Page 59 of To Wake a Kingdom

“You’ve been here for days. You just noticed that?”

“No, I’m pointing it out. Why did you bring me here?”

“The new vault doesn’t have a lock; I wanted to be sure you wouldn’t steal from me.” He laughed softly, breath grazing my skin like a warm coastal breeze. “Though this is an unexpected side benefit,” I said as he shimmied closer and slowly slid his hand down my side, the heat of his fingers burning through my thin nightgown. “You should be resting.”

He also shouldn’t be here, but he was, and I was too weak to send him away. Too wrapped up in the feel, the scent, and the image of him to stop any of this.

“I’m tired of resting. I’ve rested enough.” He bit my earlobe, dragging his teeth along the sensitive skin.

An involuntary gasp parted my mouth as I reached to cup the back of his neck.“Enough for what, Commander?”

“Wouldn’t you like to find out?” His mouth returned to my throat as he pulled me even closer, his nose burying in the sensitive spot behind my ear. There must have been a clever reply on the tip of my tongue, but it dissipated in a puff of poplar seeds as his hand continued its exploration of my body, sliding across my stomach. “You feel so good. I could stay like this forever.” His lips caught mine in a deep and soul-melting kiss. His hard arousal pressed into my backside, and I shifted my hips, causing him to groan softly. “I’m supposed to be resting, Princess…but please tell me you locked the door this time.”

His mouth slid over mine, and I nodded as I flipped so we were facing each other. As we kissed, his hand drifted down my back and then up my side, dancing along my hipbone and then my ribs before his thumb swept over a nipple. My back arched as he teased it through the thin material of my nightshirt, and something unintelligible exhaled from my throat.

His hand continued its exploration, tracing circles between my breasts and then lower, stopping just below my navel. The gentle touch had me rocking into him, desperate for more. His hand slid down, pausing within devastating reach of where I craved release.

“I want to touch you, Thorne. I want to feel how wet you are and hear the sound you make when you come apart on my fingers. Sometimes it’s the only thing I can think about.”

My heart thumped against my vocal cords, nearly strangling my response. “Touch me, Ronan.”

He made an approving sound in the pit of his throat, rumbling and full of masculine satisfaction. Green eyes bright, his stare spiralled into me with naked lust and longing. No one had ever looked at me like that, and heat dripped from my stomach and spread between my thighs.

He lowered his head, tugging down the bodice of my nightgown with his teeth, licking and then biting my nipple. I dissolved on a caramel-scented wind, my nails digging into his silken strands of midnight hair.

Continuing his exploration of my curves, his hand continued its journey, sliding along the side of my leg and catching the hem of my nightgown. As he dragged it up, cool air tickled my hot skin. It offered the barest hint of relief from the heat threatening to char me from the inside.

Hitching up my knee, he spread me wide and trailed a lazy finger up the inside of my leg—first one, and then the other. The heat of his arousal pressed against my hip, and I reached for him until he caught my wrist.

“You first,” he said, placing my hand on my stomach. “I want you to experience this with no other distractions.” There was a command in his voice that spread shivers over me before he continued his agonizing pace.

I whimpered, anticipating his touch. So close, but not close enough. My hips squirmed as he teased a path below my navel, looping swirls and twists like he was composing a ballad on my skin.

“So impatient,” he drawled, but I cut him off as I pulled his mouth to mine. He moaned into me as his fingers drifted lower and lower.

I arched my back, hoping to encourage movement in the direction I craved. This was torture, a raw aching need more primal than anything I’d ever felt.

Finally.

Finally, his fingers slipped through my center, and he groaned. “Fuck, you’re so wet for me. What a good girl.”

At that, I crumbled apart like a puzzle dropped on the floor.

“Moan for me,” he said as his fingers circled my clit, shock waves spreading out in every direction. “Tell me how you like it.” He pressed harder and then slipped a finger inside me, and I let out a cry as his mouth devoured mine.

Oh, gods, I wanted more. I wanted all of him.

My head thrown back, he slipped a second finger inside me.

I’d thought about him touching me more times than I could count, but nothing could compare to the reality of him now, bringing me closer and closer to the edge of a rocky cliff pummeled by a turbulent sea.

In that moment, my entire world became Ronan’s skillful hand, his demanding mouth, and his muscular chest and thighs crowded against me as sparks exploded across my skin. Moving faster now, he nipped at my throat and my ear and my mouth as I rode his hand, repeating his name over and over.

And then release crashed through me as I cried out and exploded into a million ribbons of color. He kept his hand circling, his fingers moving inside me until I eventually found my fluttering way back to the earth.

After withdrawing his fingers, he placed them in his mouth, tasting my release with a satisfied gleam in his eye. I had never felt so wanted and needed and noticed.

When he was done, he pressed a kiss to the curve of my throat, eyes hooded.

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