Would they agree?
“Tisi?”
The voice startled me. I’d been distracted again. I looked up to see…
“Kel? What are you doing here?”
He smiled. “I have a royal contract. I meet with generals, even the queen on occasion. It’s not out of place for me to be in the royal palace.”
“Right, yes, sorry. But… what are you doing…here?” I looked around. He was alone.
He checked for others too, then lowered his voice when he spoke. “I’m here for a royal advisory council meeting. They’re held in the queen’s private meeting chambers, not far from here. I was on my way there when I saw you.” He looked at the door I guarded. “Isshehere?”
I laughed. “Yes,sheis.” Then I realized just how easily we were talking. I’d even laughed at something he’d said.
“I… wanted to talk to you,” he said softly.
A thrill ran through me. “I want to talk to you too.” Both our voices were hushed now.
He drew close. If anyone else of his size had been this close to me, I might have been intimidated, but with Kel it just felt warm and comfortable. Without even touching me, I could feel his heat, smell his unique scent: leather and sweat, with a hint of lavender. As big and manly as he was, he enjoyed the scent of lavender and often had a touch of it in his bathwater.
I shivered at his nearness. My body responded as it had so long ago, when we’d coupled in the dark. Heat rose, filling me, even as it pooled into a molten puddle in my core. My breath quickened. My heart raced. Suddenly every shift of my blouse over my chest was like fire, every breath and beat of my heart rich with energy and life.
“I love you, Tisi. I never said it before, and I should have. I love you and even with all that’s happened between us, I want to be with you. I want you back in my life.” There it was. He’d said it plainly.
Oh, blessed Halea…
“I…” I did love him, and I wanted to say it, but my mouth didn’t agree. My throat closed up. “I…”
Screw it.
I captured his head and brought it down as I rose up on my toes. My lips met his and suddenly everything was familiar and wonderful. All the passion I’d suppressed these past yearsoverwhelmed me. A rather stunning desire gripped me, filled me with urgent need, spurred by the very likely possibility of being caught in this compromising position.
He lifted me easily, pressing my back to the wall. I wrapped my legs around his waist as our mouths opened and we tried to devour each other. My arms went around his neck, tight, pressing us close. My breasts crushed against his hard chest. The rough friction of fabric between us was almost painful against my aroused nipples.
I rocked my hips against him, feeling his arousal come alive even through our layers of clothes. One of his thick-fingered hands pushed between us and clamped over a breast, hard and kneading. I moaned into his mouth. Our times together had always been quick, and I was responding now as I had then, charging toward a hasty release.
I wanted him. I wanted this. I wanted our clothes to be off and have his thick cock inside me as he took me. It wouldn’t take much, I was already primed and ready. Just a few hard thrusts while he pushed me up against this wall…
The wall…
In the palace.
Fuck!
I drew back quickly. “Not here!” I hissed as I unclamped my legs from around him and found the floor again, looking around.
No one had seen us. Yet that only meant I wanted to continue what we’d been doing.
But…
“Don’t you have a meeting to get to?”
He looked around as well and captured me with a hard kiss before he stepped away. He didn’t go far. “I do, but I have a bit of time and… I want you, Tisi,” he whispered, his breath hot against my cheek as he pinned me to the wall again.
“I want you too,” I said. Apparently, that was easier to say.
I needed to say more. Something about him not being the only one. But my mind was so clouded with heated desire for him that I couldn’t quite recall those words either. Instead, I pulled him down for one last kiss, softly biting his lip.
