Risking the Crown (The Crown 2)

“I don’t think I like that idea,” I whispered. My throat clamped with pain as if I could cry.

Chapter 17

Vaughn’s eyes darted back and forth. “Emily…”

“Yes?” I wondered if it was on his tongue too. The words that had struck me this morning on the balcony.

Words I hadn’t said to anyone before. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t felt them. I had. I had felt them more than once, but I was always too afraid to say them first. Maybe that was my mistake. I waited for someone else to tell me how they felt first. I hid behind the shelter of their words. I protected myself by not going first.

“Em, I-I—”

I couldn’t stop it from happening. “I love you.”

There was silence between us. My eyes dropped to the floor. “Oh God. Was that not what you wanted to hear?”

He lifted my chin in the air. “I don’t think I’ve ever wished things could be different before.”

He crushed his lips to mine. I didn’t care that he hadn’t said it. I felt it. I felt it when his hands circled my body. When he stripped the clothes from my skin. When he lifted me into the shower.

He pressed my back into the wall. “Why now? Why did you say it now?” he growled. I thought I heard pain in his voice.

I was breathing so hard, I could barely talk. The water rushed over his back and between us. His hand pried my legs apart. I gasped when I felt him circle my clit. My mouth parted with a sigh.

“You don’t have to say it, Vaughn.” I bit my lip. “I just wanted you to know before you left. It’s ok.”

He held my eyes with his gaze. His body pinned me to the shower wall. His erection was solid against my hip. God, I wanted him. I wanted him inside me. This man I loved.

“But I’m leaving tonight.” He lifted my leg over his hip.

I nodded. “It’s ok. I love you means no pressure.” I whimpered when he pushed his cock to my entrance.

“Fuck, Emily. You just made everything complicated.”

My eyes flared. “No. It’s not.” My hips jerked forward to show him that I accepted what was between us, no matter if he said

it or not.

His hands took mine overhead. “You know you drive me fucking insane?”

I nodded. “Yes.” My voice was breathy.

“And your body is like my drug?”

I nodded again. “God, yes.”

His fingers curled against my knuckles as he started to push inside me.

“And I don’t think it was an option not to fall in love with you.”

He thrust with powerful force as my body wrapped around him. My heart seized. My blood pumped faster than before. It was the complete ecstasy of Vaughn possessing me and hearing the words simultaneously.

I lost gravity. I lost my hold on reality as his body took mine. He lifted my ass against the wall and I straddled him with my other leg. He surged inside me with strong strokes. Each one pinning me against the tile with more urgency than the last.

“Why did you say it?” he panted, kissing my throat.

He pushed inside me. “Ohh,” I cried. I had no way to support myself or gain traction. Vaughn held me as I slid up and down at his will.

“I’m leaving tonight,” he repeated.