Page 28 of Back to Claim His Crown
Because she wanted it to be more. She wanted it to happen again. But, as she watched, wariness returned to his expression. Worse, she swore she readregret. His walls were rebuilding before her eyes.
‘Zara—’
‘You must think I’m a terrible person.’ She cut him off before he could say anything to make her feel worse.
He looked appalled. ‘Why would I think that?’
Scalding-hot embarrassment crawled over every inch of her. She could prattle on about meaningless things easily enough, but talking about anything deeply personal or important was much harder. But, despite her awkward shyness, she had to explain because she refused to let him minimise what had just happened. That kiss hadn’t been trivial for her.
‘Because only a few days ago I was going to marry someone else and now I just want to kiss you.’
‘You never wanted to kiss Anders?’
‘I tried not to think about it.’
‘The first time you kissed him was going to be at the wedding?’
‘That was going to be the first time I kissed anyone.’
There was a long pulsing pause. She saw the heat reignite within him—his pale irises obliterated by the dark pupils.
‘I don’t give a damn about Anders,’ he growled. ‘I will not allow him to steal a minute more of my life or my mind. If you want to kiss me then you just go ahead and kiss me. You’re not trapped in your castle now, Zara. You can do whatever you want.’
The heat overwhelming her was now fuelled by desire. He was testing the truth of her assertion and she wouldn’t shy away from his challenge. She stepped closer as he remained frozen in place beside the large table.
He was so very still. But she had his permission. And she would use it. She had to rise right onto her tiptoes again—and even then it was a stretch—so with a trembling hand she grabbed his shirt again and tugged. For a split-second he remained like a statue. But then another groan escaped him and he bent and she pressed her mouth to his. His movement then was swift and complete. She was crushed in his arms before he spun them both and somehow she was on her back on that table and he was pinning her there as he kissed her and it was heaven.
‘Zara...’ He paused for just a moment and met her eyes. When he smiled he stole her breath. Which meant she had no chance of survival in this moment. Suddenly she was greedy. She tugged his shirt again, pulling him back.
‘You want more?’ he asked thickly.
‘I want it all,’ she confessed. She’d never had it—not anything likethis.
Because this wasn’t just kissing, this was touch, this was heat and light and such tormenting pleasure. The need, the delight quickened and deepened. He stroked her so cleverly, his fingers teasing her taut nipples through her top, sliding beneath the waistband of her skirt, rendering her weak and willing and hot.
She shuddered at the sheer eroticism of his touch as his fingers delved lower still. ‘I thought you said you were a virgin,’ she gasped.
‘I am,’ he muttered, pressing hot kisses up her neck before teasing her mouth again. ‘But I’m not completely inexperienced. I know how to please a woman.’
Oh. He did. He really did. Zara arched, grateful that she was on the table and didn’t have to take her own weight. But she was desperate forhis. She wanted his massive, hard body pressing utterly and absolutelyintoher. But she couldn’t speak now—unwilling to ever break this kiss. She spread her legs wider, letting him slide his fingers against her even more intimately, her sighs quickening as he did. She never wanted this to end. Yet the sweeping rise of her arousal was unstoppable. She moaned again and again—breathless and hot and feeling as if every cell within her was shimmering.
‘Take pleasure from me, Zara,’ he growled roughly.
Honestly, he gave her no choice. He kissed her ruthlessly and his fingers teased right where she was so sensitive, so wet, so deeply aching. She bucked against him, her body shuddering as he stroked her to the brink and beyond—her next sigh cut short by a harsh scream of pleasure. Spasms shook her and he pressed close, anchoring her through the ecstasy.
When she finally opened her eyes she was too dazed to interpret the depths in his, but she felt the gentleness with which he readjusted her clothes and released her from that intimate hold. She’d never experienced anything like it and she was still too stunned to speak. But he wasn’t.
‘Zara, I’m so sorry. That shouldn’t have happened,’ he said huskily. ‘I showed an unforgivable lack of self-control.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
LUCIANHADNOideahowhe’d walked away. Only that it had been imperative he had before he’d lost all control and taken exactly what he wanted with no thought to the consequences. He’d not slept. He’d worked through—determined to focus on his work. These were long days and the level of concentration required in the meetings was intense. What she’d shown him last night—one letter of thousands—should have helped him stay on track. Instead, he’d been overwhelmed by a temptation unlike any other. For years he’d avoided emotional entanglements, not wanting to risk exposure or identification, and because he’d been determined to maintain his single-minded focus on rebuilding his health and resources in readiness for his revenge and restoration. But these last two had come so shockingly swiftly now.
Was this bone-deep need for her simply the result of such long self-denial? An outlet for the stress of the situation? A new fixation to fill the void? The answer mattered little because the total loss of control just couldn’t happen again. Forhersake more than his. He couldn’t trifle with her. She didn’t deserve to be messed around by another Monrayne Royal. She’d been publicly crushed and her future was uncertain. That was enough. And he needed to put his country first for a long, long time—the decade he’d promised. He had no room for anything more with anyone. So he needed to stop this now.
All day he resisted the urge to seek her out. To say sorry again. To kiss her again. But he walked more quickly than usual to the dining room that next night. Then he saw the determinedly proud tilt to her chin.
‘Manners,’she said pointedly the moment he took the seat opposite hers. ‘Let’s discuss them.’
