by Katee Robert
He moved back, enjoying the tiny sparks of pain from her grip, and kissed her other thigh. “Tell me what you want.”
She spread her thighs wider, only her hold on him keeping her from falling. And fuck if he didn’t like that. An offering without reservations, without conditions. Just this woman and her need for him. Cami’s breath hitched. “I need your mouth on my pussy. Suck my clit. Fuck me with your tongue. Make me come on your face.”
His cock went so hard he had to close his eyes for a moment to prevent himself from coming on the spot. Holy fuck, she was the sexiest woman he’d ever had the privilege of touching.
“Dirty girl,” he murmured. “I fucking love it.” Luca dragged his tongue over her pussy, exploring her with his tongue the same way he had with his fingers. It took everything he had not to fall on her like a mad beast, but less than thirty seconds in, Cami was writhing against him, pulling him closer yet.
“There. Right there. Keep doing that. Oh god, don’t you dare stop.”
Luca had half a mind to tease her, but that plan dissipated in the face of her need. He circled her clit in exactly the way she demanded, loving the way she slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her escalating cries. Her thighs clamped around his head as she came. She held nothing back.
His princess orgasmed like a fucking porn star.
Luca didn’t give her a chance to recover. He leveraged her down onto her back and wedged her thighs wide again. She whimpered. “Too much.”
“Shhh. I’ve got you.” He left her clit alone for now, but Luca and control were no longer on speaking terms. Her taste drove him mad and he licked and sucked and fucked her with his tongue until her hands were back in his hair and she rode his mouth like a wild thing.
A minute. Five. Twenty. Time lost meaning until she orgasmed again, her legs falling limply to the floor. Cami gave an almost hysterical laugh. “Holy shit.”
He hauled himself out of the water and pressed a quick kiss to her mouth. “Don’t move.”
“As if I could.”
It took a few minutes to get their sleeping bags laid out, and by then his skin had mostly dried. He bent down and scooped Cami up, ignoring her half-hearted protest. “If you try to walk right now, you’re going to fall flat on your face.”
“Arrogant.”
“Accurate.” He laid her down on the sleeping bag and hesitated.
Cami reached overhead and dug through her pack, coming up with a pair of condoms. When he raised his brows, she shrugged. “Don’t look at me. They weren’t in my pack when I got on the boat with War.”
He didn’t know if he should throttle his sister or thank her. Considering that Cami lay naked before him, Luca leaned toward the latter option. “My sister likes to meddle.”
“I’ll be sure to send her a gift basket.” She ripped open the condom and sat up to roll it over his cock. “No more teasing. I need you inside me, and I need it now.”
“What the lady wants, the lady gets.” He kissed her, bearing them down to the ground and used his free hand to guide his cock into her. Slowly. Fuck, he needed to go slowly. Luca fought the urge to drive into her, the need only made stronger by the way she writhed against him and clutched his hips. “I’m going to hurt you.”
“Don’t care.” She hooked one leg around his waist and arched up, sinking him another few inches into her. “More.”
“Cami, fuck, just give me a second.”
She released his hips to plant her hands on either side of his face, forcing him to meet those big blue eyes. “You won’t break me, and you won’t hurt me. Stop worrying about doing the right thing and fuck me, Luca. I can take it. I promise I can take it.”
Another thing he couldn’t deny her. Luca pushed the rest of the way into her, sheathing himself to the hilt. He half expected Cami to tense up, but she went molten in his arms. “More.”
“Greedy girl.”
“Yes.”
Luca leveraged himself up, wedging his hands under her ass and lifting her hips with him. “Legs on my shoulders.” He barely waited for Cami’s rush to obey before he gripped her hips and started fucking her in earnest.
Her breasts bounced with each stroke, and hell if it wasn’t a thousand times sexier than he’d imagined. She made everything better, hooking her ankles at the back of his neck and rising to meet him every time he plunged into her, her fingers digging into his thighs, her blue, blue eyes so fucking honest he could barely stand to meet them.
Oh yeah, his princess was loving every second of this.
“Touch yourself. I want to feel you coming around my cock.”
She released one of his thighs and snaked her hand down her stomach to circle her clit. Brazen, sexy woman. Luca clenched his jaw, fighting against the orgasm he could feel drawing his balls up. Not yet. Soon, but not yet.
Cami’s back bowed and he lunged down to take her mouth, eating her cry as she came. The new position sank him impossibly deep inside her, and he couldn’t hold off any longer. Luca came hard enough to see stars. The world shifted on its axis and as he tried to relearn how to breathe, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d shifted right along with it.
He carefully disentangled her legs and moved away long enough to dispose of the condom in the bag at the bottom of his pack for trash. Luca laid down beside her, and Cami immediately rolled to tuck herself under his arm. “I thought there was no way it could live up to the fantasies and yet here we are.”
He found himself grinning down at her. “Long time until dawn.”
Cami frowned against his chest. “And only one condom.”
“Guess we’ll have to get creative.”
She lifted her head and gave him a Cheshire Cat grin. “You know, there’s one fantasy we haven’t played out yet.”
“Only one?”
“Give me some credit. I’ve only known you a handful of days, but I have an overactive imagination and a healthy sex drive.” She trailed a single finger down the center of his chest to his stomach. “Let’s try this again. I want to suck your dick, Luca.” She arched up and nipped his earlobe. “Do you want to know how many times I touched myself to that fantasy?”
Fuck, this woman might actually kill him. “Is that a trick question?”
“Nope.” She moved to straddle him, her grin soothing something in his chest that had been jagged so long, he barely noticed it until Cami’s presence sanded it down to smoothness. “The answer is seven.”
“Fuck.”
“Mmm. Yeah, I had a lot of time on my hands.” She laughed softly. “How far did you get after I came all over your hand on the beach?”
He could give her nothing but honesty. “I ducked into the first storage closet I got to inside the casino.”
“Thought so.” She took his hands and pressed them to her breasts, sliding his palms down her body and back up again. “I’m too pent up. I need you again.”
God, she was perfect. Completely and utterly perfect.
“Good. I’m nowhere near done with you yet.” Luca gripped her hips and moved her up his body to straddle his face.
13
Cami woke up to Luca’s fingers trailing along her spine. She smiled against her sleeping bag. “What time is it?” In the dark hours of the night, they’d brought each other to orgasm again and again, all lust and desperation and need. Every time, she swore she’d stay awake and leave, but somehow it never happened. She’d close her eyes for a moment and be woken the next with Luca kissing the back of her neck, or stroking a hand over her hip, easing her into wakefulness before he eased his fingers or tongue into her.
“It’s time to go.”
Her eyes flew open. “What?” Cami rolled away from his touch, the cold of the cavern rock floor stealing her breath. She welcomed the rush of clarity it brought. Above them, the natural skylight showed a clear blue. Not only was it morning, but the sun had fully risen. “How?”
“Morning usually follows night.” He wore only his pants, and she pressed her lips together at
the sight of Luca looking so deliciously relaxed.
It was a lie.
A second glance had her noting the tension in his shoulders and the tightness in his jaw. He might have affected a relaxed pose, but the man who’d seduced her last night was slipping away as she watched. He tapped her pack. “Or do you mean how did you manage to fall asleep instead of sneaking out?”
Shock slapped her in the face. She recovered, but not quickly enough. “I—”
“If your next words are going to be a lie, don’t waste them.”
Steel bled into her spine, straightening her shoulders and back. Cami lifted her chin. “You would have planned the same thing in my position.”
“Undoubtedly.” His gaze flicked over her body, molten hot and just as angry. “Why are you here, Cami? The truth.”
Apparently the escape they’d offered each other had passed with the night. She tried not to mourn its loss. This had to happen. They didn’t trust each other, and that wasn’t going to change as long as they were on this island.
It might not change even after the Hunt was over.
She couldn’t stay on the Island of Ys, and Luca had made it abundantly clear that he would never leave in any permanent way.
Permanent? Really, Cami? You know better. You’re not some naive teenager who thinks that sex means anything other than a mutually satisfying experience.
Cami stalked over to yank her pack out of Luca’s hands. He held on just long enough to let her know he’d allowed her to take it, and she wanted to scream in his face for ruining everything. Or at least ruining things before she had a chance to. Instead, she pulled out a set of clean clothes, and put entirely too much focus in donning them.
“Answer the question.”
Fat chance of that. “I’m here for the same reason that everyone else is—to compete in the Wild Hunt and win.” She dropped to the ground and grabbed her boots. Why had she thought this was a good idea? Oh, right, she hadn’t thought it was a good idea.
She’d just done it anyways.
While her body still ached deliciously from what they’d done through the night, she couldn’t quite dredge up the appropriate amount of regret. He still looked at her like he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to lob her into the pool of water or take her against the wall, despite them already using the second condom. She knew which option had her vote, and that was enough to get her moving. Cami stood and snatched up her pack. “I’ve got to go.”
“We’ve got to go.” Luca shook his head. “But we need to have this conversation first. Tell me the truth, Cami. Why are you competing?”
Her chances of getting out of here without answering that question dwindled away to nothing. She could bolt, but he’d follow and, unless she was willing to try and hurt him, they’d just be having this same conversation in a few hours. Cami clenched her backpack to her chest. “Fine. You want to know the truth? I grew up in a glass box of a life. Yes, I’ve known loss, but ultimately I was surrounded by love and treated as breakable and something to be protected.” Theo, more than anyone else, had stepped in after their father’s death and taken it upon himself to fill father and brother and monarch roles in her life. He did it for love, because he had seen horrible things in this world and he wanted to spare Cami the pain of them.
It didn’t change the fact that he’d been a big reason she moved through the palace, constantly feeling as if she were gasping for air. There was never enough. Not in the palace. Not even in the entire country. “There are only so many paths a princess can take. I can’t have a real job. I can’t have a normal life. I can’t travel without a contingent of security shadowing my steps.”
She sighed and tried to let go of her anger and frustration. In the end, it wasn’t Luca’s fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. “When I was eighteen, Yael Nibley saw that I was drowning and offered me a life preserver. She wanted answers about what happened to her lost grandson—you—and I wanted to be free to live something resembling a normal life. Thalania couldn’t give either of us what we needed.”
“She knew what happened to me.” Luca’s features might as well have been carved from stone. “Thalania has sent three delegations here to try to pry me away from the island. Not including you.”
Cami shrugged. “They left without answers. She knew you were here, knew you were alive, but she had no other information, no matter how deeply her resources dug.”
“So she … what? Sent you as a sacrifice? She didn’t honestly think you were going to win the Wild Hunt.”
He was so damn sure of that, she wanted to throw something. “I’ve been doing just fine without your help. I would have been doing better if I wasn’t the White Stag.”
“Maybe.” Now it was his turn to shrug. “This is all fascinating, but you haven’t answered my question.”
Cami closed her eyes for half a second and sighed. “I would think it’s obvious, Luca. I want to be free.”
“You don’t need to win the Hunt to be free.”
She finally let her bag drop back to the ground. “You don’t understand.”
“You’re a princess. You probably have your own fat bank account and private residence and a whole lot of shit normal people don’t have. You have money and resources. You don’t need a favor from Amarante.”
He definitely didn’t understand. She ran her hand through her hair. “Everything I have is connected to Thalania. Everything. Theo might never hurt me on purpose, but he fully expects me to fulfill the role set out for me. We’re the royal family and we have a responsibility to the people.” He’d said as much to her just a few months ago when she’d gone back to the palace for the birth of her most recent niece. She rubbed her hand across her chest at the memory.
“You’ll never sit on the throne. Both your brothers seem like they’re intent on breeding small armies of children, and every one moves you a spot further from being queen.”
“Correct, but I’m still expected to fall in line. To pick some cause to champion that’s not too controversial, and spend most of my time doing that until I finally agree to marry someone suitable.”
“Suitable meaning …”
“Either a noble from one of Thalania’s Families or someone of equal rank in one of our allying countries. After that, there will be more than one child, but no more than four. I will have to show up to every event, looking above reproach, and do my part to ensure Thalania’s power structure remains unharmed.” Theo had never told her that, of course. Any of it. He wasn’t cruel, especially with Cami, and if she came to him saying that she had fallen in love with a person who didn’t have the prerequisite qualifiers, Theo wouldn’t stand in her way.
But there was still the gilded cage her station represented.
“What are you saying?” Luca looked at her like he’d never seen her before. “You don’t want to be a princess anymore?”
“I’ll always be a princess, Luca. No one—not even Amarante—can change that. I simply want my freedom.”
He huffed out a low. “There’s nothing simple about that.”
“I’m aware. Hence the Hunt.” She motioned at the waterfall, the cavern, them. For years, it felt like she’d been at the starting gate, bouncing in frustration and waiting for the signal to run. Now that she was actually in the race … She didn’t know what to think. Luca no doubt thought her quest for freedom was foolish—Yael had told her as much countless times over the years—but that was all Cami wanted. “It’s the only way.”
“Cami …”
A shadow flickered over the natural skylight above them. That was all the warning Cami got before a woman dropped into the cavern. The assassin. She wore a dappled black and green catsuit that molded to her curvy body and had to make her damn near invisible in the trees. Cami barely had a chance to take a step back when the woman launched herself at Luca. The impact sounded meaty and painful as they hit the ground.
Cami cried out, but it was too late.
Their struggle sent them rolling across the ground
.
Right into the pool of water.
Every instinct Luca had demanded he fight to the surface for another breath, but he shoved the impulse away. Instead, he clasped Envy around the hips, ignoring her striking him, and pulled her deeper. The pool wasn’t that deep, but it would still serve its purpose. He pinned to them to floor as best he could. How long had they been under? Less than a minute, but the fight hadn’t allowed either of them to pull in a full, deep breath.
Luca could outlast her. He had to.
She drew her knife.
The fact she hadn’t until that point spoke more of her confidence than anything else. Or maybe she hadn’t wanted to risk killing Cami in the struggle. It didn’t matter.
He caught the faint glint off the blade before it slid into his shoulder. Fuck, that hurts. He didn’t shrink from it, though. To pull away was to give her another chance to stab him. Instead, he leaned in, forcing her back until she knocked against the floor of the pool again.
Her breath escaped in a stream of bubbles. If he let her up now …
But no, he couldn’t risk it. Better to incapacitate her now and trigger her beacon than to leave her behind to keep hunting them. This woman—this assassin—was arguably one of the most dangerous people on the island, and removing her from the competition was just as important as ensuring the right person won.
Especially now that she’d found them.
Another stream of bubbles. She fought to get to the knife out of his shoulder, but her hands found no purchase. If they’d been on land, she might have stood a chance. Luca was good, but Envy was better. He had no doubt of that.
In the water, though?
She went limp, all fight disappearing in the space of a heartbeat. He should keep her down here longer, to make sure she wasn’t faking, but Luca didn’t want to kill her. He just needed her gone.
He pushed off the bottom of the pool and took them to the surface. Cami crouched on the ledge, her blue eyes large with worry. Luca grabbed the edge and hefted Envy up. “CPR.”
