Page 107 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

“Yes, but that’s not it. I—”

The words caught in her throat as he crushed his mouth to hers. This time she didn’t hesitate. She moaned against his lips, her hands gripping his hair and pulling him closer. He swung her into his arms and carried her to the bed. Their mouths were still fused together as he lowered her to the soft surface, then covered her with his body. She arched against him, legs moving restlessly, nipples hardening as he continued to kiss her with reckless abandon. He pushed his hips against hers and she felt the hard length of his arousal against her core. She cried out.

“Esmerelda.”

Her name came out on a guttural groan as he buried one hand in her hair, the other slipping up her side beneath her shirt, trailing over her stomach, before settling on her bare breast.

“Oh, Deus...”He lifted his head, stared down at her with eyes burning.

She blushed.

He grabbed the material of her shirt and pulled it up. Cool air kissed her breasts before his mouth descended, hot and wet, making her bow up off the bed as he sucked a nipple into his mouth and laved it with his tongue.

“Julius!”

He moved to the other, repeated the same tantalizing, delicious act of torture on her other breast. When she pulled at his shirt, he sat up and yanked it off before lowering himself back down. His bare chest pressed against her breasts. The intimacy of his skin naked against hers, the sheer heat of his body, sent a bold, erotic thrill through her. She reached up, her hands framing his face as she pulled his head down and pressed her lips to his.

More. God, she wanted more. Rational thought tried to break through, to remind her what she had been about to tell him. She needed to tell him before things went any further.

And then he pulled back. He stared at her, his chest rising and falling with heavy, ragged breaths. Embarrassment started to creep in.

“Julius—”

He rolled off the bed and stalked over to the window, hung his head and let out another harsh breath.

“I lost control. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t...” She fumbled, trying to come up with the right words. “Julius, I kissed you back—”

“I never should have come to your room in this state.” He swore as he turned, his face shrouded in shadow. “I’m coming to understand I’m the sort of man who held himself back. Who kept things inside.” He raked his hand through his hair. “And I lost control. Just like that.”

He took one step forward, out of the shadows and into the golden glow of a lamp. Shock robbed her of speech as their eyes met. Desire burned, just as it had on the boat. But so did something else. Something she heard in his voice, felt in the way he’d touched her. Something that went deeper than simple lust.

Julius was coming to know himself once more. The past was merging with the present. Except this time, he still wanted her.

And I want him.

Before she could wrap her mind around what she’d been fighting the past few days, could accept that the man standing before her felt something similar to what she did, Julius moved past her toward the door.

“Wait!”

“Tomorrow, Esmerelda. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

The edge to his voice reminded her of the crown prince, authoritative and unyielding, his accent more pronounced. He was hurting, perhaps just as confused as she was.

She let him go.

The click of the door closing echoed in her room. Slowly, she sank into the embrace of her pillows. One hand drifted up, her fingers trailing over her swollen lips.

The last five minutes had been enlightening on multiple fronts. The question that had plagued her since he’d first appeared on the beach, however, remained the same.

What was she going to do?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

WAVESLAPPEDGENTLYagainst the beach. Julius’s bare feet sank into the wet sand, the ground cushioning his steps as the warm water swirled around his ankles before receding back into the ocean.

He needed this moment of peace before he went back to the villa. Needed the physical distance from the woman within its walls.

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