Page 31 of Off-Limits To The Crown Prince

‘Signorina Barrington comes with me. I wish to know more about her ideas for the children’s ward.’

‘Do I need to ask again?’ Stefano murmured.

Do you know what you’re doing?

Alessio cut him off. ‘No.’

The word left his mouth with barely a thought, and once uttered he would not take it back. He never did. Yet the truth screamed loud in his head. He didn’t know what he was doing. He should be far away from her. Travelling with her was a breach of a self-imposed protocol.

And right now, he didn’t care.

Stefano gave a small bow, the merest of smiles on his face. His eyebrow rose a fraction once more, the expression of amusement seeming to have become almost a permanent fixture Alessio had seen it so often over the past days. He wouldn’t explain because none of this was explicable. His driver opened the door of the car and Hannah slipped into the back seat with him. Clipped on her seatbelt and looked out of the window. The car slid away from the rear of the hospital, starting the journey towards the palace.

‘You were wonderful with the kids,’ Hannah said, her voice soft and almost wistful.

‘So were you.’ They’d flocked to her, with her drawings of them, cartoon characters and everything in between. Those unwell children giggling with delight at the things she drew.

‘They’re an easy audience.’

Her smile lit up the interior of the car. Something in his chest clenched, the whole of him too hot and tight. They’d agreed on one night, that it was enough, yet he hadn’t realised one night with her couldneverbe enough. There was nothing experienced about her, but Hannah’s innocence and naked enthusiasm were like a drug that had him craving. He might never erase the memories from his room, which seemed ridiculous, yet no other woman had ever graced his bed at the palace. He dreaded the anticipation of lonely nights when she left. Craving to take his fill now, whilst he could.

His palms itched, wanting to touch, determined not to. Yet his resolve failed as she kept speaking. All he thought about was her natural beauty and how the children clambered over her as if she were a pied piper. As if she were some kind of saviour.

‘There are so many ways you could help them. A mural would be a beautiful addition to the ward. It would brighten their lives, especially the little ones who need to stay there a long time. I have so many ideas.’

The cabin of the vehicle closed in on him, compressing to a pinpoint that was only them, as if the rest of the world didn’t exist. He loosened his tie, now too tight round his neck. He needed to get out of this small space so he could breathe, so he could think. Even the journey back to the palace felt too long. And, since there was a driver up front, there was nothing he could do here. Yet he kept a small office in the capital, a well-guarded secret, and they were only minutes away from it.

‘Manuel, please take us to the city office.’

‘Of course, Your Highness.’

A few deviations and they arrived, driving through a gated archway and into an internal courtyard. The car stopped and Alessio didn’t wait for his driver. He opened the door himself and stepped out into the baking summer’s heat.

Hannah frowned. ‘Are you leaving?’

He peered into the cabin where she sat, her teeth biting into her bottom lip. ‘No. We have things to discuss. I have an office. It’s private.’

Her mouth opened but she didn’t reply. Merely nodded and followed him from the car. The few staff who ran the premises in his absence scrambled as he entered unannounced. He smiled at them, but it felt more rictus than genuine, each second not alone with Hannah a moment wasted. With introductions over he flung back the door of his office, and she followed him inside. He closed it behind her. Stood in the cool silence and could breathe again.

‘What do you want to discuss, Your Highness?’

He wheeled around, hating that this formality had returned. He’d been wrong in the way he’d treated her this morning. Especially when the desire still ran rich and hot through his veins, calling him out as a liar for pretending what had happened between them was nothing. And, whilst he might lie to himself, he couldn’t lie to her.

‘Is once enough for you?’

Hannah’s eyes darkened, pupils black in the oceanic green. He’d seen them look the same as she’d come apart underneath him in his bed, beautiful and wide with desire matching his own. Her lips parted as a flush crept from her throat. ‘Never.’

‘Good, because I want more.’ His voice was a hiss through clenched teeth at the agony of need unfulfilled. More a command than a request. Harsh and low. Clotted with desire.

Who stepped first, he couldn’t have said. They fell into each other, his hands thrust into her silken locks of hair. Lips on hers, hard and fast. She clung to his shoulders, their tongues touching, and he moved back to a large sofa in the corner. Dropped into it with her straddling his hips, rocking forward on the hardness of him as he groaned into her mouth. He slid his hands to her buttocks, drawing her even closer, hiking up the skirt of her dress till he could grab at the soft, pale skin of her thighs. She quivered under his palms as he moved back in the seat a little and slid a finger between them, her underwear damp with evidence of her arousal. He rubbed over her most sensitive spot. Light touches that had her panting and squirming against him, holding her on a cruel edge. Tormenting her in the way she had unknowingly tormented him by merely existing, the noises she made increasingly desperate. He didn’t care. He wanted her to beg for her pleasure, here in his office, where they could both lose their minds.

He was agonisingly hard now. Her heat was against him, relentless and brutal. He’d been unprepared. He had no protection. The pulse of need drove him on, but as much as he craved to release himself and slide into the wet heat of her, he wouldn’t. The risk to her as much as to him was too great. This journey could lead nowhere permanent. But pleasure was something they could give one another. He had nothing on this afternoon he couldn’t cancel. They could spend it in his rooms once back at the palace, or in hers. It didn’t matter, so long as he was inside her.

Hannah let out a groan. A curse. Aplea.

‘Ah,bella. Am I neglecting you?’ The words were said against her gasping mouth. He slid two fingers inside her, curled them to reach the sensitive spot he knew drove her wild. Worked his thumb over the tight bundle of nerves at the juncture of her thighs as her breath held, the whole of her drawn tight as a bow till she broke apart around him, her shuddering body letting him know she’d tumbled over the edge, moaning his name as her spasms went on and on, clenching round his fingers. With a final flutter she sagged into him. He withdrew from her, wrapped Hannah tight in his arms. His own body, so hard and aching, objected to the way she nestled into him, screaming for its own release. Yet he did nothing, giving her this time. After a few moments relaxed in his arms she stirred, rocked against him again. He gasped as a bright burst of pleasure exploded through him.

‘What about you?’ Her voice was a sigh against his neck, feathering over his skin. She pulled back, her eyes soft, dreamy. Skin flushed a delicate pink. Mouth plump and well-kissed.

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