrance as he splayed his hands over my stomach. He thrust again, swirling around my clit before fucking me with another stroke of fire.
His eyes lifted to mine as he licked my juices like a hungry tiger. His thumb traveled further south, massaging my clit. That’s when I lost it.
I grabbed his hair, arching my back as I fell on the bed in a kind of explosive rapture that awed me as I took off on the wings of the orgasm.
My reaction only fueled Damon as he grew hungrier. His thrusts deepening, spreading my legs.
“Oh, oh. I can’t.” I shook my head. “I’m going to come.”
“So. Fucking. Hot.” He kissed my stomach as his fingers replaced his tongue. I clenched at them as he pumped in and out of my entrance.
I tumbled and fell. The orgasm crashed into me. My body vibrated with the sensations.
I felt his teeth nip at my breast before sucking it in his mouth. He plucked my nipple sending an electric shock straight to my core.
“Oh God.” I clawed at his back as the last wave hit me.
He grinned. “God, I want to fuck you.”
I nodded eagerly. I wanted more. I needed more. More heat. More fullness. More Damon.
He leaned for the drawer. I panted, my release soothing me as he rolled the condom over his cock.
He stepped back to the floor, dragging my ass to the edge of the bed. I looked in his eyes as my feet rose to his shoulders. He looked like a god from this position. Sculpted like a magnificent statue. He pressed his shaft to my entrance but before I could adjust to how thick and wide he was, he slammed into me.
I wrestled with the covers, but he locked his hands against my ankles, planting them on his shoulders. He thrust again. The angle was intense. I yelped as he drove deeper inside me.
“Ohh, Damon.”
I felt like I was being taken. Claimed. And I loved every second of it. Every stroke he delivered. My body had yearned for something like this. Thirsted to be worshipped. He kissed my calf as he fucked harder and with more speed.
“Fucking come on my cock, baby.”
I groaned with pleasure. The ecstasy was overwhelming. My core was where the epicenter began. It was tightening and twisting with tingly pulses.
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