Page 86 of A Dance of Shadows

I tuck myself closer against Lorenzo, absorbing his warmth. Wishing I could sink right into him, away from the horrors of the past few days.

As his repeated caress stirs a growing flicker of heat in my veins, it occurs to me that I might not be able to enjoy his closeness for much longer. Wherever Raul is taking us, the prince of Rione will probably need to bring his illusionary gift to bear again to conceal us, needing to focus all his attention on that.

But no one can see us in the carriage right now.

I touch his cheek to tilt his face toward me and tug his mouth to mine. Lorenzo makes a rough sound in his throat and kisses me back, urgently but still with all his usual tenderness.“It’s been too long, Rell. It’s so hard staying so far away from you.”

A matching urgency kindles inside me. I kiss him again, our mouths melding together with the heat flaring between our bodies.

Lorenzo’s hand teases down my neck and over the bodice of my dress. As our lips momentarily part, I dart a glance toward our other companion in the carriage.

Bastien is watching from the opposite bench with a pleased smile and a smolder in his eyes. His voice takes on the commanding tone he brings to our intimate encounters to such thrilling effect. “Show our empress just how well you can make the most of this short time together, Lore. Don’t leave her wanting. Those perfect breasts are waiting to be caressed.”

An eager shiver passes under my skin. Lorenzo grins and captures my mouth while easing his lithe fingers beneath my gown’s neckline.

The first stroke of his hand over the peak of my breast has me gasping against his lips. He massages the sensitive flesh more firmly, conjuring quivers of pleasure as magical as his music, and nibbles a searing line down the side of my neck.

The nick of his teeth sends a jolt of bliss straight to my sex. I squirm on the seat, my legs pressing together against the building throb of need.

“She’s going to need more than that,” Bastien says in a huskier tone. “You’d better get her out of those drawers.”

We don’t know how much time we have before we reach our unknown destination. As Lorenzo reaches beneath my skirt to slide off my silky undergarment, my breath quickens.

I shift to help him displace the drawers, and he guides them to my feet. Then he rests his hand gently on my ankle.“Where did he touch you, Rell? Let me wipe away every trace of him.”

Bastien’s eyes gleam. “Yes, burn away those memories with something better.”

I wet my lips in giddy anticipation. “Just my legs, all the way up, and… between.”

Lorenzo hums and rubs his palm in a slow circle against my calf. Kneeling down on the floor of the carriage between the benches, he applies both of his hands to the massage.

As he works his way up my knees and thigh, he strokes every inch of my skin. His soft lips pepper me with kisses where his hands have already traveled.

By the time he’s finished with just the one leg, arousal has pooled between my thighs. I’m aching to drag him to me,into me. But when he reaches for my other ankle, I tip my head back against the wall of the carriage and give myself over even more to the flames of desire he’s stoking.

This is who should have been touching me, taking care of me, all along. Someday it will always be my princes. I’m going to make sure of it, no matter what I have to do.

Because I deserve that one happiness, don’t I?

When Lorenzo has continued his provocative massage up my other thigh, he trails his fingertips over my sex. I have to suppress a needy moan, a thin whine escaping me all the same.

“I want you inside me,” I say. “Like he’s never been and never will be. Take me all the way.”

A matching desire lights Lorenzo’s face. He pushes up to meet my lips with an even fiercer kiss. Sitting on the bench again, he yanks at the fastenings on his trousers and urges me onto him.

As I move to straddle him, my injured shoulder bumps against the wall of the carriage. A gasp that’s more pain than pleasure hitches from my throat.

Lorenzo freezes, but Bastien has already crossed the small space of the carriage. He sinks onto the cushion I just left.

“Turn her so I can support her too, Lore. We’ll keep her sheltered between us.”

Touching me carefully, Lorenzo shifts us around so he’s facing Bastien. At the press of Bastien’s encouraging hands, I lean back against the prince of Cotea’s lean chest.

Bastien plants one hand against my shoulder to hold it still. The other comes to rest on my waist, tugging my skirt higher. His mouth brands the crook of my neck before he speaks again. “Give her what she’s craving, Lore. Fill her to the brim.”

I grasp Lorenzo’s shirt with a sound that’s almost desperate, and he wastes no time obliging. With one last kiss, he lines up the head of his cock and plunges into me.

I can’t quite muffle another moan. Lorenzo echoes it with a groan of his own, rocking back and then into me again.

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