by Lyla Payne
Salvy wondered if this was happening, if it was real. He felt the need to remind her that she was way too good for this. For him. “Maggie…”
She moved closer, until her knees pressed against his thighs, and put her palms on his cheeks. “Don’t say it, Salvy. I’m a grown woman. I know that you’re committed to this ball and what you’ve promised the King. I know I’m not the sort of woman he would approve for you, even if you were interested. You and me, we’ve always been impossible.”
His heart ached at her words. They confirmed everything he had realized since she’d walked back into his life, every reason he’d given himself for staying away. Trying to be her friend. But, coming out of her mouth, they still hurt.
“What are you saying, Magdalena?”
“I’m saying that you make me feel safe, and precious and cared for, and right now, I could really use a place where the rest of the world doesn’t exist.”
He reached out to smooth a piece of hair over her shoulder, reveling in the way her eyes closed at even the barest touch of his fingers.
“You’re too good for me, beauty. That’s why it’s always been impossible.” He breathed in, then out, and knew that he couldn’t walk away from her now. “But if you need me—however you need me—I’m here for you. The way I should have been all of this time.”
The smile she gave him was sad at the corners, her eyes moist with both pleasure and regret. She smelled like heaven, wrapping his skin with desire. Close enough to grab, to have, even for a little while—and her words, the fire in her eyes, said she wanted it, too.
Salvy didn’t waste another minute, and fuck the consequences.
He covered her mouth with his, teasing her for a minute before sliding his tongue along her lower lip. She opened up to him with a willingness that made him hard, scooting into his arms. Maggie’s legs went around his waist, her ass pressed against his dick, and she kissed him like their ship was going down.
Salvy couldn’t do anything but kiss her back. To let every rational thought disappear from his mind as her tongue, hot and probing, played with his as his hands held her tight against him.
“Salvy,” she whimpered against his lips, her hips shifting to rub his hardness.
His heart sped up at the raw need in her voice and a groan escaped in response. He had let her come to him, let her tell him she was on board for whatever this could be, so now, he was going to do things his way. It might be wrong, but this was Maggie. He wanted to please her. To make sure she didn’t regret this, because he already knew he never would.
Salvy pushed her gently away, letting his hands drop to her thighs. Her skin was warm under his palms.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her eyes snapping and wild.
He hated the fear in them, and that he suspected it was because of him, for one reason or another. “Stand up.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.” The command was lazy, but a demand all the same, and even though she narrowed her gaze at him, Maggie did as he asked. She stood in front of the couch, her breasts swollen and heaving, cheeks red, lips bruised from his, and his dick got, amazingly, harder. “Take your clothes off. Slowly.”
She startled, but then a slow smile spread across her lips. The lusty fire in her eyes burned brighter as her fingers dropped to the first button on his shirt. “Like this?”
Oh, God, she was teasing him. And damned if he didn’t like it, even though he usually had no patience for such games.
Instead of ordering her to go faster, to get on with it, he settled back into the cushions and gave her a nod. Pulling his gaze from where the swell of her breasts peeked from the shirt was impossible.
One button. Her fingers peeled at the thin fabric, revealing more creamy skin. Another button. The heaviness of her chest appeared, a slight shadow making him feel like a kid peering into a box on Christmas morning. He was about to burst out of his pants with need, but he would wait for his reward.
He wanted to see all of her, to let her say he could have it. Her. All night.
Three buttons done away with, then four and five. She finished a little more quickly, her breathing coming faster as she watched him watch her, and then the shirt hung open over the stolen white boxer shorts. Her nipples were tight, tits high and bigger than he’d expected.
He flicked a finger at the boxers. “Those too. I want to see you.”
He could smell the scent of her arousal even before she pushed the shorts down to the floor and stepped out of them, forward so that she was close enough to touch. His fingers explored the neatly trimmed patch between her legs, confirming what he knew—she was soaking wet. More than ready. More than turned on.
“Salvy,” she gasped at his touch. Her knees trembled.
“Yes?”
Maggie said nothing, recovering slightly when he took his hand away, just dropped to her knees between his legs and reached for the belt buckle at his waist. She brushed his erection with the palm of her other hand, shaking her head slightly. “You’re about to bust a seam.”
Salvy managed a chuckle, even though the lightest of touches made him want to be inside her with renewed ferocity. “You would worry about my clothes.”
Her grin grew wicked. “I mean, I’d hate to have to mend them.”
She finished with his belt, then undid the button at his waist and unzipped the fly. He helped her slide his pants, then his own boxers, down over his hips. She tossed them out of the way and stared at him the way he’d stared at her, a cross between wonder and desire flickering over her face.
When she lowered her lips to his dick, Salvy closed his eyes and groaned.
Her mouth sucked at the tip, then lowered over his shaft again and again until he knew that if he didn’t make her stop, they wouldn’t get any further tonight.
And Jesus, he wanted inside of her. Wanted to make her his, finally. To be the one to make her life better amid everything that was making it worse.
She stopped, as though sensing the shift in his demeanor, and lifted her gaze to his face. “Condom?”
“In the bathroom, I think,” he rasped, unable to think of anything but feeling her, now. Tasting her.
Magdalena found the condom and unwrapped it, sliding it into place with expert fingers. He almost stopped her as she moved to climb on top of him—he preferred to be in control, and he was already so aroused he wasn’t sure letting her take the lead would be the best idea.
But she put a hand on his chest and covered his lips with hers, her mouth and her tongue silencing any protests as she lowered her soaked center onto him. They shuddered together at the feeling of their bodies meeting and she sat still, kissing him as they adjusted to the intensity of what they’d been leading up to for the past twenty minutes. Ten years.
Salvy couldn’t wait any more. His hands went to her breasts, testing the weight of them in his hands as his fingers toyed with her nipples, rolling them and pinching until he found the pressure that made her tighten around him with pleasure. They both moaned.
Maggie started to rock on him, back and forth, a lazy pace that stoked a fire in Salvy’s center. He was both impatient for more and delirious with the sensation of the moment, and allowed her to keep the steady motion while he broke away from her mouth and dipped his head, closing his lips around one nipple as he toyed with the other in his hand.
Her rocking increased until she was fucking him like their lives depended on it. His hands were on her thighs now and her hands were on the couch behind him. They moved together without thinking, as if they’d been doing it for years. Her tits were gorgeous as they bounced in his face, then smashed against his chest as she kissed him again, her tongue in his mouth mirroring the fullness of his dick inside her body.
When she came, she whimpered his name against his lips, over and over and over. The way the inside of her rippled with pleasure made it impossible for him to hold out another minute and he answered her pleasure with his own, groaning into her mouth as he held tight to her legs.
&nb
sp; She collapsed against his chest, still trying to catch her breath. Salvy put his arms around her and held on tight, their hearts thudding against each other as they came down from the high. He thought he might have blacked out for a moment or two, because it felt like a blur of sensory overload.
He’d had a lot of orgasms in his life, but that was something else.
Maggie sighed into his throat, the tickle of her breath stirring his dick, still inside her. She clenched around him and raised her head, her smile a little loopy but still wicked at heart. “Already?”
He smoothed her hair back from her face and leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose. “If you want me, anytime.”
“You’re such a ham,” she complained, but didn’t make a move to get off him.
“You bring it out in me.”
“Stop it.” Something chased away the happy clouds in her eyes.
Salvy frowned. “I refuse to refrain from telling you the truth.”
“You just don’t have to say that, that’s all.”
“I don’t have to do anything. I’m royalty.”
She said nothing more about it, just sat up, then climbed off his lap, snagged his shirt off the floor, and headed back into the bathroom. Salvy frowned, hating the fact that he couldn’t read her mind. He needed to clean up, too, but gave her a couple of minutes of privacy before striding naked into his bathroom.
“What are you doing?” she asked, his shirt hanging open over her naked body as she stared into the mirror. He hated the frown on her face. Hated that she couldn’t see how fucking amazing she was, how smart, how funny, how sexy. Despised the people trying to buy her father’s house, the disease that had stolen her dreams for the future.
“This,” he growled, crossing to the counter and spinning her around to face him. He grabbed a fresh condom from the drawer and made quick work of it, then yanked the shirt off her shoulders and lifted her, sliding her ass onto the counter. Salvy grabbed her hand and put it on the hard length of him, already stiff and ready again after seeing her still undressed in his bathroom. “I’m not doing you a favor, Maggie. I want you. Can’t you tell?”
Her dark eyes were huge on his face, her hand tightening its grip on him as she scooted forward, guiding him back inside her. “I want you, too.”
He closed his eyes, reveling in the hot softness of her body, and swallowed. “I know. And goddamn if we’re not good together, so let’s not spoil it thinking too hard.”
“I think I can do that.”
When he opened his eyes, the smile was back on her face. She folded her legs around his waist for the second time, locking her feet behind his back, and leaned back on her hands. The invitation was clear, her desire written all over her, and Salvy took her at her word.
Took her, again, with no plans to stop as long as she’d let him continue.
Chapter Fourteen
Magdalena
Everything looked different in the light of day.
Magdalena woke early, when the first hint of sunlight peered around Prince Salvadore’s heavy curtains. She rolled onto her side, the slip of his silky sheets on her bare skin deliciously scandalous, and studied him as he slept.
A five o’clock shadow crept over his chin and on his upper lip, the hair on his face as jet back as the thick locks on his head. And other places.
She felt desire tingling between her sore thighs at the mere thought, and bit her lower lip. He was beautiful, and holy shit, his hands and body had given her pleasure like she’d only imagined. The other men she’d been with had been happy enough experiences, but they’d all been far more concerned with their own orgasms than hers. Salvy…he looked at her and she started to shake.
Last night, with their clothes off and his hard body under her hands, it had been easy to agree not to think. To tumble with their shared need, cast off the thought of tomorrow. She didn’t regret last night. Couldn’t. She’d wanted him, regardless of his mistakes, for years, and Maggie had trouble feeling terrible about her snap decision to grab on, even if it was only for a night. For a few blessed hours she hadn’t thought about her future, about her father’s diagnosis or Matrigna Holdings—not to mention her recent inclusion into the criminal element.
But now, tomorrow was here. With it came the weight of every one of those damn boulders. They slammed into her all at once. It hurt to breathe, to consider what might happen if anyone found her here, in bed with the prince.
“Stop,” Salvadore said, commanding her even in his half-sleep.
And he thought he didn’t have what it took to be an integral part of the daily royal business here in Cielo.
“Stop what?” she asked, even though her heart squeezed at the words she knew he would say next.
“Worrying. I can hear your brain.”
Salvadore wasn’t the worrier. She was, and she realized now that she’d ignored that crucial dynamic in their relationship when she’d agreed to use his bathtub last night.
And now they were here.
“I can’t.” She swallowed, trying to slow the race of her heart. “Salvy, we…this whole thing. It will ruin me if anyone finds out. Luca will tell the King, and he’ll fire us. No one will hire the tailor who was sacked by the royal family, and you know Luca won’t stop there. It will be in every gossip magazine from here to Australia—Prince Salvadore goes slumming with the staff.”
Tears filled her eyes and she gulped air, the headlines rolling through her head already. How could she have been so stupid, to jeopardize her entire future for her own indulgence? It wasn’t as if this could ever be anything more than a few weeks of fun.
“Mags, breathe.” Salvadore was awake now, his blue eyes sharp as he sat up. His body was chiseled from his neck to the six-pack of his stomach, and she knew now that the perfection kept going. “Come here.”
She shook her head. “No. I have to go.”
“Magdalena Rossi.” His gaze pierced hers. “Let me help.”
She struggled to breathe as he tugged her against his chest. His arms were warm and a comfort around her, and she tried matching her breathing to his deep, calm rhythm. It worked, and the brush of his fingers through her sex-tangled hair didn’t hurt. Her arm brushed his crotch and he stirred, but made no move to encourage more.
“Listen to me,” he said, his voice firm and reassuring as it rumbled from his chest into her ears. “I will not let any of that happen. Luca won’t find out about us. My father will never fire you as long as I have any kind of say in matters of the crown, and Nico adores you and Gabriel. Trust me.”
She wanted to. She wanted to let go of her worries and give them to Salvadore, to trust him the way she had when they were children, when she’d known that he’d always look back for her, always reach for her hand to make sure she didn’t slip, and he’d kept all of her secrets.
But even though it was nice to hear, and the protectiveness in his voice made her want to nestle closer, Salvy didn’t know everything. He didn’t know about what Matrigna was threatening or about what she’d caused at their offices. Everyone knew Luca Piacere would do anything to discredit the other members of the royal family—if he found out what she’d done, or what her father had done, he could use it against Salvadore.
“I just…I don’t think…”
“Please, don’t say you don’t think we should do this again, Magdalena. There’s no way you mean it.”
“Salvy…” she sighed. Now, with their bare skin pressed together, she certainly didn’t mean it. But later, when she couldn’t look to him for comfort and the worry over being found out crowded her thoughts, would she?
“No. If you tell me that last night was a mistake and you want to be done with me because you didn’t like it, or I bug the shit out of you, or you need time to yourself, then I can respect that.” He paused, his fingers still sliding against her scalp. “But if you tell me we can’t spend more time together because you’re afraid of being found out, I don’t accept that. I will keep you safe, and keep your reputation in
tact. I swear. And I’ll fucking kill Luca if he tries anything that hurts you.”
Maggie startled at the venom behind the threat. “What?”
“You’re the only person, other than my brother, who I’ve ever considered a friend, Maggie. I won’t stand by and watch anyone hurt you. Ever.”
What if you hurt me?
The stray thought made her shudder. Made her realize that, no matter what she’d told him about knowing exactly what this was and what he could offer, her feelings for him had only grown stronger as they’d laid dormant all these years. That all of the times she’d rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose at the gossip regarding his behavior, it had been disappointment, a shield—not true disdain.
He tightened his hands on hers. “I wish things could be different—”
“Salvy, stop. Things can’t be different. It’s the one thing you and I have always known for sure, even when we didn’t know anything else. You’re a prince. I’m a seamstress. It might have been fine for us to be close when we were children but it’s not going to work now. You’re going to get married. I’m going to be fine.”
That last part sounded good, at least. Whether she would ever be fine was another story.
“I know that, dummy. You’re going to find someone who treats you like you deserve, and gives you the life you’ve always dreamed of, and he’s going to be better than me. Because you’ve always deserved that.” He paused. “But I really do wish there was another way.”
“Me, too.”
“We have two weeks, Maggie. Say you’ll spend them with me.”
She raised her head to look into his eyes, taken by the earnestness she saw in them. The desire, the care, the honesty.
“Just you and me,” he added, as though he figured she was wondering whether she’d be the only one.
It had actually never occurred to her that she wasn’t, but now that he’d said it, she realized he likely had arrangements with other women in Cielo. The thought wrinkled her nose.
He leaned in and kissed the tip. “Oh, Maggie. How are you doing this?”
