Page 68 of Regal Queen

“Okay.” I conceded the word easily because I’d practiced saying it several times already. But the word was still rough and sticky. It tasted like acid and glue and dust in my mouth. But at the pleased noise she made, I was glad I’d said it.

I didn’t really mean it.

Not fucking likely.

There was no way I was letting her go.

I would give her her freedom all right, but then I would chase her to the ends of the fucking earth.

I would tear down anything in my path, burn it all down to be with her again.

But right now, she needed the door to her cage wide open, and despite everything inside me wanting to lock that cage up and throw away the key so she could never leave me, I was flinging the door wide open. “I will do anything you want me to do, and let you walk away from me when this is all over, but I want something in return. Right now. Not your heart, but payment for helping you take down Dimitri.”

She took in a deep breath, steeling herself. “Okay, what do you want?”

I looked down into her face, possession and need filling me. I loved this woman, and if she was going to walk away from me, I was going to take this one day to taste every inch of her skin, to touch her and feel her, to show her how much she meant to me.

So that if she walked away from me, I could cling to the memory for the rest of my life.

“You,” I growled, tightening my hold over the nape of her neck as I leaned down to kiss her. “I need to fuck you. I’m not asking for your heart, Rose, just your body, and for tonight only. Can you give that to me?”

She was already kissing me back, and she nodded her head, breathing out her answer in between kisses. “Yes.”

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