Red-Hot Affairs. Lucy King

desire hammered at her with an insistence that demanded attention. Oh, forget slow and sensual. She just wanted him thrusting inside her. Right now.

      Wrapping a leg around his calves, she urged him up, wound her arms around his neck and kissed him hard and deep. Tilted her hips and ground them against him, desperate for release. The shower had been good, but now she wanted the real thing.

      Matt, however, clearly had other ideas. He lifted his head, breathing raggedly, his eyes blazing. ‘What’s the hurry?’ he murmured.

      What was the hurry? Laura bit her lip. She was on the point of exploding. That was the hurry. And then mortification swept down to mingle with the desire pummelling through her and she forced herself back under control.

      ‘No hurry,’ she managed thickly. ‘I just thought, you know, you might be uncomfortable. In pain. Or something.’

      ‘So altruistic.’

      ‘That’s me. Always thinking of others.’

      ‘I hope not,’ Matt said, lifting an eyebrow. ‘I don’t want you to be thinking about anyone but me.’

      ‘Ah,’ she said. ‘Well, that’s up to you.’

      Matt’s eyes flashed. ‘Is that a challenge?’

      ‘Maybe.’

      ‘I like challenges.’

      ‘Excellent,’ she breathed and sighed with delight as he shifted down her body, spread her legs and settled himself between her thighs. At the touch of his mouth at her molten centre, she nearly leapt off the bed.

      Oh, God. Forget thinking about anyone else. Forget thinking full stop. At the sheer force of the pleasure shooting through her, her brain shut down. Every drop of her conscious thought zoomed in on his mouth, his lips, his tongue and what they were doing to her.

      Her heart thundered. Her hands clutched at the sheets and then tangled in his hair. She lifted her hips, couldn’t stop her back arching as all the pleasure churning around inside her sharpened, shot to her core and then splintered.

      Laura cried out as she broke apart. Felt a sob rise in her throat as Matt gripped her hips, tormenting her still further, sucking and licking at her, drawing out every tiny drop of pleasure as shudders continued to rack her body.

      Matt moved up her, covering her still quivery body entirely with his. ‘Still thinking of others?’ he muttered, his eyes blazing as they bore into hers.

      Laura couldn’t speak, just shook her head.

      ‘Good.’ And then a wicked gleam lit the depths of his eyes. ‘Maybe I’d better make sure, just in case.’

      Oh, God. Could she take any more? Surely it wasn’t possible. Surely her body needed time to recover? But already she could feel herself softening and ripening and humming with renewed desire. ‘That might be wise,’ she said, finally regaining the power of speech, albeit a soft and breathy one.

      ‘I’m delighted you agree.’

      His mouth found hers and as he kissed her he stroked a hand down her body, over the damp triangle of curls at the juncture of her legs and slid a finger deep inside her.

      Laura gasped into his kiss and felt herself clench around him.

      ‘Unbelievable,’ he muttered against her mouth.

      ‘Incredible,’ she panted.

      ‘That, too.’

      As he stroked her waves of pleasure began to roll over her. Unable to resist, she lifted her hips and pressed herself harder against him. Her breathing shallowed. Sped up. A ball of tension swelled and tightened inside her. Her heart thundered.

      She felt Matt reach over, faintly heard the rustle of foil and then he was on top of her, pushing her knees even farther apart and driving into her.

      Laura groaned in desperation. Her legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him farther inside her, and her hands tangled in his hair.

      With every thrust of his body, every scorching kiss, he pushed her higher. Mindless with need, Laura tilted her hips to take him deeper. She could feel the tension in him too, the focus, as he pounded harder and faster into her.

      And then just when she thought she couldn’t bear the clawing desperation any longer, he pulled out of her and drove into her one last time, deeper than he had ever before.

      Laura shattered. A tidal wave of pure pleasure crashed over her as her orgasm hit and rippled out along every single one of her nerve endings. A second later Matt let out a rough groan and collapsed on top of her.

      As she floated back down to earth she became aware of his heart thundering against hers, his breath harsh and fast against her neck, and something inside her chest squeezed.

      But before she could work out what it was Matt was propping himself up on his elbows to take his weight and lowering his head to give her a long slow devastating kiss that wiped her mind.

      ‘Like I said,’ he murmured, gazing down at her as he gave her a faint smile, ‘unbelievable.’

      Despite that thing in her chest squeezing even tighter, Laura couldn’t help a satisfied smile creeping across her face. Matt gently withdrew from her and rolled onto his back to deal with the condom, then pulled her on top of him and tugged the sheet up over them.

      ‘You know, I’ve never slept with a king before,’ she said, her gaze roaming over the lines of his face.

      ‘I should hope not,’ said Matt dryly. ‘Most of them are over sixty.’

      He trailed his hands over her back and she could feel her skin tingle. She folded her arms on his chest and rested her chin on her wrists. ‘How old are you?’

      ‘Thirty-three.’

      ‘Pretty young to become king.’

      ‘I guess.’

      ‘How did it all come about?’

      He frowned and the fingers creating havoc on her back stilled. ‘Do we have to discuss this now?’

      ‘Why not?’

      ‘Because there are lots of other things we could be doing.’

      That was true, she thought, feeling him stirring against her abdomen and beginning to slide beneath the surface of the desire that was sweeping through her. It would be so easy to just give in. Especially with the way Matt’s hands had moved lower and were now stroking her bottom and sending tingles all the way round to her core.

      But she wanted to know about him. Had done for weeks, and to absolutely no avail. Matt was as chatty as a clam. Torquemada himself would have trouble getting Matt to open up, and God knew she was no Torquemada. But now, with him trapped beneath her, all relaxed and amenable and perhaps prepared to lower his guard a fraction, maybe she did have a chance. And who knew, it might be her only opportunity.

      Ruthlessly quashing the desire whipping through her, Laura called into service a hitherto dormant will of steel and reached behind her to remove his hands from her bottom. ‘Not right now,’ she said, placing them either side of his head and keeping them there with hers. ‘You know pretty much everything there is to know about me, yet I know virtually nothing about you.’

      Matt frowned. That wasn’t true, was it? She knew. Hmm. So maybe it was, but that was understandable. He was reserved. And why wouldn’t he be, what with journalists constantly hounding him for his life story?

      ‘So read the papers,’ he said.

      ‘But I have such a reliable source right here,’ she said, looking up at him from beneath her eyelashes and giving him a seductive smile.

      If he had any sense whatsoever he’d be levering himself up and heading back to his own room, because Matt didn’t do post-coital conversation. Or any conversation of a personal nature, for that matter.

      However