Tempting the Crown

by Violet Paige

I shuddered with one more beautiful quake and then fell on my stomach.

  Damon crawled on top of me, rolling me to my back. He nipped my shoulder, slowly kissing my throat and neck. He took one hand and then the other, placing them at the top of the head board.

  I looked in his eyes for an explanation. He rose on his knees. He quickly grabbed a pillow and tucked it under my hips then took one ankle and put it on his shoulder and then the other. The glittery shoes sparkled in the air.

  He nudged his cock at my swollen pussy.

  He grinned wickedly as he stretched my entrance with his crown. I had to adjust to his thickness. He made a few shallow pumps, coating himself in my honey.

  I whimpered. I gripped the headboard as he slammed into me with a solid thrust.

  “Oh God,” I cried. He was deep. So far inside me. I was practically lifted in the air.

  He held my ankles as he surged again, this time stroking my walls in one deliciously slow thrust.

  “Fuck, Molly.” His teeth gnashed at my calf. “I can go so deep like this.”

  My knuckles tightened as I readjusted my hold on the bed. “Deeper,” I begged.

  His cock plunged inside me like a heated rod of steel. I bolted toward him, clinging to the headboard. Nothing had ever felt like this. As if our bodies had melted together, daring me to find where I ended and he began.

  His eyes bore into my gaze.

  “You. Are. Mine.”

  I nodded, matching his counterthrusts with everything I had. “Yours, Damon. I’m yours.”

  He sank into me with a powerful thrust and the world spun into oblivion. There weren’t people in the ballroom dancing the night away. There weren’t angry family members or heart broken friends. Only us. Only the universe we made in this bed.

  He kicked my ankles off his shoulders and his bare chest grazed over mine as we found a rhythm together. Our bodies slick with sweat. He kissed me, drawing the air from my lungs. I clawed at his back, climbing him, desperate to tie us together forever.

  His fingers curled over top of mine on the bed. It gave him resistance to bury his cock deeper.

  “Ohh,” I moaned.

  “Fuck,” he growled in my ear.

  We were reckless with our lust for each other. Our thirst for each other made us greedy. He pumped forcefully inside me as I sucked and nipped at his edible lips.

  “I love you, Molly.” He breathed heavily. “All of this tonight is because I love you.”

  My orgasm usually spilled through me because of the dirty things he said. But now I was useless to control my body from the purity of his words.

  I rocked into him. Clutching his cock. I wanted him to feel it. To know it.

  “I love you. I love you.”

  It shattered through me. A flurry of heat and electricity touched every nerve. My body was his. He had taken me. And I was never getting it back. He groaned as his final release attacked him, pulsing in my depths.

  He thrust as he climaxed, filling me with his hot come.

  “Oh shit.” He rolled on his side.

  I kissed his shoulder. “How was my first assignment as Royal Consort?” I giggled.

  He laughed loudly. “Pretty fucking perfect.” He leaned forward on his elbow. He made a lazy circle around my navel with his fingertip.

  “And the rest of the night? How do you think it went?”

  “Other than the bullshit with Roux, I think it was a success.”

  “That reminds me. You were going to tell me what he meant about the exit fee.”

  He looked at the ceiling. “You don’t want to talk about The Titan now.”

  I propped myself up to face him. His fingers moved to my breast. I loved how he touched me. How comfortable he felt with my body.

  “I do. I want to know.”

  He sighed. “It’s part of the membership. If a member breaks the contract with the tally, in this case that’s you, then he is ejected from the society with a penalty fee. It’s the cost of doing business with Lesage.”

  “You have to pay a fee because of me? How much?” I prodded.

  “Money isn’t a problem. You know that. Don’t worry about the number.”

  “How much?” He was distracting me with his fingers. My body was still zinging from the last orgasm.

  “Five million,” he stated.

  “That’s insane. You can’t be serious about paying that much money.”

  “Would you rather I stay in the society?” He raised his eyebrows.

  I bit my lip. “No, but that seems like extortion. You could do so much with that money.”

  “It’s to dissuade this from happening.” He twisted my nipple between his fingers. He lowered his mouth to it.

  I pulled his head between my hands to steady the impact. I didn’t want him to divert all my attention. I could only take about two seconds more of this before that happened.

  “Like Sebastian?” I questioned.

  “Mmmhmm.” He bit at my nipple. “See the problem there?”

  “Yes. But that’s an incredible price to pay.”

  “Membership does have its benefits,” he teased. His tongue raked over the hard point.

  I tried to understand the club. The society. The risk Damon took to be a member. What he was willing to pay for me. My head spun.

  My fingers relaxed, giving him full access to my breast.

  “Oh shit,” I whispered. I spiraled under his control.

  He crawled on top of me. “This night is far from over,” he warned. “No more talk about The Titan. I’m never going back there.” He knelt over me. His eyes smoldered with want.

  “Neither am I.” I tried hard to keep a serious face, but I burst into a fit of laughter.

  “Hilarious.” He smiled wickedly as he crashed his lips against mine. I knew Damon would never quench my thirst for him. But he would spend the rest of this night trying.

  His hands landed on my waist, twisting my hips until I was pinned on my stomach.

  I could feel the tautness of his thighs as he pressed into me, raising my ass in the air. Every ounce of him dripped with power and strength. There wasn’t a part of his body that wasn’t toned with athletic precision.

  His disciplined workouts might have been a leftover side effect of the Royal Navy, but when I looked at him I saw more than how hot he was. I saw a man who ran an entire country. Who had the weight of his citizens on his shoulders. A man who struggled to find freedom in strange places like The Titan.

  He was willing to give all of that up. For me.

  I had surrendered to him, but he had done the same. We had jumped off the cliff together.

  My palms supported me as Damon pushed inside, jostling me forward with his strength. Filling me. Connecting with me. Loving me.

  My body tightened with anticipation as he reared back and sank inside me again. I pushed into him, hungry for more. Eager for the friction his body gave.

  “Oh, Molly.” His fingers dug into my flesh as he thrust into me. “Come for me,” he demanded.

  “Ahh,” I cried. How did we keep doing this? Finding a higher cliff to climb. A higher place to jump. How did he keep showing me new ways to enjoy sex?

  My body was ready to detonate around him.

  “Fuck, you’re so sexy like this.”

  My breasts grazed the sheets, bouncing as Damon took me with possession and determination. He fucked me slow and deep, drawing the climax from my core with torturous strokes.

  “Come,” he commanded.

  And I was lost. I convulsed wildly as we both skyrocketed to the highest peak before collapsing in our rapture.

  Damon rolled on his side, tucking me next to him. He kissed me gently on the shoulder. “I do love you, Molly.”

  I could hear the sleepy haze in his voice.

  My eyes grew heavy. “I love you, too.”

  35

  Damon

  The lodestar was thicker than usual. Although, this morning it was the last thing I wanted to focus on. Molly was naked
next to me. I had brought coffee to bed along with the daily briefing. I read the day’s agenda while she slept. I had a hard time keeping my eyes off her body.

  I’d never told a woman I loved her. I didn’t think it was in my DNA. But last night I spoke the words with full intention, meaning exactly what I said.

  I was in love with this woman. I realized she wasn’t the one the dowager queen or Sutcliffe would have chosen for me. But I was sure as hell not going to end up like Sebastian, wanting one woman while hating the one I had.

  Molly stirred next to me. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled.

  “Bonjour, love.” I closed the lodestar and locked the seal.

  “Bonjour.”

  “How did you sleep?”

  She stretched her long legs. I couldn’t get enough of them. Graceful and strong. Her body was a work of art.

  “I can’t remember.” She giggled.

  I reached for a cup of coffee, handing her the extra one I brought in from the service cart. “For you.”

  She sat forward, taking the mug to her lips. “Mmm. I love waking up like this.”

  “Is it the coffee or me?” I teased.

  “The coffee.”

  I laughed at her coy grin.

  “I only have thirty minutes before my first meeting. Since the vote for irrigation in the olive groves passed yesterday, there is legislation that has to be reviewed.”

  “Don’t you have attorneys for that kind of thing?”

  “Yes. But I’m a hands-on king.”

  “In many ways.” Her eyebrows lifted over the mug.

  “After that, I’m going to see Lesage. I want to make sure the contract has been ended.”

  Molly’s eyes were a lighter shade of blue in the morning. It was hard not to stare at how fucking gorgeous she was.

  “Should I go with you?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “That is definitely not allowed.”

  “Ok. I need to check on Brooklyn. I sort of left her last night to deal with that situation. I’m becoming the world’s worst friend.”

  I rested my hand on her knee. “I doubt she believes that. I’m sorry she got mixed up with Sebastian.”

  “But he seemed sincere, don’t you think? The way he looked at her. I believed him. He looked miserable, Damon.”

  I exhaled. I didn’t have a soft spot for him. I never had. We had always competed through school. He resented my position long before I was king.

  “Doesn’t matter. He’s not going to leave Carina. And if your friend heard anything I said last night, she’ll stay away from him.”

  “Maybe it’s not that easy for them.”

  “Molly, it is that easy. Carina will destroy them both. If you speak to Brooklyn today make sure she doesn’t go near him.”

  She clutched the coffee. “I’m not going to tell her who she can and can’t have feelings for. Friends don’t do that. Maybe they have something real. Have you considered it could be serious?”

  My eyes cut to her. “It doesn’t matter if it’s real. He’s not going to leave Carina. Why encourage it if he’s only going to hurt her? The man is married.”

  “Then he shouldn’t have joined the society.” Her voice was angry.

  “You’re annoyed with Sebastian, not me.”

  “Maybe both of you.”

  I leaned to kiss her on the cheek. “While you figure that out, I’m going to sign the irrigation law and pay Lesage five million dollars for my freedom.”

  I saw the smile sneak on her lips.

  “Do you have to leave so soon?”

  I looked at my watch. “I have ten minutes. Join me in the shower.”

  She nodded and hopped from the bed, bouncing into the bathroom. I was already hard thinking about her slick body underneath the steam.

  When I stepped inside she was waiting on her knees. Fuck she was sexy. The water ran over her skin, dripping from her hard nipples. I could see the want in her eyes. She licked her lips when she saw how hard I was for her. Only I could satisfy her thirst.

  “Come here,” she whispered coyly. I entered the water slowly, tormenting her. Making her wait as she begged to be filled.

  I pressed the tip of my crown to her lips. She greedily took me in her mouth, sliding her tongue down the bottom of my shaft. I groaned as she sucked me further, daring me to come.

  The hot water prickling my back was nothing compared to the fire she lit inside me. I pulled back and thrust myself deeper into her throat, filling her the way I knew she wanted. She gagged around my massive cock. I shuddered against the convulsion.

  I twisted my hands in her wet hair and fucked her perfect mouth. My hips moved in a steady rhythm as she dug her fingers into my thighs, coaxing me even farther. I didn’t know she could take me this deep.

  I pulsed in and out, harder and harder. I could feel the pressure building. I slammed the palm of my hand into the tile wall, slick with steam. She didn’t hesitate. Her head tilted back as she relished my throbbing need. Tasting my mounting desire.

  “You’re going to make me come, love.”

  She responded with a moan that sent vibrations through my entire body. I tightened my fist in her hair as she swirled her tongue, meeting my pace. Matching my urgency. My muscles tensed as I hilted firmly into her willing mouth.

  “Look at me.”

  There were tears brimming as she opened her eyes. How could she still look this beautiful, even down on her knees choking around my cock? The hunger in her look pushed me over the edge. I pumped hard, spilling come deep into her throat. I ran my hands over the back of her neck, holding her there. Relishing in the wet heat as she drank me. Her lips slid around my shaft, coating me with my own release. The sensation was amazing.

  She smiled as I pulled her to her feet, caressing her curves with my fingertips. Pulling her into a deep kiss.

  “I can think of worse ways to spend ten minutes,” she giggled, reaching for the soap.

  “Not so fast, Molly Washington. It’s your turn.” The meetings could wait for the king to fulfill his duties.

  This was how mornings were supposed to start.

  36

  Molly

  I looked around for things to do to preoccupy my mind after Damon left. It was strange to have all my old things in a new set of apartments. My rooms were joined to the king’s residence. On the other side of his spare bedroom was a corridor that connected his suite to mine. I didn’t need a set of rooms, but I realized while I worked on my dissertation it was nice to have a space to spread out. I didn’t have to worry about Brooklyn stacking up my notecards.

  I had left her a voicemail and sent two texts. She hadn’t responded. I’d try her again after lunch.

  I had two bedrooms, a living room, dining room, an enormous bathroom, and a closet as big as a garage. There was no kitchen. Whatever I wanted came from the royal kitchen downstairs. The chefs on staff were ready to cook anything the royals wanted, no matter what time it was.

  I opened my laptop. Palace cyber security was at an all-time high. One of the tech guys had to reprogram my laptop with encrypted codes so that it couldn’t be hacked when I was out. As the king’s newest advisor, that was a threat that concerned the intelligence force.

  I didn’t tell them I wasn’t an actual advisor. I let them do what they needed and waited to get my laptop back.

  The screen lit up and I clicked on my email. I had poured a second cup of coffee after my shower with Damon. I wasn’t sure how we had mixed being so dirty with clean, but it was a fun experiment. I giggled to myself.

  I deleted a few of the coupons in my inbox. Then I saw it.

  The email popped open and I read it so fast that I couldn’t process the message. I had to reread it.

  “Oh my God.” I placed the mug on the desk. I couldn’t believe this. I held my breath as if that would somehow affect the contents of the letter.

  It had happened. London had accepted my application.

  I read the email again, much slower thi
s time.

  I jumped up, throwing my arms in the air. “Yes!” I spun around.

  Six weeks at the Literary Institute in London, locked in a vault with rare texts. It was a career dream. My dream. I could almost smell the pages.

  But oh. Holy shit. Damon was never going to be ok with that.

  And my stomach flipped as I realized that I might not be either.

  ***

  I was positioned at one end of the dining room table. I decided this was the best place to line up the notecards. I wasn’t going to host any state dinners here. It was unused space, and from what I gathered, the apartments were closed up when they weren’t occupied.

  I looked up when my new suite manager knocked.

  “It’s ok, Francesca. You don’t have to knock.” I smiled.

  “Ma’am, you have a visitor.”

  “Oh?” I looked down at what I was wearing. Ayla wouldn’t be happy I had taken the day off to be a student.

  “Princess Isabel is here.”

  “Oh.”

  “Where would you like to receive the princess?”

  I fumbled. Was it supposed to be formal? Couldn’t she just walk in here like a regular person?

  “The living room is fine, Francesca. I’ll be right out. You can offer her something to drink.” There was one thing all palace rooms had—a fully stocked bar.

  I left the rows of colored cards and walked into the main room of my apartment. Damon’s sister was waiting for me.

  “There you are.”

  “Hi, Isabel. Sorry, I was working on my chapter orders.”

  She waved her hand in the air. “I’m not like my brother. You don’t have to apologize. I can wait a few minutes.”

  I smiled and took a seat next to her. “Thank you for understanding.”

  “Have you recovered from last night?”

  I almost choked. “Y-yes, I have.”

  “Good. I know my mother was a complete bitch. She’s gone.”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond. A delicate approach was probably the way to go. “It’s not her fault. It was rushed. There was a large audience. It’s ok.”

  “You are way too saintly for this family.” She crossed her legs. I didn’t know if she was planning on staying a while. “After that scene, I didn’t want to speak to her. Damon was livid. She won’t be back until he requests it, which isn’t likely any time soon.”