“I’m sorry, Molly.” His fingers landed on my shoulder, sliding under the strap of my tank top. “I did try to get here sooner.”
He stroked the side of my arm, letting the strap fall gently. I dared myself to fall for it. I dared myself to soak in the heat of his touch.
“But Galona was needy today.” He bent toward me, catching my lips by surprise. His lips crushed mine. The bourbon burned my tongue as he greedily kissed me. He growled lowly, tearing down the walls I had built during my hours in his tower.
I pressed against his fitted jacket, feeling the strength of his chest beneath my palms. “Why?” I whispered. I needed space if I was going to get my answers. “Why am I here?”
I caught a glimpse of his tanned skin where he unbuttoned his shirt. The tie still loosely dangled around his neck. It was the sexiest thing I had seen.
“I have just spent two days with the prime minster of the Bostique. You were supposed to be here when I was out of my meetings yesterday.”
“I tried to return to the residence, but security wouldn’t let me in the elevator. There wasn’t much I could do.” I needed to defend myself.
He sighed. “Idiots.”
“And then I ran into the royal manager. He said I needed to go home.”
Damon’s eyebrows arched. “Sutcliffe?”
I nodded. I considered describing the man as the one with the stick up his ass, but it didn’t seem like a suitable royal description.
I continued my defense. “I did try to leave a message for you, but it seemed it was best I went home. Georgan took me.” I broke away enough from his hands to lean against the couch. “After the Titan, I knew I was overstepping. And I’m not that kind of person, Damon. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. But I’m not the kind of girl who came here to land a celebrity. I’m in Freychon for my research.” I hadn’t heard my voice this clear and certain in a while.
“The gala was a whim. A crazy, irrational kind of whim that I’ve never given in to. I’m not rash and impulsive. I realize you have every reason to think I am. But that was one night. It’s not the real me. This is.”
I waved my hands from my glasses to where my yoga pants bunched below my knees. The woman in front of him was who I truly was. These were the clothes I walked in. The glasses I saw through. The skin I lived in every day.
He rubbed the sharp angle of his jaw.
I couldn’t stop talking. “My work is my life. I left South Carolina for this grant. I left my family and all my friends to do something amazing. Something that fulfills me. I made sacrifices to move here. I’ve worked extremely hard. And it wasn’t to become the king’s side piece.” My chest heaved defiantly.
He finished his drink, pausing to respond. I didn’t know if I had completely pissed him off, or offended him on every level possible. There was a chance he was going to call security and dump me outside the palace gates.
“Did you consider maybe that’s why you are here, Molly?”
He deposited the bourbon glass and divided the space between us. He gently pinched the sides of my glasses, removing them from my face. He placed them next to empty glass.
My breath caught in the back of my throat.
“Now it’s your turn to listen.” He cupped my cheeks, crashing his lips against mine. I felt the weight of his mouth devour me in urgent gulps.
I closed my eyes, knowing I was going under. Drowning in his kiss. Surrendering to his need. Falling harder and faster than a star plummeting to Earth. I was lost. Locked and chained. And Damon Sauvage had hidden the key.
19
Damon
Her lips were sweeter than before. Maybe it was the wait. Two days of craving her. Wanting her. Needing her. Every obstacle placed in front of me.
She had no idea what it took to get to this moment.
I could devour her now. Taste her. Lick her. Coax those precious moans from her lips.
I reached for the pencil holding her hair atop her head and slowly slid it, dropping it to the floor. Her auburn waves cascaded to her shoulders. Her blue eyes followed my gaze.
Fuck. This woman killed me. It was like a curtain of innocence flowed around her.
I lifted her in my arms and carried her to my room. I kicked the door closed behind us. No one entered my bedroom without a direct summons. She was the only one who had that.