Page 73 of Dark Witch: Entangled Fates

"Can I ask you something?" He still refused to look at her.

He heard her pause and felt her eyes on him. "Of course. What do you wish to know?"

"That prince you mentioned, the one who keeps showing up in your tarot cards. What's that all about? I mean, am I just a placeholder until you find your Prince Charming? Or am I misunderstanding the situation?"

There was a moment of silence, a pause that seemed to stretch uncomfortably long. "You could be my prince." Jasmine walked in between his spread thighs and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Divining the future is not an exact science, and the signs can be interpreted in many ways. The cards might have meant a real royal prince, or they could have meant it metaphorically, like a prince of a man." She gave him a sultry look as she rubbed herself against him. "You were definitely princely between the sheets. I don't recall ever coming so hard and so many times."

Edgar tried to stifle a wince. He was a generous and skilled lover, but Jasmine's explosive orgasms had been the product of his immortal biology, so he couldn't take credit for them. It was the venom hitting her system that had induced the string of powerful climaxes and sent her on a psychedelic trip through the clouds. He had thralled her to forget the bite, to blur the edges of the euphoria that had consumed her in the aftermath, but he'd left the memories of the pleasure intact.

That was what she remembered.

Lifting his head, he looked at her beautiful face, and as he took in the sultry gleam in her eyes and the wicked curve of her lips, he couldn't help but wonder if that was enough. Could he be satisfied with just being her lover but not her partner, not her prince?

"I'm flattered," he said. "Although not surprised. I've been told that before."

She laughed. "Now you’re making me jealous." She took a step back, dropped her robe, and gave him a mouth-watering view of her ass that was covered by such a thin strip of fabric it was like it wasn't covered at all.

And it was glorious.

She pulled on a tight dress that looked like a bandage around her delicious body, stepped into a pair of stilettos, and then turned around and struck a pose. "How do I look?"

"Like a goddess," Edgar breathed. "The goddess of carnal pleasures."

Jasmine chuckled. "I'll take it. Anything that is preceded by the word goddess is music to my ears."

54

JASMINE

Jasmine felt a flutter of excitement as Edgar led her to the bar, her eyes widening at the sight of Marina and Larissa, both decked out in beautiful evening dresses. The women were accompanied by two hunky guys, who were hovering over them like bees over honey.

"Jasmine." Marina pursed her lips. "You look absolutely stunning. Are you attending the wedding tonight?"

"I am." Jasmine grinned. "Amanda convinced her brother to let me out of the lower decks dungeon. And I have to say that you ladies look gorgeous." She slanted a glance at Edgar. "Ed, these are my friends, Marina and Larissa. Ed is my escort to the party tonight."

He wrapped his arm around her waist. "I hope that I am much more than that."

"Of course, darling." She turned to kiss the side of his face. "But you are my escort tonight because I wouldn't be attending the wedding if you didn't invite me as your date."

He cast her an amused look before turning to the men. "Peter, Jay, this is Jasmine. The lady we rescued from the drug cartel."

"Everyone on this ship knows who you are." The dark-haired one who was standing next to Marina extended his hand. "You are famous, Jasmine. I'm Peter, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm glad that we got to you in time."

She put her hand in his and smiled. "Not as glad as I am. If not for Margo and your security team, my life, as I know it, would have been over. I would have become the plaything of a mobster until he tired of me and got rid of me, and by getting rid, I don't mean letting me go free."

Jasmine shivered.

She didn't like to think of what would have happened to her if she hadn't befriended Margo and been rescued along with her. One thing was certain. She would never have touched a tarot deck again or lit white candles asking for true love.

"I'm Jay." The blond guy, who looked a little like David Beckham, offered her his hand. "I'm glad that you are not going to be swimming with the fishes anytime soon."

Marina gasped at his crude comment, but Jasmine laughed. "Yeah, I'm glad too."

As she sat down next to the women at the bar, Edgar joined the two men, and the six of them continued chatting. Jasmine tried to rein in her flirtatious persona, but it was so second nature to her that she didn't know how to act differently, especially around men.

It was so easy and fun to engage in playful banter, so entertaining to make even the most stoic of males melt with a simple bat of her lashes or a well-timed laugh. She knew the power of her own charm and felt helpless not to use it.

Perhaps she could channel Edna.

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