To Love a Prince (Knights of Valor Book 1)(36)

Her eyes widened, and he grinned down at her as he teased his fingers over the inside of her thigh, around her hips, and up her belly. “I will not be rushed.”

She sucked in a breath and settled back against the bed as she waited for him.

The scent of her, an exotic mixture of vanilla and jasmine, snared and intoxicated him. She was a feast for the senses, and Eli drank in her lush curves and soft sighs. He tasted her, teasing his tongue over her furled peaks and nibbling her creamy skin.

Auburn tried to pull her hands down, but Eli had tied them. He wanted her to focus on her pleasure.

The whisper of her skin under his lips, silken and heated, made him want another taste, another kiss. He ached to touch all of her, to feel her most intimate of embraces.

Need made her fist her hands in the scarf as he fastened his lips around a nipple and sucked, rolling the hard bud through his mouth then releasing it into the cool air. A glazed expression of passion wreathed her, and he smiled as he tended to her other nipple.

His mouth and tongue pleasured her rosy peaks, and his hand dipped lower, over the soft roundness of her belly and down the curve of her hip. He tickled the backs of her knees, then he brought his hand up higher, parting her, and stroking her smooth inner thigh.

He reached further still, brushing his fingers over the copper curls at the apex of her thighs. Eli drank in her gasps and moans as her hips moved in time to his touches, and she parted wider for him.

Stroking her womanly folds, he slipped a finger between to find the hidden pearl.

She squealed as he rubbed, her head falling back and her hips bucking against his hand.

The prince took his time, caressing her nubbin as he feasted his lips and tongue on the soft mounds of her breasts. Listening to her soft gasps, he suckled, taking his fill before dipping his lips lower and trailing hot hard kisses over her belly.

She whimpered in unmet need as she stared down at him.

Eli smiled at her from between her parted thighs. He lifted one of her legs and pressed kisses behind her knee, then teased his lips along the inside of her thigh.

Her eyes widened as he reached her apex.

He parted her and kissed the sensitive nub hidden there.

Auburn cried out as sensation bolted through her. By the gods, he loved hearing his name on her lips, feeling the heat of her, and seeing her lost in pleasure.

Starting slowly, he teased her bud with the tip of his tongue, taunting it, toying with it.

Her hips bucked beneath him, but he held her firmly as he kissed her most intimate places.

Her head rolled from side to side as he lavished sensation on her. When she fell back against the pillow, he knew she’d surrendered fully to him, had given herself over to the passion between them.

Her hands tangled around the scarf binding her. “Please, Eli, please.”

He understood her need, knew what he’d created in her, and he answered it. Swirling her little bud with his tongue, he suckled, a soft rhythmic motion that had her writhing in time to his kisses.

He slipped a finger into her welcoming softness and stroked.

“Eli!” she panted as she clutched the scarf binding her.

He smiled as he took her, pushed her up and over the cliffs of desire. Watched her whole body tense as pleasure gripped her in wave after wave of bliss.

Her body softened, then eased back against the mattress, spent and satiated. Eli untied her wrists and gathered her to him.

She smiled, a soft happy smile as she lay against him.

He tucked the blankets around her and cradled her close as contentment closed her eyes.





Chapter 24





Eli collected his chessboard and set it on the table. He needed something to occupy him other than lascivious thoughts, and he enjoyed teaching Auburn how to play chess. As they played, she gave Eli a glimpse into how she thought. Unlike Daniella’s cold and precise choices, which were much like his own, Auburn was bold and imaginative. She took risks, tried new strategies, and made Eli improve his own game because of it.

When Auburn saw him with the board, she hurried over and helped him set up the pieces then sat down opposite him.

Her brows furrowed in concentration as she made her moves. Auburn employed some of the strategies he’d taught her, while other choices were things she’d devised by playing against him.

They were deep into the game when Auburn made an unexpected move, and five plays later, she took Eli’s queen.

“Why did you do that?”

“Because you don’t like losing your queen. It messes up your strategy.”

“You’ll lose because of it.”

“I’ll lose anyway. I made a couple of mistakes early on that you’ve been exploiting.”

He nodded once in agreement.

“I will still make you work for your victory. It’ll make the game more fun for both of us.”

The prince gazed into her cornflower-blue eyes. It appeared she was learning as much about him as he was about her. He wondered if, knowing all she did, she would want to stay with him once they reached Tamryn.

He was not a kind man, or a good one, but she made him want to be both to her.

After they finished their game, Auburn produced a book written in Qumarefi. “I thought you might like to read a history of Qumaref according to Qumaref.”

“I would,” Eli said. She had learned a lot about him.

“I love the books in the sultan’s library. They’re one of the only things I’ll miss.”