by Malone, Nana
“Naughty Bryna wanted to drive me insane. Well, it’s fucking working.” I licked deeper and harder until she was moaning wildly. “That’s it, just let go for me.”
Her fingers tangled in my hair, holding me in position. Hell yes. There was no way I was stopping. Not when I had the sweetest pussy in the world on my lips.
I felt the quiver in her thighs first. Then the thrashing of her torso on the table. When she came, her grip tightened, her legs locked around my head, and she let out a soft, keening cry. Her thighs clenched so tight I grinned. I’d done that. Marked her as mine. When I finally lifted my head, she was flushed and dazed, watching me with sleepy dark eyes.
“You taste amazing.”
“Lucas…”
He voice was soft and breathy and sleepy. “Oh no you don't. We’re not even close to getting started.” I stood, grabbed her by the upper thighs, and dragged until she was at the edge of the table.
With my other hand wrapped around my dick, I teased her soft lips and clit. “Oh Jesus.”
I watched intently. I liked teasing her. Just the tip. “Fuck, you feel so fucking good. I want to fuck you just like this.”
She thrashed. “Yes, Please. I just need…” her voice trailed.
I let the tip of my cock slide into her and my fucking eyes crossed. Jesus she was so damn hot. Beneath me, she bucked. I planted a hand below her belly to keep her still. “Fuck, don't fucking move.” I remember this being good, but damn. She was so soft. Involuntarily, I slid another inch inside.
Fuuuuuck. So good. Nothing has changed. Maybe, but I didn’t care. I was losing my shit. I pulled out and she whimpered. “I’m just teasing sweetheart.” I slid my dick over her lips again, back in my favorite position, right at Bryna’s slick entrance.
“Oh my god,” Bryna moaned as I slid inside in one smooth stroke. Her head fell back against the table with a thump. The look on her face was pure ecstasy with her parted lips and eyes rolled back.
I would have taken more time to appreciate the view if I hadn’t been so consumed by the sensation of being wrapped up in her. It was like having my dick encased in heaven, and I didn’t want to miss a moment. I clenched my teeth against the urge to come immediately.
Bryna was moaning and gyrating in my arms, making my job even harder. Then she clamped her arms around my neck and pulled my mouth to hers.
And the battle was lost.
I thrust harder and harder, ignoring the voice in the back of my head screaming for me to be gentle. She was so open, her soft wet flesh enveloping me over and over until she tensed and smacked my shoulder, tears streaming down her face.
“Fuck, I can’t take it,” I growled.
Bryna lifted her head. “Yes. Lucas. Lucas. Lucas.”
My name on her tongue was just the right frequency to trip my lack of control. I gave up the fight then and succumbed to the torrent of pleasure rushing up my spine. Having her eyes on me the whole time made it even more intense because I felt like I was inside her in every way, body and soul. When the last shudder of pleasure left me, I wasn’t sure how I managed to remain semi upright. “Jesus,” I dropped my forehead to hers. “You’re going to kill me.”
“Probably. But not before we do that again.”
“Jesus, I’ve missed you.” Wow, I was just pouring out all the feels. But fuck it. I didn’t care. She was here with me. Her presence alone had chased away the numb feeling of the last three months.
“Then come home, Lucas. Just come back. We could start over.”
With her barely audible words, full of hope and a plea, the heat started to fade. I lifted my head and met her gaze. “I wish I could. I really do. But I can’t. Not now.” Just saying the words out loud made it truer to me. I wasn't the royal bastard anymore. I wasn’t anything. There would be no going back and pretending.
She was better off without me.
* * *
Bryna
Way to go, genius.
That was not what I meant to do. I’d come at the behest of the king and queen to get him to come home, only to find out he had no intention of ever returning. I’d gotten played… again. To be fair, you played yourself.
Though that wasn’t my fault. He wasn’t supposed to kiss me. And no, I shouldn’t have hit him. I was just so furious. And he was standing there looking delicious and smelling amazing and telling me he loved me, which just… no. No more. I didn’t want to believe it.
But you do want to believe it.
I slid my gaze over to his side of the bed. He was laid sprawled out, like a starfish. I’d only just escaped being stuck under his arms. He had the tendency to hold tight when he slept. I scooted out of the bed, gathered my clothes, and tiptoed out of his bedroom into the living room, then to the powder room off to the left. I didn’t dare risk a shower. I was just going to get my clothes on and beat it. The king and queen were on their own. I clearly had no influence over Lucas.
He loves you.
My muscles ached as I stepped into my underwear and then my jeans. God, what had I done? I would have to start all over again. It had taken weeks for me to start feeling anything after he left. And then I’d basically cried myself to sleep every night for a month. I had just started to feel… not normal, but like I could survive this. And now I’d messed up my whole recovery.
I was sore in places that my body was all too happy to remember. And it felt good. I smelled like him. And Lord knew, he probably smelled like me. Was I sorry about it? I wasn’t sure. Physically, I wasn’t. God, I needed that. A battery-operated boyfriend just wasn’t cutting it. So, yay for orgasms. But emotionally, it was going to hurt. It was going to hurt bad.
But you will live through it, just like you did the last time. Just don’t sleep with him again. There was no way in hell I could ever let that happen again. It was just too devastating. And frankly, how the hell was I supposed to sleep with anyone else again either? After what he’d done to my body? Part of me was starting to worry that I was never going to feel that with anyone else. It was just stupid really, but still, that’s how it felt.
When I met him, he was gorgeous but annoying. And then he’d become sort of a locked-up friend and eventually someone who dominated my every thought and action. Then I’d discovered what it was like to be with him, to know what it was like to have him hold me. I understood what it was like to have him kiss me on the forehead in the morning, roll over, and make love to me again.
I dressed quickly, knowing I’d failed. This was what happened when you sent me on a mission. Months ago, I’d had a mission to go to New York, and on my first day of assignment to start my career, I’d fumbled back, right? I’d almost ended up homeless on the street without a penny to my name. But Lucas had taken me in, like the prince charming he was, and had even helped me find a job. I hated that. I hated that I had needed help.
I was grateful. He was my first friend in the city. But then he walked out on me. All I could do was focus on my internship, my eventual job, and not falling apart.
And I’d survived him leaving. Barely. But I’d lived. And I’d thrown myself into working with artists. That had paid off. I just needed to make that my focus again and not get distracted. Listening to Jinx had been a mistake. Listening to Queen Penny had been a mistake. All that talk about love and closure. But all I’d done was reopen a festering wound.
But I could go back. I could focus on work, and I would survive again. Because this time I knew better. Back before I’d fallen for Lucas, I’d been convinced he was never going to get it. I needed to go back to that method of thinking. Not because he was a charming player, but because he made me feel too much, and I now knew exactly how dangerous that could be.
Yes, that was the plan. I needed to focus on that because it was the only thing saving me. Once I was dressed, I picked up my shoes, tucked my purse under my arm, and tiptoed out of the powder room. I was almost at the door when I heard the low rumble of Lucas’s voice. “I suppose I deserve this?”
I froze, m
y heart hammering in my chest. My breathing shallow, I forced myself to stop, take a deep breath, and turn around slowly. “We should never have done that.”
“Are you serious right now?”
I didn’t know what I was. I shook my head. “I don’t know, Lucas. I don’t know anything. I just… that wasn’t supposed to happen.”
He crossed his arms. “But it did, so what? You’re going to run now? You came an awful long way to just turn and run.”
“Look, I came to deliver a message from your brother. That’s all. You and I weren’t supposed to—” I cut myself off. Get your shit together Bryna. “Sebastian and Penny asked me to come and convince you to come home where you’d be safe. What happened just now was never my intention. It gets too muddy with us. Besides, you’ve made it clear you’re not coming back.”
“You know I can’t, right?” He pushed himself up off the couch and strode over. I felt like a lion was stalking toward me, ready and prepared to pounce. The problem was my lady parts were all, ‘hell yes for the pouncing,’ which was the last thing I needed. When he was too close, I attempted to take a step back, but the door was at my back. Lucas planted both hands on either side of me against the door. “You want to punish me? Walk out on me? I’m in your blood, and you’re in mine. After that, don’t think you can just walk away.”
“You walked away, remember?” I tipped my chin up. “Sebastian and Penny just needed me to get you to listen. I hope you do, because they’ll be trying next.” I drew in a shuddering breath. “I never wanted you hurt. Even when you hurt me so bad I thought I might die, I never wanted you hurt. That’s why I came. I want you safe. But you’re bad for me. You hurt me, and if I let you, you’ll do it again.”
“I am bad for you. I’m trying my best, Bryna, to be the good person you think I can be, but I’m just not. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“Yeah well, you should have tried harder before.”
“You cannot walk out on us.”
I reached behind me and turned the knob. “Actually, I can. Are you coming back?”
He was silent, but he didn’t let me pass. He leaned his face close, our breath co-mingling. My knees wobbled. If he kissed me, I’d be a goner and naked again in no time. My underwear was barely wearable now. If he ripped them off me again, they’d be shredded tatters.
“I love you.”
I turned and leveled my gaze on him. “I don’t believe you.” I don’t know where I found the strength, but I turned the knob and shuffled around him, quietly closing the door behind me as I left. I’d done my duty. I had asked him to go home. That was all I could do for the king and queen. Now all I had to do was pick up the shattered pieces of my life… again.
13
lucas
I knew to expect him. But still, somehow, it was a surprise to see Sebastian on my doorstep later that morning. The first words I said to my brother were, “That was a low fucking blow.”
He didn’t even ask me what I was talking about. He just pushed past me into my apartment. I was surprised to see that his Royal Guard wasn’t Roone but two others I hadn’t seen before. Did you want it to be Roone? You owe the guy an apology. Yeah, I owed a lot of people a lot of things.
“I don’t think you understand. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get you home.”
“Except it’s not my home, is it?”
“What the fuck are you talking about Lucas? Everything I’ve done has been with you in mind, trying to do what our father wanted, trying to give you as much freedom as possible. And then you just take off? What? The women in the Winston Isles weren’t enough for you? You had to go on some prolonged bender?”
“I don’t need a horde of women Sebastian. I just—”
“You just what?”
I glared at him. How was I supposed to tell him that everything he’d worked for, everything he tried for, was a sham? A lie. A fraud. Would he believe I didn’t know anything about it?
“Just tell me why you fucking took off. Look, I get it, the need to blow off some steam. Be wild. Go crazy. And yeah, I know you liked it, you love to have fun, but I could see it. There was something serious about you. Like you wanted this. So, why do the one thing guaranteed to put you in danger?”
“It’s so easy to be a king, isn’t it? To give a direct order and expect people to follow it?” Okay, I was venturing toward prick territory. I shook my head. “You shouldn’t have sent her.”
“What choice did you leave me? Your phones are off. You don’t answer email, if you’re even checking it. You’re practically off the fucking grid. You have more IDs than I can possibly find. So, when Blake Security located you, I had no choice but to send her.”
Those fuckers, they told me they hadn’t told anyone where I was.
“Sebastian look, I’m bad news anyway. I am not the guy you should be wasting your time and energy on. I’m all fucked up. And trouble follows me around. I’ll singlehandedly besmirch the Winston name.”
“Shut up. What the fuck are you on about? That shit with Tressel? As if I don’t see through his plan.”
My brows snapped down. “What shit with Tressel? I sent you a report before I left.”
He sighed. “About that. After you vanished, Tressel sent his own report, one that pointed at you embezzling money from the fund.”
Fury flooded my veins. “That is bullshit.” I stepped into Sebastian’s space and I jabbed him in the chest. “I never would have even taken that job if you hadn’t forced me.”
“I didn’t force you.”
“Yes, you did. You were talking about inclusion and wanting to help people and shit. Telling me something our father would have been proud for me to do.”
Sebastian nodded. “Those were all true things.”
“I didn’t fucking steal from you. Don’t you get how this works? A long con? I’d get you to voluntarily give me money. I wouldn’t steal it from you. It’s just not the purpose of the con. It’s easier to get you to give it over voluntarily than it is to try and steal it. And also, fuck, as far as I was concerned then, you were my brother. Family. I wouldn’t have done that.”
“I know.” Then he frowned. “What do you mean were?”
I ignored the question, letting my anger doing the talking. “And that pompous, arrogant ass, accusing me, and you don’t even ask me questions. I mean—" Finally, it slowly hit me what he’d just said. “You know?”
He rolled his eyes. “What? You think this is my first rodeo? I know when I’m being gaslighted. I know that you’re my brother and you wouldn’t steal from me. He’d muddied the books to make it look like the money started disappearing when you started working for the trust. Your findings and analysis were more consistent with what I know to have happened. So I’m working on a plan to ensure that Tressel’s out. I need to do it carefully, but I know you didn’t steal from me. The point is he’s trying to make it seem like you would, bringing up things like your past and your history. I’m going to have to quiet him. I say we go ahead and get you coronated and make the announcement, even before we find our sister, Jessa. It wasn’t the original plan, but I think it’s really the best one. If—”
I shook my head and interrupted him. “No. Stop it. This has to stop now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Sebastian, I’m not just going to come back to Winston Isles and be some prince.”
“Give me one reason why not. If your past is coming back for you, you can be protected. You have the full advantage of the Royal Guard. Blake Security can stay all over Sandstorm and make sure he never comes for you again. I don’t understand why you insist on doing this alone. It’s futile and it’s ridiculous. I swear, you’re a fucking loner. You can’t let anyone help you for even a second.”
“I’m not your fucking brother!”
That stopped him. His eyes went wide, and he staggered back a step. “What?”
I ran my hands through my hair and started to pace. What the fuck was I supposed to say to
him? He’d come all this way specifically to find me, gone through God knew what to find me, and now I was telling him that meant nothing. He’d worked his ass off for nothing.
“Tell me what the fuck you are talking about.”
I sighed and turned my hands up. There was nothing left to do but tell him the truth. “That’s what I’m fucking doing here in Italy. My mother is the reason I left. She came to see me the afternoon after the charity ball. Tony had—" I stopped trying to figure out how to say it so that he would know I hadn’t wanted to do it. I finally just said the truth. “My stepfather, Tony, had us running the Leaning Tower of Pisa. If I didn’t do it, he was going to hurt Bryna. You’d asked me to look out for her, so I did. I didn’t mean to fall in love with her. I just did. I couldn’t exactly ask for protection for her because I wasn’t supposed to touch her. I promised you that.
“So I was caught between rock and a hard place, and I just did what I felt was natural. I said yes. I wish I hadn’t. I tried to find a thousand ways to get him caught, to get him stopped. I even asked for help from Blake Security. Mueller and Weller did try to help me catch him in the act and get the cops on him, but it didn’t work. Nothing I did seemed to work. Then, at the function, Bryna caught me red-handed lifting a piece of jewelry. I’ve never been caught. Not once. Not by the cops, not by anyone. My lifts had always been pristine. But sure enough, that little slip of a girl caught me. When she did, she stopped me from making that big mistake and I listened, because I love her, and we went home.”
I was rambling. I knew I was rambling. I sounded like a mess. I took another deep breath. “So anyway, nothing happened with Bryna, really, until that point and we just—I don’t know. I think you love me because you felt like you had to. You came looking to love me. Bryna, she just loves me because of me, I guess. I was determined to be good for her. And I thought I could be. Then my mom showed up the next day and pointed out that Tony was on a rampage. He knew I tipped off the cops, and he was going to hurt her. So I put as much distance between me and her as possible. I knew that he was going to figure it out, the relationship between you and me, the whole thing. So I just flew. I didn’t have any other choices.”
