by Maisey Yates
And she burst into flame.
Her climax overtook her, suddenly, radically.
She hadn’t been expecting it. Her name on his lips. Her. He wanted her.
King Alex de Prospero wanted her. She was not a second prize, nor was she simply his responsibility, his ward. He wanted her. It was laced into every word he spoke, but most especially into her name.
For she wasn’t only a generic woman to him. She had cost something.
And perhaps she wouldn’t be able to lay sole claim to his body as he could to hers, but she had that. And it mattered.
He gripped her rear end, pulling her hard against him, his flesh pressed against her aching cleft. He rocked against her, eyes blazing. And she gasped. A pulse beat between her legs, and she felt hollow, desperate for his invasion. But he only teased her, his masculinity growing slick with her desire as he teased them both.
She was gasping, weeping, barely able to breathe as he continued to rock in a maddeningly slow rhythm against her.
With one hand, he gripped the back of her hair, forcing her to keep her gaze steady on his. Then he leaned forward, kissing her, the edge of his teeth scraping her chin, her neck, making his way down to her breasts.
And she felt beautiful. Perfect. Cherished. As he held her like this she felt like everything.
And for a girl who had constantly felt small, diminished, like nothing, it was the most erotic and incredible experience to be had.
He lifted her then, as he stood up, and deposited her on the table. Then he repositioned himself, sliding slowly inside of her. And when he was buried deep, he kissed her. Hard.
She cried out, bucking against him, the pleasure that was pouring through her almost too much to bear. He barely moved, and he sent her straight over the edge again. The climax shocked her, so hard on the heels of the other, and it left her gasping, begging for more. He cupped her breasts, riding her hard, the sound of their mutual need filling the room. He was fully clothed, and she resented it. She wanted him. All of him. Wanted to touch his body. Wanted to claim him, consume him as he was doing her. She ripped his shirt open, wrenched his tie free of his neck. She couldn’t stop touching him. Moving her hands all over that golden skin. Every masculine inch of him, as the thickest, hardest part of him filled her to the brim.
“Alex,” she called out his name.
“Yes,” he growled. “You know who this is. Inside of you. Claiming you.”
“Alexius,” she said.
The sound of his pleasure became a fury, driving them both to the brink.
“No,” she whimpered as she felt another climax rising inside of her. There was no way she could survive it. “I can’t. Not again.”
“You will,” he said.
He reached between their bodies, and closed his thumb and forefinger over her slick lips, pinching the source of her pleasure, and she cried out. “Alex!”
She shattered completely. She couldn’t stop. It seemed to go on and on. Over and over again, when surely she must have reached the end of pleasure. The end of being.
The end of the world.
But there at the end, was Alex. His strong arms, his stern face. And it wasn’t disapproval that she saw there. It was passion.
It was what always had been there. But it had been banked before, controlled. And now it was rampant. Free. Rioting through them both.
Taking them both to a place she hadn’t even realized existed.
Alex.
Of course she had feared him. She had been right to.
For this was blessing and curse rolled into one. This was more than anything had ever been.
Than anything ever could be.
And when he shattered, it sent her over the edge again. Left her a sobbing, gasping mess in his arms.
“My King,” she said, putting her fingertips against his lips.
And he shuddered again.
Her King. Hers.
He might have mistaken her, might have thought she was simply using it as a title. But it wasn’t. It was more.
Hers.
Her King. Her man.
And hovering around the edges was the truth that she didn’t think she wanted.
The truth of her feelings. Of how she really felt.
She hadn’t known love. Not before this.
Love.
It made her want to weep. And in her reduced state she didn’t think she could handle it.
“Take me to bed,” she said.
“As you wish.” He righted her down, began to put his own clothes back together as best as he possibly could.
And he lifted her up in his arms. She reached down and grabbed a tray of cheese and meat, holding it in her arms as he held her.
“It seems a shame to waste it,” she said as he carried her from the room.
“I doubt I will be hungry for it tonight. Not when I have so much of you to feast on.”
Her face went hot. “Well. If it’s all the same to you, I might want some protein later.”
“Whatever you need to keep up your strength.”
He carried her into his bedchamber. She hadn’t been here before.
It was expansive and incredible, and the bed at the middle of the room was massive.
“You bring a lot of women here. Because it looks conducive to athletic...”
“No,” he said. “This is my space.”
“Good,” she said. “I find that I’m possessive.” He carried her partway into the room. “Go by the dresser.”
He looked at her like she was strange, but he complied, and she deposited the tray on the top of it.
“Let it never be said you don’t think of the practicalities,” he said dryly.
“Well,” she said. “I run a charity.”
“Indeed,” he said.
That stern face. She would give anything to make him laugh, but she knew that he would resist it. With everything he had.
She wanted him to like her cat. To at least tolerate the hedgehogs and the ferret. Because caring for them was part of her. And she wanted to share herself, share her life with him.
But she didn’t know if they would ever be able to bridge that.
As he carried her to the bed and set her down at the center of the large mattress, she found herself releasing that.
It may never happen.
They may never be able to find ground that common.
But they certainly seemed able to find common mattress. And dining table.
Perhaps that would be enough.
Because the naked connection she felt with him here was incredible. Was absolutely everything she could have ever asked for and more.
“My Queen,” he said, before he entered her again.
And it wasn’t the Queen part that mattered to her.
It was that she was his.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“WE HAVE CREATED quite a stir,” Alexius said, walking into Tinley’s bedroom the next day.
She was tucked up on the bed in sweats, her hair a tumble around her. And there was a ferret on the mattress beside her.
“What is the meaning of this?” He gestured toward the animal.
“He’s having his exercise.”
“Why is there a rodent on the mattress?”
“Ferrets are not rodents,” she said, her indignance nearly humorous.
“Ferrets look like rodents.”
“They don’t. You can actually tell because of the teeth...”
“Ferrets look like rodents,” he said. “In Liri, they are now classified as rodents.”
“You can’t do that. You can’t...” She picked the white drapey animal up from the bedspread. “You can’t reclassify an animal just because you want to.”
“I think you’ll find that I can.” Now her fury was amusi
ng.
“Well, it’s stupid,” she huffed. “And no one will agree with you.”
“I think you’ll find everyone will agree with me.”
She sighed, exasperated, and draped the creature over her shoulder. “What is it you wanted to tell me?”
“We have created quite the stir,” he said. “With our engagement.”
“Well, that’s understandable. Given I was previously engaged to your brother.”
“Indeed. Though, the stir that I’ve created with your mother might be bigger than the stir created worldwide.”
“That doesn’t surprise me one bit. My mother is deeply avaricious. And I imagine she’s thrilled.”
“Yes. She misses you.”
Tinley frowned. “She doesn’t. She’s only very happy that she’s finally managed to get what she always wanted.”
“And that is?”
“The potential position with me as Queen. You should hold him.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Peregrine. You should get to know Peregrine.” She offered up her pet, like a ropey, furry python.
“I will have to decline.”
“He means a lot to me.”
“How interesting for you.”
“You know,” she said, “when I came back from school I was feeling really low. And I found out about these animals, which were taken from an animal hoarding room situation. And being able to take care of them made me feel like I was doing something.”
He was not interested in the getting-to-know-you thing Tinley seemed bound and determined to enforce between the two of them. But he found...he was interested in her. And that was something he had not anticipated. “You have a real obsession with feeling like you’re doing something good.”
“Why not? I get tired of feeling like I’m just another pawn. Like I don’t really matter. It feels good to be able to actually make an impact. To do something good, rather than just worrying about myself. I’ve been through a lot of things that were really sad.” Something in his heart went tight.
“Not to say you haven’t,” she said. “But, you have a whole country to do the right thing for. I’ve had them.” She indicated her animals.
“And your charity.”
“Yes. It’s not because I’m very good. Or because I’m uniquely predisposed to being an altruist. It’s just that... When things are sad it’s very easy to sink into a space where you get tired of yourself. Tired of your own pain. Helping somebody else can take your eyes off of that for a while. It can make things feel better. I was deeply hungry for that when I returned to Liri.”
“I can understand that,” he said.
“Good.”
She had so much passion in everything she did. It shamed him, in some ways. Because he didn’t allow himself such measures of feeling. Such an indulgence.
Feelings... Feelings for him had only ever been a bad thing. When those desires began to outweigh his duty, it became a problem. A problem he couldn’t afford.
And she had always been a problem.
He had her now, and as long as he kept everything in its rightful place, it would be as it should.
“You can hold him.”
“I don’t want to.”
“For me?”
She smiled at him. And the strangest thing happened. He found himself smiling back. “I’ll pet it,” he said.
He reached out and brushed his hand over the animal’s ears. Tinley lit up like a beacon.
“Is that a smile?” she asked.
“At you,” he said, putting his hand back at his side. “And you didn’t even get your way. I didn’t hold it, I petted it.”
“I knew you’d never hold him,” she said. “I suggested that so you’d downgrade it to petting. I won.”
“You look ridiculously pleased with yourself.”
“I am. I only wish I had taken a picture.”
“I would have you thrown in the dungeon.”
“You’re really not so scary.”
“I am. I promise you. Ask my enemies.”
“You haven’t got any, have you?”
“None living. So actually, I suppose you can’t ask them. Dead men tell no tales and all of that.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “You try to make me believe you’re that scary. But I know you’re not.”
“Do you?”
With an impish grin she reached out and pressed her palm to the front of his pants. “No.”
He took hold of her wrist and moved her away from him. “Do not touch me while there are animals present.”
She laughed, the sound infectious, and he found himself nearly joining her.
“So what will we do about my mother?” She put the animal back in his cage.
“I suppose we invite her to the wedding. She will know better than to make any comments that will upset you.”
“I’m not sure about that.”
“Does it bother you?”
“It doesn’t bother me, really. That’s another thing I realized recently. I spent a lot of time doing things to defy my mother. She had a low opinion of me, and there was a point where for the sake of rebellion, I decided that I wasn’t going to try. Not to live up to her expectations. Not at all. And I think I became less than I could be trying to be the opposite of her, rather than just being myself.”
“If you don’t want her at the wedding,” he said, “you only have to say.”
“She can come.”
Satisfaction burned inside of him. That suddenly Tinley had the power in the situation with her mother. That she was no longer a small child to be made to feel inferior.
It made him... Happy to give her something.
Whether it was holding her pet or giving her the chance to have a victory against the woman who had made her feel less.
Feelings. They had no place in this. Not anything that went deeper than a smile. Longer than a moment.
He pushed them aside. He pushed everything aside. “We will marry as soon as possible.”
* * *
As soon as possible still meant that it would take some time. But Tinley was okay with that. The sooner the wedding took place the sooner she would have to deal with her mother, and she wasn’t looking forward to that. The sooner the wedding took place, the sooner they would have to deal with the public aspect of what they were doing. And she was just enjoying Alex.
He was adamant, of course, that there was nothing more to know about him. But being with him taught her things that words he spoke never could.
She slept in his bed at night and fell asleep in his strong arms. He saw her in the morning when she woke up, an absolute mess, but smiling. And he seemed to want her all the same. It didn’t matter if she was dressed for dinner or in her pajamas that had little badgers all over them. Though, he’d made it clear he preferred her out of them, and typically stripped her naked the minute she appeared wearing the cozy garments.
She didn’t mind.
Because she liked being naked with him. Because when she was naked with him, she learned things not just about him, but about herself.
She had always thought that she would end up with someone funny.
Dionysus had been like that. Funny and light and easy to get along with.
Alex was... He was dark.
But there was a gravity to his seriousness that made her feel anchored to the earth.
A loyalty in him that she had never witnessed in anyone else.
It made a deep quiet move in her soul.
A security that surpassed all she had ever known.
For when Alex said he would be true to her, she had no doubt he meant it.
She had no real doubt that Dionysus would have meant it either, it was just that she would’ve doubted his ability to keep his promise.
Alex’s promises were part of who he was.
He was a rock, a mountain, a predator. All those things that she thought of him as before.
But she had missed a few crucial things about that characterization.
A mountain was strong, and it would not easily crumble.
Wolves, lions...they protected their pride. Led their packs. They were not solitary, and they did not turn and eat their own.
No. They were the leaders. The protectors.
That was Alex.
And he had brought her in and made her part of him, and that meant that he would die for her.
Kill for her.
She had been loved before.
Her father really had loved her, and she didn’t doubt it.
But the arrangement he’d made with her and Dionysus had been about him. He hadn’t thought it would make her miserable, of course. But Alex had said...her father was human.
This command that she marry Alex, though, it was about managing his own temptation...
It was about her. About who she was in the fact that he could not turn away from her.
And she wouldn’t say that Alex loved her.
But she had become his.
And in his world she felt it was the same thing. If not more. If not deeper.
And tonight she had enticed him out to the garden. It was warm, and beautiful outside, the twilight settling down over them like a veil, the light strong overhead in the garden illuminating them.
She was letting Algernon pounce off some of his fatness, though mostly, the cat was interested only in rolling in the grass, and not actually getting any exercise.
Alex, being Alex, was standing there in his dark suit and shoes, his expression like stone.
Tinley was barefoot, wearing a dress, her hair loose. Her cat was currently on his back, wiggling around in the soft blades of grass, and Tinley giggled, lying down on the grass beside him and rolling onto her own back.
“What is it you’re doing?”
“Enjoying myself,” she said. “You know, you might benefit from enjoying yourself.”
“I’m opposed.”
She shifted, letting her dress ride up around her thighs. There was no one out here. No one but them. Well, and the cat. He did have a strict rule about the fact that she wasn’t permitted to try anything when there were animals watching.
