Page 33 of A Crown of Madness
“Demanding,” she whispers.
I can hardly hear her over the pounding of my heart in my ears. The tips of my fingers draw a line over her arms, the lacy material of the dress’s neckline, and onto the smooth skin above. My palm flattens over her heart—racing just like mine.
“Your heart is frantic.” I smile. Then I lean in, move my hand, and place a kiss there.
Her hands fall back down to my chest. “Yours is too.”
I’m sure my heart only beats faster as I let my fingers move lower until I’m tracing the lace over her chest, skimming the very top of her breasts. Valentina trembles on my lap, and blood starts rushing down to my core... down to my cock.
Silky blonde hair brushes my cheek. Valentina flattens herself against me, allowing me to settle my hands at her hips. Her lips are at my ear, her words a tickle of breath against my skin. “I thought you’d promised me a kiss so good, I might forget my husband’s name.”
“A good kiss is more than just locking lips,myqueen.” One hand follows the curve of her body up until I’m sinking my hand into her hair and settling our foreheads together. “A good kiss is a moment. It’s the build of a song that finally reaches its crest.”
“Oh, I—”
I seal my lips to hers, taking whatever words had been on her tongue as she melts against me. The whole world, every problem I currently face, the carriage itself, all of it fades away until it’s as unimportant as a gnat. Every sense pinpoints to this one kiss. This one perfect fucking kiss.
I kiss her hungrily as though I may never be full of her. She answers with an appetite of her own. Those hands of hers explore every inch of my exposed skin. They thread through the hair on my chest, curl into my shoulders, and move up until she’s pulling at my hair.
Her lips taste like spun sugar. Her tongue is gentle but firm as it mingles with mine. My lungs burn, begging for air I won’t allow them. I’d rather suffocate than let this ever end.
Valentina shifts against me, her center grinds into the hardness of my length, and she gasps into my mouth. But I steal that sound too. I take that gasp, and I suck it in to appease my own need for air. One of my hands cradles her head, the other brushes against her breast where her nipple is hard through the fabric. I rub my thumb across it.
Our kisses never stop. Not even when I roll her nipple between my fingers. She makes a small, oh so perfect sound. Then her hips rock against me. Once. Then twice. Until she’s moving in a steady rhythm against me, and all I can think about is how good she feels.
My fingers curl into the fabric of her gown, my hands finding her ass and guiding every movement she makes. The kiss breaks, only for us both to gasp for air. Valentina’s head falls back, exposing her neck. My teeth rake across her skin, my lips kissing that very same mark before my tongue runs up to her jaw.
“Do you know how many times I thought about doing this?” I murmur into her neck.
“I doubt it’s as many times asI’veimagined you doing it.”
I moan, the sound vibrating against her throat. “You will undo me with words like that.”
“I want to undo you. I want every little piece of you a scattered mess. I want you to feel just as flustered and flushed as I get every time you look at me the way you do across the table.”
“I want to fuck you against that table.” My mouth finds hers again.
Valentina smiles through the kiss. “Is that a promise?”
“That’s a vow.”
“One can only hope that you’re a man of your word.”
Her hips move again, and I know that I’m on the brink of losing myself. I force her still against me. Our chests rise and fall rapidly against one another as I pull away.
“We need to slow down, or I’ll be needing a change of pants before we arrive.”
Crimson stains her skin from the tips of her ears all the way to the top of her breasts. “I’m sorry, I think I’m getting a little ahead of myself.” She tries to slip off my lap, but I hold her tightly.
“No, you’re not getting ahead of yourself. This is exactly what I wanted too.” I press another quick kiss to her red, swollen lips. “We have a long while until we reach the Court of Winds. I think we should spend that time doing exactly this.”
She smiles fiercely, and my heart lurches to my throat.
And we spend the majority of the ride doing exactly that.
Chapter Thirteen
Violence
