Royally Not Ready(72)

His kiss is demanding, controlled, filled with so much unrequited desire that I find myself melting into his touch, into the way he takes control. I’ve shared enough first kisses to know this is a once-in-a-lifetime kiss, the kind that marks you as a human, that brands your very soul, creating a memory so vivid that it will last more than a lifetime.

His lips move over mine, dragging out my tongue, creating such a bottomless sensation in my stomach. I’m careening, falling, tumbling into an unknown abyss, my only lifeline being his mouth and the way he makes me feel whole.

When he pulls away, I feel lost again. A part of me has detached and my body is drowning, looking for that life preserver that can only be translated as his touch.

“Stay with me,” I whisper, not wanting him to go anywhere.

“No,” he answers. “If I stay, I will fuck you.”

“Then fuck me.”

“No,” he answers again. “This has gone too far tonight.”

“But, Keller—”

“Lilly,” he says in such a startling, deep, commanding tone that I close my lips and seal them shut. “I said, it’s gone too far. Now rest your beautiful head, get some sleep, and I’ll see you in the morning. Understood?”

God, yes.

I nod, and then to my delight, he lowers back down and gives me another toe-curling kiss before taking off into his room.





Chapter Fourteen





KELLER





“What do you do if someone asks for your political opinion?” I ask Lilly as we finish up our jog, Harrogate just in front of us.

“I don’t give it. I have no political opinion at all. I’m a vessel of emptiness, only there to smile and wave. Kind of like I’m a vessel of emptiness right now.”

She’s been sassy this entire fucking run.

Ever since she tried to kiss me this morning and I didn’t let her, she’s been on a warpath.

I don’t blame her, though. I feel the same fucking way.

Itchy all over.

Needy.

Like if I don’t have her near me, I won’t be able to breathe.

It happened so fast last night. She was on top of me, her nipple slipped into my mouth, and something unlocked within me, an unstoppable tidal wave of desire.

And I lost it. I took as much as I could from her, rubbing my cock along her slick, wet clit. Fuck, it felt good—and that piercing, I can still feel it riding up and down my length. A cool metal, creating friction that has me addicted.

How I was able to kiss her good night and sleep in my own bed is beyond me.

And this morning, when she was wearing nothing but a shirt, knowing I’d had my lips on her only the night before, it took everything in me not to drag her to my bed.

It’s been torture since.

Especially since she decided to run in just her leggings and sports bra, despite being cold. Her nipples are harder than the pebbles under our feet.

“And what if someone offers you a gift? Do you take it?” I ask.

We slow down as we reach Harrogate. Hands on her hips, she says, “No, I kick them in the face and run away.” I give her a menacing look. “Come on, Keller, I know this shit. Yes, I take the gift. I thank them profusely. Are you done with the dumb questions now?” She blows past me and into the castle.

I follow her. “They aren’t dumb questions. You need to know them.”

She stomps up the stairs. “I know them, Keller.”

I stomp up behind her and follow her into her bedroom.

“And for the record, you’ve told me that tiaras are for married women only at least five times on that run.” She tears her sports bra off over her head, leaving her topless in front of me. I’d like to say I don’t look, but breasts . . . I look. I look for far longer than I should.

But then I snap my eyes back up to her face as she strips off the rest of her clothes.

“I repeated it several times because you kept asking what kind of gems were in the tiaras. You emphasized that you look best with jade colors.”

“That’s a valid concern,” she says, holding her arms out, and with the curtains now open, offering light to the room, I get to see her naked body with nothing blocking my view. And fuck is she so goddamn beautiful. She moves past me and into the bathroom, where she turns on the water to the tub shower.

I follow her for some reason.

“It’s my job to make sure you know the correct information.”

“I know,” she groans. “Christ, Keller. I think the moss on the walls knows the intricacies of your job at this point.” She steps into the tub, picks up the nozzle of the shower, and starts rinsing her body. My eyes fixate on the way the water pebbles off her breasts.

It only takes seconds for me to grow hard.

“Is that what the rest of our time here is going to be like?” she asks as she sets the nozzle down and lathers some soap that she caresses over her body, her hands working around her breasts, over her stomach, and between her legs.

Fuck . . .

“Keller, I’m talking to you.”

“Huh?” I ask, looking up at her irritated face.

“Oh, so you can stand there and watch me shower, but when I want a kiss, you won’t give it up?”

I grip the back of my neck. “I’m trying to keep a professional distance.”