by Nana Malone
I used one hand to smooth down over his cock holding on tighter at the base, stretching his skin. Then I licked my other thumb and rubbed the moisture over the head, particularly under the sensitive spot just under the tip. “I want you to fuck me. I thought that was the point.”
His eyelids flew open and his gaze bored into mine as I continued to use feather-light touches of my thumb. Beneath my palms his whole body shook as if he was fighting something. But when I repeated the motion, keeping my eyes on his as I licked my thumb, his apparent control snapped.
Before I knew what was happening, he captured my wrists in one hand and pinned them above my head. With his other, he shoved down his jeans, but not before yanking out his wallet and pulling out a condom. With quick efficiency, he had himself sheathed and lay poised between my thighs.
Through gritted teeth, he asked, “Are you sure?”
Instead of using words, I arched my hips, inviting him in. Xander released my wrists, parted my thighs, and rubbed the head of his cock against my slick heat. “Fuck, you’re so ready.”
My hands traced his back and shoulders, loving how the muscles bunched under my hands.
Xander pressed inside and groaned as I took him deep. I hissed at the size of him, but more from pleasure than pain. He dropped his forehead to mine and with a slow, torturous retreat, slid back until he was almost out. When he drove back in, the hint of bite was gone and all that remained was the fierce, tingling pleasure.
Xander took his time, like he wanted to savor every moment. Even as the sweat slicked both our bodies and I begged him, he continued the pace. The only time he changed his thrusts was when he kissed me long and deep, as if we were fused at the lips. Only our shallow breathing and quiet moans of, “So soft… God, yes…” and, “Right there…” permeated the silence.
As he loved me, it was easy to forget that this was only for tonight. That this wasn’t the sanctuary of the rest of my life and the reprieve wouldn’t last long. When he looked at me like I was everything he ever wanted to see on Earth, it was easy to get caught up.
Abruptly, his back stiffened, and his brows snapped down. Leaning forward and kissing me again, sliding his tongue over me as he licked into my mouth, he also smoothed his thumb over my clit. Expertly, knowing just how I liked it, just what I’d need to fly. And he pushed that button. All I saw was the bright lights on the edges of my vision as I climaxed. I barely registered his shout and the shudder rolling though him as he came.
Chapter Twenty-One
Imani
An hour later, after we’d retreated to his room, I whispered, "Can I ask you a question?" I curled into Xander, his big body acting like an oven, heating me up.
He toyed with one of my curls. “Hmmm?" His smile was lazy and his eyes heavy-lidded. He was the picture of contentment.
“Sometimes, I get the impression you don’t want to kiss me. Like you’re almost pained by it?” His body went rigid, and I immediately regretted my question. "I'm sorry. None of my business." I shifted in the bed and tried to take the sheet with me. If I could retreat to the bathroom, I could admonish myself in peace.
I didn’t make it far. "Stop." He levered himself up onto his elbows. "Don’t run. I'm not used to anyone trying to probe. It'll take some getting used to."
"Okay."
He relaxed marginally and propped himself up against the headboard. With a deep breath, he said, "As you can guess, I'm pretty fucked up. I can’t tell you why. And yeah, I’m shutting you down a little, but I’m not ready to talk to you about it all."
I shook my head. "It’s none of my business." Except it affected me. But I couldn’t make him talk about it. Screw the sheet, he'd already seen me naked.
Before I could get up, he said, “I like kissing you. It’s when I feel most connected to you.”
I turned to face him. "Excuse me?"
He rolled his shoulders, and I tried not to think about the delicious things the motion did for his muscles. "The answer is complicated, but I, uh, suffer from Male Orgasmic Disorder. Generally, it means I'm incapable of orgasm with a partner."
What the fuck? I'd heard about that with women, but guys? And I was pretty sure he'd come our first night together. "Didn’t you… You’re saying, you didn’t… I—"
He shook his head. "That’s just the thing. You seem to be the exception to that rule. The more connected to you I am, the easier it is.”
"I don't understand. Why?"
His laugh rang clear, and he looked infinitely more relaxed. "I have no idea. I wish I did. But before you, I hadn’t had an orgasm with a woman in five years."
"You haven't had an orgasm in five years?" I stared at him agape, unable to believe what he was telling me.
He shook his head and pinned me with a sexy look that was part smug, part sheepish. "No. I have at least one a day." He waved one hand out. "On my own. But with someone else, no dice. Until you."
"But the way people talk about you… It seems like you’re some kind of sex legend."
He shrugged. "Mostly just rumors. I used to have a bit of a reputation. Every once in a while, I try to see if I’m cured. Never works out very well."
My thoughts whirled as I tried to make sense of everything he was telling me. "So you can have sex, but no…" My voice trailed off.
"Yeah, that’s pretty much it."
I tried to imagine foreplay and build up with no release. "That must be so frustrating and lonely."
"The frustration is the worst. Not so much for myself, but I can see the looks on my partners’ faces. Some women feel inadequate. Some women want to be the one who can get me there." He cocked his head. "You, you mostly look confused."
"I'm just trying to figure out what I'm doing, exactly."
"As far as I can tell, you're just being incredibly sexy." He scrubbed his hand down his face. "There was a time I totally spiraled out of control with the women and the drinking and the drugs. I just wanted to be numb. I started connecting less and less. Then all of a sudden, my main method of escape no longer worked. Even when I needed it to. Even when I met a perfectly nice girl. The more women I tried to fix myself with, the more it happened. Soon, women started thinking I was on the Sting tantric sex kick." He shook his head. "I just disconnected even more. It's why I have a problem with kissing. I know how most of those kinds of nights will end. A year ago, things got really out of hand. I stopped. All the women. Quit the drugs. Cut back on the drinking."
"Oh." Yeah, Imani, real eloquent.
"The night we met, you rattled me. I was scared shitless of you. You’re the first woman I had kissed in a year. And then next thing I knew, we were caught in that firestorm and I was coming. And it felt bloody amazing. Freeing." He licked his lips. "I wondered if I was cured." His gaze slid away from me. “I considered trying with someone else, but you’re the only one I’ve even come close to wanting.”
A ball of sadness unfurled in my gut. He'd thought about trying to sleep with someone else? I swallowed hard. I had no rights to him. He's not yours. "You came looking for me."
“Yeah. At first I thought it was because with you, I could—" He smiled sheepishly. "Well, you get the idea. But it was really because you're the first person I've actually connected to in a long time. So I've been trying to avoid touching you because I'm afraid of losing control. The last time I tried a relationship, I crashed and burned. I’m not really geared for it."
I gestured down to my sheet-clad body. "Now you tell me." I tightened my hold on the soft material. What happened in a few weeks when this was all over? I wanted him, but I had to be careful with my heart. I wanted to look back on this and know I'd enjoyed myself. Experimented. Had fun. Xander could be fun. He could help me erase the shadow of my past.
“I just know how I feel when I’m with you. And I’m tired of fighting it. It feels too good to touch you.”
Xander
She licked her lips, and I bit back a groan. I could already feel it, my world tilting. And I felt powerless to do any
thing about it. She nuzzled closer, and through a clenched jaw, I muttered, "Imani, you don't—" My plan was to tell her that I could hurt her. That this was dangerous for her. That I wasn’t a good guy. Except she leaned closer and placed a soft kiss on my pectoral muscle. Directly above my nipple. My skin blazed, and I wanted her to kiss lower. To use her teeth on me just like I had with her.
Threading a hand into her silky, wild curls, I directed her to my nipple. I could feel her smile, right before she grazed the puckered flesh with her teeth.
Oh fuck. Fuck. Yes. Her mouth was hot and warm, and she smelled so sweet. While she kissed my chest, driving me crazy with her tongue, I reached over to the bedside table and grabbed a condom, making quick work of the latex.
I pushed her away from my chest before she could make me come... again. Rolling her onto her back, I didn’t even check to see if she was ready. I didn’t even ask if she was sore. I just went full deranged asshole, aligned my cock to her sweet center, and pushed.
She stiffened in my arms, and I immediately stilled. "Fuck. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I clamped my jaw tight, and my brain gave the command for me to pull back. But I didn't want to. I wanted to drive forward, to lose myself in her.
But the angel prevailed by wresting the devil down, and I slowly retreated. But Imani dug her nails into my back. "No. Don’t leave."
I snapped my gaze to hers. "But—"
Imani shook her head. "No. I'm sore, that's all, and not quite ready."
The wash of shame and anger at myself was immediate. "Fuck, I'm a wanker." I tried again to pull back. But she shook her head and lifted her hips.
“Please. I want you.”
“Imani…” Her name tore out of my throat as I tried to concentrate on not hurting her anymore.
But she started moving her hips in tiny circles and fogged up my brain, making it hard to think. To do what she needed me to do. “Xander… please…” she moaned.
Fuck me. I was absolutely going to hell. I pulled all the way out until the tip of my cock just teased the entrance to her slick center. I kissed her jaw and neck until she softened in my arms again and made that little mewling sound at the back of her throat.
It was only when she whimpered and rolled her hips into me that I slid all the way back inside.
Reaching for her breast, I teased the soft peak until it pebbled into a tight bud. All the while nuzzling the hollow behind her ear.
Her breathing became shallower and she milked me with the walls of her pussy, making my entry slightly easier.
Drawing my head back, I met her gaze and saw desire there. Dilated pupils, parted lips. But there was something else too. Softness. Trust. I wanted to say I hated to see it, but that wasn’t true. I loved that she trusted me. I wanted that. I wanted to be someone who could be trusted with her heart.
I hadn’t intended to kiss her again, but then her tongue peeked out, making me need to taste her again. Our lips met in a tangle of tongues, and that connection I'd been avoiding for most of my life gave me easier passage.
Stroke for stroke, she matched me until I felt the quiver inside as she clung to me. Imani cried out my name and my control snapped, and I drove into her again and again, chasing my release. It didn’t surprise me as much this time, but it was just as intense. Even more so when she reached up and caressed my face. As I poured into her, I knew I was lying to myself. I would never be able to stop.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Xander
I had it bad.
I liked her.
Which was saying a lot. She was smart, funny, and quick on her feet. And her body was electric. She also infuriated me. And half the time I couldn’t tell what the hell she was thinking. And lord knew she drove me nuts. But in just a little over two weeks, she’d wormed her way under my skin, and I wasn’t in any real hurry to get rid of her.
That night, I dropped her off at rehearsal, and we’d been so busy snogging she'd almost been late. Completely not my fault, though. But once I started touching her, it was impossible to stop. Just my luck, some of the paparazzi had caught us going at it like a pair of teenagers, so no doubt it would be in the papers tomorrow. It would strengthen my position with LeClerc, but that’s not why I wasn’t fussed. The more people who saw a photo of us all over each other, the more blokes who stayed away.
After parking my car, I walked the few kilometers to the barge. I could see why Lex loved his place. There was something tranquil about it, and the view of the South Bank couldn't be beat. As I walked up, I noticed a shadow on the deck. "Oi, Lex. You waiting on me, mate? I'm bloody early for once. Dropped Imani off, so—"
But it wasn't my brother on the deck. A black man about my height leaned against one of the posts.
I glanced around. If the guy was waiting on the deck, it meant Lex wasn’t answering. "Can I help you, mate?"
The guy looked me up and down. As I got closer, I cataloged him like I did any subject I would photograph, crafting the picture in my mind before I actually took it. His complexion was a shade or two lighter than Imani’s, and his skin was smooth. His goatee was trimmed neat and precise. He wore a sweater, shielding him from the slight chill in the May air, and dark jeans. The mental image looked like one I would shoot for a high-end men's magazine with the lights of the South Bank as my backdrop.
The guy looked me up and down and pushed away from the pole. His movements were economical and smooth, like an athlete’s. "Are you him?" His American accent was cultured with deep, bass undertones.
My steps faltered. There was something about the guy that seemed like I should know him. Doing a mental scan of all the places I might know him from, my body instinctively went on alert. I’d done enough dirt in my lifetime to eventually have some jealous husband or boyfriend come looking for me.
"Am I who?" The other guy cocked his head, and my gaze narrowed as I watched him. Already alert, I curled my hands into fists as he approached, assessing the threat.
"Are you the piece of shit that she's fucking?"
Damn. Notwithstanding my attempted hookup when I first met Imani, I hadn’t had a random tryst with anyone in over a year... with the exception of Alistair’s wife. I couldn't have fucked someone’s girlfriend. "Not sure what you’re on about, mate. Care to clarify?"
"I'm not your mate, you piece of shit." He pointed a finger at me. "Are you the one who's been doing her? You’re a fucking dead man."
“You really don’t want to do this.” I circled around him, watching warily.
His movements mirrored mine. “You don’t know me and what I want.”
In hindsight, I might have been too confident. I didn't know who this guy was or what he wanted. I hadn’t accounted for crazy. Which was why I hadn’t even clocked the blade.
My only warning was the glint of moonlight on silver as I feinted left. I half spun to counter, but that was the wrong move because it left me open. And as if it were happening in a slow-motion movie, the blade found its home.
The slice of metal on flesh made barely a sound, but it was enough to send a rush of panic through me. I’d promised Imani to keep her safe. How was I going to keep that promise if I was dead?
To be continued in Playboy’s Heart….
Thank you for reading ROYAL PLAYBOY! I hope you enjoyed the beginning of the Playboy Prince Duet. Now find out if the demons of Xander’s past come back to haunt him.
As playboy and princes go, Xander Chase is as alpha and possessive as they get?
Just how far will he go to protect the woman he loves? What will he have to lose? What will he have to sacrifice?
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"... Sinfully sexy. ...A nail-chewing heart-pumping suspense. It was a complete entertainment package." --PP's Bookshelf Blog
Meet a cocky, billionaire prince that goes undercover in Cheeky Royal! He’s a prince with a secret to protect. The last distraction he can afford is his gorgeous as sin new neighbor. His secrets could get them killed, but still, he can’t stay away…
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UPCOMING BOOKS
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Playboy’s Heart
Big Ben
The Benefactor
For Her Benefit
Also from Nana Malone
Cheeky Royall
“You make a really good model. I’m sure dozens of artists have volunteered to paint you before.”
He shook his head. “Not that I can recall. Why? Are you offering?”
* * *
I grinned. “I usually do nudes.” Why did I say that? It wasn’t true. Because you’re hoping he’ll volunteer as tribute.
* * *
He shrugged then reached behind his back and pulled his shirt up, tugged it free, and tossed it aside. “How is this for nude?”
* * *
Fuck. Me. I stared for a moment, mouth open and looking like an idiot. Then, well, I snapped a picture. Okay fine, I snapped several. “Uh, that’s a start.”
* * *
He ran a hand through his hair and tussled it, so I snapped several of that. These were romance-cover gold. Getting into it, he started posing for me, making silly faces. I got closer to him, snapping more close-ups of his face. That incredible face.
