Page 82 of Three Weeks with a Princess
She slammed the door to the images flooding her brain and pressed her lips shut against him. It wasn’t an easy task when a man was trying to push his tongue deep into one’s mouth. Jack sensed her retreat and drew back, his mouth slowly, reluctantly, sliding away. His arms, however, remained locked around her in an intractable hold.
Gasping, Lia gazed up at him, her head swimming as she absorbed the hunger in his glittering, dark eyes and the sensual set to his mouth.
“What’s wrong, Lia?” His tone was husky and deep, making her shiver.
“You truly don’t want to do this, Jack. Besides, you’ve amply made your point.”
His lips, damp from their torrid kiss, curved up in that wry, familiar smile. “The hell I don’t. And if I did have a point when I started this, I’ve completely forgotten it.”
When he started to lower his head again, she locked her wrists to hold him back. “That comment proves my point. You need to stop and think, and in the meantime, please put me down.”
As much as she enjoyed his quite arousing strength, she was also getting tired of dangling like a rag doll.
He grimaced, but then eased her down in a deliberate slide that left her gasping. She felteverything, and it all felt deliciously . . . hard.
“That wasn’t very polite of you,” she said as her toes hit the floor. She was forced to keep a tight grip on his forearms until she regained her balance.
Jack leaned down and nuzzled her cheek. “I’m not feeling very polite at the moment.”
She shivered. “Ah yes, I couldn’t help but notice. But please just stop and think for a minute before something unfortunate comes to pass.”
He barked out a short laugh. “I’m done thinking. Besides, I don’t think I could if I tried.” He tapped a finger to his skull. “At least not with this particular head.”
“Good God, Jack. Have you completely lost your senses? You’ll only—”
He leaned against the door and pulled her between his braced legs. There wasn’t a scrap of space between them and only a few scraps of cloth between body parts that had no business interacting in such a reckless fashion.
“I’ll only what?” he asked.
“Ah, I forget.” She needed to get the situation under control, but neither her brain nor her body showed the slightest inclination to cooperate.
He flashed her a wicked, seductive smile. “Good, because I’m done talking. All I want do isfeel—feel you.”
She goggled up at him, unable to formulate a sensible response. The way he looked at her—as if he wanted to strip her bare and devour her—made her go positively light-headed.
When his hands stroked down from her waist, cupping her bottom, Lia didn’t even try to swallow the moan that rose from her throat. She might even have wriggled a bit, although she wasn’t sure because her brain had ceased to function with any reliability. When he nibbled her jaw and then kissed her neck, she found herself craning her head to the side, silently urging him on to the shivery part right behind her ear.
Clearly, she was an idiot.
“Aren’t you tired of talking, too?” he whispered. “Don’t you want this as much as I do?”
“I . . . I’m just trying to be sensible, Jack. One of us has to be.”
His hands came up to her shoulders and he tipped her back a few inches. His gaze ran hungrily over her form. “There’s nothing sensible about any of this, love. Especially the way you’re dressed,” he added, as if he’d just noticed her ridiculous costume.
He ran a finger along her collarbone and then dipped down between her breasts. It felt as if he’d brushed a flame over her skin. When he trailed hard fingertips across the plump swell of her breasts, a sultry heat cascaded through her body to settle low between her thighs. How could such a simple touch evoke so much sensation?
Because it was Jack.
“I want you, Lia,” he said in a low, rough voice. “All of you. No more barriers between us, no more being sensible.” He leaned down to flick his tongue across her parted lips. “No more saying no,” he whispered.
She clung to him as the axis of her feverish, spinning world, the only thing keeping her from collapsing in a quivering heap. He’d been everything she’d ever wanted for as long as she could remember. When she was a little girl, he was a comet shooting through the ordered march of days, flaring brightly through her life a few times a year. And from the moment she’d started to grow into womanhood, she’d yearned for him with an ache that could never be assuaged. That ache now flooded her body, refusing to be denied for one second longer.
“But, don’t you think . . .” she quavered, making one last push to save herself.
To savehim.
He nuzzled her mouth, cutting off her objection and sealing her fate. From the moment he’d come to her rescue tonight, she’d been fighting against this moment of surrender. She’d even asked for his help in finding a protector. It had been her last stand, a gamble to either secure his help or drive him away once and for all.
