Page 66 of Princess of Thorns and Ruin

I drum my fingers over his chest, taken aback by his candor. “You think I deserve you?” I ask in jest.

“You deserve everything.” He kisses me again, and I mirror back every nibble and every lick, eager to stretch that second and third kiss into a long string of heated groans. I want to stroke to life the darkness in his eyes once more, the one he unmasked the night he carried me to safety from the second attack.

I want to scream for him—with him—and trace the angle of his jaw, down the slope of his neck to his chest. The wise-ass assassin stole many hearts at court, I bet, because every inch of him is shaped into a deadly weapon.

He hooks a finger in my front corset and tugs the threads loose one at a time, the repetitive motion incredibly erotic, and my breath catches when he grazes the swell of my sensitive breasts. I’ve never been naked in front of a male vampire before, let alone one that makes me feel as Alec does. I shimmy out of the silk, the periwinkle nightgown pooling at my feet.

A small hiss passes through Alec’s tight lips, his hungry eyes drinking me in.

Cold air caresses my dark, pebbled nipples as I blurt out, “Shouldn’t you get naked, too? This one-sided ogling contest unnerves me.”

“You want me to get naked, Lucky?” He guides my hand to his belt with confidence, and I start unbuckling it with a smile.

“Are you going to answer every question with a question?”

He arches an equally playful brow. “Maybe. Why are you so tense?”

Intricate patterns swirl in the wood posters of the bed as I avert my gaze. “I was told I shouldn’t expect to enjoy it. That it’ll hurt.”

“Christ! Stupid old fucks…” He frames my face with his hands and searches my eyes, his palms rugged and delicious on my cheeks. “I can’t pretend to know if it’ll hurt, but I’ll make sure you enjoy it.”

With that solemn promise, he licks my neck, his canines dangerously close to my jugular. For a moment, I wonder if he’ll bite me, but he just slides his hands down and tests the feel of my breasts.

I cry out, more sensitive than I’ve ever been and jerk closer to him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

We kiss again, our movements more urgent as Alec teases the soft flesh, kneading it back and forth. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful.” He dips his head down and sucks one nipple inside his mouth, the sight of it almost obscene, and I sink my nails into his scalp, egging him on. The fire inside my belly swells higher with each brush of his tongue. I need so much, and yet he doesn’t seem rushed.

“Come on,” I say, tugging on his shirt.

With a gentle laugh, he peels it off before working the fabric into a ball and tossing it to the ground. I swallow hard, the planes of his bare chest coming into view. He’s not special elite forces for nothing. Scars run across his left pectoral muscles, and a few more rush along his sides. The white lines create a patchwork of spiderwebs, the old wounds carved into his skin forever. I trace them with awe, and the hard muscles under my fingers steal my tongue.

Alec growls as I place a hot line of kisses from his abs to his neck. The sound echoes deep in my belly, and I nip his ear to hear it again.

The sinews of his large, powerful shoulders riddle me with lust as he snakes a hand down my stomach to the space between my legs, inching below the lace covering my sex. “Mmm. Feel how wet you are?”

“Yes. I need your fingers inside me now.”

He arches a playful brow, falling to his knees in front of me. “I thought the Elders raised you in the dark about sex.”

“They certainly tried.”

His nails scrape my inner thighs as he glides my underwear down, and I glance down at him as I help him work the flimsy piece of lace past my feet.

His rough hands spread my legs, allowing him better access to my sex. “Then you should already know that you’ll get even wetter after I’ve played with you a bit…and made you come. If it pleases your highness?”

“Yes,” I answer, his arrogance and wicked smile riling me up.

A sweet kiss on my inner thigh causes my eyes to flutter as Alec draws sharp circles between my legs, faster than Leo did, until I’m panting.

A knot coils in my belly as I hiss. “By Nyx, don’t stop.”

He slides one finger inside me, then another, pressing hard against my pubic bone. So deep.

Knees buckling, I hold myself up to the wall. “Oh, Alec.”

His tongue darts to the place where all my nerves collide, soft and teasing as his fingers harden on the inside, the sharp, relentless rub, rub rub driving me mad. I can’t help but spread my legs wider, desperate for more of that delicious pressure as I grab a fist of brown curls.

A heady pleasure spreads across my belly and thighs, and the delicious sensation morphs into a throb as my inner walls clench around his fingers, the sweet pressure of his tongue almost painful now.

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