His other hand slipped around my waist, dragging me onto his lap.
With a growl that vibrated through his chest and into mine, he claimed everything I was and everything I would ever possess. I wasn’t prepared for how good this would feel or how much I’d want more of whatever he might offer.
His fingers slid into my hair, cradling the back of my head.
My whole body lit up. A low, simmering ache curled through my belly. The kiss didn’t rush. Itconsumed. It unfolded, coaxed, and teased. I didn’t notice when I shifted to straddle his thighs, only that the new closeness let me feel his breath against my throat, his stiffening cock beneath me.
When he finally broke away, his lips brushed the corner of my mouth like he couldn’t bear to end this.
I released a needy sound, a catch of the throat as I slid my fingers around his nape and dragged his mouth back to mine.
He devoured me. Turned and laid me on the sofa and caged me with his thick forearms and deliciously decadent body.
And I let him do it. This was everything I’d craved and everything I never knew I needed.
Until I remembered who I was kissing and what he might’ve done.
The rebel king.
The ruler of this land who stole our children.
The man who?—
I jolted back into myself fast. He must’ve sensed it because he lifted his head. So much heat in his eyes.
“Let me up,” I said.
His gaze shuttered. And he shifted off me, his expression flashing to confusion in a single breath.
I was already up, rushing away from the sofa like it had burned me.
No.Trewhad burned me.
“I—” My voice wouldn’t work. My lips still buzzed, traitorous and tender from his kiss.
“Wait—”
I didn’t. Couldn’t.
My pulse roared in my ears as I rushed from the parlor, my boots silent on the polished stone floors. The hall was dim, moonlight slanting through glass, and I could barely see. But I didn’t stop. Noteven when I clipped my shoulder on a doorway and hissed through my teeth.
I ran until I reached my chamber.
My shaking hands fumbled the latch, then fumbled when I closed the door behind me. I turned the lock with a sharp click, then swiveled and slumped against the wood, my eyes wide, my chest heaving.
Darkness encased me. Safe. Mine. Except it wasn’t. It never would be.
I traced a fingertip across my lips that still tingled. My skin hummed from where he’d touched me.
I’d kissed someone I was supposed to see as the enemy.
And I’dwantedto.
My knees trembled as I slid down to the floor and stretched my legs out in front of me, my heart pounding like a warning bell.
Under all the panic, something quieter stirred. Something forbidden.
Longing.
