Royal Bastard (Instantly Royal 1)

“But do you want to?” he asked.

Yes! “I can’t afford to ask myself that question.”

He glided the back of his thumb up the outside of her thigh to the lacy trim of her sleep shorts, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. “Why not?”

“We both already know what the answer is.”

She wanted to straddle him as he sat on the bed and give him a grinding, hot lap dance that ensured his cock rubbed up against every sensitive spot at the apex of her legs. She wanted to take him inside her, press her palms against the hard ridges of his abs and ride him slow and sure. She wanted to be under him on the bed, pressed up against him with the wall at her back, and on her hands and knees as he pounded into her like she craved each time her fingers slid between her slick folds.

“Brooke…” He made her name sound like a naughty promise and a desperate plea.

One that she only wanted to answer in the affirmative. This was not right. Unthinkable. Tempting. So damn tempting. Her fingertips were tracing the line of his jaw, the coarse hair scraping her tender flesh before she even realized what she was doing. He didn’t touch her in return. He waited—patient, enticing, confident—letting her take the lead, as if he already knew what she’d say next. It wasn’t triumph in his hazel eyes but pure focused need—all of it directed at her. It was incendiary to be at the center of it, and she was going up in flames.

She traced the line of his throat and across his corded shoulders, the whole time feeling like a woman who’d made this decision a million years ago and was only now admitting it. “No one could know.”

“There’s no one here I’d ever tell.”

The springy hairs dusting his pecs tickled her fingers as she continued her explorations of the man she’d been secretly fantasizing about since the first photos came in from the earl’s private investigator. “It can’t be anything more than sex and only this one time.”

Okay, that was more for herself than Nick. It wasn’t like someone like him had ever had problems separating orgasms from something more.

“I’m not staying full-time anyway.” He flexed his fingers and then squeezed them into a fist again, never letting them move away from his knees. “In a few months, I’ll be back in Virginia.”

“I’m not giving up on making you the earl Bowhaven needs.” She couldn’t. There was too much at stake.

“Never asked you to,” he said, his eyes fluttering shut for a second as she traced her way downward, following his narrow happy trail. “This has nothing to do with that.”

She hesitated at the waistband of his boxer briefs, her nipples so hard, they hurt. “Nick…”

“God, I love the way you say my name.”

Just the rumble of his words was enough to make her clit quiver with anticipation, but he still didn’t make a single move toward her. She knew why. He wanted her to make the first move, to have control, to show him just how much she wanted him. The moment was as empowering as it was sexually frustrating.

“Nick.” She lifted both hands to his shoulders and pushed, forcing him back onto the bed. Then she did what she’d been fantasizing about since she read the first report on one Nick Vane—she crawled onto the bed and straddled his hips. “Will you stop being good?”

“Lady Lemons,” he said, grabbing her around the waist and flipping their positions so she was on her back. “I thought you’d never ask.”

He dipped his head lower, his mouth centimeters from hers, hovering there above her, so close she could feel him even without actually touching him. Another opportunity to back out? To run? It didn’t matter, because she wasn’t going anywhere right now. It took only the slightest move to press her lips to his in a kiss while at the same time she reached her hips and pressed his hard length against her core, just where she wanted him.

Chapter Fourteen

If Nick’s head still ached like it had been used as a gong by a guy wielding a two-by-four, he couldn’t fucking feel it. All he could feel was the softness of Brooke’s lips on his, the sweet curve of her waist where it flared out. Even with the barrier of his underwear and her min

uscule shorts between them, the slick heat of her pressed against his dick. How their clothing didn’t go up in flames the moment he sank between her thighs and ground against her, he had no clue. Especially not when she moaned into his mouth, her teeth grazing his bottom lip. Oh, somebody liked that. He did it again, this time changing the angle just enough that if he was lucky, he’d stroke the head of his cock against her clit. She arched against him, letting her head fall back into the pillow, and let out a lusty groan that made his balls tingle. Oh yeah, that was the kind of sound he loved hearing come from his usually tightly wound Lady Lemons.

“I could probably come just from hearing you moan like that,” he said, kissing his way down the column of her throat to the sensitive spot at the base.

She rotated her hips, rubbing herself against him. “I need a little more than that.”

He chuckled. “Don’t worry. You’ll be getting it.”

He tugged the thin strap of her tank top down her arm until the triangle of material covering her tits slipped down far enough to reveal the hard point of her nipple. He cupped her breast and dragged his thumb across the stiff peak. Brooke groaned, and he repeated the move again and again until her skin was flush with desire. Then he leaned down and sucked her nipple into his mouth, drawing on it. Her hands were in his hair, digging into his scalp at the back of his head and holding him in place as he teased and tugged on her sensitive flesh.

“Nick, please,” she pleaded.

“More or less?” he asked, praying that it wasn’t less because he already knew he wouldn’t be able to get enough of her tonight.

“All of it,” she said, her heady voice strained with desire. “Right now.”