Page 43 of Forbid Me

There was a delighted grin on her face as she laced her fingers behind my neck. "Third time."

She didn't need to explain. That was happening more and more. I knew she meant it was the third time I'd swept her off her feet.

I carried Stella's weight with ease, her soft curves fitting perfectly against me as I lowered her into the warm bathwater. She sighed contentedly, leaning back and closing her eyes as the water enveloped her. I watched her with a tenderness that surprised even myself.

Leaning over her, I began to wash away the grime and dirt of our journey. My hands moved gently over her skin. The water shifted and rippled, reflecting the glow in her eyes as she looked up at me. Her trust in me was an unimaginable gift, the connection that hummed between us an invisible thread whose knot I felt tightening.

I did not resist.

"Is this a preview of what I can expect in palace life?"

The soap slipped from my hand. Her casual mention of looking forward to palace life, to being tended to in luxury, jolted me back to reality. Did I even have a tub in my quarters? I had no idea because I spent most of my time in a cabin at the edge of the palace grounds.

Dion aside, Stella was destined for a life of luxury. I couldn't bear the thought of letting her go. My panther and I were in agreement—Stella was ours. But that acknowledgment came with a heavy burden, the knowledge that in keeping her with me, I would be holding her back from a life of royal splendor. She deserved to be a queen, not just the princess she was in my heart.

"I want you here with me, Oz. Get in the tub."

"No," I said, lifting her from the tub. "I'm taking you to bed."

CHAPTER 29

Stella

Ithink I was born without shame of nudity. I saw the other girls in the girls’ bathroom and at sleepovers. How their bodies were different from mine, slimmer, leaner. They had all looked like sticks to me, like dolls with bendable, breakable parts. I'd never been attracted to skinny men, and I'd never wanted to be a skinny woman. I liked food too much.

I liked sex, too.

When Oz laid me down on the bed, still dripping wet from the bath, I spread my thighs shamelessly. He stared for a moment. And then stared some more.

I was starting to feel self-conscious until he licked his lips. That was a signal I knew all too well. What man could resist the sight of wet and waiting vagina? Not any?—

Oz turned on his heel. He marched toward the door. His hands fisted at hissides.

"Oz?"

He didn't respond. He reached for one of the wrapped sexy toys. I couldn't see which one he grabbed. When he turned to come back to me, I saw that a spot was empty in the line of packaged dildos.

He tore through the packaging, letting the cardboard and plastic fall to the ground like snow. Christmas wasn't really a thing in the Crossroads. I loved getting gifts at any time of year.

"I want to watch you." Oz held up a thick purple dildo with a curved end and an on switch that signaled there was a motor inside.

Yes! My mate was kinky. I had to be the luckiest girl in the—"Oh!"

The buzz of the vibrator jolted my legs back apart. My eyes went wide. Not with surprise. I was the proud owner of many sexual aides during the time when I didn’t have a partner to assist me. I had just never had a partner assist with my sex toys.

The vibrator hummed against my inner thigh, but I felt the reverb pulse through my entire body. Oz pressed the dildo just to my entrance. The bulbous head rested below my clit. I let out a little whimper as I met Oz’s gaze. He was doing just as he said. He was watching me.

"Tell me what you like, Stella."

"I like everything you're doing," I whispered, my voice shaking.

My eyes locked onto his, and I saw the hunger in them. I licked my lips. He tracked the movement. First with his eyes. Then with the vibrator. He ran the head around my entrance, ending the journey right on top of my clit.

My hips jerked off the bed.

"Shhhhh," he soothed. "You'll have to hold still so I can get this in."

He said it with a smirk. That smirk grew wider as he pushed the vibrator inside me slowly. A keening sound came from my throat as the buzzing sensation filled me. I arched my back. My entire body trembled with the pleasure of it.

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