Page 109 of Wicked Prince of Frost

From now on, I will be selfish. I will take what I want without regret.

I reach up and grab him by the collar, pulling his face down to mine as I rise up on my toes. And I kiss him. Fiercely. I nip at his bottom lip.

“Joon,” I say. His name is the only word I can form, but even I can hear the raw need in my voice—not for the prince, but for the man who has ensnared my heart against all probability.

Joon wraps his arms around me, pulling me tighter against him. With a groan, his tongue slips inside my mouth, caressing mine as if he will consume me. And I want him to—I want him to devour me as I devour him.

My hands slide over his chest, curving over his shoulders to lock together behind his neck.

His desire matches mine in the way his mouth moves, the way his hands roam over me, and the length of him hardens, trapped between us, pressing against my belly.

Joon breaks away, breathless as he rests his forehead against mine. He feels too far away. “You said—” he protests, struggling for words, trying to stop wanting what his body demands.

“Just this once,” I say quietly. “Let me pretend I am yours, just for a little while. Let me pretend I can have you—that I’m allowed these feelings.”

He goes perfectly still. “And what feelings are those?”

We belong to two different worlds. Joon is a fae prince. And I am a human, not even born into a noble family. We were never meant to come together. This—our bargain, our bond—was all because of a choice I made that put us both at risk.

I bury my face against his chest, aching to tell him everything, yet knowing I shouldn’t. “Isn’t it obvious?” I want someone to know these emotions lived inside me at least once in my life.

“Tell me anyway,” he says.

“I love you.”

“And what is so wrong with that?”

“I’m neither fae nor noble.”

“I should think my wife, more than anyone, is allowed to love me in return.” Joon’s voice is nonchalant.

It stings to hear him take it so lightly. “I am only your wifebecause of our bargain.” I pause as I fully comprehend what he said.

…in return.

“You are my wife in every way that counts. Our bargain is that I will free you when the curse is broken. I will not force you to remain my wife forever when your only choice was between that and death.”

I search his face for any hint of a cruel smile and cold eyes, but there is only the familiar expression he only wears for me, and I finally understand the full meaning behind it.

“You… love me?”

One corner of his mouth lifts. “How could I not love someone as stubborn and kind and strong and brave as you? You see me in ways no one else does. You treat me as a man. I am free to be myself around you without pretense. I never needed the bargain to save you. I would have done it anyway.”

“How long?”

“I am not sure exactly.” He shrugs. “Perhaps it was when you wrapped that first shard without knowing the importance of it. Or when I pulled you out of the water, looking like a half-drowned rat….” Joon looks at me with such tenderness, then softly adds, “But it could have been the way you said please the first time.”

Joon cups my jaw with both hands. “You have made me feel as if I was never cursed.” He presses a kiss to my forehead. “As if I could be worthy of love.”

We come together again. Mouths crushing, tasting, searching. Bodies pressing and sliding. Trying to get closer still.

His hands slide from my hips and over my ass. In one swift motion, he lifts me. I wrap my legs around his waist. In this position, I can feel his hardness against my core, straining against his trousers. He slides a hand up my ribs to my breast,massaging my flesh through my clothes. It sends heat pooling in my belly. I grind my hips against him as I moan into his mouth.

He breaks away, moving his lips along my jaw and down the column of my throat.

Slowly, he lowers me to my feet.

We will take what we want, where we can, and that is what will make it perfect.