"Also true."
I reached for his shirt buttons.My hands were shaking slightly, not from nerves exactly, but from the intensity of wanting this, wanting him.I'd done this before.I knew how buttons worked.But the way he was looking at me made everything feel heightened, electric.
"Nervous?"he asked.
"A little.You?"
"Oh yeah."
That surprised me."Really?"
"You're sharp and funny and you don't take any of my royal nonsense seriously.If I'm bad at this, you're going to remember it forever and probably mock me about it at diplomatic functions."
"I would never mock you at diplomatic functions."I got the first button undone."Private family dinners, maybe."
"That's so much worse."
"For what it's worth, I'm not expecting perfection.I'm just expecting you."
"That might be the most romantic thing anyone's ever said while undressing me."
His shirt came off, and I let myself look.I'd known he was fit, you couldn't miss it, even under formal wear, but knowing and seeing were different experiences.My hands found his skin almost without permission, tracing the lines of muscle, the trail of dark hair that disappeared below his waistband.
"I believe you mentioned a tattoo," I said.
He turned slightly, showing me his left hip.A compass rose, small and elegant.
"So I never lose my way," he said."I was eighteen and very philosophical."
I traced the lines with my finger, and his stomach muscles jumped."Ticklish?"
"Sensitive."
"Good to know."
We made it to the bedroom eventually, though we kept getting distracted.He discovered that the spot where my neck met my shoulder made me gasp in ways I would have found embarrassing if I'd had any brain cells left for embarrassment.I discovered that he really liked having his earlobes bitten, which wasn't something I would have guessed about a prince.
By the time we fell onto the bed, I'd lost my bra somewhere in the hallway and he'd lost his belt and one shoe.The other shoe was still on.
"You have one shoe," I pointed out.
He looked down."So I do."
"That's a look."
"I was focused on other things."He kicked it off and pulled me on top of him, his hands settling on my hips.The contact, skin against skin, the heat of him beneath me, made my breath catch."Better?"
"Much."
I kissed him, long and deep, while his hands explored my back, my sides, the curve of my waist.But there was an urgency building now, a need that the slow exploration wasn't satisfying.I wanted more.I wanted everything.
"Can I tell you something?"I said against his mouth.
"Anything."
"I haven't done this in a while.Like, a significant while."
"How significant?"
