Cinderella's Royal Seduction / Crowned At The Desert King's Command. Dani Collins

I desire. It won’t be either of them. I promise you that right now.”

      She kissed goodbye her pipe dream of being free of her stepfamily, which left her to contemplate whether she should allow herself to get closer to this compelling man who, for the moment, at least, was not that far away.

      “I don’t know what happens, Sopi. I wish I did,” he said cryptically.

      At the sound of her nickname on his lips, she found herself trying out the sound of his. “Rhys.” It caught with tugging sensations in her chest and across her shoulders.

      He looked at her.

      Everything altered. The air shimmered and the earth stood still. Her scalp prickled and her breasts grew tight and heavy.

      “That does not sound like a rejection, süsse.” His voice melted her bones. He extended a long arm across the surface of the water, palm up in invitation.

      She hadn’t consciously meant to turn this into anything, but her hand went into his. She floated across the short space between them, drawn by his firm grip to set her hand against his neck. The top of her foot hit a rock, and she reacted with a jerk of her knee, knocking it into his.

      He made a noise of concern and gathered her into his lap. His hand cupped her knee and he soothed her kneecap with his thumb. “Tell me,” he murmured. “Do you feel the same when I touch you?”

      “The same as what?”

      The hand behind her back ran up to cradle her neck. With the lightest squeeze, he had her shuddering and turning her torso into his.

      “Like that,” he growled, lips coming close enough to nibble at her chin. “The way you made me feel on the table today.”

      Streaks of light and heat seemed to shoot through her at the graze of his whiskers and the mere touch of his mouth on her skin. She cupped his wet beard and searched for his lips with her own, not really knowing what she was doing, only knowing she needed the press of his mouth to her own.

      They both moaned as their lips parted and slid and found the right fit. Forever, she thought. She wanted the forceful play of his mouth to consume hers forever. Then his tongue touched her inner lip, delved, and the taste of him shot lightning through her again, spearing a jolt of pleasure straight between her thighs.

      She jerked away to catch her breath, stunned, but went straight back after his mouth, pressing the back of his head to encourage him to ravage her.

      He growled and they kissed with more fervor, wildly, deeply, a sound rumbling in his chest like a predatory animal. His arms flexed around her, drawing her tighter into his lap and twisting her chest to rub against his.

      Her bra shifted as they slithered against one another, abrading and annoying her as it kept her from feeling him with all her skin. She tried to scrabble behind herself with one hand and release it, but his confident fingers met hers and easily unclasped it. She drew back to pull her arms free and he threw it into the snow.

      As she pressed herself into him, their mouths crashed together again. His hand swirled a rush of water across her ribs right before his palm flattened against her skin, stroked and shifted, teasing at her waist and shoulder blade and back to her rib cage until she couldn’t stand it. She twisted, offering her breast, and finally he claimed the swell in a firm clasp. He shaped and caressed and made her forget everything but the feel of him fondling her so blatantly.

      She realized a keening noise was coming from her lips and tried to bite it back, but he caught her nipple in a light pinch and once again she had to break from their kiss to catch her breath—the sensation was so sharp.

      “Too much?” He bowed his head over hers as she buried her face in his neck, as though shielding her from something. “You’re killing me.”

      She realized that wasn’t just her own heart slamming unsteadily against her rib cage. His was, too. And that hard shape against her hip was him, fully aroused.

      She stilled, shocked and stunned and wickedly curious.

      “I don’t have a condom,” he muttered. “This is definitely the best and worst idea you’ve ever had.” He found her ear and flicked his tongue along the rim, making her shudder. “Are you on anything? Should we take this upstairs?”

      Dazzled, it took her a moment to realize what he was asking. “I’m not on anything. I don’t do this. I’ve never done it.”

      “I’m not a guest. You’re not an employee. Not right now. That’s not what this is. It’s two people who can’t keep their hands off each other.” He cursed and shifted her, but the sound he made was more a groan of suffering. He sucked on her lobe so hard she nearly came out of her skin. Then he applied his teeth, just short of pain, holding her in a tingling state between fear and trust.

      If she pulled away, it would hurt, but she didn’t want to go anywhere. She petted her fingers across his wet beard, soothing the beast who held her in his tense jaws. Her pulse throbbed in her throat and low in that secretive place between her clamped thighs.

      “I mean I’ve never done this,” she admitted in a quavering voice. “Made love. With anyone.”

      His arms nearly squashed her breathless, and a strangled noise came out of him.

      “Are you serious?” He took hold of her wet, knotted hair, holding her so her nose was nearly touching his. His eyes were depthless black orbs, threatening to pull her into another universe. Her heart galloped so hard, she thought her chest would explode.

      “Who would I sleep with? No one has ever made me feel like this.”

      “How?” His hand tightened in her hair, pulling her head back to expose her throat. He licked along the artery, and her nipples contracted to such tight points, they felt pierced. She pinched her thighs together.

      “Like I’m on fire,” she gasped. “Like I need your hands all over me to put it out.”

      His ragged laugh rang with satisfaction. This time when he claimed her breast, she arched into his touch. He caught her nipple in the crook of two fingers and applied tender pressure until she set her open teeth against his neck.

      His caress was so delicious, she found herself sucking the skin of his neck against her teeth before she realized what she was doing and pulled back.

      “Mark me, süsse.” He gentled his touch and circled his thumb around her turgid, stimulated nipple, soothing. “Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you. But I do want this.” His arms hardened as he lifted her.

      Her shoulders and chest came out of the water. As the cold hit her and tightened her nipples even more, he closed his mouth over one. The sudden shifts in temperature and his hard pull sent a jolt of electricity through her. She squeaked and clenched her hand in his hair.

      He made a noise of sympathy and drew back to blow and lick circles around her nipple, making her sob under a fresh onslaught of blinding sensation.

      She didn’t know what to do. Wires of tension pulled in her abdomen and lower. It was more than she could take, but she was greedy, too. She folded her arms around the back of his head and he captured her nipple again, sucking more gently this time, while she moaned in abject pleasure, head falling back so her hair was in the water.

      When he finally let her sink back down into his lap, she was trembling and panting. He was so hard against her hip, she thought he must be in pain. Perhaps he was. He was breathing in deliberately measured breaths, and his thighs opened wider to cradle her more deeply against him.

      “Do you want me to…” She didn’t know what to do. What to offer. But she knew she was dying to touch him.

      “I want you to let me do this.” His hand slid to catch against the elastic of her underpants. He paused, the fabric pulled far enough from her hip the first ripple of hot water began to caress her bare skin.

      Breathless with anticipation, she nodded.

      He