Sparrow looked around and cleared her throat.
“I imagined black silk,” she said, studying my sizable antique king-size bed.
Like everything in the castle, each piece of furniture was either made for this generation, or had been passed down from previous ones. I wasn’t a huge fan of decorating, so I let the decorators just do what they wanted, although Aunt Rebecca hadn’t had any influence over my rooms like she had with London. Everything was all dark blues and creams and was very comfortable.
At least I thought so.
“Well, I didn’t feel like going full-on sex tape,” I said on a laugh.
“What do the ladies think when you bring them here? Do they expect silk too?”
I gave her a funny look. “No, love, I don’t bring women here. You’d be the first.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re just screwing with me.”
I wish.
I didn’t say that out loud. “No, nobody needs to be here but me.”
“I’ve walked in on you and two women before. Please don’t tell me you haven’t used this bed for something similar.”
I held back a wince, still not happy for some reason that she had witnessed that little scene. It hadn’t mattered before. I knew she didn’t like the person she saw that night, but maybe I wanted her to see the person that no one else did.
And why was I thinking that?
“There are other rooms for things like that; this suite is just for me.” I shrugged, then pulled off my suit jacket. “We can get you set up in one of the guest rooms, and I should have a pair of pajamas that might fit you.”
“I thought you didn’t bring women here?” she asked.
I snorted. “I don’t. However, in the guest rooms, I have random sweats in different sizes, because what else are you supposed to fit in drawers so they don’t stay empty? And maybe one day, I’ll want to have a guest, and I want them to feel comfortable. I don’t know. I just have them. Don’t complain.”
I moved past her, and she put her hand on my forearm, squeezing. I looked down at her and let out a breath, the warmth of her touch on my arm intoxicating me a little.
“I’m sorry. It just seems I don’t know you as well as I thought I did.”
I met the green of her eyes and swallowed. “No, you don’t.”
She searched my face, her mouth parting. “Why? Why are you so different?”
“I’m precisely who I need to be, Sparrow.”
I looked down at her lips, and I didn’t mean to, but then she did the same to mine, and I found myself leaning forward. My lips brushed against hers, and I couldn’t help but remember the taste of her before, and how it matched to now, and how I needed more.
“I shouldn’t be doing this,” I whispered. She stiffened and moved away. I shifted so I had my arm around her waist, but I didn’t squeeze. “Because it could hurt you after the attack. Not because I don’t want to.”
“Then you don’t want your first notch on this bedpost?” she asked icily.
I cursed under my breath. “No, I don’t know. Shit. You’d think I’d be better at this.”
“I thought you were.” she said, her gaze searching my face.
“Sparrow,” I whispered, my voice trailing off.
“I just... I just need this. You and me. No promises. Just tonight.”
I cursed again. “I don’t want you to hate me in the morning.”
Her lips quirked in a smile. “I thought it was evident that we already hate each other now.”
That got a growl out of me, and then I lowered my head again and took her mouth with mine. She moaned into me, wrapping her arms around my waist, kissing me hard.
“I’m going to have to be gentle, so I don’t hurt you,” I whispered.
“And to think I heard that you liked it a little more than gentle.”
I growled against her lips. Then I reached around her and picked her up. She was all muscle and strength, and she leaped into my arms and wrapped her legs around my waist.
“Sparrow,” I whispered against her lips.
“Come on, prince, fuck me.”
I grinned, loving this Sparrow, the one without the ice but all the heat. Then I walked her to the bed, knowing that we shouldn’t be doing this. It was probably a fever dream, and I’d wake up in the morning and realize that I had gone to sleep thinking about her. I’d probably end up aching in the morning and regretting everything, but I didn’t really care right then.
I sat her on the edge of the bed, touched her face, and kissed her gently.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
She studied my face again and swallowed hard. “The bruises are just on my face, so just kiss my lips, and maybe other places.”
I hadn’t meant physically when I said I didn’t want to hurt her, but we were both being cautious about what we weren’t saying.
I nodded and then brushed a kiss against her lips, and then her jaw, and then her neck. She pulled at my shirt, untucking it from my pants, and then moved so she could undo my belt. I pulled her shirt over her head, careful of any injuries she may have, and cursed when I saw the slight bruises forming on her honey-brown skin.
“Ignore them. I’m tougher than I look.”
“I know you’re damn tough, Sparrow. Doesn’t make me any less angry that someone dared put their hands on you.”
“I thought you were here to put your hands on me now,” she teased.
“Fine, that I can do.”
I lowered my head and latched my mouth onto her nipple over the lace of her bra. She moaned, arching into me, and I kissed between her breasts, before working her bra completely off. Her breasts fell heavy into my hands, and I cupped the sweet mounds, her flesh nearly overfilling my palms.
“Beautiful,” I whispered.
“I need to see you.”
I grinned and then lapped at first one nipple, then the other. She squirmed on the bed, her legs tightening around me, and I moved away before undoing my shirt. With each flick of a button, her gaze went to my hands, then down to my pants, where my cock pressed against my zipper.
“Soon,” I promised.
She growled then reached for me, undoing my zipper and sliding her hand underneath the waistband of my boxer briefs. I groaned when she gripped me and pulled me out of my pants.
“Jesus,” I muttered.
“Damn,” she said as her hands wrapped around me. And then she lowered her head and flicked the tip of my dick with her tongue.
“God, Sparrow.”
“You’re taking too long,” she muttered, and then swallowed the tip of me. I groaned, slightly pushing into her mouth more with the thrust of my hips. She hummed along me, playing with my balls and the base of my dick as she slowly worked on me. I undid the rest of my shirt and then pulled away, ignoring her moan of protest. Then I tore the rest of my clothes off before going down to my knees. She raised a single sexy brow, and I tugged on her pants, undoing the button, and then her zipper.
“My turn,” I muttered.
“Well, if a prince desires.” She lifted her ass up off the bed, and I pulled off her pants and panties with one quick movement. They got caught at her boots, and we both looked at each other, snorted, and I worked her boots off quickly. “I thought you were smoother than this, playboy prince.”