‘I’m in awe of you, woman. You literally have me on my knees.’ His tongue skirts over the lace hold-up, darting higher.
‘Ryan, if you do that, I won’t be able to help myself.’ Just seeing him there, on his knees for me – watching him relishing the effect he has on me – is the hottest thing I’ve ever witnessed.
His smirking lips crush against my sex and my legs tremble. It’s an effort to support myself. Strong hands grip my backside, taking the weight from me, squeezing my cheeks as he buries his tongue inside me. Lust rips through me and within seconds, a trillion stars shoot and cascade behind my eyelids.
How have I gone without this for ten years?
Because he’s the only man who has the power to do this to you and he hasn’t been here.
‘That’s my girl.’ Ryan plants a final kiss below before repositioning the lace.
‘Oh no you don’t.’ My gaze turns to the bulge pressing in his pants as he springs to his feet.
‘I can wait,’ he says, but the story in his trousers tells me otherwise.
I yank open his jeans and free him. It’s my turn to drop to my knees.
‘Sasha, you don’t have to,’ he says, even as hot hunger scorches his pupils.
‘I want to.’ Licking his tip, I can taste his slickness already. ‘Mmm.’
Half the world would kill to be in my position right now. The thought sparks a possessive streak I didn’t know I owned.
Taking him into my mouth, I work him teasingly at first, before switching to low and slow. As his quads tense and jerk, I cup his balls, taking as much of him as my mouth will physically permit. His grip on my shoulder tightens as he shudders to an inevitable climax.
Pulling me to my feet, his index finger lifts my chin, turning my face to meet his. ‘Fucking mind-blowing, Sash.’ He presses a kiss to my nose as I button up his trousers. No one else is getting a look inside these. Not if I have anything to do with it.
‘Do we have to go to the ballroom?’ His low husky voice is fuelled with the promise of so much more.
‘We do. For a few minutes at least.’ Smoothing down my skirt, I try to reassume the respectable role of castle owner and adoptive mother, while the earth beneath my feet still shakes from my own superlative orgasm.
‘Then what?’ His lips lunge for the sensitive spot on my neck.
‘Whatever you like…’
‘Seriously? Anything at all?’
I shrug. Hung for a sheep as a lamb. The last twenty-four hours prove I can’t say no to this man if my life depended on it. I’m hooked on his touch, his proximity and his every breath, and with no idea how long he’s going to hang around for, greedily, I want as much as I can get.
A wolfish grin rips across his face. ‘Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get this meeting done so we can crack on with the rest of our evening.’
His hand finds mine and yanks me out of the pantry.
Three of the sous chefs raise eyebrows as we tumble out, and Tilly almost drops the plates she’s carrying.
Some of the guests stare as we walk hand in hand through my family’s estate. The photo from the Winter Wonderland is all over the news. The cat is well and truly out of the bag. There’s no point being coy now.
Conor even took it better than I thought, though there was no mistaking the flicker of hurt in his eyes. He’s probably grateful we never got involved, because no one in this world could miss the way Ryan makes me glow.
His sheer presence eclipses everything and everyone else.
Breathing in the fresh pine of the Christmas trees lining the corridor, an intense surge of gratitude envelops me. Not only is the love of my life back in my life, and promising to stay that way, but his arrival has dissipated my worries for the castle. Chloe’s coming for Christmas. Victoria is healthy, happy and almost ready to spread her wings.
I send a silent thanks up to the sky. A tiny sliver of me dares to believe my parents are looking out for us from somewhere up there. It’s the one idea that’s offered me a modicum of comfort on my darkest days. But now Ryan’s here, I’m getting my comfort from other sources.
Life is good.
Really good.
