Page 259 of Emylia

So I kissed him.

Hard.

My lips crashed into his, claiming what was already mine. He didn’t hesitate—his mouth opened, welcoming me with a growl that rumbled through his chest. His fingers tangled in my hair, tipping my head back, exposing the sensitive line of my neck. He bit. Scraped. Soothed. I shuddered, completely at his mercy.

“Fuck, I want you,” he growled, voice shredded with need.

Breathless, I looked up. “Out here?”

His eyes glinted. “Why not? Unless you’re not comfortable.”

That daring lilt in his tone? It flipped a switch in me.

We’d only ever been intimate in bed. Places with walls. Boundaries. Control.

But right now? I didn’t want control.

I wanted chaos.

I wanted him.

“Where would we… you know… do it?”

A rumble of laughter escaped him. “Do you mean have sex?”

“Mmm hmm.”

He nipped my ear again, harder this time. “You are so Gods-damn innocent, Princess. It makes my fucking heart swell.”

“Oh, really?”

He leaned in, brushing his lips against mine. “Mmm hmm.”

He used my words against me. That cocky bastard.

Fuck it.

I reached down, my hand slipping past the waistband of his underwear before he could blink. My fingers wrapped around him—hot, hard, thick—and he inhaled sharply.

“Princess,” he choked, his jaw going slack.

“Something wrong?” I asked sweetly, stroking him slow. Deliberate.

“No, I just?—”

“If you’d like, I can go back to being innocent little me.” I bit my lip, smiling like sin.

Maalikai’s eyes darkened to midnight as he stared at me like I was prey and he’d just remembered he was a predator.

“Please don’t,” he rasped.

My hand moved faster. His breath turned ragged. His fingers slid into my panties, finding me already soaked.

“Can I take these off?” he asked, voice wrecked.

“Only if I can take off yours.”

Seconds later, both our undergarments were discarded on the bank with a wet slap. Maalikai scooped me into his arms like I weighed nothing, and I wrapped my legs around him, locking us together.

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