Page 28 of A Ring to Claim Her Crown
She had cooked for him... He had let the crew take the night off once they had returned to the ship the evening before. The captain and a small skeleton crew would stay on the opposite end of the ship, where the engine room was, to ensure that all remained well on the vessel, but the cleaning crew and hospitality staff were gone.
‘I can feel you staring.’ She turned to face him, her eyes sparkling with mischief. ‘I wore a robe when I went into the kitchen. This is pretty much the only dish I can make, so...’
‘Does this count as course number five?’ he asked. ‘Or am I breaking your rules again?’
‘I think we broke more than one rule last night.’ She smiled shyly, hiding her face behind her dark curls as she laid their food out on a tray and put it in the centre of his bed.
He reached over, unable to stop himself from cupping her face with his hand and claiming her lips in a soft kiss. The kiss deepened and his simple need to touch her and taste her became more, his hands pulling her closer.
‘The food will go cold,’ she chided, sliding out of his grasp with a happy sigh.
The ate in a companionable silence. She poured his coffee, he buttered her toast. But all along he felt an undercurrent of tension building in his gut. He glanced at the clock that showed that it was almost eight, and he knew that her first event of the day began in less than an hour. Once they had finished eating and clearing away their plates, Minerva flopped down onto the bed, looking at him with hooded eyes and wiggling her finger in a ‘come hither’ motion.
Liro inhaled a calming breath, knowing that his body would doubtless hate him for what he was about to ask, but...
‘I would love nothing more than to spend the entire morning in bed with you—you must know that.’ He watched as the playfulness left her eyes, replaced with a guarded expression. ‘You have duties to return to.’
‘I took the day off.’ She bit her bottom lip. ‘I called my team and organised for my mother to run the event solo this morning.’
Liro froze. ‘Why would you do that?’
‘I thought that you would be pleased.’ She frowned, reaching down to pull the sheets over her bare breasts, guarding herself from him. ‘I was taking your advice and doing what serves me. But now I feel kind of foolish that I didn’t ask you first. You probably made plans to sail off somewhere today. I can call them back, get someone to come pick me up.’
He stopped her before she could begin grabbing her things, hating the look of uncertainty on her beautiful face. ‘Minerva, trust me, I would love nothing more than to disregard the shadow of your duty hanging over both of us. I would love to keep you here on my ship—’
‘Then keep me,’ she interrupted, reaching out to pull him towards her. ‘Let’s ignore the real world for a while longer. Let’s pretend it’s just me and you for one more day.’
He closed his eyes as her lips traced the skin below his navel, moving down. Her hands moved around to his buttocks, gripping him, holding him just where she wanted him. He let her take control, tilting his head back as his mind continued to work against his body. Common sense told him to force the issue, to prevent her from neglecting her duties and blaming him for it in the future. But another more selfish part of him asked...what future? This was it. This was all that he would get of her, this small window of stolen time that he himself had pretty much forced her to give him.
He had told her the truth last night—that he had broken the betrothal because he’d been in love with her. He’d spoken about it as though those feelings were firmly in the past to protect his own pride. But he knew his feelings were still there, raw and burgeoning against the surface of his control.
She’d seemed shocked at the revelation, but she hadn’t said she felt the same. They’d made love again twice and now she wanted to stay...but did she want to stay for him or what he made her feel? That selfish voice within told him to shut up, to live in this moment and not invite reality back into their bubble.
In the end it was Minerva’s lips that took control of the situation, pushing away all rational thought as she gave one long, languorous lick down the length of his erection.
‘Still thinking about my duty?’ she asked, her voice a husky rasp as her eyes met his and her lips worked his length, taking all of him in, worshipping him.
He couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, as her brown eyes held him in thrall, making him feel a depth of emotion he had thought he would never feel again. His hands wove through her hair, holding her with gentle deference as she brought him to climax with a swiftness and intensity that he had never experienced.
Her sweet smile as she looked up spoke of pride and victory. She had conquered him truly. He knew then at that moment that he would do anything for this woman. He finally admitted to himself that he had come back here for her, that he had received that invitation and immediately set sail for this island as though he’d been shown the way to a treasure he’d thought he would never see again. She was his treasure—she had been from the moment he had first laid eyes on her. He hadn’t known how important she was to him then...not until he’d lost her. But now, taking her into his arms and holding her close, he knew that he would never allow anything to hurt her ever again.
But what if the biggest danger to her perfect future as queen...was him?
Minerva knew that she was playing a foolish game, prolonging their time together this way. But, as she watched Liro dive off the bow of the yacht, then smiling from the crystal-clear water below, she couldn’t quite muster the energy to feel regret.
She could feel a shift in the air since his mention of her duty earlier. Perhaps that was why she had been so insistent on bringing him to climax that way for the first time. The power and the erotic pleasure of it had astounded her; she had already been halfway to an orgasm of her own simply from having him fully under her control and feeling him come apart.
Of course, a more sensible woman would have awoken the morning after a passionate one-night stand with her ex and immediately left to return to reality. Especially when that reality involved a very imminent and public elevation to queen of an entire kingdom.
But, when she had opened her eyes in the early-morning light and felt Liro’s arms around her, she’d felt free. The idea of getting dressed and walking off his ship, going back to reality, had set a riot of angry hornets flying around in her mind. Her fingers had shaken as she’d typed out the email to rearrange her schedule. Just one more day, she’d told herself. Then she’d feel ready to walk away.
Liro crooked his finger up at her, mischief in his eyes as he trod water, waiting. She stood poised on the outermost ledge, taking a moment to feel the breeze in her unbound hair.
‘What are you waiting for?’ He laughed, splashing cool sea water up against her legs. Strong hands slid around her calves as he moved up against the side of the ladder.
‘I’m not waiting for anything, that’s the point.’ She smiled, sighing as he gently kneaded the tension from her body.
‘I’m surprised there’s any tension left after the amount of times you’ve made me come in the past twenty-four hours.’
