Page 133 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

His kiss was like the beating of a drum, waking up something inside of her, something that had lain dormant a long time. He’d been right about the kinds of men she’d gone for in the past: men she liked but didn’t lust, didn’t crave. Men who were no threat to her. She’d avoided anything approaching a flame and had missed out on understanding what fun it was to play with fire. For surely that’s what they were doing?

His tongue lashed hers, his kiss an invasion in every way, but a welcome one. It was an invasion that made her toes curl and her breasts tingle. She pushed against him, needing there to be absolutely no space between their bodies, needing to feel every piece of him. She lifted her arms around his neck, her fingers toying with the hair at his nape, as one leg lifted, and her ankle pressed into his calf muscle.

‘Sebastian,’ she groaned, when he stopped kissing her and dragged his mouth to her throat, his stubble—something she’d once told him, right after they’d married, that he should get rid of to appear more princely—a delight against her sensitive flesh.

He lifted her easily and she wrapped her legs around his waist, his mouth still teasing her as he stepped back inside the house. The walls were thick stone and therefore it was instantly cooler here. Only a few paces inside, he eased her back to standing, his fingers pushing at her silken blouse. Just as he had been in his office a few nights earlier, he was impatient, and a button came loose. He swore, offered her a look close to apology. ‘That was unintentional.’

‘I don’t mind,’ she promised huskily. And she didn’t. His hunger for her, so appreciable, was an incredible aphrodisiac—as if she needed it. He threw her shirt across the room before unclasping her bra and tossing it away likewise, his breath a rugged sound of relief as he stared at her naked torso, warming her with his gaze, rather than his touch.

‘Sebastian,’ she said, again, needing him to go back to kissing her, to touching her. Needing him. ‘Please.’

‘Please kiss you?’ he teased, reaching for the waistband of her skirt and pulling her towards him.

She nodded, giving up on playing it cool, on pretending she wasn’t burning up with need for him.

‘And don’t stop?’ he muttered, mocking a little.

She nodded.

He pushed at her skirt, sliding it down her hips and taking her underwear with it, so within seconds, she was naked, and even in the throes of desire, it occurred to Rosie that he’d never seen her naked—not fully. She didn’t feel self-conscious though, so much as excited, and when he took a single step backwards to allow him to look at her better, something shifted inside of her. He looked as though he had never seen a woman before, or as if he was committing every piece of her to memory. He looked as if she were his, and always would be, and even though she knew that wasn’t true—this was just convenient desire because they needed a baby, a means to an end, just like their marriage—it still lit something in the centre of her being.

‘You are beautiful,’ he said with a shake of his head, as if only just realising it. ‘What a gift the king chose for me.’

She ignored the acid in his remark, and she ignored the reference to King Renee, whom she didn’t want to think about right now.

‘My turn,’ she said, her voice thick, gesturing towards his boxer briefs.

His eyes held hers, latched with a hint of cynicism, but he shook his head slowly. ‘Not yet.’

‘Why not?’ She pouted.

‘Because when I am naked, I am going to find it impossible not to take you.’ She gasped a little. ‘And before I do, I want to taste you.’

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, her mind not computing.

Instead of answering, he knelt before her, one glance at her face showing the amused tilt of his lips before he pressed his mouth to her sex, parting her with his tongue to find her most sensitive cluster of nerves and teasing her there, right where he had in the car with his hands.

She tilted her head back on a long, all-consuming moan, her fingers tangling in his hair, needing to hold on for balance, because the feeling of his tongue brushing her sex was so intimate and overpowering that she wasn’t sure she could possibly stay standing. ‘God, Sebastian,’ she cried out, her body wracked with pleasure. ‘Please don’t stop,’ she said, her knees weak, her whole body awash with flame.

He didn’t answer; how could he? His mouth was otherwise engaged, and he took her instructions very seriously—he wasn’t going to stop until she exploded, and Rosie could feel that building again, wave after wave of pleasure spreading through her body.

His fingers dug into her buttocks, holding her steady, support she badly needed, and she closed her eyes as desire crested into satisfaction and she was riding the biggest, most incredible tide of her life, the explosion and release of this pleasure flooding her from every angle.

He held her as she came against his mouth, feeling her release, her body wracked with trembles, and then he pulled back, catching her eye and grinning before standing, eyes holding hers.

‘And to think, all these months I have thought you too prim to enjoy sex.’

She didn’t tell him that up until a few days ago, he’d been right. Her eyes dropped to the floor, heat flooding her cheeks. The self-consciousness she hadn’t felt earlier was back now, washing over her. ‘I—’

‘Don’t overthink it,’ he challenged, as if he instinctively knew what she was feeling. ‘Now it’s your turn.’

Her eyes widened as she stared at his nether regions and imagined taking him into her mouth.

‘God, not that,’ he muttered, then swore under his breath. ‘I meant to see me naked. What kind of misogynist do you think I am?’

‘Oh.’ Relief flooded her veins. ‘It’s not that I don’t want to. I mean, I just don’t know... I’ve never...’ She trailed off into nothing, but the look in his eyes when they met hers ignited something else inside of her. Something that had nothing to do with sex. She felt a spark and had to look away, because the intensity of his curiosity was too much to bear.

‘I would never ask you to do anything you weren’t comfortable with.’

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