He forgot every thought but one. “I need you naked, sweet.”
He watched, mesmerized, as she freed her hair from confinement, the dark tresses tumbling into place. The mind-boggling things he felt in that moment... He nearly staggered at the extraordinary weight of them.
“Let me tell you what I need,” she breathed, her eyes hooding. “Your kiss. Your touch on every inch of me. Love my body in a thousand different ways and help me forget the hours we spent apart before and the hours we’ll spend apart next. Give me everything you promised. Hold nothing back.”
Next? The honeyed scent of her desire frayed his control, and he pushed aside his foreboding. “Everything. Nothing,” he croaked. She’d utterly consumed his thoughts. “Show me more.”
She trembled a little as she unhooked the upper garment, bearing her beautiful breasts and their tight ruby nipples. A groan lodged in his throat.
“The rest. Let me see the rest.” Missed her so much. Missed this. The sweet exchange. The sense of communion. The utter peace of passion, every other facet of him shut off.
She dragged her panties down with a waggle of her hips. The cutest kick flung the material away. Then she stood before him, bare.
And he’d thought her proud before. Head high, shoulders back and those lush breasts thrust up for his view, awaiting his caress. “I will play with your body until you scream for me,” he boasted. To seal his vow with a kiss, he dipped his head and sucked on one straining crest, then the other.
Her moan of surrender echoed as she shoved her fingers into his hair. He kissed his way up her sternum. The length of her throat. Straightening, he met her gaze. Dilated pupils, glassy irises. He loved how quickly and intently she desired him.
“I’ll brand your body until you never forget me,” she boasted back.
Awareness crackled in the space between them, the pull stronger than ever before. But even then, he felt as if she were slipping from his fingers. No. He wouldn’t let her. With a snarl, he cupped her backside and her nape in unison, forcing her closer.
* * *
COOKIE OPENED UP, eagerly greeting Kaysar’s tongue with her own. She moaned her pleasure, overcome.
He eased the tempo of his kiss, as if her reaction soothed some ferocious beast inside him. Fast and uninhibited became slow and deliberate, every stroke of his tongue a sensual onslaught.
Possessive. Primal. Ruthlessly...gentle? To gentle her?
He wasn’t kissing her anymore. He was making love to her mouth. Seducing her until she had no air in her lungs. Until she couldn’t survive without him and didn’t want to try.
With an expertly executed movement, he kicked her feet apart and inserted his knee between her thighs. Leather razed her aching clitoris, and she cried out at the exquisite bite of bliss.
Panting a little, he lifted his head and pressed his fevered brow to hers. “You are precious to me. Tell me you know that. Tell me you know I will freely die for you.”
“I do know.” She truly did. But she would rather he lived for her. “You are precious to me, too. I love you. One hundred percent.”
Whiskey eyes soft but fierce, he rasped, “You love me?”
“So much.” Her legs teetered, almost too weak to hold her body upright. She settled more of her weight onto Kaysar’s thigh. So good, but need more. Cookie...moved. Yes! She undulated against him, riding his thigh. The friction built. “Feels so good, baby.”
His eyelids hooded at the endearment. “You want more of me?”
“I want all of you.” The tattoos on his chest snagged her gaze. Mmm. Going to lick him there. There. Everywhere.
“The way you look at me.” His calloused palms rocked her against him, wringing a gasp from her.
Groaning, he pressed his mouth to hers. The first foray of his tongue nearly undid her. He took bold swipes, dismantling her control, and oh, he tasted better and better, every note sweeter. She trembled and ached and fought for breath she couldn’t catch. How she burned.
Cookie tore at his clothes. When he stood naked before her, she wrapped her fingers around the base of his shaft.
He picked her up and eased her onto the mattress. The kiss deepened as he braced his fists at her temples. Then, he raised his head, revealing wild eyes and puffy lips.
“I love you, too,” he rasped.
The words jump-started her heart, throwing the organ into an erratic rhythm. He loved her, and she rejoiced. She also fought the urge to sob. He loved her, she knew he did, but he didn’t love her enough.
Her mind shied away from thoughts of tomorrow. They had tonight, and she would savor every second.
“Kaysar,” she breathed as he settled his delicious weight over her. He kneaded her breasts and pinched her nipples the way she loved, pleasure and pressure crashing again and again.
For minutes and hours and days and weeks and only a split second, he worshipped her body, kissing and licking and kneading and branding each part of her. His touch was tender and rough and brutal and gentle, and she adored it. She craved all of him, each side of him equally. And yet, in a matter of hours, she would tell him goodbye.
A strangled sound erupted from them both when he plunged a finger inside her. Helpless against the bombardment of sensations, she arched and clutched at him, clinging. Desperate. “Kaysar. Love. Give me more.”
“The things you make me feel,” he breathed, working her. His features were agonized, his drive to come as ferocious as hers. Tendons strained and protruded.
The head of his shaft grazed her leg, leaving a trail of wet fire, and she shivered. Shameless, she writhed beneath him. “More.” A command. A plea.
“Is this enough for my sweetling?” He fed her a second finger, and she groaned.
“More.” She thrashed as the pad of his thumb circled her clit. “I’m so close.” There. Right there. There, there, there.
“My insincerest apologies for what’s about to happen, your majesty.” The diabolical king took his thumb away from her. And his fingers. Argh! As she beat her fists into his shoulders, he grinned with savage, devilish delight. “You don’t get your pleasure until I get my screams.”
Frenzied mindlessness teased her. “Make me come, Kaysar. I need it. Just one? A small one? I promise I’ll scream so loud.”
He cupped the sides of her face, tracing his wet thumb over her bottom lip. “You could not be more precious.” Though he used a coaxing tone, he looked far from relaxed, sweat slickening his brow and trickling from his temples.
“Perhaps you’ll scream only when you come,” Kaysar pondered. He licked away the desire he’d deposited on her mouth and rocked his hips, grinding his rigid length against her core. “Perhaps I’ll continue your torment all night long.”