The Last Girl (Sand & Fog #7)

by Susan Ward

This was what I’d wanted from the moment I first saw him in Paris. To know all of Damon. To possess him. To let him possess me. To let him in as deep as he could go, not just in my body but my heart. His unchecked passion told me he’d wanted it as well.

  “God, Khloe,” he gasped, picking me up. He lowered me onto the bed as he hovered above me. We were eye to eye, our pulse and breaths racing, a kingdom of two bodies with the rest of the world around us no longer there.

  Slowly he began to unfasten his belt. The light coming from the patio put a soft dreamlike illumination in the room. When his pants slipped low on his hips, I took a deep breath, my heart beating wildly as I waited for my first look at all of Damon. His jaw flexed as he tried to move in elegant slowness, but it was a testament to how hard he fought the pull between us as well. My gaze devoured each and every inch of him he unveiled.

  For a second, he stood by the bed, hovering above me, ravishing me with those amber tiger eyes.

  My breath caught.

  All of Damon was breathtaking, cut perfection, strong and regal, hard, gloriously hard everywhere. I was on fire by the time his began to lower toward me, a raging vat of want.

  “There’s no turning back now.”

  How he said that—impatient and hungry—made me shiver. “No.”

  I arched up into him—it brought his erection to my throbbing sex—and I groaned.

  “Oh, you feel so good. Like your body was made to fit mine perfectly,” I said in between our kisses.

  His lower body began to roll teasingly into me, and I closed my eyes, drifting away from the feel of him. Intimacy with Damon was something I needed like air to breathe. My skin was burning and tingling, my breasts aching and tender, and everywhere I pulsed in want of him.

  As he alternated between working free his own clothes and mine, his fingers danced across my aching velvet petals. “I want to spread you out and taste you. But if I do...”

  My lids flared open. “If you do?”

  “I’ll never last”—his thumb slipped inside me as he bit my lower lip and I clenched helpless around it— “as long as I want to.” He closed his lips around his thumb and groaned. “You’re very ready for me and I’ve hardly touched you at all. You taste so good.”

  He shuddered like the flavor of me was running through his limbs. The seriousness of his expression as he tried to rein in his body sent a burst of new flames across my flesh.

  “I don’t want to wait to feel you in me. I hope you have a condom, Damon.”

  His cheeks were slightly flushed as he reached into the bedside table, took out a fresh box, struggled to open it, and retrieved a square of foil. I watched him rip it open with his teeth.

  I arched a brow, delighting in his discomfort. “A brand-new box of American-made rubbers, huh? I was right. Walk, talk, and get to know was just a line.”

  “Not a line,” he purred, quickly sheathing himself. “I didn’t buy the condoms until our third walk. You wore that short lavender sundress with nothing underneath. That wasn’t fair. After I took you back to your room I nearly went blind that night.”

  Laughing, my fingers cupped his nape as I brought him back to my kiss. I adjusted until the entrance of me hovered close to the crown of Damon’s erection, and as I eased upward for us to touch there, his hands clutched my hips, stilling us.

  “No, KK,” he ordered hoarsely. “Not yet.”

  He paused above me as if to memorize how I looked lying beneath him, spurring my desire to a fever pitch. I wanted him in me that instant, but he held us apart until I was looking at him how he looked at me.

  Sweat misted his skin from the strain of not joining our bodies, and I became so wet and hot that I nearly forced myself around him.

  “Ah, Christ,” he bit out, and a breathless cry escaped me as he sank himself root deep into me. He was large and filled me completely, but my tunnel savored him being there, flexing around him as I trembled. I lost my mind somewhere along the way of him being agonizingly gentle and slowly building our motion into a fervent race toward pleasure.

  We waywardly kissed and touched as we moved as one. Him learning the taste and feel of me. Me learning him. My heart was beating so fast, and heat waves rolled one after another over me. The climb to orgasm had never been like this during sex, racing to the edge, my senses bursting into vibrant wakefulness only to recede then have it happen again from his moves in me.

  I could focus on nothing but the driving urge of his body, his ferocious need for me to accept all of him, his body completely in charge of mine, until the heat inside me burst into ecstatic spasms as I trembled all over.

  “You feel...so good,” I whimpered as he continued to drive into me. There was no descent from the heights he brought me to, and I tightened and shook as I realized he was going to come soon. “Damon.”

  His hands scooped me into him as he watched me finish falling apart, and then he growled, “Oh fuck.” as he pounded into me, hitting as far into my body as he could go with every deep thrust. I could feel him thickening.

  “KK.”

  His eyes blazed with his need, his gorgeous face taut with his race to climax. I wrapped my arms and legs tightly around him as he shook from the orgasm ripping through him, and when he slowly quieted from his release his features softened into something heart conquering.

  Cupping my face with his palms, he brushed my lips with his because he couldn’t speak yet. I knew how he felt. That how we were together had been as unexpected for him as it’d been for me and left him vulnerable and, I thought, even a bit frightened by it.

  “Khloe.” He turned until I lay atop him, my damp face pressing against his bare chest.

  We lay like that for quite a while, not talking but absorbing the aftermath, the discoveries, and this rare magical place we’d somehow landed in. He started softly kissing my hair as his fingers lightly stroked my back.

  “Love, if I’d known we would be like this, I wouldn’t have squandered a single minute I could have had of Khloe,” he whispered, shaken and what sounded like a bit overwhelmed.

  “Yes, it was good.” The tone of my voice belied my adjective, and laughter rumbled deep in Damon’s chest.

  “If that were merely good, I’m almost afraid to find out what wonderful would be.”

  But I already knew, because I’d just had wonderful with Damon—soaring to the clouds where dreams lived, and wishing I could stay there forever instead of coming back to earth.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  WE LAY TOGETHER IN bed, curled around each other, spent. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else ever again other than in Damon’s arms.

  We didn’t talk, not wanting to shatter the spell of the after, but even as languid as I was, my mind raced with all I didn’t know about Damon.

  I turned to place a kiss where my finger traced the sculptured line of his pecs. “What do you do all day when you’re not at the house? What do you do out there?”

  “Out there?” He laughed, dropping a peck on my nose. “You’re adorably over-the-top at times. I thought we agreed not to rummage around in each other’s private junk, KK.”

  I made a playful pout. “That was before I let you ravish me in your bed for hours. Now I want to know. What is there for an exiled prince to do all day?”

  He rolled his eyes, but I could tell he was charmed by me. “Nothing exciting, I assure you. Exiled princes have demands on their time like any man. I work.”

  Work?

  That word in the context of Damon sounded ridiculous.

  My brows puckered. “Doing what?”

  “It’s not flattering how you ask that.” He chuckled, adjusting me closer into him. “I inherited quite a bit of land and holdings in America from my mother. I support myself on it. It’s a lot to manage. Takes up more time than I would like it to.”

  I crinkled my nose. “You’re a prince with a job?”

  Growling, he turned me beneath him on the bed. “Oh yes, but only now my job is Khloe. I’m gone on you. You’
re a much better way to have my time filled.”

  Oh, Damon, fill me... I pulled his face toward mine and swallowed his laughter as our kiss deepened. I wanted to wrap my legs around his body and have him again. It felt so good when he was buried inside me, our bodies fervent as we raced toward climax, until we were both shaking and fighting for breath.

  My thoughts made me moan, but I pulled back and forced myself to ease out of Damon’s arms. “It’s almost morning.”

  His chestnut brows furrowed. “So?”

  “I need to get back to my room before the house is up. It’s better we don’t let my mom know about this.” I went from the bed and gathered my clothes.

  Surprise augmented his handsome face. “You’re not really leaving, are you?”

  “Damon, please—”

  “This is ridiculous. Your dad helped me arrange dinner on the cliffs. I’m reasonably confident he’s aware what dessert was. As for your mum—mums know everything, always, without being told. It’s pointless to leave.”

  Wrong, Damon. Not in Pacific Palisades. Here Dad knows all, and Mom knows nothing and panics over everything.

  I shook my head as I continued to dress. I leaned down to kiss him. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”

  He flew from bed, coming up behind and stopping me before I opened his bedroom door. “I don’t want you to leave,” he murmured as he planted kisses against my nape. “Stay. Sleep with me. I want to wake with you in my arms.”

  His hands around my waist drifted downward and, moaning, I turned to lean back against the door because if I didn’t put some space between us I’d do something stupid like climb back into bed with him.

  “Damon, stop it,” I pleaded.

  “Stop what?” he whispered against my throat as his lips traveled up my neck before easing in so I could feel all of him.

  “Being nasty with my body to keep me here.”

  He laughed and only scooped me from the door more into his body. “Can’t stop touching you. You don’t want me to either. You’re touching me, too. We’re going to be dreadfully obvious if we keep this up over breakfast with your parents.”

  Thank you, Damon. That thought was the cold shower I needed not to weaken and stay with you. “I’ve gotta get some sleep,” I managed to get out. “I have tai chi in an hour.”

  “Skip tai chi. Let me make love to you at dawn instead,” he ordered as he continued to fuel my arousal.

  “I can’t.”

  Once he drew completely away from me, my body ached for more. I hadn’t left his bedroom yet and I already missed him. If he’d pushed again, I would’ve crumbled, but he said, “Pleasant dreams, lovely KK.”

  HOURS LATER I WOKE. I found midmorning sunshine streaming through the glass. I had no idea how long I’d slept, but I did know I’d missed tai chi. I couldn’t push the minutes with Damon from my mind and thoughts of him had followed me into slumber.

  I stretched out beneath my blankets and felt exceptionally good, even waking without him beside me. I reached for my phone and found the miracle of all miracles: my mother hadn’t panic texted me over being MIA for tai chi. And even better, there was a text from Damon.

  Arrogant Prince: Good morning, beautiful. I’m having coffee in the kitchen.

  My lower lip pushed out as I read Damon’s text. Even with the endearment, it read as one of his status updates and not as romantic as I would have expected after a night of fireworks in his bed. I would have liked a little naughty, as deliciously female as I was feeling.

  Cheeky Girl: Are you? Thank you for the update, Your Highness.

  I tossed my phone aside and it dinged before it hit the bed. I turned to read it.

  Arrogant Prince: Now it’s confirmed I should have seduced you into staying in bed with me. I don’t like that at all.

  Cheeky Girl: What?

  Arrogant Prince: ‘Your Highness.’ You’re mocking me...again.

  Cheeky Girl: Sorry. Not my best when I’m groggy. See what I saved you from by not staying to sleep in your room?

  Arrogant Prince: Qualified apology not accepted.

  I frowned. Oh, jeez, Louise, he couldn’t really be mad at me. I was still trying to figure out how to reply when my phone trilled again.

  Arrogant Prince: Come to the kitchen. Give us a kiss, love, and make up for it.

  I erupted into happy gales of laughter. Ah, someone had woken up ready to get back at it as I had. Not that it would do us any good with my parents in the house, but it was nice to know he had the same morning-after high I did.

  Cheeky Girl: Be there in ten.

  Arrogant Prince: Make it five. Can’t wait that long.

  I went from the blankets, made a stop in my bathroom to do the a.m. necessaries, went to my closet to pull on a simple sundress, then ran a brush through my hair.

  I paused to check myself in the gigantic mirror above my sink since I hadn’t bothered with makeup this morning. In surprise, I noted I looked pretty good even suffering from a lack of sleep. Text flirting with Damon had brought a softness to the features and a brightness in the eyes of the face staring back at me, and even the circles under my lower lids were less noticeable and dark.

  I went into the kitchen to find my drop-dead-gorgeous prince with his heart-slaying grin on his face. We’d had less than four hours’ sleep, but he looked as fresh as morning rain. I wasn’t sure where my parents were lurking, and it took everything I had to play it cool and not run into his arms to makeup-kiss him as he’d commanded.

  “What’s going on here? Where are my folks?”

  I stopped on the other side of the island from him, and one of his brows quirked up. “That wasn’t the good morning I’d hoped for.”

  He looked adorably sexy when he was annoyed. I pouted. “Me either. But it’s better if we don’t get caught getting busy in the kitchen. I don’t want my family up in my business. Things get messy when they are.”

  “Over the top. Again.” He stared at me in disbelief.

  I shook my head. “No. I’m not.”

  “But I thought we were starting to move in a new direction. That we could start behaving as if we actually know each other. Or at least not like strangers any longer. Besides, we’re alone now.”

  I stared at him wide-eyed, skipped over the new direction part and all that followed as that was too much to deal with before coffee, and replied, “Operative word in the sentence: now. But they’re out there somewhere. Just trust me on this.”

  His chestnut brows furrowed. “Is this one of those things I have to do even if I don’t understand it?”

  “Yes.”

  “I see.” The line of his mouth was stiff as he shook his head at me. “New rule, Khloe.”

  I barely managed to register his words before he came around the counter and hauled me up against him to deliver a kiss that left me breathless. When he came up for air, he whispered, “I’ll do things your way to a point, but when there’s an opportunity in the daytime to kiss you or for us to be together, we’re taking it.”

  “Okay. Okay.”

  “Okay?”

  He sounded skeptical; I laughed. “Yes. Jeez, you make me sound completely unreasonable. I’m not.”

  He leaned far enough back so I could see his eyes. “Is that yes as in no arguments from you? When we can be together we’ll be together?”

  I made a face at him. “God, you’re crazy in the morning when you’ve gotten laid the night before. It isn’t really smart to try to talk to you before coffee.”

  He ran his thumb across my lower lip. “Bonkers over you all the time. And to correct the record: I didn’t get laid last night; we made love. I hated sleeping without you afterward.”

  “Me, too.” I kissed his cheek and stepped back, planting my hands on my hips as I studied the empty room. “Now, will you answer my question? Where is everyone?”

  “I wondered the same thing when I dragged myself out of bed at 6:00 a.m. for coffee and tai chi with Alan.”

  How he said that made me laug
h. “You didn’t really make it out here at six?”

  “Yes, I did. But there was no coffee. No Khloe doing tai chi and only myself passing the hours alone in the kitchen. I would have considered the morning a total bust except I was able to figure out how to operate the coffee maker, then found the note on the counter and breakfast plates in the warming oven for us.”

  I frowned. “Wait. Are you saying you haven’t seen my parents today?”

  Damon jutted his chin at the marble island “Read that. It will clear up every aspect of the morning nicely for you.”

  Every aspect of the morning? I wasn’t sure what that referred to, and criminy, there was a note. I could tell even from a distance it was my dad’s handwriting.

  Took your mum on a date to the beach. She wants to have family dinner there Sunday before Damon departs. See you then. Love, Dad.

  I stared at the neatly penned message, stunned. “My parents have gone to the Malibu house for three days. It’s...unbelievable.”

  When I glanced up, I could see Damon’s curiosity as he studied my reaction. “Your parents are very much in love. Why is it unbelievable that your dad still whisks your mum away on romantic holidays?”

  I shrugged and went to pour myself coffee. I didn’t want to get into that discussion with Damon. My parents going somewhere for alone time wasn’t the unbelievable part. The immunotherapy hadn’t cured me. I was back in another six months of treatments at Dr. Hern’s clinic, and my mother had left the house—again, and for three days this time—to do something for herself before spring when I’d receive my next medical report and I usually left for Europe.

  These things had never happened before, and while it was what I wanted—my mother less excessively involved in my illness—I wasn’t sure how it was making me feel: relieved or sad.

  From behind me, Damon’s voice came softly. “Khloe, why are you upset?”