Page 81 of The Prince from a Cruel Summer
Our gazes lock as I slowly peel it away, and his eyes wrinkle at the corners.
“I’ll miss you. Can we at least agree to revisit this one night policy next semester?”
I shake my head, turning away from him. If I let this dangerous hope take root inside me—that there'll be a next time—it’ll fester.
“Five more minutes, then,” he pleads with a boyish pout. “Please.”
He snakes his arms around me, and I relax in his embrace, resting my head on his shoulder. “Oh, alright.”
I’m not as strong as I pretend to be. Certainly not enough to know what’s good for me.
His breath stirs the hairs at the back of my ear. “But you have to admit, that naked swimming lesson sounds heavenly.”
I can’t help but chuckle, then deny him with a regretful wrinkle of the nose and a firm head-shake. “I doubt there would be much swimming involved.”
“Oh, there’d beplentyof swimming…” His voice drops a few octaves, low and intense. “But after, I’d spread you out on the sand and drink the seawater off your skin.” He gives a sharp pinch to my nipple and dips his hand down to caress the space between my legs, his cunning, talented fingers stoking the embers of my need for him.
I cry out at the friction and sink my nails into his thigh. “This is torture.”
The shape of Aidan’s desire swells against my lower back as he cups my breasts in turn, lifting them up and squeezing them tight. “Torture?”
I wish my voice didn’t tremble as I whisper, “Because I can’t have you,” but my walls have crumbled around me. Gone is the girl who played the long game, using her wits to shield herself from bad choices and worse decisions.
His playful tone vanishes. “You have me, Songbird. All of me.”
For now.
Sleeping with Aidan was like stepping into an avalanche. Now that I’ve slipped, there’s nowhere to go but down. Everything but him feels cold.
Tears sting my eyes as I spin around, swinging one leg over his hips and pinning him down. I dive down to kiss him, silencing him in equal measure, desperate to hide the conflicting emotions on my face, terrified that his lovely words might shatter what’s left of my resolve.
He adjusts his hold on my waist, guiding my hips. A sharp moan escapes me as I slide down the length of him to the root. I bite my lower lip, trembling with need and a hint of rage. No one else will ever fit so deeply inside me, or burn so divinely hot against my icy flesh. I’ll never know such bliss again. In one night, he seduced me thoroughly, awakening desires I never knew I had, and gave me a taste of a life I can’t have, a passion unmatched. The dizzying certainty settles deep in my bones—that no one else will ever compare, and that I’ve become addicted to something I’ll forever starve for.
Something I might never find again.
He lifts me just high enough for the tip of his cock to tease my greedy flesh. “Don’t give up on us before we even start. This is not our last morning together.”
“But what if it is?” I choke, the heaviness in my chest making me feel like I’m drowning.
Aidan utters a pained growl. “Then let metortureyou until you scream.” He lowers me in one sharp, urgent movement, joining us together once more.
I kiss him hard, hard enough to bruise him, afraid to cut myself deeper at the altar of his love, yet terrified not to. I claw him closer, rocking over him, chasing both release and destruction. His hold on my hips is unyielding—wild. Delicious.
We reach a savage, bittersweet pleasure. The kind you only find in the eye of a storm. The type of heights you can only plummet from.
Slowly, the cabin comes back into focus. The sky and ocean are still ablaze, as if only minutes have passed, though it feels like I’ve lived and mourned an entire existence.
"I have to go," I croak, pulling myself off him in search of my discarded clothes.
"Then I’ll go with you," he whispers back.
The protective way he holds my hand on our way over to the girls’ wing wrecks me all over again, my rib cage painful and tight as I unlace our fingers. I inch up the vines, trying to keep quiet, and the vegetation plies to meet my needs, allowing for an easy climb. I don’t want Willow—or Thanatos forbid, Iris—to catch me sneaking in.
Aidan follows me all the way up to my bedroom window. “Wait.” He pulls me in for another delirious kiss. “Let me in.”
I crawl over the cushioned bench and turn back to face him, barring his entry. “We already talked about this.”
The dark, incensed look on his face melts away like snow on hot coals so quickly, I wonder if I imagined it. “Okay, okay. You’ve won this round. Go take a shower and wash me off of you if you must. Grab breakfast. Head home like nothing happened. But this isn’t the end, Songbird."
