Page 53 of Prince of Never

‘Can I kiss you now?’

‘Please.’

I took her hand and pulled her to me, gently, slowly, savouring the moment, the way she looked as she inched towards me as if she was completely at my command, the way the blood rushed to her skin as she stared up at me.It was as if time had slowed just for us, just for this moment.And then she was before me, her eyes were dropping to my lips and that moment of time seemed to shatter as I took what was offered, what I craved.

Our lips collided and there was nothing slow and gentle about it.The instinct to claim her roared to life, so overwhelming that for a second I didn’t think I’d be able to control it.I pulled her tightly against me, my lips pressing too hard against hers, chasing the warmth of her skin, the gasps of her breath, the way her body melted into mine, all of it pushing me towards the edge of that cliff, threatening to push me over it.

It took every ounce of strength to break the kiss, to draw back from her as my blood pounded in my ears, as the heat of desire clawed its way through me.

‘A consummated bond can’t be broken,’ I said quickly, wanting to get the words out before I lost the will to speak them.Though whether they were for her benefit or my own, I couldn’t say.

‘Oh,’ she said and her brow furrowed as she processed my words.‘Then what are we doing?’

I huffed a laugh.‘It’s nice to know exactly what you want me for, and that it’s not my scintillating conversation.’

Embarrassment tightened her mouth.‘That’s not what I meant,’ she said irritably.‘And have you met you?You’re not exactly a smooth talker.’

‘Imogen,’ I purred, running the tips of my fingers down her arms.‘Be creative.There is a very long list of things I want to do to you, some of them far more wicked than sex.’Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, and I wanted to kiss that spot, wanted to taste her skin, feel the flutter of her pulse beneath it.

‘I haven’t had a lot of boyfriends,’ she blurted out, likely not realising how the wordboyfriendsspoken while she was standing before me in little more than her underwear would test my ability to be controlled and gentle with her.‘It’s been a while since I’ve done this.’

I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger, tilting her head until she met my eyes.‘As far as I’m concerned, youneverhave.Right now, you’re mine.’

‘You’re very possessive,’ she breathed.

‘You have no idea.’

I captured her lips, and any other words she thought to speak, feeling the exact moment when she surrendered herself to me, her arms hooking around my neck, pulling me closer.I slid my hands over the satin of that shift, traced those promised curves all the way down to the hem, to her thighs, where my fingers met bare skin.I needed this thing off her.I needed to see what lay beneath, tofeelit.

When my fingers found a strap, I dropped my mouth to her shoulder, kissing the warm skin there as I slid it down, grazing my fingers down one arm, then the other, scarcely resisting the urge to bite that perfect, smooth shoulder.I watched the satin slither down her torso, watched the goosebumps flutter across her newly exposed skin.

I pushed the slip past her hips, where it sighed to the floor, pooling around her feet.I wanted to look at her properly, wanted her laid out before me.I hooked my arms around her thighs and lifted her off her feet, anticipation burning through me as I laid her on the sheets.

She looked up at me with her hair splayed around her like a halo of sunlight, slipped her hands from my neck to my chest, exploring my skin.I wanted those hands to travel down, lower, lower, until she felt exactly what she was doing to me.I stiffened at the thought, my whole body growing tense as I tried to shake those dangerous thoughts.I needed to stay in control.

‘This is too fast, isn’t it?’she asked, a tangle of uncertainty and disappointment in her voice.

‘Yes.’The word came out hoarse as I battled against my baser instincts, the ones telling me to part her legs and bury myself in her.I had to bridle them if I wanted to keep touching her.

‘It feels like a runaway train.I kiss you, and then I lose control of what happens next.’

I let out a slow breath, brushed my thumb over her lips.‘I’ll stop.I won’t brand you.’It felt I was trying to convince myself more than her.Her hands ran slowly from my chest to my stomach, her tongue darting out to wet her lips as she reached the top of my pants and I had to take hold of her wrist.‘But not if you do that.’

Her answering smile was a little wicked, testing the bounds of my self-control, threatening to shatter it completely and if she decided to ignore me, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stop her.Whether she could sense that or not, I couldn’t be sure, but she let her hands fall back to the bed.

Swallowing hard, I slowly ran my nose along her jaw, whispering a kiss against the hollow behind her ear.My fingers were drawn to her skin like magnets, determined to map every inch of it, every rise and fall, the smooth landscape of it, the curves.They discovered the way her waist dipped in, splaying out to caress the incline at the base of her breasts.I wanted to trace it all again with my lips, with my tongue, but I took a shuddering breath to steady myself and pressed my forehead against hers.

‘Don’t move,’ I whispered.‘Stay still.’She nodded slowly before laying completely still.I needed to get a hold of myself.If I didn’t, this was going to have to stop, and I couldn’t without knowing what she felt like, what sounds she’d make, what she tasted like.But I couldn’t take this too far and rob her of the chance to go home.I owed her that.

Letting out a shaky breath, I moved my hands up, finding the swell and shape of her breasts, the way they filled my hands like I was meant to hold them.She arched her back, pressing them into me.Even that slight movement tested my self-control.Every instinct roared at me to take her, to lay claim to her, bury myself in her.But I was not those baser instincts.They wouldn’t rule me.

I drew back, took in the sight of her bare, of pink nipples against creamy skin, rising and falling with her breaths, too quick and deep.I placed a kiss at the hollow at the base of her throat, lingered at the flutter of her pulse.Swept lower, traced the curve of a breast with my lips.Took her in my mouth.

She gasped, her hands gripping the sheets, and it was a pleasure on the precipice of pain to remain slow, to run a gentle tongue over the hard bud of her nipple and feel her curve harder against me, silently begging for more.

I had to stop, had to draw away, to close my eyes and return to press my forehead against hers, my breathing too hard.‘I don’t think I can do this.’

But how was I supposed to stop?

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