He fucks his way from woman to woman without so much as a second thought. So I let my hands fall to my sides, and I push myself up onto my elbows and stare at him. Thankfully, he’s stopped pushing his cum back into me. I think that’s what he was doing. My possessive prince. It’s unfortunately as seriously hot as he is.
“I was born on August 26. I’m a Virgo in a lot of ways. I’m practical, meticulous, and I usually have a strong desire to help. Regardless of the personal cost to me. My favorite color is blue. Not light blue. A deep, navy blue. My favorite food isn’t salad. That was a lie. The truth is…” I trail off, staring up at the mantle of leaves overhead with sparkling rays of sunshine slicing through. “I don’t know what my favorite food is. I don’t know what books I like to read. I don’t know what movies or TV shows I’d want to watch. That was never part of my life. I’m not sure who I am at this point other than a servant.” I lower my head and meet his gaze. “That’s what I am. Not exactly exciting, and definitely not sexy. You might like the way my tits and my pussy look and feel, but you’re not going to get much else from me.”
He takes his cum-covered fingers and presses them on my clit. He pushes in hard. Hard enough to make me gasp and attempt to scoot back from the infiltration. I get a warning look. Something that automatically stops me. He rubs in deep circles, and just like that, his fingers aren’t playing, they’re moving with purpose.
He shifts and catches the back of my head, holding me up so that our eyes are locked. “Marcella, you are so much more than that.”
His lips catch mine, and he kisses me deeply. Fiercely. His tongue slices through my lips and swirls with my own before he pulls me up higher and presses our foreheads together.
“I don’t know a lot. But I’ll tell you what I do know. You’re smart,” he murmurs against my lips, the speed of his fingers increasing, making me breathless, making it difficult to concentrate on what he’s saying, though I try. “You’re fierce. You’re loyal—to whom I’m not exactly sure. You’re determined. You’re a good liar, a little too good. You come close to crying when you don’t think anyone is watching you, and you hate that you do. You hate crying, which is why you fight it so hard. You feel it makes you weak, and weak is the last thing you want to be. Weakness pisses you off. You do like taking walks. You like quiet. You like peace. You like roller coasters. You get excited by the notion of fun and adventure because it’s all new to you and something you’ve never experienced before. You like children and want friends. And you’re fearless.”
My eyes pinch closed. “Shut up, Rowan. Just shut up and make me come and let me go!”
“There’s so much more to you than you realize about yourself. And I think that’s why I like you so much. I see you. I see all these things you work so hard to hide. But I don’t know your secrets, and that’s what worries me. That’s the part I don’t trust.”
My head falls back between my shoulder blades and a shudder racks through me. He picks up the pace of his fingers, and I let him. I don’t argue. I don’t even open my mouth to say anything else about it. I can’t. He has me completely overwhelmed, physically and emotionally.
There’s no getting around him. He’s everywhere inside me.
My orgasm builds, deep penetrating waves of pleasure thatstart in my core and have my legs straightening and my pussy clenching against his hand.
“That’s it, sweetheart. That’s it. Come for me. I want to watch you come for me."
I don’t have a choice. My body takes over, and I detonate. My orgasm cycles through me, not as strong as the first one, but definitely powerful enough to make a bellowing cry come from my lips. Rowan covers my mouth with his, tasting me, swallowing my moans of pleasure, and I kiss him back, allowing myself to feel this, to experience it.
The moment my body sags, his fingers pull away. He wipes them on the bottom of his pant legs slung round his ankles, and something about that makes me laugh. The state of our undress is ridiculous. We just fucked in the woods in the middle of the day. Anybody could have taken this path. Anybody could have come and seen us. We’re not that far from the main grounds, from the palace, and I don’t even know how loud I’ve been or how loud he was.
We get so wrapped up in each other that nothing else hits our radar.
He gives my boobs one last squeeze, and I slap his hand away. I get a dirty, flirty smile from him in return. The charming one. The one he gave me that first night at the wedding.
I stand, and he helps me get dressed, our eyes clinging to each other, our hands staying close. I don’t know what this is. I have no words for what it could be. I just know it’s not smart. I know it’s going to cost me. Maybe cost both of us.
24
MARCELLA
Once I’m dressed, he picks leaves and debris from my hair, and I help remove the remaining pieces from my braid, only to undo it and re-plait it.
“Presentable?” I ask once I’m finished. He grabs me by the nape of my neck and hauls me in for a final toe-curling kiss.
“Perfect. Now get your adorable ass to work.” He spins me around and spanks me, and I jump forward with a yelp. But there’s no stopping my smile. There’s no stopping the skip of my heart.
I leave Rowan behind and head toward the palace, skirting around the pool where I hear the children splashing. The afternoon is spread out before me, and I get back to it, anxious to make sure there are no issues and check in with the staff.
Marsha is in the hall when I pass through the servants’ wings. I’m in no mood for her. My plate is already full, and she looks like she wants to add on a buffet.
She gives me a sneering look, and I mentally sigh. “Have something to say?” I question.
“Nope,” she sasses. “Other than you’regoing down.”
“Uh-huh. Spare me the ’90s teen drama quotes. Did you do your work?”
“I always do my work. Better than you do. You never should have been promoted to this job.”
I give her an indifferent shrug. “That’s not how Emily felt. And I know it’s you, Esme, and Raul who have been messing with things, changing orders and schedules and dirtying up rooms once I’ve finished cleaning them.”
She snorts a laugh. “Why would we bother messing with anything of yours? I hardly even think about you.”
