Page 55
Something shifts in Sterling’s eyes, darkening them more. His hands tighten on my waist. A smile spreads across his face, not the polite one he shows to the court, but a different one altogether.
Hungry. Like he wants to devour me.
My breath arrests as my pulse speeds up.
“Well then. Sounds like I need to give you something to remember me by.” He takes my hand and tugs me toward our bed.
I follow willingly, heat burning in my core and spreading outward to my fingertips and toes. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly my body responds to him, like a flower angling toward the sun. “And what exactly did you have in mind, Your Highness?”
Sterling’s smile becomes predatory as he stops at the edge of the bed. He pulls me against him until we’re pressed together, his hardness evident against my stomach. “I think you know exactly what I have in mind, Your Majesty.”
Nimble fingers work the fastenings of my dress. I step back just enough to grant him better access and watch his face as he unwraps me like a precious gift. The yearning in his eyes feeds my own desire, stoking the fire that’s always smoldering between us.
When the bodice of my dress loosens, I ease the fabric down over my shoulders in a deliberately slow fashion. Sterling’s breath hitches as he tracks the fabric’s descent.
The gown pools at my feet, leaving me in my winter chemise. “A memorable goodbye. Something to keep you warm during those long, lonely nights you’re gone.” When I pull at the ties, the garment slides free, baring my breasts to Sterling’s heated gaze. “A reminder of why you should return home. Quickly.”
His throat bobs before his eyes turn molten with his desire. His hands find my waist and slide up to cup my breasts, thumbs brushing over my nipples and hardening them into stiff peaks.
“You,” he growls, “are the most beautiful temptation I’ve ever faced. The only one I’ve never been able to resist.”
A soft laugh slips through my lips as my hands drift to his shirt. “Good thing, since you seem to resist so poorly.”
Sterling offers me that wild, open grin he only reveals in our most private moments. “I’d be a fool to resist at all. And yes, I was a fool back when I was still trying to.”
He steps back, yanking his shirt over his head in one fluid motion. The firelight plays across the planes of his chest, highlighting scars both old and new. A map of battles he fought and survived.
I reach out to trace a particularly jagged one that runs along his ribs, a reminder of how close I’ve come to losing him. “Promise you’ll come back to me.”
Sterling catches my hand, bringing it to his lips to press a kiss to my palm. “Always. Not even the gods themselves could keep me from you.”
I believe him. I must.
Though a small part of me hopes the gods don’t take his words as a challenge.
His hands fly to the front of his breeches, unfastening them quickly. “I’m more than happy to go a night without sleep, no matter how early we need to leave.”
As he straightens, fully naked now, I drink in the sight of him. All hard angles and powerful muscles that he’s earned through years of training.
My soldier. My prince. My very heart.
A delicious heat spreads through my entire body at the sight of his erect cock.
Our bodies collide with a familiar urgency. His ravenous, demanding mouth finds mine as his hands roam over my bare skin, igniting trails of fire wherever they touch.
I curl into him, greedy for more contact, more of him, more of everything he has to give.
Sterling walks me backward until my legs hit the edge of the bed, and he follows me down as I fall onto the mattress.
He grips his erection and lines himself up. “Brace yourself, love.”
The next instant, he drives into me, blasting all coherent thoughts from my head. I cry out at the sheer pleasure of him filling me, of his warm, solid body on top of mine. I clench around him, eliciting his low growl.
My nails rake down his back, my fingers glorying in the muscles shifting and bunching beneath his skin as he plunges inside me. With each thrust, the pleasure builds, tightening the coil in my low belly.
Our bodies settle into a perfect rhythm. We understand this dance well, knowing where to touch, how to move, what drives the other wild with need. Yet somehow, each time always feels new and thrilling.
His lips trace a path down my neck, lingering at the sensitive spot just below my ear in a way that has me gasping. I thread my fingers through his silky dark hair, holding him close as his mouth continues its journey southward to my breasts. When his tongue circles my nipple before drawing it into the heat of his mouth, I arch off the bed with a moan that would scandalize the court.
