Page 16 of Girl Anonymous

“You’ve had the same day.”

“I didn’t face that explosion.” With tender fingers, he traced the curve of her face. “Swollen,” he said. “Like you were slapped. Why didn’t you run?”

“I couldn’t. I had to—”

“Save my mother.” He stroked her face, yet although he watched her as if she were a mythical creature, a unicorn or a phoenix, he made no move to kiss her again. He kept a space between them, touching her only with his fingertips.

Yet that space hummed with vitality, need, an awakening that made her forget the past and find what she needed here andnow. She caught his wrist and gripped it with all her strength. “I’d like you to kiss me again.”

“You didn’t like it.”

“I…did.” She winced. It sounded like a question.

“You stopped me. Did you mean to?”

“I didn’t stop you. I let you kiss me.”

“Fuck that. If you want me, kiss me. Open your mouth. Kiss me.” He bent her over his arm and…oh, my. He was the kidnapping pirate, the ruthless magician, the prince who would turn the tide.

She yielded, opened her mouth to him, let him cup her breast.

Okay, there was noletting. He was doing what he wished with her body. She wasn’t complaining or fighting. Of all the shocks of the day, this was the best. Or the worst. Or…the one that swamped all the other emotions.

Eventually he stopped kissing and whispered against her lips, “What do you want?”

This pirate, this prince, wanted her to make a decision. He waited on her decision.

Mostly.

Because while he asked, he lowered her onto the seat and spread her legs, and dipped his mouth and tasted her. The shock sent her reeling back against the wall, arms braced, slammed by sensation. She looked down at him; his eyes were blissfully shut, his lips moved and sucked and his tongue thrust into her…

She slammed back against the wall again.

What man did this? Pleasured a woman as if nothing else mattered? As if she tasted like ambrosia on his tongue?

According to her friends, between a man and woman, passion slowly built…if the woman was lucky.

Not here, not now. Passionwas. She came hard and fast, clamping her thighs around his head and holding him in place while warm rain splattered, cool tile cradled her, and hisfinger—no, two fingers—pushed inside her as if he wanted to extend her pleasure. She whimpered and writhed.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, arched her spine, and pulled her forward to the edge of the bench. Taking her breast in his mouth, he sucked her nipple while stroking his fingers inside her and using his thumb to stroke her clit.

Too much. She couldn’t keep track. He confused her senses. She knew only one thing: it hurt to want this much. “Please. Soon. Now.” She groped her way down from his shoulders, slid her hand under the waistband of his shorts to his dick, touched it, held it.

He froze, waiting, watching her from those too-observant eyes.

She stroked lightly, enjoying the ridges, the silky smooth skin, the mushroom-shaped cap. “It’s—”

“The biggest you’ve ever seen?” His tone held a cynical edge.

“Not at all.” Did he think she was raised in a convent? “Have you everlookedonline?”

He laughed, a brief explosion of amusement, and his shoulders relaxed infinitesimally. “Then what?”

“I’d like… Do you think we could… I’d like one moment in this day to be memorable not in a horrible way.”

He got a funny look on his face, like he didn’t know whether to guffaw or wince. After a moment’s struggle, he said gravely, “Thank you for setting such a low bar.”

CHAPTER 7

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