As Lia started to descend from the high of a spectacular orgasm, Shane made his way up her body, taking his time as he licked away the rain still washing across her. When his face came into view and blocked out the downpour, another flash lit the sky, and the look in his eyes took her breath away.
“I’m right where I need to be, Lia. Your beauty, strength and passion overwhelm me. You’re strong and brave, talented and kind. You mean everything to me. Yes, I love how my body feels as I sink deep within you, I love the taste of your release on my tongue, but more than that, I love everything about you — from the sweet taste of your skin to the fire that lights your eyes. I can’t ever let you leave me. There are those who say that if you love someone, you must set the person free, but they have never been with you, because to set you free would be to lose myself.”
He entered her body, slowly and sweetly — wondrously — and Lia flew again, but not away from him. She flew higher than she’d ever been, her body clutching him, holding him deep within her.
Safe.
Warm.
Loved.
Lia didn’t want to be set free. She wanted to be right there in Shane’s arms with the rain blanketing them, the thunder rumbling in the sky, and the lightning giving her flashes of the passion and love on Shane’s face.
“I don’t want to go,” she whispered when she could speak again.
Shane began moving, and all she could do was cry out as he brought her to the peak again and again, as he’d promised, while he surged deep within her body.
She loved him. She had for more than ten years, and no matter what had parted them, she had a feeling that nothing would separate them again.
Chapter Twenty
Adriane
Adriane was shocked at how much he was enjoying his time with Rachel. He still hadn’t learned anything about her, because she was much better than he was at this game of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He found himself wanting to lie in her arms and speak of the throne, of his brother, of his duty. He was barely able to hold himself back.
This was supposed to be nothing more than a fling, just something to ease his stress before he took on the responsibility of his position — a responsibility that he didn’t even want. But somehow this American girl had slipped past his defenses.
It wasn’t love.
Adriane wasn’t such a fool as to believe in love at first sight. He knew the fragile emotion existed, but he chose not to fall into its merciless grasp. Once love got its talons into a man, it would never let go, never let him think objectively again.
No. He would marry a proper woman when the time came, and his wife would produce heirs for his kingdom. That was what a king did. That was what was responsible, what he’d known he must do from the time he was seventeen and discovered he’d inherit the throne one day.
Still, though he didn’t want his affair with Rachel to end, duty called. He must return to his homeland and perform as king of Corythia.
“I can’t believe how virile you are. Do you ever get enough?”
Adrian turned to look into Rachel’s gleaming green eyes, and he almost gasped, as he always did, when confronted by her beauty. Instead, he reached upward and tweaked her hardened nipple.
“Look who’s talking, wildcat. You’re always just as eager,” he reminded her as he crushed her smooth body against him, allowing her scent to engulf him and inhaling it deeply. Desire, sure and strong, thrummed inside him as he lay over her, his arousal pulsing as he moved it against the hot folds of her core.
This was their last night, unless he made an excuse to keep them together longer. He wanted to…
“You are distracted, Ian. Don’t be. I want your full attention,” Rachel demanded as she grabbed his hair and brought his mouth down to hers, taking his lips and pushing her tongue forward as she entered his mouth.
He was torn between lust and confusion, and lust won out as Adriane’s tongue followed her retreat and he deepened the kiss, tightening his lips on hers as his hand smoothed down her side to slide beneath her derrière and pull her more tightly against him.
Her responses to him were always so deliciously open and honest. She groaned with pleasure as her h*ps rocked forward, encouraging him to press inside her. She demanded satisfaction, and that was one of the things he loved most about her.
Not proud of the many women he’d lain with, he could safely say none had made a place inside his head — none but Rachel.
She made him lose his mind — made him forget everything except for her.
Pulling back, he smiled when she growled at him, light flaring in her eyes as she reached for him. She was always so eager to have them join together, but Adriane loved to play with her lissome body, loved to make her cry out over and over again.
Grinning at her for only a brief moment before bending down and kissing her ear, his warm, wet tongue slipped along the outer edges, making her break out in goose bumps. Her ni**les strained toward him, aching with a need to be touched.
As if reading her body’s yearning desire, he reached down, taking her peaked ni**les between his fingers and pinching down, elongating the sensitive flesh, bringing such intense pleasure that she called out.
His hand moved down her quivering stomach; he circled the sensitive flesh between her legs, and then teased her swollen little bundle of nerves, not quite giving her what she wanted, but touching her just enough to keep her on edge.
When he slipped inside with two long, supple fingers, then rubbed her in just the right place with his thumb, she cried out her encouragement for him to continue.
Lowering his head, he sucked the puckered flesh on her breast into his mouth, gently clamping his teeth down, rubbing the hard skin lightly before releasing one pink bud and moving to the opposite side. Her hands tangled in his hair as she guided him, showing him exactly what she wanted.
He moved both hands upward, abandoning her principal pleasure point, and he cupped her twin peaks, squeezing the wet flesh and running his thumbs across it before his mouth descended again and teased her br**sts even more.
“I want you inside of me now, Ian. Right now!” Little did Rachel know to whom she had issued that command.
Who was he to argue? Adriane offered a pained smile as he reached over to the nightstand and grabbed protection, slipping it on before moving over her body and positioning himself just outside of her heat.
He wanted to plunge in, but he loved making her wild, loved the thrust of her h*ps upward as she demanded completion. Yes, he was in agony, but the fire igniting in her eyes made the pleasure so much better.