Page 48

He grinned, then dipped his head. “Eyes open, Princess,” he ordered, “and hold on.” He flattened his tongue against her sex, pressing and pulsing, licking, swirling.

Her chant began. “Oh, gods. Please-”

The refrain loosened his ability to concentrate.

“Yes,” she cried. “Please, Ollie.”

As much as he wanted to, Lachlan couldn’t maintain control at the feel of her coming apart under him. So when she cried out, “I’m coming,” her cunt clenching and her clit swelling against his tongue with her orgasm, he took hold of his cock and stroked it, following her orgasm with his own.

She breathed heavily, boneless as he released her legs, his breath coming in gasps as he too came down from the high.

“Oh gods, Tarley,” he said, his cheek on her belly, enjoying the feel of her skin.

The orgasm surprised him. He’d succumbed to his fair share of coming both at his hand and the hand—and mouth—of another, but this was different, somehow. Only he wasn’t sure how, exactly.

He lifted his head so he could see her, her hair loose and spread out around her, watching him with her ancient gray eyes, their smoke dark with the aftermath of being undone and remade.

His chest tightened, and he felt the need to press his fingers against his heart, but he dismissed it, smiling at her as she studied him.

He moved up her body until he held himself above her. “I’m afraid I made a mess on the blanket.”

She lifted her head as if to look but didn’t get very far with his body pressing her back against the blankets, his hips flush against hers, a latent hope that perhaps he might still get to fuck her even knowing he shouldn’t.

“Is that bothering you? The idea that there’s a mess?” he asked.

Her eyes flashed back to his, then narrowed. “You think you know me so well.”

“I don’t. You’ve shocked me.”

Her cheeks reddened and she tried to push him away, but he stayed where he was.

“Wait. You don’t regret it, do you?” he asked and skimmed her face with his fingertips. “I don’t. I think I could spend a lifetime feasting on the way you taste.”

The scarlet of her cheeks deepened. When her gaze met his again, it ran over his features until it settled on his lips again, then jumped back up to his eyes. “I don’t regret it.”

“But?”

She moved then, drifting out from under him as if she were made of smoke.

Lachlan missed the feel of her, which was disconcerting in and of itself since he wasn’t one to linger after sex. Only her lack of answer unsettled him even more. He didn’t like that she wasn’t smiling, not that she often did. But she’d had two orgasms, for godssake.

“But?” he repeated, watching her get to her feet. “You think we made a mistake?” His words shocked him. In the whole of his life, he’d never had a woman say being with him was a mistake. Women wanted him, did what they could to lure him and tried their best to keep him. He was a prince, after all. “You didn’t enjoy it?” he asked, getting to his knees.

Standing an arm’s reach away, Tarley adjusted her shirt, pulling it so it was righted against her thighs, as she looked down at him. “I did.” The blush that bloomed on her cheeks told Lachlan she was telling the truth. “It’s just we barely know one another, Ollie. It probably shouldn’t happen again.”

Ollie.

Fuck.

She was right.

He was lying to her. She thought he was someone named Ollie. And yet, the thought of never being with her in this way again tightened his chest uncomfortably. Even as he nodded understanding because she was right, they hadn’t known one another very long, the thought hit him: he did know her.

He knew that she worked hard. That she was thoughtful and kind. She cared about her family, and stories made her smile. She liked to be clean, and always braided her hair to keep it out of her face but not until it was dry. And he was sure, if pressed, she knew him too.

So his body rebelled, wanting her even more. He wanted to grab her by the waist and pull her back onto the blankets. He wanted to kiss her into submission, and prove to her that she knew him, probably more than he’d ever allowed anyone to know him. He wanted to push his cock inside of her and claim her as his–

Wait.