Page 55 of Cruel Heir

I break off abruptly, realizing what it is that I’ve just said. Andre breathes in slowly, an expression on his face as if something has just been settled for him. “You feel something for me,” he says quietly.

“I—” I swallow hard. I don’t know what to say or how to follow that with anything else. I can’t bring myself to lie and take it back. But this isn’t the direction I meant for the conversation to go. “It doesn’t matter,” I say finally, looking at him with as much firmness as I can muster. “It doesn’t matter if I feel something for you if you won’ttryto come to some kind of compromise with my father. If you won’t try to find a way to get closure without doing the same thing to me that was done to you.” I feel tears prick at the corners of my eyes. “Ifyoufeel anything forme, Andre—how could you do that? How could you inflict the same wounds on me that my father did to you?”

He flinches. “That’s unfair, Lucia,” he growls—and that’s enough to let me know that I’ve struck a nerve.

“Is it? All this does is make thingsworse, Andre. And I think—” I hesitate, knowing that I’m going out on a limb—that if I’m wrong, this whole conversation could blow up in my face. “I think that youdocare for me. If you didn’t, you would have been angrier when—”

He gives me a warning look, and I don’t finish the sentence, don’t remind him even more of my betrayal. “I think you feel something. And if you do—”

Slowly, I slip out of my seat in the nook, moving around to sit next to him. I feel him tense when I do, his gaze settling on mine again. I see the uncertainty in it. I see that I’ve made him drop his guard. And I take the opportunity while I can.

I reach up, pressing my palm against the side of his face. I feel him tense even more, see the confusion flickering there, and lean in to kiss him.

It’s the first time I’ve ever kissed him of my own volition, the first time I’ve ever been the one to make the first move. I can feel hissurprise when my lips brush against his, the way it takes him a moment to respond. I press my mouth to his for just a moment, and then I pull back, looking at him with as much hope as I can muster.

“Please, ask him for a meeting,” I whisper. “Take me with you. I’ll try to talk to him for you. Please—please try. That’s all I’m asking—”

Andre reaches up, brushing his thumb over my cheekbone. His dark blue eyes hold mine, and I can’t read the expression in them. “And what stops you from escaping me at this meeting? What stops you from turning on me,principessa?”

I hated him calling me that for so long. But the way he says it sounds like an endearment—and that’s what I think he means it as. His voice is soft and rich, and his fingers linger on my face. It sounds, to me, as if he really wants to know.

“I promise.” I look him directly in the eyes, unflinching, wanting him to know that I mean it. “I won’t use the meeting as a way to escape. I’ll leave with you. You have my word.”

“Mm.” Andre brushes his thumb over my cheek again. “You made promises when you married me,principessa. You haven’t done a very good job of keeping those vows. What would make me think that this will be any different?”

I take a slow breath. “You forced those vows from me. I’m making this promise of my own free will.”

I can see him considering it. Wondering if he can believe me. And to help him feel certain, I lean in and kiss him again.

It shouldn’t feel as good as it does. His lips are warm and soft, as soft as his body is hard and unyielding, still tense against mine. His hand still rests against my face, mine a mirror of his on the other side of his cheek, and I feel his other hand go to my hip.

“Principessa.Lucia.” He breathes the endearment, then my name, warm against my lips. I feel the tremor that goes through him—how much he wants me. How difficult it’s been for him to not have what it is that he wants. Now, I’m on the cusp of giving it to him of my own free will, and I can feel how much more that affects him.

He pulls me closer, his fingers pressing into my flesh through the thin wool of my dress. “Do you want me to take you upstairs,dolcezza?” he murmurs, and I shake my head. I feel him tense again, thinking that I’m on the verge of pulling away, of telling him no. That I don’t want this.

But the truth is that Ido. This is about seducing him to do as I’ve asked, but it’s about more than that, too. This isn’t my desire acting against my will; this isn’t about Andre coaxing sensation out of me until I can’t bear to fight him any longer. This is me pushing him back into the nook, my dress sliding up around my thighs as I straddle his lap, hand gripping the back of the seat as he leans back against it. This is me reaching between us, my hand finding his zipper, freeing him so that he nudges hot and hard between my thighs, and I hear him groan.

This is me sayingyes, instead ofno. And I know that it’s not only because I hope that this will make him believe that I’ll keep my word.

I want him. I want my husband, like this, the two of us tucked into this small space as he slips between my thighs and stifles a groan against my lips, as if he can hardly believe that this is happening.

“Principessa.” He cups my face in his hand, his lips gliding over mine. I feel his swollen tip slide inside of me, and he groans, the sound still muffled as he kisses me again as if he can’t stop. “You—”

“I want you.” I’m very aware that someone could walk in any moment, that the breakfast he had promised is on its way, that we could easily be seen. But I can’t bring myself to care. This isn’t only about knowing that Andre would like this, that he would enjoy having me out in the open.Ididn’t want to wait to go upstairs. I wanted this, now, and as I slide down onto him, I feel a spark of power that I’ve never felt before as he throbs inside of me. I feel him fill me, the hard, hot stretch of his cock sending pleasure jolting through me, and I feel in control.

He groans, his hands sliding into my hair, his hips arching beneath me, but he can’t move much more than I want him to. I rock against him, breathing shallowly as I press my lips to his again, feeling the pleasure build. Pleasure that I’m in control of. ThatIwanted.

It’s intoxicating. I grab one of his hands, bringing it down to pushit between my thighs. My climax is achingly close, so close that I can feel the muscles in my stomach tightening, my legs quivering, but I need somethingmore. And I feel his deep, low laugh against my lips as I rock down against him, and his fingers find my clit.

Pleasure bursts over me like a hot wave, seizing every muscle in my body, making me arch and buck against his hand. His fingers roll over my clit, never stopping, his mouth slanting over mine to swallow up my shriek as I come hard, drenching his cock in my arousal. I canfeelhow much wetter I am, soaking his trousers as I keep riding his cock and his fingers, and Andre groans into the kiss.

“Fuck, principessa—” His hips lurch upwards, pushing himself up into me, and I gasp as I feel him even deeper than before. If anyone has started to walk into the room and see us, I haven’t noticed. I can’t think of anything other than this, howgoodit feels, and how somehow surrendering to it has made it so much better. I break the kiss, looking down into Andre’s lust-glazed eyes as I roll my hips atop him, seeing the way his mouth parts on a moan as I squeeze around him, and I feel that rush of power again.

“Come for me,” I whisper, pressing my hand against his face as I kiss him again. “I want to feel you come inside of me.”

The sound he makes is nearly strangled, a groan that sounds like nothing but raw need. His hands grip my waist, pulling me down onto him hard, the solid thrust of him inside of me nearly spilling me over the edge again. I’m atop him still, but suddenly he’s the one fuckingme, dragging me down onto his cock again and again as the fabric of his suit trousers rubs against my clit with every thrust, and I feel myself on the precipice.

He feels it, too, because he leans in, his voice soft against my ear like it has been so many times before.

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