by Ember Casey
“Don’t stop,” she whispers with a smile. “I don’t think I can wait any longer.”
You have no idea, Elle, I think. You have no idea what that time without you did to me. My brother is right—I am a changed man. Why, just last week, Lady Karina—my former flame and almost-sex-partner at that Adriatic resort last month—called me, and I deleted her number without a second thought. And she’s not the only one I’ve deleted. One by one, I’ve been removing all traces of my ex-lovers from my life, forever severing myself from former booty calls and casual encounters. I know, deep down, none of them will ever satisfy me ever again. There’s only one woman for me now.
I kiss Elle deeply, desperately, wanting to prove to myself yet again that she’s here. That she’s mine.
My entire body aches with need as I push down my pants. My body feels like a coiled spring, tense and eager and about to come undone.
“Elle,” I murmur against her lips.
My tongue slips deeper into her mouth as I lower myself more fully on top of her. Her fingers dig into my back, her nails pressing into my skin as she draws me closer. Her legs wrap around me, pulling me right against her, and I growl against her mouth as my cock slides against the warm wetness between her thighs. All I have to do is reposition myself slightly, and I would slide right into her, finally be buried deep inside of her again. There would be nothing between us anymore.
Nothing.
“Shit,” I say, jerking back.
She blinks up at me. “What?”
“Condom.” Fucking condom. I fumble for my pants. There should be a condom in my wallet. But when I find the pocket of my pants, I realize my wallet isn’t there.
Shit. It’s with the rest of things in my room down the hall.
Elle sits up partway. “Do you have one?”
“I thought I did, but I forgot I didn’t have my wallet on me.” I run a hand through my hair. “Maybe Matthias had enough foresight to put some in the nightstand for us.” It almost pains me to pull away from her, so before I do I lean over and kiss her again. Her lips melt against mine, and the hunger takes over me once more. My hand slides through her hair, and my tongue slips deep into her mouth as I push her completely onto her back. The feeling of her bare skin against mine drives me mad, makes me forget everything else but my hunger for her.
And she seems to have forgotten everything else, too. Her hands are on my back again, pulling me closer. Her tongue wars with mine, and her back arches, her hips rising to meet me. The movement makes her body slide against my cock in a way that leaves me seeing stars. I grind my body against hers, aching for more of that friction, and she moans and tightens her grip on me. It would be so easy to slide into her, to forget silly things like condoms and submit to the demands of our bodies. I already know she feels exquisite around me—I can only imagine the effect is heightened when there isn’t a latex barrier between us.
Her body shifts again, leaving me right at her entrance, and the animal in me threatens to take over. One push of my hips and I’d be inside of her.
No.
With a groan, I pull myself off of her.
“I… I’m going to go look in the nightstand,” I say, my voice ragged. I drag myself to my feet. “I’ll be right back.”
My legs shake as I stumble toward the bedroom. We need to get her some birth control. Immediately. Or I need to make sure condoms are stocked everywhere in this palace where we might have sex. Elle getting pregnant would almost certainly violate the terms of our arrangement with my father—an illegitimate royal baby would most certainly be a scandal.
I’m dizzy with need by the time I reach the bedside table and yank the drawer open. I fumble through the contents, but there’s nothing inside resembling condoms.
You have to be fucking kidding me.
But I should have known I wouldn’t find anything. After all, I requested separate rooms. There’s no reason the palace staff would think to supply a guest with condoms, and Matthias wouldn’t have said anything out of discretion.
So what now?
I rub my face. I know there are condoms in my things—I just need to run down the corridor and grab one. Of course, that requires getting dressed—being caught running nude through the palace by one of the staff would probably violate my agreement with my father as well—but I can be quick. Perhaps I should suggest to Elle that we both go to my room. That way, if once isn’t enough, we’ll have plenty of—
“Leo?”
I jump at the sound of Elle’s voice.
She’s standing at the door, naked and lovely, and my mouth goes dry.
“I was just wondering what was taking so long,” she says, a hint of a smile on her lips.
In three strides I’m across the room and taking her in my arms again. I can’t help myself. She leans into me as I pull her close, our bodies melting against each other again. We couldn’t fight it if we tried.
I tilt her head back and kiss her. She kisses me back, her arms looping around my neck, and I twist her so she’s pressed up against the wall with me against her.
“There…are…no…condoms…” I manage between my attacks on her mouth.
She makes a sound of frustration but continues kissing me. Her leg slides up mine, hooking around my thigh and bringing our hips in line.
“I need to…go down…to my room…” I say. “Grab one there.” But even as the words leave my mouth, my hands are grabbing the backs of her thighs. I lift her up, keeping her back against the wall as she hooks her legs around me again.
My cock is right against her once more, and the way she writhes against me makes instinct take over. I slide partway into her, and we both freeze.
“Elle.” The sound I make is hardly recognizable as her name. We need to stop this now, or there’s no stopping it at all. We’re teetering on the point of no return—maybe already past it.
Her breaths are shallow and fast, and every one makes her breasts swell against my chest. I don’t know if I can stop now. I don’t know if I can pull back…
“I don’t care,” she whispers finally, pulling my face back down to hers. “I don’t care.”
I don’t know who shifts first, but as our mouths meet again, I suddenly find myself all the way inside of her.
Good God.
I don’t think anymore. I just let my body take over, let it slide into her again and again. Elle is everything I want. Everything I could ever need.
Judging by the way her nails dig into my back, the way she moves against me, her need is just as great.
My entire body is hot and tight and aching. My hands grip the backs of her thighs as I thrust into her, but this isn’t enough. I want to go deeper. Need to.
I pull her away from the wall, and her arms tighten around my neck as I move her toward the bed. The moment her back hits the mattress, I’m moving again, pushing into her as the desire takes over.
“Elle,” I rasp against her mouth. God, Elle…
She moans as she lifts her hips to meet my thrusts.
I pull back, sitting up just enough to allow myself to hook my hands beneath her knees and push her legs up, giving me deeper access. We both groan, and I can tell by the way her eyes are fluttering that she’s getting close.
I want to feel her come with nothing between us.
As I continue moving, I let one hand slide down between her legs. She was closer than I thought—she jerks at the first touch of my finger to her clit, and she moans as her body starts to contract around my cock. I lean forward, kissing her again as her body pulses beneath and around me.
“I love you,” I say against her mouth.
Her climax is drawing me quickly to my own release. My whole body tenses as I imagine how it will feel to come inside of her, to fill her completely—to have her completely. I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire life.
I almost do it. God, I want to do it. But at the last second, the possible consequences fill my mind, and I pull away from her with less than a second to spare
, spilling myself on the bed instead. I’ve never known any agony in my life like that separation.
With a groan, I lower myself beside her. Fuck. This is both the most amazing and most agonizing thing I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never felt so close to someone and so far from them at the same time.
I pull Elle into my arms again. Her body is relaxed and molds easily to mine, and she smiles languidly before burying her face in my chest.
“I love you,” I whisper again.
I feel her lips part slightly against the skin of my chest, almost as if she’s about to speak, but in the end, she says nothing.
It doesn’t matter—she’s here and she’s mine. And nothing will ever take her away from me ever again.
Elle
I almost say it when I hear him whisper those words to me again.
I love you.
But I can’t. If I let myself say it again—this time because I mean it—it’s one more thing he can use against me when this is over.
When this is over.
I close my eyes, breathing him in. I don’t want to think about that right now—about what happens when this is all over. When this whole thing blows up, which it almost certainly will. Right now, I just want him to hold me. To tell me without words that this is the right thing.
God, I love the way he smells. The way he feels. The way he seems to have some instinct about how to touch me. Where to touch me. I love the way our bodies seem to fit together perfectly, like we were each made for the other. I love how he says my name too often. I love that he loves to argue with me. I love that he came back for me. I love how he tells me he loves me. I love that I believe him.
I love him, too. Fuck, I love him, too.
Something about acknowledging this, even to myself, makes my heart speed up in panic. My breaths are coming too quickly, and I feel like I’m not getting any oxygen.
Leo kisses the top of my head and pulls me closer. He slides a hand down my shoulder, trailing his fingers down my arm to pull my hand into his. He laces his fingers through mine—almost like he’s reassuring me. Almost like he’s able to read my mind.
Damn it, I love that, too. How he can read my mind.
This is happening too fast. If I think about how many days—about how much time we’ve actually spent together, it isn’t much. It damn well isn’t enough to be in love. This—whatever this is—cannot be love. It’s impossible on so many levels.
But what do I really know about love? I’ve thought I was in love exactly twice before now—and neither of those men loved me back. They said the words—they both said everything right… They were just liars. Leo isn’t like them, though. He doesn’t want anything from me.
Except he does.
Whatever happened here in Montovia in the past three months has little do with me—I already know that. Leo has been in trouble with his father for his behavior, and he needs to do something to improve his standing. And not just with his father—with the world. I’m not sure how I fit into this equation unless Leo is telling the truth. Nothing that’s happened makes any sense unless he really has done everything because he really is in love with me. Unless…
No. I shouldn’t let myself go there. I should close my eyes—enjoy this moment. Sex with Leo is the best I’ve ever had, and I should at least take the opportunity to savor this. To burn every bit of it into my memory, just in case my unless is real. In case this is as short lived as I suspect it will be. I mean, the door is just over there, and he can get up any second now and walk out, promising to return. Promising to—
“I should return to my room.” He finally breaks the long moment of silence. He squeezes my hand while his other arm is wrapped around my shoulder, his fingers stroking my hair. “I’ll get the condoms…”
I freeze. My eyes are wide and I’m pretty sure I’m not breathing. I can’t speak—I can’t really even tell what I’m thinking. I only remember the last time he said those exact words when we were together at my house in Santa Monica. The last time he said he’d be back in a second. The last time he’d left me naked in bed to get condoms.
He kisses the top of my head again before pulls his hand from mine and eases his arm out from under me, sitting up. He smiles down at me. “I’ll have Matthias make you an appointment this week so you can begin using birth control. Then we won’t have these needless interruptions.”
I blink a few times, snapping myself out of my momentary panic attack.
Maybe he isn’t leaving me for good. Maybe he really does only want to return to his room to grab them. Maybe.
I sit up, folding my arms over my breasts, suddenly very self-conscious. I watch him walk back into the sitting room, pulling his clothes from where they were strewn about the floor. He pulls his pants on before he grabs my clothes, too, returning to the bedroom.
He hands my clothes to me. “Matthias will have hung your other things in there,” he says, motioning to a door on the other side of the bedroom. “Your washroom is over there.” He motions to another door on the opposite side of the room.
Leo looks at the clock on the nightstand and his eyes widen a bit. “It is getting rather late. I should shower and prepare myself for dinner with my family.” He pulls his shirt on and begins buttoning it.
I can only sit and stare at him, my arms still firmly crossed over my chest.
He seems lost in thought, only staring at the clock, keeping his gaze averted from mine.
He finally finishes dressing and turns back for the door. He barely glances over his shoulder when he speaks. “You can call for your dinner whenever you like. Someone will be happy to bring something up for you.”
I quickly pull my blouse on, then my pants, holding my top closed with my hands. “That’s it?”
He turns slightly but doesn’t meet my gaze. “Is what it, Elle?”
I want to call him out—I want to ask if this was some sort of fuck-and-run. Some sort of steam-blowing activity before he has to deal with his father again at dinner. But I don’t.
He runs a hand through his hair, but still won’t make eye contact with me. “I’m not sure what you want, Elle. Last night on the plane you were quite clear about how you needed space—”
“That was last night.”
“Indeed.” He sighs and turns a bit more toward me, but still won’t meet my gaze. “If you would like to spend the night in my suite, Elle, I would have no objection.”
I lift a brow. “Would your father?”
If I didn’t know better, I would swear his cheeks turn pink at my words. He runs a hand through his hair again. “I suppose he would.”
“I see. So the whole ‘we can spend all the time we want together’ thing isn’t exactly true, is it, Your Highness?”
“I’m not sure if any of us…” His voice trails off for a moment before he turns to me. His gaze finally meets mine. “I may be the first of the royal children to bring home a lover.”
I frown. “Is that what I am? A lover?”
He smiles. “You’re much more than that, Elle. I believe we’ve already established that fact.”
I nod and pull my blouse a little tighter across my chest. “You haven’t had the talk with them, have you? About what’s acceptable under your parents’ roof?”
“Ah. Yes, I suppose that is accurate.” He grins. “Though it clearly is not going to stop me.”
I lift a brow. “But if your father finds out…”
He frowns. “And he almost certainly will.” He tilts his head and looks at me for a moment. “I didn’t think this through very well, Elle. I suppose you may add that to my short list of flaws.”
“I think rash decision making was always on there, Leo.”
“Yes, I suppose it was.” He stares at me for a moment. “We’ll figure something out.”
“Your walls have ears and eyes. Surely they’ll see you coming into my room each night. Or me going into yours.” I pause. “And someone will certainly notice all the condoms in the trash.”
�
�Shit.” He frowns and stares at me again for another long moment. “I’ll speak with them at dinner.”
I lift a brow. “About wanting to sleep with your girlfriend?”
He flashes me a toothy grin. “Are you willing to call yourself that now?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. You said I was more than a lover. I’m not sure how you want to define me. Maybe I’m just a means to an end? A way for you to get back into your father’s good graces?”
He chuckles, rubbing his jaw. “I can think of a hundred better ways to get in my father’s good graces than taking up with a common—” He stops, his smile falling. “What I meant to say was—”
“I know exactly what you meant to say, Leo. A commoner.” I shrug again. “Whatever. That’s what I am, right? I don’t even have celebrity status to fall back on. It must be killing your parents, knowing you’ve taken up with someone who can only drag you down.” I have to force myself not to roll my eyes. As if I give a damn about celebrities or status.
He shakes his head. “Perhaps for my father. But not for my mother. She already knows of my feelings for you, Elle. We’ve spoken at great length about it, actually. And she is looking forward to meeting the woman who has changed her son.”
Great. I’ve never met the parents of any man I’ve ever dated—Leo’s father is the first, and that went so well…
He continues. “Perhaps tonight after dinner. Or we can take tea with her tomorrow afternoon, after we’ve all had a chance to rest.” He grins. “If we rest. I’m not so certain I’ll be able to, particularly after you’ve reminded me these past few days of what I’ve been missing, Elle.”
My cheeks heat up in an instant and my heart pounds in my chest. Energy coils low in my belly, pulling at me again. Making me want him inside me again. Now.
I don’t want him to leave. But I don’t say it out loud—he needs to make amends with his family, as I’m all too aware. And I don’t want to make things worse for him by making him late to dinner because he was fucking his horny girlfriend.
