“Here we are.” And she had come to him.
She touched his face, stroking his cheek with her fingers. “I’m sorry that Frederick isn’t feeling well. But the kid has great timing.”
He wrapped an arm around her and tugged her against him. “How are we on time, by the way?”
She folded her arms around his neck, shifted closer, winding her legs around his. Her body felt long and soft, and warm from sleep. “You mean, when do I have to leave?”
“Exactly.”
“Phillip and Hannah have no idea that I’m here, and I told Wilson that I would be staying at the palace tonight.”
That was just the answer he was hoping for, because it was going to take the entire night to do all the things to her that he’d been imagining.
She burrowed closer, nuzzling her face against his neck. “Do you remember the first night I came to your room? The last time you stayed here? The way we just kissed and touched and talked all night and didn’t make love until the sun was coming up?”
He slipped his hand under her top, stroking her back. “I remember.”
She tunneled her fingers through his hair and nibbled on his throat, her breath hot on his skin. “I’d like to do that again.”
“Except we’re not making love,” he reminded her. “We’re having sex.”
“There is that,” she said, and smiled up at him, a look of pure mischief in her eyes. “And I could probably do without all the talking.”
He brushed his lips against hers. “So that leaves kissing and touching.”
“And sex. Although I’m not sure I want to wait all night for that.” She arched against him, nipping his lower lip with her teeth.
He cupped her breast, trapping her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. It was high and firm and fit perfectly in his palm. “How’s that?”
She gazed up at him, lids heavy with desire. “On second thought, why don’t we just forget about that first night and make some new memories instead.” Then she grabbed his head, pulled his face to hers and kissed him. Slow and deep and long. And she was already working on the buttons of his shirt, undressing him.
If they were only doing this once and they had all night, he’d be damned if he was going to let her rush him. He grabbed her wrists, tried to put her arms back up around his neck, but she wiggled free. “Slow down.”
She was back at his buttons. “I don’t want to slow down. I want you naked.”
He made a move to grab her arm and she nipped at his hand. He yanked away, and didn’t doubt for a second that she would have actually bitten him. Just for that, she wouldn’t be seeing him naked for a very long time.
When she had his shirt unbuttoned and reached for his fly, he grabbed both of her wrists. He pinned her arms over her head and rolled on top of her, stilling her with his weight.
“That isn’t fair,” she said, struggling to free herself. But she wasn’t struggling so hard that he thought she really wanted to get away. He could see that if he didn’t let her know who was calling the shots, this night was going to be long, unending power struggle.
He grinned down at her. “No one ever said anything about playing fair.”
He kissed her again, just as slow and deep as she’d kissed him, and it wasn’t long before she stopped struggling, before she melted into the mattress beneath him. He let go of her arms and she wrapped them around his neck, digging her fingers through his hair, feeding off his mouth. She was even more fiery and passionate than he remembered.
He pulled her shirt up and over her head, and tossed it onto the floor. She was wearing a pink push-up bra constructed entirely of lace that left nothing to the imagination. Her nipples were small and dark and tightly puckered. He’d never seen anything so beautiful.
He lowered his head and nipped at one with his teeth. Sophie gasped and arched up against him. And when he tried to lift his head, she forced it back down again. And this time he decided he would humor her. He yanked one side of her bra down, baring her breast, and took her into his mouth. She moaned and arched up closer to his mouth, and because he liked the reaction he got, he did the same to the opposite side. He licked and nipped at her skin, until Sophie was writhing underneath him.
She tried to guide his mouth to hers, struggling for control again, so instead he slipped down her body, nuzzling his face against her rib cage and her stomach. He got up on his knees to unfasten her pants. She reached for him, trying to get to his zipper again, and he shot her a stern look. “Don’t make me tie you down.”
A sexy smile curled her mouth and her eyes were an inferno. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Maybe later, but right now he had other things planned.
Instead she reached back to unsnap her bra and tossed it somewhere in the vicinity of her shirt. Her breasts were perfect. Small and firm but soft.
He leaned forward, gave each one another kiss, then worked his way lower, across her stomach as he eased her pants down her legs, until all that was left was one tiny scrap of pink lace that could barely pass for a pair of panties. And underneath it was nothing but bare, smooth, golden tan skin.
He nuzzled her stomach, just above the top edge of the lace. She let her head fall back against the pillow. She had the most amazing throat, long and slender and graceful. He kissed her through the lace, blowing hot air against her skin and she made a soft mewling sound deep in her throat. Her scent was light and fresh and feminine.
He hooked his thumbs under the edge of the waistband, sliding the lace down her legs and off her feet, and tossed it over his shoulder. Then he sat back on his heels and just looked at her.
She gazed up at him, her eyes glassy and confused. “What?”
“Nothing.”
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“I just want to look at you.”
“Oh. Okay.”
He sat there for a minute, taking in every inch of her perfect body. Her feet were small for a woman of her height and surprisingly petite, her ankles slender and delicate-looking. And damn, her legs were long. He couldn’t wait to feel them locked around him.
He leaned forward, kissed the inside of one knee.
“Why am I the only one naked?” she asked.
“Because it’s not my turn yet.”
“Says who?”
“Me.”
“Oh, I get it. You’re shy and you’re afraid to admit it.”
He pressed his lips to the opposite knee. “If that didn’t work on you, Princess, do you really think it would work on me?”
She looked only slightly defeated, like she’d known it was a long shot but had to try anyway. “I don’t suppose you could drop the ‘Princess’ and ‘Your Highness’ thing, and just call me Sophie.”
“I’ll think about it…” He ran his tongue up her inner thigh, making her shudder, then looked down at her and grinned. “…Your Highness.”
She might have balked, were she not so turned on, but her body didn’t lie. He could see how slick and ready she was for him. And God knows he was ready, too. It had been too damned long. Too long since he felt so connected to a woman. Since sex had been this…fun.
And he didn’t want to rush things, but Sophie seemed to think he was taking things a bit too slow.
“Touch me, Alex,” she said in a pleading voice, so he brushed her lightly with his fingers, where she was slippery and warm. She whimpered softly, biting her lip. He went one step further, sliding one finger inside her.
She sucked in a breath and her hips rocked up toward his hand, forcing him in deeper.
“You want more?”
“Yes,” she hissed, her eyes bleary and unfocused, and he loved that he was making her feel good, that it was so damned easy.
He gave her one more, then a third, but he could see it still wasn’t enough. He lowered his head and touched her with his tongue and was rewarded with a low, throaty moan. Then he took her in his mouth and she nearly vaulted off the bed. She tasted sweeter and more de
licious than his favorite dessert, and was a hell of a lot more satisfying. Then he felt those amazing legs hooking over his shoulders, locking him in, as if he’d actually stop. It didn’t get any better than this.
He kept his touch light, just a flick of his tongue or tug with his mouth, to make it last, because he didn’t want it to be over too fast and it was obvious she was almost there already. Her fingers were tangled in his hair, her head thrown back and her eyes closed, her heels digging into his back.
Careful as he was though, he could feel her slipping, coming closer, then she tensed and arched up, crushing his head between her thighs. Her body coiled and locked, and a deep shudder rocked through her. But damn, he didn’t want it to be over so soon. He wanted to see just how far he could take her. So instead of stopping, he increased the pressure of his mouth, of his tongue. She made a sound of protest and tried to push his head away, press her legs together, but he held her down. And after a minute of that, she was no longer pushing him away, and instead pulling him closer. Making soft, desperate, pleading sounds. And she shattered almost instantly.
He kissed his way up her stomach. Her skin was warm and flushed and he could feel her heart thumping, the blood rushing through her veins.
She sighed, sprawling limply across the comforter. “That felt so good.”
He kissed and nipped his way upward, through the valley between her perfect breasts. To her throat and chin, and when he got to her face, he grinned down at her. “Lucky for you, Your Highness, I’m just getting warmed up.”
Eleven
So much for his using her name. But she felt so damned good that right now, she didn’t care what he called her. She was too limp to move, to even open her eyes. “That’s never happened to me before.”
“Which part?” Alex asked.
“The multiple part.”
“Really?” There was a note of both disbelief and pride in his voice.
“As a rule, I try to limit my orgasms one at a time.”
“Why is that?”
“It’s never good to set the bar too high. You only end up disappointed.” In fact, he had probably just ruined her for other men.
She was so relaxed and sated, she could lay there like that for hours, but she realized, she was being terribly selfish. She had been thoroughly satisfied, and he hadn’t even taken off his clothes yet.
She looped her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss, and told him, “It’s your turn to get undressed.”
He grinned down at her. “Says who?”
“Me.” Then she added firmly, “Now.”
Without argument he sat up and she sat up beside him, legs curled under her, to watch. He shrugged out of his shirt and dropped it beside the bed. He fished his wallet from his pants pocket and set it on the night table, then unfastened them and kicked them off. His boxers were the last to go, and when he slid them off, she sighed with satisfaction. She thought she’d recalled everything about him, but her memory didn’t do him justice.
“Lie down,” she said, pushing him onto his back. “It’s my turn to look at you.”
He’d been so determined to overpower her, she was a little surprised when he let her straddle his thighs, pinning him to the mattress. And for a moment she just let her eyes wander over him, taking it all in, burning it in her memory. So this time, after he was gone, she wouldn’t forget. She would always remember that, no matter how short a period of time, just how good this had been.
His body was just so…perfect. So beautiful. More so because of the man on the inside. And just for tonight, he was all hers. Inside and out.
She was almost sorry it couldn’t be longer, even though she knew it was better this way.
When simply looking at him wasn’t enough, she put her hands on him, following the path her eyes had just taken. She touched his arms and his chest and his stomach. And when she’d made her way down to his erection, she paused for a moment, just looking, then she took him in her hand, squeezing gently. He sighed and shifted under her, his eyes slipped closed. His skin felt hot and smooth and alive with sensation.
“You’re beautiful,” she said. “Is it okay to call a man beautiful? I mean, I don’t want to give you a complex.”
“Keep touching me like that and you can call it anything you want.”
She closed her hand around him and stroked, up the entire length of him, then back down again. “Like this?”
He answered her with a soft groan, gazing up at her through eyes half closed with arousal. There was nothing she loved more than experimenting with the male body, learning every trick and fetish. Exactly what to do to make him feel good. And for a while that’s what she did. Touched and teased him, using her hands and mouth. But after a bit of that he caught her face between his hands and kissed her, then whispered in her ear, “As good as this feels, I really want to be inside you.”
“You have protection, I hope.” It would be a bloody shame if they came this far, only to have to stop.
“In my wallet,” he said, nodding toward the table.
She did love a man who came prepared. She grabbed his wallet and opened it. There was a thick wad of cash inside, and half a dozen credit cards. And a condom. Several in fact.
She recognized the packaging as American, meaning he’d brought them with him. Which didn’t necessarily mean he’d been planning this. What single man in this day and age didn’t carry prophylactics?
She plucked one out, then grabbed a second, just in case, and tossed his wallet back onto the table. She tore one of the wrappers open with her teeth and asked, “May I do the honors?”
He grinned up at her, a devilishly hungry smile. “Knock yourself out, Princess.”
She rolled it on, very slowly, knowing by the look on his face that she was driving him crazy. Which was exactly the point of course. And when she was finished, he said, “Make love to me.”
She didn’t want him to know how real this was for her. How it felt like so much more than just sex. Just as it had ten years ago, when she still felt as though she had her entire life ahead of her.
He wrapped both hands around her hips, guiding her, and she lowered herself over him, slowly taking him inside her, savoring the sensation of being filled. She was still hot and slick and her muscles hugged him firmly as she rose up, then sank back down again.
Alex ran his hands up her sides to her breasts, cupping them in his palms, pinching her nipples lightly, making her shiver. He pulled her down so he could reach them with his mouth, flicking his tongue against the pebble hard peak of one nipple, then the other. Then he pulled her mouth to his and kissed her, one of those deep, soul-searching kisses that curled her toes and make her head spin. Then she realized, it wasn’t just her head spinning. Alex was rolling her over without missing a beat or interrupting their rhythm, and the next thing she knew, she was on her back, pinned by his weight, and he was grinning down at her.
To hell with making love. She wanted this. She wanted it rough and desperate. And she could feel herself letting go, losing what little control she had left, arching against him, legs twined around his hips. Digging her nails into his back. Moaning and writhing. And she couldn’t do a thing to stop it. She was a puppet and Alex pulled the strings.
She lost track of time after that, lost track of herself. Everything she smelled and felt and heard, every taste and touch, all melted together and became a blur. It built and climbed, higher and higher. And when she thought she couldn’t stand it anymore, when it was unbearable, she went higher still.
Then Alex said her name. “Sophie, look at me.”
The instant their eyes locked, she blew apart, taking him along with her. Her release welled up from a place deep inside her, grabbed hold and didn’t let go.
Her body was still quaking with tiny aftershocks when Alex rolled over beside her. They were both breathing heavy, hearts thumping wildly.
“I don’t know about you,” Alex said, “but I’m not tense anymore.”
Nope
, she was as limp as a wet noodle. “I guess it worked.”
“I guess.”
And if they were to do this only once, they had certainly gone down in a blaze of glory. Only now, doing it just once wasn’t sounding like such a hot idea anymore. The idea of touching him, making love to him again, had her heart beating faster.
Maybe instead of one time, they should limit it to one night. Since neither had anything better to do anyway.
She rolled on her side and curled up to him, draping one leg over both of his, playing with the soft hair on his chest. “Alex?”
“Hmm?”
“I have a problem.”
He looked down at her, brow furrowed. “What kind of problem?”
“I’m feeling tense again.”
The hint of a grin tipped up one corner of his mouth. “Well, then, Princess. We’ll just have to do something about that.
At 5:00 a.m., before any of the family were up, and running on barely an hour of sleep, Sophie slipped out of Alex’s bed, threw on her clothes and tiptoed down the stairs. She was only a dozen steps from the door and almost home free when Hannah walked out of the kitchen, Frederick awake and gurgling happily on her shoulder, and caught her red-handed sneaking out.
“My, you’re up early,” Hannah said, flashing Sophie a wry smile.
“You, too. The munchkin seems to be feeling better.”
“His fever is gone and it looks as though his teeth are beginning to break through.” She patted his back. “You know, you’re lucky.”
“Lucky?”
“Phillip usually does the morning feeding.”
“Oh?”
“If you don’t want him to know about you and Alex, you probably shouldn’t spend the night.”
Probably not. “Well, I should get home, then.”
“I like Alex, Sophie. And I know you try to act tough, but I worry about you. That you’ll get hurt.”
It was early, and she’d had far too little sleep to listen to a lecture. Not to mention that she was a little worried herself. Something happened last night. Something…special. What was supposed to be just sex, felt like a heck of a lot more. To her at least. But what had Alex been thinking? And did she want to find out?
Affair with the Princess Page 10
