The look in his eyes sends heat pooling low in my belly.
He doesn’t kiss me right away. His gaze moves slowly over my face, like he’s memorizing every detail. I realize how close we are and love the way his thumbs rub circles against my hip through the fabric of my dress.
“It was so fucking hard, pretending I didn’t want you,” I whisper.
“Oh, do you actually think everyone believed you?” His brow pops upward. “Mmm. They knew. I knew.”
His hand slides up and cups the back of my head as his fingers thread into my hair. The touch is so gentle that I lean into him. His eyes drop to my mouth.
“Tell me to stop,” he whispers. “Tell me this is reckless, and we should wait until?—”
I rise onto my toes and trace the outside of his lips with mine. “Maybe I want reckless?”
My hands slide up his chest to grip the lapels of his jacket. The sound in his throat makes me pull him closer. We kiss slowly at first, learning one another again after being apart. His mouth moves against mine, tasting me, like there aren’t staff members on the other side of those doors, waiting to report his insubordination. My lips part for him, and his tongue slides against mine. I moan, almost forgetting how good being with him feels. It’s not just physical, but emotional on a different level. One of his hands cradles my head while the other rests flat against my lower back to hold me against him. I can feel how hard he is pressing against my stomach through his suit pants. Knowing he wants me this much has me thinking the absolute unthinkable.
“I’ve thought about you every night,” he says against my mouth, the words barely above a whisper. “Lying in my bed, knowing you were so close, but so far away, nearly drove me to my limit. I missed you so much.” He kisses the corner of my mouth. “Your lips.” He kisses my jaw. “The way you taste.” He kisses the spot just below my ear that makes my knees buckle. “How you smell.”
I grip his shoulders to keep myself upright because my legs have stopped working properly. His mouth traces down my neck, and I tip my head back to give him better access.
“Louis.” His name comes out breathless and needy as my fingers dig into the expensive fabric of his jacket. “Your mother is prob?—”
“I don’t care. This is our world, babe.” He pulls back to look at me, and his eyes are dark, pupils blown wide. “We do whatever we want.”
The sincerity of his words makes me laugh.
“Is this real?” I ask, but my question dies when his mouth is on mine again.
His teeth bite my lower lip, and I gasp.
“You tell me.”
He walks me backward until the back of my thighs hit the edge of the table. The dishes rattle. Then he’s lifting me onto it without breaking the kiss. The wood is cool beneath me, and I brace my hands on the polished surface as he steps between my legs. His fingers trail up my thighs, pushing my dress higher.
“This is dangerous,” I manage.
“I’m choosing adventure.” He drops to his knees. “Quiet.”
It’s been twelve days of silence and distance and watching him smile at Tatiana while I painted them together. I’ve spent over a weekwondering if I was just obsessed, that the connection between us couldn’t possibly be as consuming as I believed. But with his hands and mouth on me like this …
Louis pulls me to the edge of the table, then slides the silk panties down my legs. I’m already wet—have been since he looked at me like I was the only breakfast worth eating.
When he places a kiss on my inner thigh, my fingers thread through his messy strands. He works his way higher.
“Look at you, looking at me like that. Like I’m art.” The rawness in his voice undoes me.
I part my thighs wider for him, giving him everything, and his mouth finds me.
“You are.” My head falls back on my shoulders, and a hushed moan releases from me.
Pleasure like this should be illegal. His tongue moves slowly, taking his time across my clit, like this isn’t the most daring thing we’ve done since I arrived.
I lean back onto my elbows, and he hooks my thighs over his shoulders until I lie flat on my back. I glance up at the ornate ceiling as pleasure builds in waves. All I can do is smile as I’m spread out on the table while the crown prince devours me.
A laugh releases from me, and I feel him smile against my pussy. His hands grip my hips to hold me in place, and I cover my mouth with my hands because the sounds I want to make would echo through this entire wing of the palace.
A low growl comes from his throat, and it vibrates against my most sensitive skin. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. It’s like he can read my mind, knowing what I need. He slides two fingers inside me and curls them just right, and I bite down on my bottom lip.
“Shh,” he says against me, chuckling.
