Page 40 of The Prince from a Cruel Summer
At once, all the tension that had banded in my chest and knotted in my muscles dissipates, replaced by a blinding certainty. This is right.Good.This is where I’m meant to be.
We sink into the kiss, taking the time to discover each other, to the point where I can’t even tell where one kiss ends and another begins. I run a hand through his wet hair and wrap my legs around his waist.
The combination of the cold water, Aidan’s fire, and the steely ridge of his erection sends a flush to my cheeks and neck. My nipples are clearly visible under the stretchy fabric of my swimsuit, the pebbled peaks hard as stone.
The emptiness in my belly throbs, an ache there urging me to claim this man and let him use every inch of me in exchange for his soul. It’s a new and disarming feeling, like I couldclaw,bite, andscratchat him until he belonged to me forever.
It’s too much. Too violent, too carnal, and I recoil from it, spooked.
We both struggle to catch our breath, trapped in a storm that’s both relentless and fragile.
Aidan runs a hand from the side of my face to the hollow of my neck. “Woah. Take it easy there, Songbird. I’m a bit flustered, here.”
“Flustered…” I caress the back of his neck with spider fingers. “Orardent?” I say in jest.
“Fuck. I’m not above taking you with our swimsuits on. Not completely against a crowd, either, if that’s what you’re into, but that’s hardly how I imagined our first time to be.”
“You—” A sharp inhale quakes my chest. The idea that this prince took time out of his day to fantasize about me and reflect on how and when we would have sexfor the first timefloors me.
I press my index finger to his chin dimple, scratching a line down his masculine jaw before climbing to the arch of his brows, taking ownership of his godly face. He’s not wearing his phoenix mask now, his amber eyes open and vulnerable.Definitely real.
He twists his hand in my wet hair, his arms wrapped around me like the ensnaring vines he grew for the trials—dangerous yet beautiful, steady yet bound to choke the life out of you. I should break free, but he’s not letting me go, and here I am, covered in him, already doomed. He crushes his mouth to mine, exploring every groove with his tongue as though he can somehow make up for this disastrous encounter with a deeper, better kiss.
And it works.
So well in fact that I wrap both my arms around his neck for him not to stop. I want him to take me somewhere private and teach me more than how to swim. The heat that ravages my lower belly is ten times as strong as it was with Henri, and after only a brush.
How would it feel if he actually lowered his trunks and tugged away the narrow scrap of fabric keeping me from feeling all of him? How deep would he stretch me as I lowered myself down on his cock? I’d burn to ashes right here.
I can almost see the whole scenario play out behind my closed lids, and he grabs the flesh of my ass as though he’s thinking the exact same thing. Somehow, the thought that we absolutely, maddeningly,desperatelycan’t do it spurs me on.
“We have to stop,” I pant between kisses.
“Yes.”
I sink my nails into his scalp to keep him from retreating. “This can’t happen, and I don’t just meannow. You and me, it would be a disaster,” I say, half-serious, half-mad. “So it’s not just ano, it’s anever.”
He smiles against my lips. “Absolutely never.”
“Hum-Hum.” A loud throat-clearing from behind wrenches the flames out of me, replacing them with a torrent of ice.
Ezra raises a pointed brow. “You two are playing with fire…” He trails off. “Zeke and the Crow just joined us.”
Fuck!The madness that was keeping me in Aidan’s arms stretches and snaps, the whiplash spreading a fine crust of snow down my spine. I push myself off his chest with both hands and grab one of the bigger roots from the network above our heads to keep from sinking.
I exhale, and the air in front of my face frosts in ribbons of mist.
Aidan presses his knuckles to his lips for a moment before his princely mask clicks back into place. “Who invited them?”
“Devi invited Damian. I think Zeke just saw him heading this way and tagged along.”
My gaze darts between the two Fae princes. “We were just—” I huff at my own stupid attempt to lie. Ezra saw us. He saw us, and now he can barter my secret away anytime he damn well pleases. My shoulders sag.
Am I really the kind of woman to squander away my chances to be queen, to have a meaningful life, for a summer fling? As enticing as said fling may seem, it would never last.
Ezra extends a hand in my direction. “Need a knight to get you out of this tight spot, Lady Snow?”
I open my mouth to refuse, but the seriousness of his gaze makes me pause. I can’t swim out of here alone, and if Zeke is to see me in the arms of another man, it shouldn’t be the one I actually kissed. I nod and head toward him.
