Page 5 of Royal Bargain (Royals of the Underworld #3)

LIAM

A na’s mouth is pressed to mine, and my brain has short-circuited.

My thoughts slow to a crawl as I try to process what is happening.

At first, I move my hands up to push her away, but when her tongue flicks against my lips, my thoughts cease entirely.

I grip her closer, taking control of the moment as my tongue presses between the seam of her mouth, swirling around her tongue as my hands move up to cup her cheeks.

God, I missed her.

I’ve got one hand in her hair, the other curled tightly around her waist, anchoring her to me as her lips part with a soft sound that nearly undoes me. She tastes like something I forgot I missed—like longing and cinnamon, sweet and sharp and familiar.

When her hands slide under my shirt, I swear the world tilts. My heart’s beating so fast, like I’m about to rush headfirst into battle, but all I can think about is the way her fingers feel against my skin.

I should pull away. I should stop this and focus on all the reasons this is a terrible fucking idea. With something akin to Herculean effort, I pull away and press my forehead to hers, breath escaping me in short pants.

“This is a bad idea,” I say, my voice husky, my hands on hers. The air between us is thick and heavy with desire, but I know one of us needs to keep a level head.

“You’re right.” Annika breathes out a long sigh through her parted lips. “But I still want this. Dammit, I still want you , Liam.” Her voice is nearly a whisper in this moment. “It might be a bad idea, but fuck. I need this right now.”

I should stop. I should walk away.

But fuck. She wants me, and I can’t stop myself.

I push forward, capturing her lips in a searing kiss. If this is a mistake, it’s the only one I’m not sorry for. If this is the only moment I get with her, I’m going to burn it into both our memories.

Annika’s always been chaos in a dress, and I’m so fucking tired of pretending I don’t want her too.

Her skin is soft under my fingertips, and the press of her body has my brain shutting down once again.

My hands roam across her skin as though I’m relearning every inch of her, taking time to trace over her jawline, her sloping shoulders, touching the blazing hot skin of her thighs as they part to allow me access.

I learned when we were dating that it takes Ana very little to get worked up. Even now, I can already feel the dampness through her panties, and one side of my mouth quirks upward, enjoying that I can still have the same effect on her.

But when her thigh hooks around my waist, I’m gone. My brain shuts down as I lift her by her thighs, hands hooking under to carry her up the stairs to the loft, needing to take this party to a more private location.

As we fall into bed together, there’s a moment when Ana pulls away, and my heart freezes, worried that she’s shutting this down, but instead she kneels, tugging off her top, showing me her body as she peels away her bra.

Her breath ghosts across my collarbone as I slip my fingers into her panties, and I swear, the sound she makes when I touch her is going to live in my head forever.

“Liam…” She breathes out my name like a whispered prayer. The room fades away until all I see is her. My fingers ghost across the slickened folds, and I slip two into her most intimate place, breath catching in my throat as they make contact with the jewel at the apex of her thighs.

She feels like heaven as I stroke her soft warmth. Heat radiates from her core, and the urge to bury myself inside her has my dick throbbing in my pants. Before I can unbutton the fly of my jeans to relieve some of the pressure, Ana’s hands are covering mine, moving them out of the way.

Her fingers skirt over the button, moving clumsily as she struggles to get the zipper down. Impatience has her nearly trembling, so I push her hands out of the way and yank my pants down myself, freeing her of the burden.

With a few quick movements, the two of us are fully naked now, staring at each other’s bodies. The lights are low, but it doesn’t matter. I’d know her in the dark.

Her eyes catch the lamplight, sparkling like fire through rain as I surge forward to kiss her again. The air hums between us, even the silence between our kisses crackling with thick tension.

It’s been far too long since I’ve felt her beneath me like this. Almost an entire year of loneliness and pain, longing and frustration comes bubbling to the surface as I kiss her, our mouths all but fused as we lie down together.

There’s no awkwardness, no fumbling, just practiced ease. I lie back against the pillows, and Ana throws a leg over my waist, sitting above me like a queen on her throne. I love the way she takes charge, how easily she puts me in my place like this. Annika is a powerful woman, and she knows it.

She ruts against me, the muscles in my stomach contracting as I suck in a breath. Liquid heat pools in my belly, and I reach out, steadying her with my hands on her waist as she starts to sink down onto my length.

It’s been so long that she has to stop and adjust for a moment, her breath coming in a little quicker as she gets used to my girth once more.

As soon as she does, she pushes herself the rest of the way down, our bodies almost completely flush.

Her pussy clenches so sweetly around my cock that I feel like I’m seeing stars.

“Jesus fuck,” I whisper, toes curling in pleasure as Ana starts to work herself back and forth on me, rocking her hips.

She’s moving slowly, languidly, as though we have all the time in the world to get to know each other once more.

It sets off sparks down my spine, and I arch my back, digging my fingers into her hips as I pull her closer, as close as we can get.

“ Liam ,” Ana calls out, her voice guttural and hoarse. “Oh, God, Liam !”

Hearing my name on her lips breaks something inside me. My body starts moving, matching her rhythm thrust for thrust. It feels exquisite.

“Fuck,” Ana says, swearing so softly that I almost miss it. “That’s it, baby. Take it. Take my pussy. Take it , just like that,” she orders, her voice quiet in the darkness.

Her words are like a laser-guided missile of desire and my cock throbs, eager for more. I’ve always loved it when Ana takes charge like this, when she pushes me around and shows me just how sexy and powerful she is.

I know I can dominate her with one quick movement physically, but when she talks dirty to me, all I want to do is worship at the altar of this goddess.

“Oh, yes, just like that, baby,” Ana chants, the sultry tenor of her words vibrating through me. “Only a sexy, strong man can take this pussy. Take it, just like that.”

“Fuck!” I cry out, thrusting deeper into her. Her velvety walls caress me with every squeeze and I feel myself growing closer to climax.

“Don’t stop, miliy ,” Ana demands, spreading her thighs wider. “I want your cock so deep inside me, I feel it tomorrow.”

“I’d do anything you want, a mhuirnín ,” I say, my voice a low purr as I grip her hips tighter and rock mine upward, slamming into her as we come together and fall apart over and over again.

Ana’s mouth descends on mine, and our words are lost in the music of our passion. The press of her skin against mine is awakening something inside me. I don’t know if I’ll be able to maintain the same distance after this is over. It feels like this is a powerful moment between us.

“Fuck, fuck!” Ana cries out, throwing her head back, her normally neat red hair tousled like ocean waves as she rides me hard enough that my vision starts to go black.

Something white-hot explodes between us, and Ana cries out my name, a harsh whisper on her soft lips, my release stealing from me as she comes apart.

Afterward, as we bask in the glow, our breathing ragged and staccato, I realize that I’ve never stopped wanting this, never stopped wanting her.

“Maybe it was a mistake to keep so much distance between us,” Ana murmurs. “I don’t like forcing myself to stay away from you.”

I hum as I stroke her hair. “Maybe you can move upstairs to the bedroom,” I offer, my voice low. “We can just give things a go from there, see how we get on.”

Ana considers my words and leans her head on my chest, biting her lower lip. “It would just be casual, right?”

“Right.” I nod, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head. She tilts her jaw up at the same time, so our mouths end up meeting, and I deepen the kiss, tightening my grip on her arms as I pull her toward me.

Ana climbs onto my lap, caging me in with her arms as she kisses my cheeks, lips, and jawline, stroking a hand across the stubble as she begins to roll her hips against me. The sheet over her back falls away, and she sits up, a curvy goddess in all her glory as her red curls cascade down her back.

“I could get used to this,” Ana murmurs against my lips, reaching down to scrape a fingernail over my puckered nipple, drawing a sharp gasp from my throat.

I lean my head back, enjoying the way she’s teasing me, when suddenly, we hear the loud, jarring jangle of a phone from downstairs.

Ana and I glance at the stairs at the same time, but I smirk, drawing her attention back to me. We can ignore the phone, and I reach for her head to bring it back down to my mouth.

But she pushes away, lines furrowed in her brow. “It could be important,” she mumbles, dragging the sheet with her as she drapes it around her torso, making for the stairs.

Annoyance surges inside, and I follow behind, wondering who might be calling us at this time of night.

“It had better be,” I mutter.

Once downstairs, Ana grabs for her phone, her face falling as she answers it. I hover somewhere near the stairs, hoping it’s just a wrong number as I keep half an eye on Lily’s sleeping form a few feet away.

Her frown deepens as she nods along to whatever the person on the other end is saying, and soon, she hangs up and presses her phone against her chest, releasing a low, slow breath. “I have bad news.”

My stomach sinks.