Guarded King (Empty Kingdom #3)

Chapter 31

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

ROMAN

I take another slug of my whiskey, gripping the glass so tightly my knuckles turn white.

The desire raging inside me is a physical force, burning me from the inside out. The spark that ignited in my gut the moment I first saw Chloe in the elevator, before I even knew who she was, has grown into an inferno destroying all my boundaries, charring any control I thought I had into ash.

Just last night I assured Ellis I wasn’t fucking my assistant—that I’m not following in my father’s footsteps—but only moments ago, I was one heartbeat away from sliding my fingers into her panties to find out how wet she was right here in the middle of a bar.

What the hell is wrong with me ?

Specters of my father rise in my mind. The day I saw him with one of the maids bent over the table, the time Mom threw a party at our estate, and I caught him doing up his fly as he came out of the library, followed by a woman from the catering staff, who was buttoning her blouse.

The cold smile he gave me when he “confessed” the truth about Katherine.

And yet none of those thoughts are enough to erase the memory of Chloe’s soft skin under my fingertips. None of it can wipe away the needy way she breathed my name as I slid my hand up her thigh.

Still lost in my thoughts, I turn automatically when a woman inserts herself into the empty spot next to me. For a second my mind conjures the image of Chloe coming back to tempt me some more. But it’s not her. It’s a beautiful brunette with smoky brown eyes and a seductive smile aimed squarely at me.

“You are American?” she asks in a heavy French accent.

“I am.”

She tilts her head to the side, unbothered by my short answer. “Would you like to buy me a drink?”

I signal to the bartender, who arches a brow as she notes my new companion.

I nod at the brunette.

“Un martini avec du vermouth sec, s’il vous pla?t,” she orders. When she turns back to me, she’s wearing a sultry smile. “Merci.”

I raise my almost empty glass between us. “Je vous en prie.”

Once she has her drink in hand, she takes a sip. “Are you here for business or pleasure?”

Good fucking question. After tonight, I have no idea, but I give her the easy answer, anyway. “Business.”

Plump mouth pursed, she surveys me. “Perhaps that is something that can be changed.”

For just a moment I consider taking out all my frustration, all my pent-up desire, on this stranger. But even as the idea forms, I’m rejecting it.

It’s not brunette hair I want gripped in my hands. It’s not brown eyes I want looking up at me, hazy with pleasure. It’s not some random woman I want moaning my name. The only woman I want, is the one I just told to go. Fucking someone else in the futile hope it will help me forget what Chloe offered me with such innocent seduction would be madness.

If I’m going to do something mad tonight, it’s not that.

I’m gripped by a conviction so strong, all my muscles tense with the need to move. To forget rules and boundaries, forget the future of the King Group, and forget my father’s fucking legacy for just one night.

To savor something sweet and ephemeral in this city where no one knows me. Where no one knows us .

One damn night to rid myself of this obsession.

Fuck it .

I throw back the rest of my drink and slam the glass down on the bar. Hanging on to a thread of civility, I turn to the woman. “Excusez-moi.”

Ignoring her disappointed expression, I stride away. In the elevator on the way up to my floor, need is like a living thing that twists and turns inside me.

As I approach Chloe’s door, there’s no doubting, no reconsidering. With more force than necessary, I knock, then grip each side of the doorframe as I wait.

The minute she opens it, eyes widening at the sight of me, I step forward, slide a hand into her hair, and tilt her head back.

“One night,” I growl. “One night when I’m not your boss, and you’re not my assistant. Can you do that?”

Her breaths spill from between her parted lips as she searches my face. She wants this, that I’m certain of, but she needs something else just as much. I do my best to gentle my tone. “Say no and I’ll walk away. Say no and nothing will change. Whatever you decide, you’re safe with me, sweetheart. Your job is safe.”

Her eyes flutter closed, and when they open again, her pupils are dark pools of desire. “One night.”

I shove my other hand into her hair and crash my mouth down on hers, backing her into the room as I do. She opens for me, her taste exploding on my tongue. So fucking sweet. As sweet as I imagined she’d be last night with sugar on her lips. In this moment, though, it’s not sugar, it’s all fucking her.

As she clutches at my shirt, I angle her head back to get better access to her mouth. Pressing her against the now closed door, I cage her against it and pin her wrists above her with one hand.

In response, she moans, arching up into me.

Dick throbbing, I rock into her—a promise of what’s to come.

“I’ve been imagining this moment for far too long.” I skate the fingers of my free hand down her neck and palm her breast, relishing the stiffness of her nipple as it pushes against the fabric of her top.

“I have too,” she breathes.

“Keep your hands up.” Without waiting for her to reply, knowing she’ll obey, I grasp both of her hips. As if reading my mind, she lifts one knee, and I clutch her thigh, wrapping her leg around me so I can grind against her.

“Oh god.” She bucks into me, her movements jerky with desire.

As I trail hot kisses down her neck, I release my grip on her leg so I can untie the bows holding the straps of her dress together. The fabric falls, catching at her waist and exposing her perfect breasts and berry pink nipples, diamond hard and begging for my mouth. Watching her face for her reaction, I palm them and revel in the way her lashes flutter shut. No longer able to resist, I dip my head and suck one between my lips.

“ Roman .” She squirms, letting her head fall back against the door.

With my tongue sliding around one tight peak, I pinch the other. Then I swap, the sensation forcing a desperate whimper out of her.

In the next moment, I drop to my knees and tug her dress over her hips, leaving her in nothing but a pair of panties that are so wet they’re practically translucent.

The sight of the sheer material clinging to her pussy has a low sound rumbling up from deep within me. “So fucking pretty. I knew you would be.”

I press my thumb against her, slowly sliding it up until it bumps over her clit, making her hips jerk.

“Pull your panties aside.”

“Wh-what?” she chokes out, looking down at me with glazed eyes.

Head tipped back, I lock my jaw. “I want you to show me exactly how pretty you are.”

The delicate arches of her rib cage flare on a sharp inhale. Then, as the breath slowly trickles out of her, she drops her hands from above her head and pulls the damp material to the side.

My cock pulses, desperate for release. Set on savoring her, I grip the base and squeeze to relieve the pressure. But I need more of her. More of her body. More of her trust.

Especially her trust.

“Show me everything, Chloe.”

Mere inches from my face, her fingers tremble and her belly quivers.

I don’t press her. I want her to choose this. Because she feels safe. Because she knows I’ll look after her. That I’ll make her feel good.

So when she delicately spreads herself for me, a surge of satisfaction courses through every inch of my body.

She’s soft and pink and so damn wet, her tight little opening glistening, and her clit already plumping up under my gaze.

“Look at you. So fucking perfect.” My voice is dark and rough, and when more arousal spills from her, dripping down her thighs in response, the throb of my cock is almost painful. “Look what a pretty mess you’re making for me.”

I need to taste her. But I want to savor the sight of her like this. So instead of putting her out of her misery, I curl my fingers around her hips and drag my tongue up the soft skin of her inner thigh.

The moment the taste of her arousal registers, I groan. Fuck. Just as incredible as I expected. Better. I do the same to her other thigh.

“Oh my god.” She’s still holding herself open for me, her clit swollen and begging for my touch.

“You’re being so good for me, sweetheart. I’m going to make you come now, okay?”

When she whimpers in response, I hook my fingers in her panties and drag them down her smooth thighs, forcing her hands out of the way as I do.

The moment she’s out of them, I lift her leg and drape it over my shoulder.

“Hold that perfect little cunt open for me again.”

“Roman, please,” she urges, even as she obeys.

With a wicked grin, I lean forward and slide my tongue from her entrance to her clit.

She gasps, her back arching away from the door. And when I suck that swollen bundle of nerves into my mouth at the same time I slide one finger into her hot, wet channel, she lets out a low moan.

Pulling back, I watch as I stroke in and out of her. “You’re dripping all down my hand, sweetheart. Making a mess of me as well. You need this, don’t you?”

“Y-yes.”

“You need me to make you come?”

“God, yes.”

I add another finger, and she contracts around me, already so damn close.

Pressing my tongue to her clit, I stroke hard and fast, in time with the thrust of my fingers.

“I’m g-going to c-come.”

Fuck yes, she is. She’s squeezing me so damn tightly, I’m already fantasizing about stretching her so she can take my cock.

“Can you take three, sweetheart?” She needs to if I have any hope of fitting.

A breath shudders out of her. “I think so.”

Gently, I ease one more finger inside her, opening her, making her shudder and rock her hips.

When I suck her clit into my mouth again, she orgasms with a stuttered moan, grinding her pussy against my face, her slick channel clenching and releasing around my fingers. With every pulse, another gush of arousal spills out of her, slicking over my palm.

Pulling my hand away, I replace it with my tongue, catching as much of her wetness on it as I can before spearing it inside her to feel the last flutters of her orgasm.

My dick throbs so painfully I have to give it a rough stroke through my pants.

Only when her thighs stop shaking do I stand and kiss her, swallowing her whimper as I lick into her mouth.

“You like how you taste, sweetheart?” I grind out. “Because I fucking love it.”

Clutching her hips, I lift her so she can wrap her legs around me. Instantly, the wet heat of her pussy seeps through my clothes, driving me wild.

I stalk across the suite to the bedroom and lay her down. Standing above her where she’s sprawled on the mattress completely naked while I’m still fully dressed, has me more turned on than I’ve ever been in my life.

The lights in the room are off, but with the curtains open, the glow of the city outside gilds her body. As I drink her in, I’m assaulted by one image after another, all of them centering around her and each one more graphic than the last. I picture taking her up against the window looking out at the Eiffel Tower, or on the balcony, bending her over as she braces her hands on the railing and tries not to scream my name for the city to hear. I see myself fucking her in the shower and on every surface of this suite, and I know I won’t have time to do it all before this moment between us is over.

For now, I need to have her here on this bed.

She looks up at me through long lashes, pale waves fanning out around her head, mouth parted and swollen from my kiss. Seeing her like this has all my blood pooling in my aching dick.

I’m going to take her right here. Watch her come apart for me. If this moment is all we can have, I’m going to make sure neither of us forgets it.

One last sane thought percolates through the lust. She needs to know she still has control. “Tell me this is what you want.”