Claiming His Princess: Duty at What Cost? / A Throne for the Taking / Princess in the Iron Mask. Kate Walker
time with her heavy breaths, her narrow waist, and the sheer purple panties that revealed more than they hid.
Her woman’s scent rose up to tease him and he climbed onto the bed and came over her, his hands braced on either side of her face. ‘Now, my lovely, I have you right where I want you.’
Her hands came up between them, curling into his chest hair. Her smile was full of womanly provocation. Her actions thankfully belying her earlier hesitation. ‘You like to think you’re in control, but I am stronger than I look.’ She scratched her nails lightly against his skin like a cat.
She shuddered beautifully beneath him and turned her head to capture his mouth with hers. He groaned, sank into the kiss, let himself become absorbed by it. His free hand smoothed down over her torso, learning her wherever he went.
Her own hands were busy, stroking up over the muscles of his arms. When she pushed playfully against his shoulders he didn’t budge. ‘It feels like you’re made of steel. You’re completely immovable.’
‘Where do you want me to go?’ he growled with husky promise. ‘Up?’ He kissed his way along her neck and bit down gently on her earlobe. ‘Or down?’ His tongue laved her collarbone and dipped lower, circling ever closer to the centre of her breast.
Her eyes glazed over with desire.
‘Ava?’
‘Quoi?’ She arched off the bed, her breasts begging for his mouth.
‘Which way?’
She gave a low moan as he continued to tease her, and when she wrapped one leg around his lean hip he guessed her intention and let her flip him onto his back. She pushed up until she straddled his waist. ‘Now who’s got whom exactly where they want them?’ she said, a look of triumph lighting up her face.
Wolfe grinned and repositioned her until her hot centre cradled his erection. ‘That would be me.’
‘Ohhh.’ Ava spread her palms wide over his chest. ‘I know you think—’
Wolfe leant up and suckled one of her peaked nipples into his mouth, cutting off whatever she was about to say. Her wet heat was shredding his control and the time for banter was well past. ‘I think you’re sensational.’ He switched to her other breast and realised that he meant it.
Usually a woman was content to let him lead all the play in bed, but this was much more fun. And the taste of her cherry-red nipples blew his mind.
While she was distracted by his mouth he smoothed his hand down her belly and cupped her where she was open and already wet for him, her filmy panties no barrier to his questing fingers. Her eyes flew open as he found her and pushed a finger inside her slick centre. She cried out his name and balanced over him as she rocked against his hand.
Wolfe’s erection jerked painfully but he forced himself to wait, enjoying having her at his mercy. Enjoying the astonished look of pleasure that came over her when he lightly circled her clitoris. And especially enjoying the way she flung her head back in ecstasy and screamed his name as she came for him.
He rode out her orgasm with her until her head flopped forward, her long hair falling around his face like a silky veil. Needing to be inside her with an urgency that was shocking, Wolfe flipped her onto her back, chuckling softly when she just lay there in silent supplication.
‘At least I know how to get your absolute cooperation now.’
Ava pushed her hair back from her face and stretched sinuously. ‘What did you just do to me?’
‘I made you come.’ He rolled on the condom he’d pulled from his wallet and nudged her thighs wider, entering her on one slow, luxurious thrust. ‘And now I’m going to do it all over again.’
It took every ounce of control he possessed to keep his movements even and gentle until her body had grown accustomed to his size, but when he felt her completely relax and take all of him fully he couldn’t hold back, driving them both to the edge of reason a number of times, until with a sob she gripped his hips and forced him over the edge into a space that was so white-hot he felt as if their bodies would be fused for eternity.
His last coherent thought was, what did he do after an experience like that?
With sexual release came clarity, and Ava could barely believe what had just happened. Had she really just had sex with a man she’d met merely hours ago? A friend of Gilles’s, no less?
Yes, she had. The evidence was still there in the tiny aftershocks of pleasure rippling through her core, not to mention the harsh breaths of the man lying beside her who looked as if he was choosing his best exit line.
She made a small sound in the back of her throat. ‘I told myself I wasn’t going to give in to this.’
Her voice had him rolling towards her and the bed dipped under his powerful frame. Ava’s skin burned where his eyes raked over her, and as casually as she could she pulled the top sheet up to cover her nudity.
‘Why did you?’ His voice was gravelly. Sexy.
Was that a serious question? She’d done it because at the time she’d felt she didn’t have a choice. As soon as he’d taken her into his arms she hadn’t been able to help herself.
‘Curiosity,’ she said, the word sounding much better to her ears than, I couldn’t help myself.
‘That sounds a bit calculated.’ His eyes narrowed as if he was assessing her. Judging her.
‘Hardly.’ Did he think she had set out to sleep with him?
Embarrassed by the thought, Ava wondered what happened now. Did they engage in polite conversation? Did he get up and leave? Well, he had to, because this was her room, but…
Unsure of herself, and hating the way that made her feel—as if she was standing in front of her father about to be told off for not living up to his expectations—she decided that she had no choice but to fall back on her usual tricks of feigned indifference or taking charge. Since indifference seemed too far out of her reach right now, she chose the latter.
‘Please do not feel like you have to stay around because of me. You must be tired, and I’m not the sensitive type.’
Wolfe propped his hand on his elbow, a lazy smile curling his lips. ‘This is your idea of pillow-talk?’
No. It was her idea of self-defence. She feigned a yawn. ‘Or if you’re not tired, I am.’
His golden-brown eyes grew flinty. ‘Are you asking me to leave or telling me?’
‘Isn’t that what you were just thinking you should do?’
His eyes flickered from hers for the briefest of seconds, but it was enough for her to know she had been right in her assumption.
‘Actually, I was thinking of inviting you out to dinner.’
His comment took her by surprise, and she was sure he was making it up. She swallowed heavily and pushed aside the tiny kernel of pleasure his words had imbued her with. ‘I’d love to, but you’re about five hours too late.’
He shook his head in amusement. ‘Are you always this prickly after a bout of hot sex?’
Ava swallowed. She didn’t know. She’d never had sex like that before. The whole thing both alarmed her and set her body on fire in equal measure. What had happened to her promise only to go out with men who wanted the same thing she did? Love. A family.
Hating the feeling of uncertainty that had her in its tight grip, and hoping she appeared as casual as Wolfe, she let her eyes drift over his stubbled jaw and broad shoulders. When she noticed a small patch of puckered skin right beneath his collarbone she frowned.
‘That was a bullet from a semi-automatic.’
Ava’s startled gaze met his. Was he serious?
He’d said it as if he was ordering a