Page 65 of Mercenary Princess

Stalemate.

He smoothly changed the subject after long moments. “What do you enjoy doing, Sophia?”

It was an innocuous question, something she should be able to answer easily, yet it wasn’t so simple. “I enjoy climbing.”

“Do you have a wall to practice on?”

She was forced to lie or give too much away. “Yes.” Her practice walls were in a few homes of her friends, not Porenza. She already hated the lie and the fact that she’d given him a small truth that led her there. If he chose, he could find out the palace had no such amenity.

He was watching her too closely, and it soured her stomach that so much of her life was off-limits. All the good things in her life, she would never be able to share—nothing about her friends or how she’d learned to climb. It just proved how impossible a relationship would be if she were to ever try.

He shifted the conversation to simpler things before she bolted. He asked about music and entertainment, and she was grateful. Those questions she could answer, and that settled her nerves. While they talked, his fingers moved from her ankles and calves down to her arches.

She closed her eyes as a moan escaped her. When he stilled, her eyes popped open again.

“Sophia.” It was a warning and a promise mixed into one.

“Yes.” The huskiness in her voice conveyed her desire clearly, if his heated glance said anything.

At some point, she’d finished her champagne. He slipped the glass from her hand and set it down on the table. His went with it.

With little effort, he pulled her into his lap, setting his lips to hers, sharing the taste of the vodka on his lips. The kiss was tempting, coaxing, as he languidly slid his tongue over hers, mimicking the movement she wanted from his hips.

Her arms snaked around his neck as she sought more of his drugging kisses. The second his hand slid between her thighs, she sighed into his lips. He groaned when he found her bare.

Breaking the kiss, his glittering eyes met hers. “You came here with nothing under your dress?”

“Yes.”

A charged beat passed before he gritted out, “Did you bring me what I wanted?”

She swallowed through the arousal. He hadn’t stopped playing between her legs, and it made her mind fog. “Yes.”

“So this is an invitation?”

She nodded. Her heart was beating fast as she widened her thighs. When two thick fingers slid inside her, she arched her back.

He slipped the thick digits free only a moment later, and she protested the emptiness. He didn’t give them back. Instead, he lifted her off his lap and set her on her wobbly feet. She staggered as she stared down in confusion.

“Get it for me.” The soft command should have rankled, but when it came to sex, she couldn’t get enough of his orders. Sometimes she obeyed. Sometimes she resisted. This time, she moved to the tote Jen had dropped by the coffee table. With shaky fingers, she slipped the paper from its confines.

He leaned forward and grabbed a file off the coffee table. Handing it to her, he commanded, “Look at it.”

They exchanged papers. In frustration, she searched the document he’d forced on her. Her eyes went to the date—just one day prior—and the final note that said he was free of disease. Satisfied, she tossed the papers aside. His eyes were on her. Had he even looked at the document she’d printed from her doctor’s medical portal?

She stood between his open thighs, which made it easy for him to snake his hands up the sides of her dress. “Get on my lap, Sophia.”

She placed one knee then the other over his spread thighs. His cock tented his pants, but he lifted her dress over her head before she could reach for the fastening.

With the dress off, she sat naked on his lap, and something about him being fully dressed made it so much hotter.

He pushed her heavy breasts together before rubbing his scruff-covered jaw over the hard tips. She squirmed, her fingers digging into his hair. No sooner had she drawn a breath than his lips slid over a hard nub. He sucked it into his mouth with her already moaning for more. He sucked harder and flicked his tongue to torture her. She couldn’t stop the noises that slipped from her lips. He released one hard nipple and moved to the other, giving it equal treatment until all she could do was gasp his name.

He released his hold. “Take out my cock.” The pained rasp in his voice matched the way his chest heaved as he slipped the top buttons of his shirt free before tearing the material over his head.

With shaking fingers, she unfastened his pants, her eyes lifting only when he spoke.

“Tell me now if you want my cock covered.”

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