Page 21 of Her Red Hot Secret Royal Fling

“Well, I definitely can’t have you miss out on that.” He leaned forward and kissed her, long and slow, so she could hardly breathe, and her whole body was on fire once more. “I’ll find a way.” And then his hand was between her legs, bringing her once more to a fever pitch, making her tremble and ache and then explode when she thought she surely didn’t have another orgasm in her. Every nerve ending in her body was sensitive and raw, so afterward, when he pulled her back against him, she felt his touch in every cell of her being.

“You’d better,” she murmured, her eyes growing heavy, her body pushed into a slumberous state by the incredible pleasure she’d experienced over and over. But as she drifted off, she was aware that she hadn’t really answered his question about her past lovers, and she was glad she’d been able to avoid it. For some reason, she didn’t want to talk about any of that with Ares. Nor did she want to hear about his relationship history. It wasn’t like they needed to have those discussions anyway. Perhaps if this was the beginning of a relationship, but it wasn’t. It was just a few nights, with a man who made her whole body and soul sing. No need to complicate that with anything deep and meaningful.

In the light of day,he was more aware of the potential pitfalls of what they’d done. Aware, though not necessarily influenced by. How could he care too much about common sense when her beautiful body was pressed against him, every inch of her in contact with his skin, so he could feel and touch and admire even before she was awake?

He loved touching her. He loved brushing his hands over her body, feeling her tremble, knowing that he had the power to blow her reserved demeanour into the heavens with his hands or his mouth. And eventually, with himself, because there wasno way, after last night, that they wouldn’t be sleeping together properly when they were back in the palace.

He’d been so tempted last night. She was on contraception. They were both safe. The chances of her conceiving had to be almost non-existent. But there was still a possibility, and he wasn’t prepared to take that risk—for himself, or her.

It’s the last thing I want, ever.

She’d been so emphatic, he remembered now. So certain that pregnancy wasn’t on her radar. Did she mean now? Or ever, as she had said? Did she mean simply with him, or was this her stance in general?

Questions fired through him, but he also remembered the way she had of evading him, and he figured there was no harm in letting her. After everything with Louisa, he was actually excited by the prospect of something like this. Something simple and easy, something that was just about the physical. Which wasn’t to say he didn’t enjoy talking with her—he did. She was funny, intelligent, interesting. He liked the fact she didn’t take herself—or him—too seriously. So why mess that up by pushing her to bare her soul to him?

He'd already done that.

He knew everything about Louisa. They’d swapped secrets and life stories and dreams, ambitions, resentments; all of it. In the end, it had just made the hurt that much greater.

He was done with being hurt, with putting himself in positions of vulnerability.

Things with Sofia were fun but also, in the ways that mattered most, meaningless. They’d enjoythis,for as long as she was in Moricosia, and then they’d end it. She’d leave, and he’d get on with the job of being King, confident that both Louisa and Sofia were in his rear vision mirror.

It was a perfect plan, and for Ares, that gave him the confidence that nothing could go wrong.

She could have puther hunger down to hiking. God knew they’d eaten up the miles again already today. But it was more than that. It was the insatiable heat he’d stirred in her the night before that had sent her nervous system into overdrive and meant her whole body was burning extra energy simplyanticipatingthe next time they touched or kissed.

Which was taking way too long, she thought, disgruntled, when they finally stepped onto a campsite to pause for lunch, and Ares began pulling things out of his pack so they could eat. They were down to dehydrated rations now, she noted—not that she cared about food, despite her hunger.

She watched as he meticulously opened packets and set about reconstituting them, and she thought about him, and his hiking trips, and how he brought himself out here into the middle of nowhere, to be alone and to think, and she wondered about his life back in the palace, and what he might have been or done had he not inherited the throne. All sorts of questions that she wanted answers to, even when she’d decided, the night before, not to let things between them get too deep. Then again, it wasn’t ‘deep’ to wonder about a person, nor to ask them for some information about their life. Wasn’t that just good manners?

But just as she was going to say something, he stood up and stretched his arms over his head, so his shirt lifted to reveal his tanned, toned abdomen. Just like that, her mouth went dry, and all thoughts dissipated from her mind. So too, her ability to think.

She stepped forward, drawing his attention. She didn’t care. Another step. And another. And when she was toe to toe with him, she looked into his eyes, took a deep breath, and then, without another moment or thought, kissed him.

And he kissed her back. Oh, did he kiss her back. In a heavenly, swooning way, he kissed her as though they werelovers who’d been separated for months and miles, not virtual strangers who’d spent the night naked and in close confines. He kissed her as though she was the answer to a question he’d been trying to find for years. He kissed her and her knees went weak, her body felt heavy, her pulse was torrential. He kissed her and she felt as though she’d died and gone to heaven.

It wasn’t just a kiss though. His hands were on her body, pulling at her clothes, undressing her with the same fevered need as his kiss had communicated, kissing her until she was incandescent and then worshipping her body with his touch, before pulling away, and simply staring at her. “You’re beautiful,” he muttered, so her cheeks flushed self-consciously.

He wasn’t the first person to tell her that, but she’d always put the compliment down as something people said. With Ares, she reallyfeltthe sincerity in his words. He said it almost as if he resented her for being beautiful, as if he wished he didn’t find her so.

“I wanted to see you, so badly last night,” he admitted. “But I couldn’t have imagined,” he gestured to her with a wave of his hands, and then pulled her back against him, kissing her once more, running his hands over her shoulders, her back, her naked bottom, holding her against him, so his rock hard arousal pressed against her sex, driving her quite wild with what she desperately wanted to feel—him, deep inside of her.

“Ares,” she groaned, rolling her hips, grinding against him.

“I know,” he muttered, and then pulled away, looking around for a second before striding to his pack and pulling out a blanket, which he threw on the ground at their feet before drawing her down with him, laying her on her back, and bringing his body over hers.

He was fully clothed, and yet the textures of his clothing—the buttons, the zip, the fabric—all added to the heady sensuality of what they were doing. Nothing, though, could compete with thefeeling of his arousal at her sex—her naked, him not. It didn’t matter though, because he moved as though he was trying to be with her, and the pleasure for Sofia was immense. He was right there, pressing against her in the place that offered multitudes of sensation, so she was suddenly digging her nails into his shoulder and arching her back, crying out as wave after wave of release washed over her, making her whole body tremble.

“So beautiful,” he grunted, against her neck, holding himself still, even when his breath was rushing, and she knew what willpower it must be taking for him to give into this and come with her. She lay on her back, staring up at the milky grey sky, contentment a strangely unfamiliar experience.

Usually, the moment she’d been with a guy, she was pulling away—mentally at least—and working out when she could extricate herself physically. She enjoyed the flirtation, and she enjoyed the physicality of sex, but she hated anything that seemed like a promise for more, and sex definitely ran the risk of that.

With Ares, everything was different.

She could relax into this, enjoy every moment because they’d both been so clear from the beginning about the limitations of what they were doing. That was so freeing—how could she fail to enjoy the feeling?

“So, tell me something,” she murmured, stroking his back with her nails. Up, down, feeling the bumps of his spine, the breadth of his shoulders.

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