Page 66 of The Queen’s Bodyguard

She could feel her husband’s eyes on her, taking her in.

“Please don’t take this as disrespect,” he said, “but…are you a virgin?”

Her heart pounded in her head, heating her entire body. “That’s none of your business,” she snapped, covering her mouth quickly when her voice echoed. “But no, I’m not, thank you very much.”

“I meant no disrespect,” he repeated. To Theora’s surprise, Argos offered their trust salute. She accepted, reluctantly. “You just always react as if intimacy is taboo.”

“Discussing intimacy is frowned upon, as you know.”

“In mixed company. But you can talk about anything with your husband.” He crossed his arms, leaning against the wall. “Well, it obviously wasn’t Apollo, since we’ve already established you’re not sexually attracted to him. So who was it?”

Theora rolled her eyes. “It…was Apollo.”

Argos gaped in amusement. “The plot thickens.”

“It was a long time ago, okay? A very long, immature time ago. And afterward, we decided we’d be better as just friends.”

“So he couldn’t make you come, huh?”

Theora suddenly felt breathless. I bet Argos knows how—

“This is ridiculous,” she snapped. “I will not discuss my private life with the hired muscle.” Theora headed toward the door, halting abruptly. She couldn’t just storm away, not now. Not when they were literally on a love boat in Lover’s Lagoon. She turned to glare at Argos. “He was a very attentive lover, if you must know. It just wasn’t…what I prefer.”

“Ah, I see…” Argos grinned the slightest bit. “Not nearly rough enough.”

She saw when he caught it—some look in her eye that betrayed what she was thinking. His grin dropped away then, his gaze slow. Theora suddenly felt naked beneath that gaze, her soul laid bare to him, her thoughts exposed. Her heart pounded as he stood up, her back pressing into the wall as he closed the gap between them. He leaned closer, pressing his forearm against the wall above her head, and even though Theora was sure this was only to keep their conversation from escaping as an echo, her breath caught in her throat in anticipation.

“Would you like me to make you come, Theora?” he growled gently.

Theora nearly swallowed her tongue, the quiet calm of his voice, his sincere question, the circumstances they found themselves in making her pelvis throb. She was trembling with anger and shame and…desire. Sovereign, her panties were already wet from it.

“H-how dare you?” she managed. She looked at his lips, fighting the irrational pull toward them. “We hardly know each other.”

“That’s not important. All that matters is that I’ve paid attention…and that I know what you want.”

Something about his tone sent a chill through her, and she had to control her voice when she asked, “What do I want?”

He didn’t speak. All he did was lean his hand against her clavicle, fingers pressing with not even a quarter of their power against the sides of her neck. She gasped in shock and pleasure, the suppression of her arteries making her blissfully lightheaded, the pressure of his hand on the edge of what she truly wanted.

For a fragment of a moment, Theora felt her knees threaten to give out on her, but the realization of where she was standing was enough to make her attempt to shove his hand away.

“Cease,” she gasped when she couldn’t, and he immediately let go. She pinned his gaze with a glare as she fought to catch her breath—not from lack of air, but something else. “What is this, some ploy to bind me to you forever? I thought Warriors couldn’t have sex.”

“Technically, no.” He shrugged, a bit too casually for the circumstances. “But there are loopholes. As long as I don’t indulge myself in that way, it’ll be considered done in service to you.”

“You’re overestimating yourself.” She folded her arms across her chest, pressing her back into the wall to hide her nerves. To hide the fact that she wanted his hand again…“This ferry ride isn’t even enough time for foreplay.”

“You don’t need any more foreplay.” He grinned, a bit of a wicked quirk of his lips that made Theora’s body heat up in dangerous places. “I’ve been warming you up all day.”

She cleared her throat, forcing herself to not behave as flusteredly as she felt. What did he mean, “all day”? As if he had a power over her she wasn’t aware of.

Still, she couldn’t pretend she’d never thought about it, because she had. On the train…she could’ve come with little effort if he hadn’t interrupted her.

This is what you wanted, Theora. Take it.

“Fine,” she said as coldly as possible. “But no eye contact.”

He nodded. “No need.”