Page 87 of Prince

An eternity later, the carpet scrubbed her face as Max dug his fingers into her raised hips in a last, ragged spasm of passion, and the shout behind her was masculine and utterly out of his mind.

As she gasped, breathing, the air rushing down her raw throat into her lungs and blood, a second thrill of coming back to life, one thought assailed her—

—He’s done that before.

The aftercare took hours.

She was sobbing with the horrendous emotions of it, the wanting it and showing him and yet terrified by it. Maxence held her in his arms against the bare skin of his chest, and he wrapped them in a blanket as they sat in a chair, murmuring to her how incredible she was, how she enchanted him.

Those few minutes of ecstasy had been fleeting, but the memory of them shook her. The fact that she had literally risked her life for an orgasm—even an amazing one—was so different than everything she knew about herself. She despised the sniveling creature huddled in Maxence’s arms.

He must be disgusted by her, even as he stroked her hair and pressed kisses to her forehead.

She’d brought it on herself. He would tell her to get the hell out, and she would have to figure out how to survive and where to go in a horrible and ridiculous world.

She should run away, and yet she clung to him.

Maxence poured her a glass of wine and held it to her lips, telling her to drink. After that, his fingers held strawberries dipped in sugar, and the low tone of his voice commanded that she eat.

Soft music drifted in the apartment, soothing her further.

After a time, the panicked trembling subsided, and she sighed into his neck where black feathers from the tattoo inked on his back curled over his shoulder. She touched them, the ink so dark that it was amazing that his skin was smooth.

“There is my girl,” Maxence whispered into her hair. “There’s my littlechérie.You don’t have to cry. I know you’re not the kind of girl who likes to be choked. I made you do it. Everything is what I do to you.”

Dree whispered, “But what if I am?”

Maxence chuckled. “Then you’re in luck because I’m the kind of man who will choke you.”

“Maybe I am the kind of girl who likes to be choked, or more, orworse.”

His hand slid down over her bare hip underneath the blanket and cupped her butt cheek. “I’ve always thought you might be curious about more than you let on.”

A delightful frisson cascaded through her body.

Before she could stop her mouth from talking, Dree said, “Hey, if I’ll sleep with a priest, I guess I am a depraved slut who will sleep with anything.”

Maxence leaned back and gazed down at her in the dim light. A few of the lamps in the room had been turned on, though Dree really didn’t remember any of that. “It’s still bothering you.”

Dree looked down, breaking eye contact with him. “Of course, it’s still bothering me.”

He dragged a finger underneath her jaw and tipped her head up. His fathomless dark eyes were solemn. “As soon as a new prince sits on the throne of Monaco, I’ll renounce my vows as a deacon and be officially laicized by Pope Vincent de Paul.”

A stupid spark of hope floated up to Dree’s head. “You will?”

“I can’t do it now. My Holy Orders as a deacon and theoretically, someday, as a priest, are the basis for my argument that I am fundamentally ineligible to be the Prince of Monaco. If I renounce my vows now, the Crown Council will try to elect me, and my life will surely be in danger. Too many people want that throne. As a religious, I’m safe.”

Doubt filtered in.

Her ex-boyfriend, Francis Senft, had lied to her abouteverything,and she’d believedevery single lying wordFrancis had ever said with all her heart, even when her B.S. detector had tingled her neck like she’d hit the funny bone on her whole spine.

Francis loved her. He wanted to get married. He was a nice guy and not a criminal and a drug dealer at all.

She’d wanted to believe Francis so much. Her church, her family, and her friends all told her that if she was sleeping with him, then she needed to marry him, so she’d demanded it.

What a sap she was.

Part of her didn’t want to believeanyoneaboutanything,even Max, who’d only lied to her when she’d told him to.“Oh. Okay.”