Page 32 of Her Red Hot Secret Royal Fling

S—

Meet me at the stables.

Beneath it,he’d drawn a little map, showing which exit of the palace to take and where to turn to find the building he meant. Her heart raced. She stared at herself in the mirror, contemplated getting changed, then staying in what she was in, unsure what was the right thing to do. On the one hand, she wanted to go to him as quickly as possible. On the other, she didn’t relish the idea of being found wandering around in the palace in a nightgown and robe.

Modesty won out. She dressed quickly into a pair of flared pants and a fitted shirt, which she teamed with a lightweight jacket. Her hair she pulled over one shoulder and finger combed, not wanting to lose any more time by styling it.

Her knees shook as she made her way through the palace, his map in one hand. She exited the palace at the door he’d mentioned, nodding to one of the security guards there and hoping they weren’t wondering at her random exploration. If they were, no one said anything. She followed the path, gravel crunching underfoot, magnificent gardens on either side of her, away from the palace. As she turned a corner, a large building came into sight. Not a little, dilapidated timber shape, as she might have supposed when imagining a ‘stable’, but rather twostories, and modern. She approached it a little more slowly, scanning the place, wondering where to enter, before a light caught her attention and she gravitated towards it.

She stepped through the door and looked around, before calling, “Hello?”

She was careful not to say his name, in case this had been some kind of a mistake. She didn’t want anyone to know what she was doing there, except Ares.

“I’m upstairs,” his voice came to her from that direction. She moved quickly, holding the banister as she walked up, her heart racing as he came into view. Above the stables was an actual apartment, with a kitchen, bed, lounge room. It was all open plan, but also very well-appointed and luxurious. And standing near the kitchen, where a window afforded a view of the path from the palace—how he knew she was approaching, Sofia guessed—was Ares.

Her heart leapt into her throat even as indecision held her immobile. In the forest, she’d not hesitated, even once, about going to him. He had been hers and she’d been his. But here, there was a level of constraint she hadn’t anticipated and certainly didn’t want. Here, she felt a little lost.

Until he strode towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her roughly against his body and kissing her until she was groaning into his mouth and every single part of her was flush with need and heat.

“What took you so long?” she demanded, pulling away from him just long enough to ask the question, before her hands reached for his shirt and ripped it out of his pants, needing, after a whole day apart, to touch his skin with hers.

“I know,” he agreed, without explaining. And he didn’t need to explain, anyway. He was a King, and he’d spent four days in the wilderness with her. Of course, he had work to carry on with.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, kissing him now, pressing the words into his mouth. “We’re here.”

“Yes, we’re here.”

And then his hands were pushing at her clothes with the same desperate need as hers, stripping her naked, piece by piece, just as she was doing to him, a frantic urgency underscoring every single part of their movements. Finally, naked, he lifted her up so Sofia could wrap her legs around his waist and he carried her effortlessly to the bed, placing her down with a reverence that was at odds with the way he proceeded to master her body, his weight heavy on hers, his touch demanding and commanding, effortlessly driving her to the edge of sanity and reason, teasing her, his hands touching every inch of her even when that same touch was setting her alight.

His mouth crashed down on hers, and his tongue lashed her sensitive flesh, her mouth first and then lower, taking her nipples in his mouth, one by one, flicking her with his tongue, sucking some more, so she knew that in the morning her skin would be marked. Just the thought of that made her heart soar.

He drew his mouth lower, to her sex, and just as he had that first night in the forest, and every night since, he used his incredible skills to bring her to the brink of orgasm. Only this time, rather than driving her over it, he held her poised on the edge of that precipice, with her pulse raging and her needs firing like darts through her bloodstream, so she cried his name again and again, the air heavy with the sound of need.

“Please,” she begged, pushing up onto her elbows and staring at him, wildness in her features.

His eyes were darkly determined, glittering when they clashed to hers.

“This has been a long time coming,” he said darkly, reaching past her to the condoms he’d placed on the bedside table. Her heart lurched with desperate need.

“Too long,” she agreed, reaching for his length and stroking it with her fingertips. She was rewarded with his shuddering release of breath. Then, he was spreading the contraceptive down and nudging her sex with his tip.

“Ares—,”

He held himself above her, staring down into her eyes, and her heart skipped a beat, and then another.

“Don’t hold back,” she said, simply. “You have no idea how much I want this.”

“You want to make a bet?”

He kissed her then, still pressed against her sex, so she spread her legs wider and lifted her hips, trying to draw him in. Ares though was teasing her even now, making her wait when it was the last thing she wanted.

“Please,” she begged again, the word almost manic.

He cupped her face and held her still. “I’m scared of how much I want you.” She was surprised because Ares seemed like a man who would fear nothing. “I’m scared of how much I want to own you, to make you mine, to mark you as mine.” He ran his finger lower to her nipple and squeezed. “I have never felt that before. It’s primal and I don’t recognize this part of myself.”

Her lips parted on a wave of surprise, and something else. Something explosively exciting, because it was all so different for her, too, and she was glad she wasn’t alone there.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, simply. “You must tell me if?—,”

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