Page 17 of The Demon Prince

Then she blinked, and she was floating. No, falling. Tumbling back onto her bed where she landed in the wrong direction. Her head almost hung off the edge while her hip twinged as her feet dangled over the opposite side.

Gluttony prowled up her body on his hands and knees as he joined her on the bed. Looming over her. His fangs flashing in a full smile as he stared down into her shocked expression.

“Well?” he asked, his voice deep and low. “Now that you’ve really seen me, pet, what do you think?”

She swallowed hard. “I saw you a few nights ago when you came into my room the first time.”

“Ah, that is no surprise. But you were trying so hard to hide that you were awake.” His face dipped down, nose trailing between her breasts. “You didn’t want me to know, but your heart was thundering in your chest. I can hear it, you know. I can see the way your little pulse flutters in your neck like a bird just waiting to flee its cage.”

Poetry for such terrifying words. Although she had to grit her teeth as a sudden blush turned her cheeks red hot. “You cannot enter a woman’s room without permission.”

“Oh, but I can. And I do. Regularly.” He snorted against her nightgown, and then drew himself up her body until his breath fanned across her throat. “Now, why don’t you tell me who this Jackson is?”

A slight huff of a laugh escaped her. “We’re back to that, are we?”

“Apparently so.”

“You have no right to know who anyone is in my life. I don’t even know you.”

But then he settled his weight onto her and oh, her hip might not move very well, but it moved enough to accommodate him. He settled between her thighs, hot and hard and so masculine that it made her stomach clench.

Katherine couldn’t remember the last time a man had lain with her like this. Had it been years? She didn’t have time to think of anything but her job and the pain that was a constant battle. No man wanted to hear her complaining about it, and no one wanted to be thoughtful enough to be aware of her old injury. It had been so long... So long since she’d twined her arms around a broad back or felt narrow hips pressed against her own.

Sighing, she tried very hard to focus when he was all but grinding himself against her.

“I have no right?” Gluttony murmured, his voice so deep she could feel the vibrations of it against her neck. “I have whatever rights I desire. I’m the king of this kingdom. I could command you to tell me.”

“And I still wouldn’t tell you.” Mostly because she didn’t want poor Jackson to lose his head. “Why do you care so much?”

He reared back, those red eyes staring into hers, and she swore she saw something flicker in the depths. As though he wanted to tell her the truth, even though he feared what the truth actually was. Or maybe he hadn’t considered why he was in her room, acting like a jealous lover when this was the first time they’d ever spoken with each other.

And strangely enough, she didn’t mind it all that much. Katherine should have been screaming for someone to help her, but a small part of her soul whispered for her to pause.

He was... familiar to her. Or perhaps that wasn’t the right way to say it, but in a strange way, he was. Her heart knew him, or perhaps she knew him in another life. Because it felt as though they’d lain on this bed a hundred times before, him asking her about a man that she mentioned and her having to sooth his aching ego.

Which was a problem in itself, but still. It was as though they’d done this before, and that feeling made her hesitate. Just for a moment.

It was apparently the wrong thing to do. Again.

With a groan, he tilted his head down and buried it in her throat. Katherine had to make space for him, just so he didn’t touch her more, but that only made more room for his lips against her pulse.

“I don’t know why it matters,” he whispered against her skin, inhaling so deeply she wondered if he was trying to keep her scent in his lungs. “I cannot seem to keep myself away from you, and we’d never even spoke. Now? Oh, now you are more than just an obsession, pet.”

Katherine didn’t like that.

She did not like that even if her stomach clenched and her thighs shook with a need she hadn’t felt in years. She didn’t want to be his pet, and she certainly didn’t want to be an obsession.

Katherine had gone mad. That was the only answer for what was happening right now in her head. She’d lost all sense of reason and in doing so, she was convincing a murderous tyrant that she was interested.

“I—” What was she going to say?

Warm and slick, his tongue glided up her neck. Just that brief touch scattered all her thoughts to the wind. She tilted her hips up toward his, as much as she could with her bad one, and he groaned against her. The sound shook through her throat and went straight to her core.

If he could smell her blood, surely he could smell her interest?

Another groan. Another rocking of his hips against hers, and she could feel how hard he was. This was getting so far out of hand and she needed to get control over the situation or she’d be yet another woman he’d fed from.

But would that be so bad?

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