Page 17 of What Fury Brings
His head swerved in the direction of room twelve without his permission.
Who was this woman who had the audacity to show a preference in princes?
Sanos looked over his shoulder once, then back to the door. The hallway was still empty.
And his curiosity got the better of him.
He stepped inside room twelve and found a lone woman standing by the window. Her back was to him.
“Are you the new girl?” he asked.
She turned, and he was surprised to find that so much of her was covered up. She didn’t dress like the other Amarran-looking whores. Maybe that was her gimmick. Her face was shadowed under a hood so he couldn’t guess a thing about her appearance, save that she was a large woman.
His mouth watered. A large woman meant large breasts.
He shook his head to focus. He wouldn’t pounce on her without first speaking to her. He wasn’t an animal.
She gave him a slow perusal from head to toe, and his blood heated.
“Are you the prince?” she asked. Her voice was deep and sultry. He liked that.
“I’m the best prince,” he answered, shutting the door behind him so they could be alone. He thought perhaps he could see a flash of teeth beneath her hood.
“I know you are. That’s why I chose you.”
Disappointment came over him as he remembered she wanted Andrastus, but she was moving toward him, and he found himself rooted to the spot.
“You are the fairest, the cleverest, the most romantic of princes,” she said.
She stood before him now and placed her hands on his shoulders. With one finger, he drew back her hood.
Her hair was a dark chestnut. The strands had a natural shimmer to them even with the low candlelight in the room. She wore it in a single braid that curved over one shoulder. Two strands, one on each side of her head, were too short to fit into the plait. She wore no makeup or paint, which was unusual, but he rather liked the idea of not getting it in his mouth when he kissed her. Her skin was white but tanned from spending lots of time in the sun. Darker than most he saw in Brutus. Her eyes were hazel, and her lips were so plump he couldn’t wait to taste them.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, reaching out to fiddle with the end of her braid. Her hair was like velvet against his fingers. He wanted to undo her braid and tangle his fingers in it.
“You’re larger than I expected,” she said.
He blinked at the reminder that she still thought him his brother. He leaned down. “I am the best prince,” he said again. “I’ll prove it.”
“I’m counting on that,” she said. She was focused on his neck for some reason, so he traced her lips with his fingertip. That brought her gaze where he wanted it. On his own mouth.
He leaned down the rest of the way.
And tasted heaven.
Olerra knew she should get Andrastus out of here as quickly as possible, but he seduced her oh so prettily, and she wasn’t prepared for the feeling of his mouth on hers.
She’d been kissed before, of course. But those were boys in her earlier years, before she decided that in order to keep her secret she needed to distance herself from the opposite sex.
She’d never been kissed by a man.
His lips didn’t kiss her so much as devour her. He moaned as he took her bottom lip between his own, letting his tongue dart across her skin. His teeth closed over the same spot and pulled gently. It felt as though he pulled on something deep within her, a tether that reached between her legs and was her undoing.
She shoved him against the closed door to the room and kissed him in earnest, loving this intensity that was so new to her. Andrastus made a sound of surprise deep in his throat but didn’t stop. His hands found her braid again. When her hair fell loose, she realized he’d undone the band. And then his fingers were tracing up and down her scalp, cupping the back of her head to keep their mouths fused together.
Oh, but she liked that.
He ran light fingers down her neck, over the top of her cloak, andfinally reached her breasts, where he took the biggest handfuls he could get and squeezed gently.
