by Kim Loraine
“Don’t you dare tell me how I feel. I’m saying I am in love with you, right now, this minute. It gets worse and worse as the days pass. A crush fades, but I’ve had nearly fifteen years of loving you silently. I’m done with that.” My chin wobbles—the damn traitor. “I’ve had to endure knowing you’ve slept with half of the single women in Corline, read it online, see photos of you with them. And still, here I stand, desperately in love. If this were a crush, I’d have moved on to a man who doesn’t hurt me every time his gaze passes over me like I’m nothing.”
“Alina—” he starts, but I hold up my hand.
“This was a bad idea. I’m going to bed. Take me home in the morning.”
I take the only path I can in such a small home, brushing past him on my way down the hall. But his big hand catches me by the wrist, and he pulls me to him, his breaths sharp and harsh.
“Fuck it,” he mutters, then his lips find mine, and the world comes to a standstill. I swear my heart actually stops in shock.
He’s all anger and passion as he kisses me like he owns me. His hands go to my waist and he lifts me until I wrap my legs around his hips. Tongues dancing, we taste each other amid moans and sighs.
I tangle my fingers in the silky strands of his tawny hair and tug, making him groan. He walks us back until we reach a bedroom. The room is dark with the exception of the soft light shining in through a window, bathing him in the pale blue glow only the moon can provide.
“On the bed with you, princess.” He lays me across the mattress, the link between us stronger than ever. Now that our lips have met, there’s no denying our connection.
I’m trembling, working hard to keep the adrenaline at bay, but I’ve wanted him for so long, and now he’s here. For tonight—he’s mine.
He strips out of his shirt, hard planes of muscle visible in the moonlight. I want to touch him and feel his body, savor it, in case I never get this chance again. “You’re so gorgeous,” I say, sitting up and reaching out hesitantly. He’s tense,` and I can feel the war of desire and his sense of honor. But when my fingers brush his tight abdominals, he lets out a sigh. “I’ve never seen a man like you.”
“A man like me?”
“Carved from stone. The picture of everything I want and need.”
“Have you really been in love with me all this time?” he asks as he drops to his knees and grips my hips. With one strong pull, he drags me toward the end of the bed until I’m pressed against his chest. Lips burn a path up my throat and across my jaw. “Because I’ve wanted you. I’ve craved you, and I think I’ve been loving you all this time as well, but I couldn’t let myself admit it.”
My soft sweater is in the way of what I want. Our skin touching. The heat of our bodies joining. “Take off my top, Kingston. I want us to feel each other in the dark.”
He lets out a long, shuddering breath but nods and grips the hem of my sweater. All that’s left is my lacy bra, but he doesn’t remove that. Instead, he cups the weight of my full breasts and leans down. Then his lips are covering one tight nipple and he sucks, the rasp of the lace and the heat of his mouth send a rush of arousal straight between my legs.
“Oh, God,” I moan.
I grind my hips against him, needing more. He groans and unfastens his belt as he continues his attention to my breast. My hair trails down my back. The brush of the long strands tickles and causes an overwhelming flurry of sensation when combined with the pulsing need between my legs and the rough pull of his mouth on my nipple. If he doesn’t touch my pussy soon, I might explode.
I reach behind my back and unfasten my bra, needing the lace barrier between us to be gone. The fabric falls free and my breasts, now aching and heavy with arousal, are completely offered to him. “Kingston, please,” I beg.
He releases my nipple and pulls my pants off my hips, the feral need in his gaze echoing my own. “Five,” he says, making me frown.
“Are we counting down?”
“Five women. That’s it. That’s all I’ve been with, no matter what the tabloids say.” He cups my cheek and brushes his thumb over my bottom lip. “I need you to know that. Sex means more than a one-night fling. I don’t share my body with just anyone.”
Shock rolls through me. Surely, he’s having me on, but the sincerity in his gaze tells me that’s not true. He’s only been with five women, and I’m about to be number six. Sure, I might not be his first, but maybe I can figure out a way to be his last.
Chapter 6
Kingston
I stare down at the beautiful princess in my bed and try to calm myself as I think of all the wicked things I want to do to her. Alina blinks at me, surprise evident in her eyes.
“Five?”
“I’m not the man-whore they make of me. It sells more papers, and they do whatever they can to make money.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She reaches for my waistband. “I love you no matter what.”
My lips crash against hers, and there’s nothing tentative about the way I kiss her. She’s on her back under me, naked and perfect with her hair splayed out behind her like a dark curtain across the white quilt. I shove my pants over my hips and kick them to the floor. My cock aches with the need to be inside her, but she’s not ready, not yet.
“Open your legs for me, princess.”
A smile teases at the corner of her mouth, and she does what I ask. Her pussy is pink and glistening with arousal, and I can’t wait to dive in and taste her. I slide my finger between her lips, bringing her wetness over her hard little clit. “So wet. Is all this for me?”
She nods and moans. “I’m always this way around you.”
A thrill runs through me, and I take her hand and place it on my shaft. “Do you feel this?” I stroke her palm up and down my rock-hard length. “Try as I might, I can’t stop this from happening around you.”
“Really?” her voice is breathy and tense, and her eyes are locked on the head of my cock. There’s a bead of pre-come shining at the tip.
“Taste it,” I say, watching her lick her lower lip.
She swipes the bead with her thumb and takes it to her mouth. I nearly lose it when a soft moan falls from her.
Sliding myself down the bed, I hitch her legs over my shoulders and dive in. My fingers spread her, and I lick her folds, savoring her honey as she bucks on my face. Her fingers bury themselves in my hair, and she tugs as she cries out my name. I suck hard on her clit and roll my tongue over it, loving her moans and the shaking in her thighs. My cock fucking hurts, it’s so hard.
I sink my fingers deep inside her pussy as I swirl my tongue and she tenses. Her scream of my name has me pushing against the mattress with my hips in search of some sort of relief for my desperate erection. Then her walls are fluttering and clenching around my fingers, and I’m lost to my own orgasm like this was my first fucking time. My dick releases jet after jet of cum across the quilt as my pleasure crests, and she comes down from her high.
Pressing soft kisses to her lower belly, I hum in satisfaction at the relaxation in her limbs. “No one’s ever…I mean…that…” she stutters.
“You’re welcome,” I answer, grinning against the smooth skin at her hip. Pride washes over me that I was the only man who’d ever tasted the sweetness between her thighs.
“Are you going to fuck me now?”
Jesus, she’s trying to kill me by talking like that. My cock is still hard, and it thickens even more at her words. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, princess.”
She scoots away, sitting up and frowning. “So, you’ll bring me off, get your own pleasure taken care of, and still not give me what I asked for?”
“I want to. God, I want to. But I don’t have protection.”
A grin spreads her lips. “And what if I said I don’t care? That the idea of taking you inside me without barriers turns me on?”
If I wasn’t hard, I would be now. “But…pregnancy—”
“It’s just one time. It’s fine. I’m safe.”
>
But it’s not going to be just once. After I’m inside her, I know I’ll want her every moment of the day. I’ll be an addict, constantly craving her. “I’ll pull out.” My voice is tight with need, and when she bites her lip and nods, I sit up on my knees and fit myself between her legs.
“I want you, Kingston.” She wraps her legs around me and bucks her hips.
I position myself at her opening and push in slightly, breaching her entrance and moaning at the feel of her tightness squeezing my cock. “God, you’re so damn tight.”
“Don’t stop,” she begs. “I need you all the way inside.” Her fingers grip my ass, and I thrust forward, hard and fast, burying myself to the hilt.
She cries out, and I still as I feel the pop of her hymen breaking. “Fuck, Alina. You’re a virgin.”
“Not anymore,” she whispers. “I…I wanted it to be you. I told you.”
“I didn’t realize you meant—” I start, but she cuts me off by rolling her hips and offering me the delicious friction I need.
“Please don’t stop moving. It feels so good.”
I take her lips with mine, pushing my tongue inside her sweet mouth as I begin dragging my cock out and sinking back in. Pleasure shoots down my spine, building in my balls. They tighten, heavy with the seed I’m desperate to plant inside her. I don’t want to pull out. I want to fill her, give her more than my cock. I want to tie her to me and give her my baby.
Her nails rake down my back, and her teeth sink into my shoulder as she clenches around me and an orgasm takes her. “Oh, my God, Kingston,” she cries.
My climax builds and races up my length, and I have to force myself to stop, to pull out and spill my orgasm all over her belly. Her heavy-lidded gaze on mine says she’s sated and well loved. She trails her fingers through the evidence of my pleasure and grins.
“Are you all right?” I ask, lying on my side next to her.
She nods and takes her lower lip between her teeth. “I’m much more than all right. That was…more than I imagined.”
“Did you dream of letting me have you like this?”
“I dreamed of letting you have me in so many ways.”
“We’ll have to revisit those fantasies.”
Her expression closes off. “I guess that all depends on how long we stay here.”
“Perhaps we’ll never go back.”
That makes her giggle, then she sits up and stretches. “I need a shower,” she says, making her way to the bathroom. “You can join me if you want to live out another of my fantasies.”
Arousal races through me at the sight of her perfectly round ass swaying on the way to the shower. She’s absolute perfection, made for me in every way, and I have no idea how I’m going to convince her brother to let me keep her.
Chapter 7
Alina
My thighs are sore in the most fantastic way. Standing in the shower I wash away the semen Kingston spilled on me. My pussy clenches at the memory of him hovering over me—of the look in his eyes as he pushed inside, and realized I was still a virgin.
I want him to come into the bathroom, to join me in the shower and let me care for him in the tender way I want. My fantasies are more than just sex. I’m after more than the passionate moments. I want the intimate ones too.
After I’ve scrubbed every inch of my body and hair and can’t stay under the water any longer, I give up on him. He’s not going to join me, but I wonder what’s stopping him.
I wrap my hair in a towel and grab the soft robe off the hook on the door. My feet are silent on the hardwood floor as I make my way back into the bedroom. He’s not there. The blankets are still rumpled, our clothes litter the floor, but I don’t see him. The soft murmur of his voice filters into the room from the open bedroom door.
Pulling the robe tighter around my body, I follow the sound until I find him pacing in the living room. A fire blazing in the hearth, and his body clad in nothing but his boxer briefs. I have to take a second to appreciate the beauty of this man. Long legs, broad shoulders, toned muscles across his chest and back, everywhere really. He’s everything I’ve always dreamed of.
“She’s here. Yes, I give you my word nothing will happen to her.” My heart lurches as I stand there, in plain view but unnoticed. “She’s impetuous and reckless. I understand, but I wasn’t going to let her go without some sort of supervision. She’s young and doesn’t understand how the world works.” He runs a hand through his hair and his posture stiffens. “Of course. I won’t touch her. I really don’t think th— Yes, Your Majesty. No one will see us. We’ll return by nightfall.”
I grit my teeth against the anger boiling inside me. Young? Impetuous? He won’t touch me? Crossing my arms over my chest, I wait for him to notice that I’m here, but he doesn’t. Instead, Kingston sits on the leather couch and rests his head in his hands. Then he grabs a book from the end table and chucks it across the room, his bark of “Fucking hell!” making me flinch.
I’m not going to let his dismissal of me—of us—take away from the rest of my time here. Striding straight past him, I bend over and collect the book he threw, then return to where he sits. “That’s not how we treat books in my family. Books are windows to other worlds.” I hand him the leather-bound tome without so much as a second glance his way, then I calmly walk to the kitchen. The cupboards are stocked with non-perishable items, and I grin when I find a tea tin with my favorite English Breakfast blend. Putting the kettle on, I hum to myself and work to take my mind off the words I overheard.
Kingston lied to my brother. He lied to the King of Corline. But had he really? He said he wouldn’t touch me. The man never said he hadn’t ravished me to within an inch of my life only half an hour earlier. But now, he practically put everything between us in the rubbish bin by promising my brother there would be no touching. That was it. One time. One powerful moment between us. That’s all I get.
“I’m sorry you saw that,” Kingston says, his voice catching me off guard. “I…I spoke to your brother. In all the chaos of your car breaking down and you kidnapping me, I forgot to let him know you were safe.”
“Yes, I heard.” I can’t keep the anger from my tone. I slam the mugs on the counter and drop two tea bags into each. Kingston and I have always liked our tea strong. “Reckless. Impetuous. Young. I heard everything you said.”
He scoffs and shakes his head. “You can’t tell me you think any of those are untrue. You ran away from home and took your brother’s best friend with you.”
“I’m not some stupid girl who doesn’t know what she wants. I took you with me because I knew you’d keep me safe, but also because I needed time alone with you. I needed time for you to see that age isn’t a reason to keep us apart.”
“I’m not—”
“I understand. You don’t want forever with me. We’ll always have this one night together, and I’ll at least be comforted by the fact that I shared my first time with a man I loved.”
I want him to tell me to stop, that he loves me too, that he wants a life with me, but he doesn’t. He runs a hand over my hair and presses a chaste kiss on my temple. Then the kettle starts to boil, and he takes over, pouring hot water in our mugs in silence.
“So, you’re returning me to my brother?” I ask as I watch my water turn from clear to a rich dark brown.
He pours some sugar into his cup and offers me some, but I decline. The man shuts down like it’s some kind of security protocol, and I’ve hit something I shouldn’t have. “You’ve had your fun, your escape, now it’s time for you to go home.”
“And you were part of that fun?”
His gaze goes hard. “Wasn’t I? You talk about forever with you like that’s actually an option. You’re promised to someone. Someone who isn’t me. I gave you what you wanted. A night in my bed. I treated you like I would treat any normal woman. Now, drink your tea and get ready. We’re leaving.”
My chest tightens, and I fight the tears that fill my eyes. He’s right though. This w
as what I said I wanted. I wanted him for the night, and I got him. Now I have to let him go.
Chapter 8
Kingston
I’m a goddamned fool. I never should have let Alina take me anywhere, because now that I’ve had her, I can’t stop wanting her. But when Ryder asked me to keep her safe and bring her home, when he made me promise not to touch her, I couldn’t deny him. Part of me wishes that call had come hours earlier. Then I’d never know how absolutely perfect Alina and I are together. And I wouldn’t feel this ache in the center of my chest at the thought of losing her.
The drive back to the palace was hours of tense silence. She’d barely look at me, and I deserved it. But I couldn’t let her know the depth of my feelings for her, because if I had, she’d never let me go.
Princess Alina will be married to someone beneficial to the kingdom. A man with connections. Probably a bloody prince with much more to offer than me. She’ll be shipped away to whatever country he’s set to rule, and our borders will be stronger because of her union with him. But fuck if that doesn’t tear me up inside.
“Thank you, Kingston. For everything,” she says, as we pull into to the palace garage. Her voice is a tight whisper.
“It was my pleasure, Your Highness.” My own words crack as I purposely distance myself from her. “I’ll never forget the night we shared.”
She swipes a finger under her eye and sniffles. Her gaze locks on mine for a moment before she leans in and cups my cheek. God, I want to hold her and make her stay.
“Marry me,” I say, my own words shocking me.
Her eyes go wide. “What?”
“I want you to marry me.” The moment I say it, I realize exactly how much I want this. I want her. Forever. “Your betrothal hasn’t been announced yet, so technically, you’re not breaking any promises.”
At first, she shakes her head and my heart breaks. But then her hand finds mine, and she laces our fingers together. “Yes,” she whispers. “I know you don’t love me, but I won’t be happy with anyone else.”