by Nora Flite
Rubbing my chin, I shrugged. “Fine. It’s my hand that hurts, your brother is all mouth. It was like punching a wall.”
“I’m sorry he and Richard went after you. They aren’t happy about you being appointed the new king.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly happy, either.”
She pulled her light blue jacket closer. It flared like an hourglass, drawing attention to her gorgeous curves in a way I didn’t think she intended. “Having them all decide this without you must have felt like sabotage.”
“It’s an awful joke. I’m sure he’s got to hate that I’m his only option.”
Her thin fingers clutched tighter. “Your father, you mean?”
“Who else?” I asked, drawing in a huge breath. Everything in me felt too tight, my lungs unable to get me enough air. Having Nova here to listen to me was working me up all over again. “He never trusted me with any responsibilities before. He’s always thought I was goofing off. And that’s fine—it suited me well to not have to be under his damn scrutiny the way everyone else was. He was probably relieved to shove me into that dark hole of a strip club and forget about me.”
Nova rocked from side to side uneasily. “Oh.”
“You shouldn’t be shocked,” I said, “your family has been spying on mine forever. You probably have a notebook full of notes about me and all the messed-up stuff I’ve done, at that club and elsewhere.” I looked up at the sky. “I wonder if that miserable queen knows what she’s getting into.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
I let my eyes drift back to her. “I’m marrying Austere. You know all of this, there’s no reason to play dumb.”
Nova squinted at me, and for a long while she didn’t blink. “I can’t believe no one explained this to you. You’re not marrying my aunt. My parents expect you to marry me or my sister.”
She said it so bluntly. Like it was a fact as simple as water being wet. Even so, I searched her expression for some hint that this wasn’t true. Nova remained serene, waiting for me to respond. “You’re not kidding,” I finally said.
“Of course not.” Her laugh was brief and sweet. “What good would marrying my aunt do?”
I had no answer. Dammit, Rush’s speculation had depressed me while being ultimately useless.
Her smile went all coy. “How does this info change things, hm?”
Leaning toward her, I watched closely for her reactions. I was hooked on them. “I see through your mysterious mask. You think that I’ll happily accept this forced marriage . . . because I could end up with a beautiful woman like you? You’re impossibly shameless.” She blushed furiously. It changed her lips to a richer red. One of the flower petals landed in her hair; carefully I reached out and plucked it free. My voice was a smoky whisper. “You seem too nice to belong to the Valentines.”
The way she angled her chin reminded me temptingly of last night, when we’d kissed. “Maybe I am.” She extended her slim hand, and I thought she was going to remove a flower petal from me as I had for her. Many of them had settled on my shoulders and hair. Nova’s fingers rested on my collarbone and didn’t move. “I hope I’m not too nice for you.”
In my gut, I knew I should be wary of this woman. But the shivers she caused erased the pain in my bruised knuckles. No one had ever soothed me so easily. It justified my eagerness to ignore the internal voice that warned me again and again who she was. “You could be nicer.”
Her teeth glinted, bright in the moonlight. Her hand on my chest dug in, scraping lightly through my shirt. “I’m open to feedback.”
Fucking hell. I groaned at how she was teasing me. “Walking over a grave,” I whispered, sliding my hand to cup behind her ear. “You said it was bad luck.”
Nova swallowed loudly. “Yes.”
“And having sex in the royal family’s cemetery? Is that bad luck, too?”
“It is,” she said, her eyes dark, drawing me in. “Very bad.”
“It’s great that I’m not superstitious.” Gripping her tight, I captured her mouth with mine. Her other hand joined her first, balling in my shirt to keep her on her feet. She bent into my body, her breasts pushing on my solid chest. My gun pressed between us painfully, but it was nothing compared to my massive hard-on in my jeans.
“It’s also illegal,” she blurted, gasping for air. Her arms circled my neck, nails digging into my hair. “If anyone catches us . . .”
“I don’t care.” Kissing her again, I rubbed my nose on hers. “I don’t fucking care. Let the ghosts of these old kings rise up and drag me to jail themselves. I don’t. Fucking. Care. This is happening.”
Her lashes lowered, lines easing across her forehead. In that sacred place surrounded by monuments to the dead, I imagined she was praying; her hands linked together behind my neck, her chin bowed to her chest.
There was a serenity in how she waited for me.
I’d never fucked an angel before, but I thought this would be close.
“Off,” I said, tugging at her long jacket. Nova slid her arms free as I helped with the buttons. The heavy material dropped to the grass at our feet—beneath, she was wearing a long dress with pleats. It was the same dark blue as the night sky.
“Your turn,” she breathed, and her words created a hot vapor in the cool air. Her fingers trailed over my ash-gray coat, finding the zipper, not waiting for my permission as she slid the metal teeth apart.
There was a tightness in my throat. “Yes, ma’am,” I chuckled huskily. I loved a woman who made it clear what she wanted. I was also too eager to bother stripping myself down. I didn’t need to be naked to make this happen.
Spinning her around, I pressed her body into the bark of the tree. “Thorne,” she said, my name electric from her lips. It drove me further; I found the hem of her dress, scraping it up over her hips.
Her ass was a perfect heart, and it swayed more than the one in my chest. “You want this?” I whispered, hooking a thumb in the elastic of her panties. Tugging them up, I pulled them into her crease. “Been thinking about getting stuffed by royalty, hm?”
“God, yes,” she moaned. Her hips ground into my erection. I saw spots of color, working to get my pants undone.
“Good. Because I’ve been thinking about you since yesterday.” The instant I said it, I regretted it. I didn’t want to remind her that I’d forgotten her face.
Nova kept whimpering, either too wrapped up in her heat to care, or not thinking about it at all. I was still stunned that I’d forgotten this woman. It seemed impossible now.
I outlined her lower lips, creating a V with two fingers. I traced her lightly, over and over, learning the shape of her pussy and inscribing it on my memory. With the tip of one finger I glided between her legs, gently nudging her hard clit through her panties. It was the barest of touches. Nova cried out in delighted shock.
Her excitement had my dick raging hard. “You sing so damn pretty,” I whispered.
She leaned into me, legs crushing my forearm. Her body was responding as if it wanted more but was afraid to take it. Again I rubbed her clit, making insistent, but slow, circles. The cloth acted like a barrier so the sensation was never too much. In fact, it was decidedly not enough.
“Want me to finger you?” I asked her coyly.
Her knees seesawed my wrist. “Yes, please, fuck yes.”
“Your mouth gets dirty when you get horny,” I said, blowing out a puff of hot air. My insides were on fire, steam wafting from my skin. Peeling her panties aside, I rolled my digits across her soaking-wet pussy. Fucking hell.
Wetting my fingers, I crossed them like I was making a promise. Then I penetrated her up to my knuckles. “Ah!” she gasped. I struggled to fit my fingers in. Each inch I fought for made her hotter, wetter, wilder.
“They’re inside,” I said, nuzzling the back of her neck. I kissed her sweating skin. “Feel them? How is it, and don’t try lying.”
Whimpering, her pussy twitched on my hand. “It’s amazing. I’ve never fel
t . . . I’ve never . . .”
“You’re not making any sense. Are you asking me to make you come?” Curling my fingers, I caressed the roof of her pussy in consistent waves. My other hand came around her thigh, where she couldn’t trap it. I flicked her clitoris and gave it a light squeeze. As I did, I wriggled my fingers again.
“Oh, oh, I . . .” She trailed off in an obscene moan. Nova’s inner walls squeezed my fingers, rippling as her orgasm stole her ability to talk. She came shamelessly, mouth open wide, head thrown back.
I tensed all over, my balls heavy, aching for release. “There we go,” I said sweetly. “That’s it. Fuck, you come beautifully. And quickly, guess you did want me as badly as it sounded.” I pulled my fingers out and slid them over my tongue. I was drunk on the taste of her.
Groggy with lust, I undid my pants. I slid them down just enough to heft my engorged dick free. Running the fat head of my cock over the ruined material of her panties between her spread thighs, I shivered. “Listen to that. Your pussy is speaking to me, begging me to fuck it.”
“Thorne . . . please, hurry. I don’t want to wait any longer. I need to feel you, all of you!”
“What if I said too bad?” Leaning low, I nipped her ear. “What if I teased you until your cunt was melting. Made you beg so loud the whole city could hear?”
She trembled, shoving herself back at my throbbing shaft. I was dizzy with my urge, my balls flexing over and over, but I held back. I loved the way she was panting like an animal in heat. I could have listened to her breathing while the searing flames between her legs licked at my cock for hours.
Reaching back, she circled the base of my prick with her hand. She couldn’t make a full fist; my cock appeared gigantic, and it swelled more from the visual. “Fuck me,” she said, looking over her shoulder. “Now.”
A wave of arousal tensed all my muscles. “Oh, sugar, you’ve got it. Remember that you asked for this.” Yanking her sopping-wet panties to one side, I spread her swollen lips with my thumbs. Seeing my angry red cock head push against her pussy was glorious.
“Jesus,” she gasped. “That’s—Oh, ah, it’s huge. Can it fit? Fuck, it’s sliding in,” she babbled, reciting everything that happened like an announcer watching a porno. Her face turned away, her arms folding to brace her against the tree.
“It’ll fit,” I promised. Gritting my teeth, I grunted as her inner walls smothered my dick. The veins pulsed under my grip while I guided myself inside.
My neck prickled, as if someone was watching us. But when I swiveled my head I saw no one in the cemetery. Just tall stones, taller fence posts blocking us from the street. I threw my head back and became lost in the vastness of the universe. Of course, the stars. That was what we were being watched by; a million burning fires that looked on as I buried myself with abandon inside Nova.
“Ah!” she squeaked. My balls hit her ass cheeks; I was all the way in.
“You’re so damn tight,” I said, shaking my head in wonder.
Instead of responding with her voice, her pussy performed perfect sign language. It stole away some of my control. Squeezing her waist, I bent across her back, my nose in her sweet-smelling hair. “If this is how good you feel all the time, how can I not marry you and lock this down?” I growled.
She wriggled under me. “More, just . . . more, please. It feels amazing!”
“I know it does,” I managed, my chuckle strained. “Your pussy is applauding me, that’s how happy it is.” I pulled out a few inches and slammed back inside. Our skin made loud sounds from the impact. Her dress slipped lower, hiding what we were doing. Not that it mattered. Neither of us could pretend we were doing anything but fucking ourselves silly.
Sucking in sweet air through my clenched teeth, I stared down at the back of her head. Her hair was swept to one side. It exposed her caramel neck and the strangely seductive spiral of her ear. Nova embodied sex. It consumed me to the brink of bursting.
In a desperate attempt to keep my composure, I closed my eyes. But this just enhanced the smell of her sweat and the deep, earthy musk of our fucking. She was in my nose and in my brain and there was no escape.
Under me she tightened from toe to tip. She squeezed so hard that my eyes opened wide, but I still couldn’t see. “Holy hell,” I gasped, shaking with the ripples of pleasure her orgasm sent through me.
Nova came violently in my arms. Control was pointless—I gave in, pumping my hips like a beast as I drove toward my own climax. At the last second, I thought, Don’t come inside her! I’d always used a condom. How the hell had I forgotten one this time?
Her throaty groan tickled my brain stem. Yanking backward, I watched as thick strings of semen exploded onto her inner thighs, some of it getting on the hem of her dress. I wasn’t positive I’d pulled out in time. I couldn’t tell from just looking.
As I studied the soft gap between her legs, I noticed something else sticking to her skin. Something darker—red. A rush of guilt made my tongue dry out. “Did I hurt you?” I asked, my voice straining from concern.
“No,” she said quickly. She didn’t move from the tree. Her hands were spread over the bark, it was all that kept her on her feet. I watched her shoulder blades as they rose; I was transfixed by every little pinpoint of her existence.
“You’re sure?”
“I think I’d know,” she said, facing me with a half smile. “Everything you did was the opposite of hurt. That was . . . just wow.” When she reached up to fix her hair I noticed there was bark under her fingernails. There was nothing shy about the flushed red dusting her cheeks. Nova was comfortable, maybe even proud of herself.
I moved before I thought it over, kissing her where she stood. When I leaned away to look at her again, she was staring at me. I wasn’t sure she’d shut her eyes during the kiss.
Aware of my naked cock arching stiffly from my fly, I tucked it inside my underwear and closed my zipper. “That was amazing,” I said, laughing as I heard myself. Fuck, I sounded like a teenager. “I really needed that.”
“Me too,” she said, her fingers wringing in her dress. A breeze swirled around us in the cemetery. Nova shuddered, working to keep her hair from her face as she hugged herself.
Overcome by a compelling need to shelter her, I grabbed my jacket from the grass and swept it around her shoulders. “Here, use this.”
She tugged at the sleeves of my jacket. “Thanks.” We both glanced at our feet—at her own coat in easy reach—but didn’t mention it. She accepted my chivalry with her flawless smile.
Together we sat on the ground, our hips touching, my arm around her shoulders. The world was quiet, the way the bottom of the ocean was—nothing but infinite blackness and a crushing pressure on the top of your head. It should have felt lonely.
With Nova at my side, it didn’t.
“Will you do it?” she whispered. “Take the crown, I mean.” She had to go dragging us back to reality. What a fucking shame. Lifting my arm, I spread my fingers and stared through the gaps at the starry sky. “Between you and me . . . I don’t know what choice I have. Your family has tried to hurt us before. If I back out, they’ll do it again.” I made a fist, imagining I was crushing a handful of constellations. “The only way I get any sort of happy ending is by suffering for it. Farewell, freedom.”
“Would marrying me be so bad?”
The light plea in her voice drew my attention to her. We were inches apart, the flecks in her irises glowing more than the moon over our heads. “As amazing as I certainly am,” I teased, “why would you agree to this? Why marry me just because they say so?”
Her gaze fell to the side. A cold flare in my gut told me she was thinking of how to lie to me. “I never said I was doing anything because of them.”
Startled, I touched her shoulder until she looked at me again. “You didn’t say it, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.”
Pain rippled through her face. It darkened her eyes. Then it was gone, hidden behind her shuttered lashes an
d a placid frown. “You’re not the only one who has had to suffer to earn their happy ending.”
“Do you like being cryptic?” I asked. “You told me nothing that would help me understand you.”
She stood up, dropping my jacket onto the grass. Nova stepped backward, and for a second I almost reached for her. She sensed my urge and hesitated in place, giving me a chance. I didn’t take it in time. Moving away, she tugged her own jacket on. “You might not get me,” she said, “but I’m starting to understand you.”
“Am I that easy to figure out?” I scoffed playfully.
Nova watched me zip my jacket, studying my movements and thinking things I couldn’t possibly guess. I ached to ask her what she’d learned about me. To beg her for even a hint of what she’d gleaned. Because after all these years, I wasn’t sure I understood myself.
- CHAPTER ELEVEN -
NOVA
The streets were mostly empty as I ran through them toward my hotel. It was doubtful I’d have noticed anyone if they were there, though. My brain was full of one thing.
Hawthorne Badd.
When I’d run into him yesterday, it had been an accident. I hadn’t thought twice about leaping in to help the poor woman who’d been robbed. But then I’d looked up, and my heart had tangled in my ribs. Hawthorne was right there. Right in front of me.
Even though I’d changed drastically in the six months since we’d seen each other . . .
He hadn’t.
He was still painfully beautiful, the same haunting hurt buried in his eyes and behind his ever-present smile. I’d actually thought I’d messed everything up, that he’d recognize me and wonder what was going on, why my family was here. It was better for my situation that he didn’t know. It still stung. Worse, he’d thought I’d misled him all along.
I didn’t get it—how could his father not have prepared him? I knew my father had talked to the man about wanting to arrange this marriage. Just last night he’d sent a message to Maverick’s hotel room, laying out the general offer.
Why had Thorne’s own father not warned him?