Page 63 of Regally Binding

He locked her gaze. Even in a cosy family kitchen, he transformed her shakes into shivers. “Okay.” Crinkles appeared around his eyes. “You’ve never been fucked.”

“That’s not a question,” she snapped. “And people need to stop saying it.”

“Why?” he grunted.

“Why what?”

“Why have you never been fucked?”

Liss pushed his hands away and walked around the table to create a barrier. She shoved her hands on her hips. “I’ve had sex. It was fine.” She raised her voice. His distraction worked, which made her angrier because he’d done as she asked. “I don’t understand the obsession with it. And what does getting fucked mean anyway?”

“Sex should never be fine,” Bear replied.

Liss raised an eyebrow and bared her teeth.

“Remember the sex you had,” he continued as he walked around the table to meet her. “Was it hard, fast passion that made your body sore but left every limb buzzing with adrenaline? Did you think about it for days? When you sat at your desk, did you have flashbacks to how he made you scream as he thrust inside you? Fucking is an addiction. When you’re properly fucked, it’s all you can think about. You touch yourself, desperate to feel it again.”

She froze as he closed in on her. Their stares locked. Liss couldn’t form words, not that she knew what to say. Her skin blistered with anticipation, and she rolled her hips as his words teased her. His hand brushed her ponytail, making it swing.

“Have you experienced a moment where you relive the build-up to the climax and you find yourself biting your lip or unable to continue a conversation because all you want is to ride him again or have him inside you? You’re desperate for your skin to be touched because it will spark a memory and a sensation. You don’t get sex like that with everyone, and there is a place for the loving kind, too, but there’s something irresistible…” His lips were on the cusp of brushing hers. “…something life-transforming about a fuck that makes your soul ache as you touch yourself and relive it.”

His breath rasped as she leaned in for that touch.

“I thought you said we shouldn’t do this,” she replied as shivers criss-crossed up and down her legs, and she quivered under his heady gaze.

“I say a lot of things, and most of them are bullshit.”

She laughed despite the intensity of the moment. “You’re a dick, an irresistible one, but a dick nonetheless.”

“You’re distracted, though.”

She pulled her lips into her mouth. “Maybe you should check in with Strike.”

As if on cue, Bear’s phone rang. He answered immediately, his stare never leaving her.

“Good. I’ll tell her,” he replied to a male voice that sounded like Strike. He hung up the phone and said, “Isla’s safe. Strike found her and Steve’s brother doing something similar to what we were talking about. She didn’t know about the bomb.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

“And thank you for distracting me. You’re very good at faking desire.”

“Yep, I’m like fucking Tom Hardy with my acting skills,” he grunted as he fisted his hands. “I’m going to do a perimeter check, and you should probably get back to bed. Strike will bring your clothes as soon as the hotel is secured. We’ll stay here until you move to the palace and take up your place with new security.”

Bear walked with a wider gait than usual and banged the kitchen door. “Fuck,” he grunted from the other side. And then he was gone.

Chapter Thirty

Liss stretched out in bed. Sleep was a waste of time, and she’d rested enough.

With the curtains tightly closed and her burner phone and watch in her bag, time lost meaning. She needed to make a decision about accepting the throne. The King suggested the family would be there for her, but his health was rapidly deteriorating.

And then there was Bear. They barely knew each other, yet she couldn’t deny her attraction. Maybe it was just the connection of two people in an intense situation.

Yet she couldn’t stop thinking about him and his past. Even now, she wanted to be sitting near him as he worked.

Liss huffed loudly. Her mum used to say that a cup of tea and a biscuit solved everything. Maybe she was right. Yet again, Liss walked down the hall of memories dedicated to Strike’s family. She paused briefly at the photo of Bear, his arms raised in glory. He was majestic.

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