To Love a Prince (Knights of Valor Book 1)(32)

She touched her lips to his.

Surprise widened his eyes, then his control slipped as he crushed his lips against hers. He pulled her against him, molding her body against his own. His strong hands spread across her back, holding her as sensation sizzled through her. Rather than backing away, she threw herself forward, pressing closer and offering him more.

Taking all she offered, he stroked down her back and traced the lines of her with his palms. He kissed her again, taking her mouth fully, then parting her lips and stroking his tongue in imitation of a far more intimate act.

His hands caressed the apex of her thighs as his mouth and tongue teased her. Parting her soft folds, he dipped his fingers into her wetness.

Need flared, hot and demanding, as she succumbed to the onslaught of sensation. His body, lean and hard against hers, was both protective and dangerous as his weight pressed her back into the soft mattress, and the evidence of his desire cradled against her belly.

She dismissed the flicker of fear. She wanted him. All of him.

Eli stroked a hand over her heated flesh, down her shoulders and over her firm breasts. He palmed them, gently kneading the tender flesh.

Little gasps escaped her, and he smiled in satisfaction. Another surprise. Her foreign prince seemed as intent on her needs as he was his own.

His strong hands on her breasts burned away all other thought as it ignited her and made her want more. She arched her back, filling his hands, and sighing as her sensitive nipples brushed his fingertips. Auburn balled the sheets in her fists as his thumbs and forefingers rolled her pebbled peaks between them, sending fire cascading through her to pool in her stomach.

Eli reached between them and pulled her dress up over her head, then gazed down at her naked beneath him. She sucked in a breath at his naked hunger. He wanted her as much as she did him.

When he’d removed her dress, he’d freed Auburn’s arms, and she unbuttoned his shirt. He helped her get off the rest of his clothes, then she explored him, her hands tracing the hard contours of his chest, his back, and his arms. She tried to remember her training, what she was supposed to do to please her master, but she forgot the lessons in the heat of desire.

The dusting of hair on his chest teased against her nipples as she traced her hands over the smooth skin of his back and over his broad shoulders. She stroked down the sides of his ribcage, his thick muscle tightening as she delved lower.

Capturing both of her hands in one of his, he held them above her head and kissed along her jaw line. His lips dipped lower, into the hollow of her collarbone and along the smooth flesh just beneath the tender spot.

She quivered under his ministrations, a soft moan escaping her as she tried to absorb all he made her feel. She had no idea she could experience so much or that it could be so intense. Auburn wanted more, more of him, more of this.

“Eli,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion as she stared up at him.

“I told you to tell me to stop.” He trailed kisses down her neck and over her shoulders. “You still can.”

“But-”

“You can always tell me to stop. I won’t force you to do anything. Not now. Not ever.”

She never thought she’d be allowed to decide, and that made her yearn for him all the more. Of all the men she’d ever known, he was the only one she wanted. The only one her body responded to, the only one that made her ache. She hadn’t been ordered to give herself to him. Instead, she wanted Eli as he wanted her.

“I don’t want to play fair, so I’ll help you decide.” The prince ran his tongue over her areola then swirled over its crinkled peak before sucking it into his mouth.

She yelped as sensation shot through her, seared her thoughts and left her with nothing but the white heat of his lips on her. Overwhelmed by the intensity, her eyes closed as her head fell back against the pillow. Then he suckled.

She gripped him, trying to find an anchor in the swirling sea of feeling.

Eli held her close, easing back then guiding her forward again, never letting her get complete control of her faculties. He tasted first one furled nipple then the other, drawing out her pleasure.

Need swirled through her, heated her limbs and pooled like molten gold in her belly, bright, pure, and hot. Something was building, something intense, and his hands, his lips, his tongue all made it burn brighter.

He stroked her, teasing along her arms and down her sides. The heat intensified as he traced the curve of her hip and tickled the back of her knees. His greedy mouth continued to feast on her sensitive flesh as he slid his hands between her knees and traced lazy circles to the top of her thighs. Pausing, he let her adjust to his touch in her most intimate of places.

Anticipation swirled in her stomach as he reached the tender junction and cupped her, the heel of his hand pressing against the small button at the apex. His tongue continued to tantalize her sensitive breasts, swirling over the peaks and rolling them between his lips as he eased a digit into her.

She jolted as he entered her and tested her most innermost recesses. No one had had ever touched her there, and his hard hands on her made her quiver in a mixture of fear and desire.

He paused, and as he slowed down, her fear subsided and desire took its place. Auburn gazed up at him, her hands still above her head. She saw his hesitation as he warred with himself, and she opened her thighs to give him better access to her as she touched her lips to his.

He smiled.

His touch was gentle and desire had made her slick as he eased a second finger into her. He rubbed the small pearl hidden beneath her womanly folds, and heat shot through her as her passage tightened around him.