Page 63 of Tabloid Princess

“It’s the truth.”

I shook my head. “It shouldn’t be.”

“Have you thought about my birthday present?” His lips curved into that deliciously tempting smile.

“No.”

My lie was obvious in the scorch of my cheeks and he raised an eyebrow.

“What would you give me?”

“What? Nothing!”

“A kiss?”

Holy fuck. My legs trembled and an unexpected dampness spread against my knickers.

He contemplated me, his eyes grazing across my face. Then, silently, he raised a finger and slid it across the dip of my collarbone.

I swallowed so hard it hurt and I suspended in time at his slightest touch; my body a puppet in the hands of a master puppeteer.

“Princes don’t get to give away kisses. They cost too much. The price they hold is always too high.”

“What price?” My question was breathless. His finger slid up my throat, tauntingly slow.

“Kisses mean things. Promises. Stories.”

I nodded. I knew what he meant. They weren’t something to give away lightly because of the story they could be sold for.

“That’s sad.”

His lips quirked, my pulse sped faster.

My words rushed out fast enough I couldn’t stop them. “What if my present was a kiss without a price? Just one.”

I must be insane, it was the only logical thought.

The air swirled with sweet blooms. My breath caught as his fingers, still trailing up my throat, palmed against my hair, his fingers pushing under the pinned curls and against my scalp.

His smouldering gaze burned bright, his thumbs brushing my cheekbones as he cupped my cheek in his free hand and tilted my face gently up towards his.

I held my breath.

He didn’t shut his eyes. Instead, he watched me as he slowly lowered his mouth to mine and brushed in one gentle sweep across the surface of my lips.

I gasped, opening my mouth. A hot flaming kindle of fire flourished within me and forced me closer.

Then his eyes fluttered shut and his fingers grew firmer. I closed my own eyes and pushed every screaming nagging doubt I had to the back of my mind as I tasted him with my tongue. His lips moulded against mine as he deepened the moment.

One kiss.

A first kiss.

Everything.

Breath stealing. Heart breaking. Soul corrupting.

It tore me to pieces. I pushed instinctively against him, feeling his body harden into my softness.