Guarded King (Empty Kingdom #3)

Chapter 45

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

ROMAN

“ D elilah, Violet, Sophie.” I acknowledge the three other women. “Chloe.” My voice deepens when I say her name—an involuntary reaction. It’s killed me to stay away from her this long.

When I noticed Delilah and Violet talking to her, I figured it was all the excuse I needed to come over and say hello.

She turns and looks up at me, a professional smile on her lips, even as her pulse flutters too fast at the base of her throat. “Good evening, Roman.”

She’s wearing the dress I bought for her. I can’t help but drink her in, admiring the way the emerald color contrasts against her creamy skin and blond hair, while bringing out the green in her ocean eyes.

For a heartbeat too long, I linger on the slit that reveals a hint of her thigh. I’m already aware it shows a lot more than a hint when she walks. It’s stolen my focus on more than one occasion tonight. Watching her move around the room has been driving me crazy.

It’s been driving me even more crazy watching the men around her following her with their gazes too.

I force myself to look away before I make anyone suspicious. Particularly my current and future sisters-in-law who are far too observant for my peace of mind.

“I was just telling Chloe how beautiful her dress is,” Delilah says.

I keep my expression impassive. “It’s very lovely. In fact, all four of you look beautiful tonight.”

“Have you been taking charm lessons from Tate?” Violet asks, narrowing her eyes in faux suspicion. “Because that was smooth.”

My lips quirk. “Believe it or not, I am capable of being charming on the odd occasion.”

Beside me, Chloe makes an almost inaudible noise in the back of her throat, which I take as a sign of agreement. It makes me want to smile. It makes me want to pull her close and kiss her.

It makes me want more than I know what to do with.

And I can’t do any of it. Not yet anyway.

“Roman!”

At the sound of my name, I turn away from the temptation Chloe represents.

Sean Prescott is striding toward me, wearing a grin. I shake his hand, then introduce him to the group of women.

“Of course, I remember your lovely assistant,” he says when his eyes land on Chloe.

His words are polite, but they make me bristle, nonetheless.

“Mr. Prescott, it’s nice to see you again.” She smiles easily.

It’s the same smile she gave me. The pretty but polite one, not the one I’ve come to crave. It grates on me, that here, in public, I’m relegated to the same status as this man.

“Have you just arrived?” I ask. “Let’s get you a drink. If you’ll excuse us, ladies.”

I catch Chloe’s gaze as I steer Sean away from them. The vulnerability swimming there pierces my ribs with sharp claws. This pretense isn’t easy, for either of us, even if it’s necessary. Guilt weighs heavily on me. She’s in this situation because of my life—because of my family, the company, and the endless pressure and expectations tied to it all.

After Sean and I grab a whiskey and discuss our current project, along with others that might be in the pipeline, I move on, doing the rounds, still keeping an eye on the woman who takes up far too much space in my mind. Dinner will be served soon, and, unfortunately, I couldn’t think of a good reason to sit my assistant at the family table.

I let out a harsh breath. I only have to make it through a few more hours before she’s all mine for the night. The tension pulling at the back of my neck has only just begun to ease when I catch sight of David. He’s approaching her and Sophie with a too-broad grin on his face. Fuck.

Chloe smiles up at him, the look a genuine one, not the professional one she gave me.

Possessiveness rips through me.

It’s not rational. She’s not flirting with him, even if he’s obviously flirting with her. It’s not David’s fault, since he doesn’t know she’s mine.

Yet all rational thought has gone out the window when it comes to Chloe.

I turn away from the crowd and slide my phone from my pocket.

I need to discuss something with you immediately. Go down the hallway to the restrooms, but take a left before you get there. Wait for me around the corner.

A moment after I hit send, she reaches into her clutch, still talking to David, and pulls out her phone. She glances down at the device, and a moment later, her head snaps up and her eyes lock with mine.

When I tilt my chin, she bites her lip, then slips her phone back into her bag. She smiles sweetly at Sophie and David, chats for only a second longer, then moves into the crowd.

I give it three minutes, then I follow her.

When I round the corner and see her waiting for me, I don’t hesitate. The alcove where the elevators are located is out of sight from any of the public areas, so without hesitation, I cage her against the wall and crush my mouth to hers.

Her lips part on a gasp, and I take the opportunity to stroke my tongue into her mouth. I demand her submission, and she gives it to me willingly, kissing me back as if it’s the only thing that’s been on her mind all night.

Hard and aching, I press myself against her soft stomach. Fuck. I need so much more from her than this.

I break the kiss and punch the up button on the elevator. The moment it opens, I pull her in.

“Where are we going?” she asks, her mouth swollen and her voice breathy.

“Somewhere we can be alone.”

Two floors up, I tug her out behind me, and when I find the door I’m looking for, I throw it open and lead her inside.

The room is dark, but against the far wall is a long window that looks over the ballroom below. This is one of the smaller meeting spaces used during conferences to provide a private area for side-meetings.

Hand still clasped around hers, I lead her toward the window. It’s not one-way glass, but it’s smoked out, making it difficult for the people below to see who’s in here—or what they might be doing.

We can’t be gone for long, so without hesitation, I shove my hand through the slit in her dress, my fingers instantly finding the scrap of lace covering her.

With her pressed against the window, I nip the lobe of her ear. “I can’t not touch you. Not tonight. Not when other men get to smile at you and touch you and tell you how fucking beautiful you look.”

“Roman.” My name is a ragged whisper.

“Don’t make a noise,” I say as I slide two fingers deep inside her.

I pump them into her, over and over, relishing the way her wetness soaks my skin as she tightens around me.

“I want you,” she pleads. “I need you inside me,”

Eyes squeezed shut, I grit my teeth. “I don’t have a condom.”

“I’m on birth control, and I’ve always used condoms before,” she says.

The implication makes me almost lose my mind. “What are you asking?”

“I want you to come inside me.”

I still, then pull back, a feral need I’ve never experienced before consuming me. “You’ll be the first.” My voice comes out low and rough.

“You’ve never… Even with?—”

“Never.” I cut her off. Fuck, the last thing I want is to hear Katherine’s name from her lips.

Our breaths are heavy in the dark room while below us, hundreds of people mingle, oblivious of the two of us.

With my thumb, I tenderly trace the soft skin of her cheekbone, the gentle action at odds with the hunger pounding through me. “I’m going to fuck you,” I tell her. “But I’m not going to come inside you here. The first time I fill you with my cum won’t be a rushed screw in a dark room.”

“Then what?—”

“Turn around. Keep your eyes on the party. See the people down there? They have no idea we’re up here. No idea your boss is going to make you come on his cock.” The words sound so fucking wrong and so fucking right at the same time. Like everything when it comes to Chloe.

Shivering, she turns and braces her hands on the windowsill.

I reach around and find the slit of her dress again. This time when I slide my hand under it, I gather the material up and push it out of my way, revealing the globes of her ass, a strip of black lace between her cheeks.

With my other hand, I undo my pants, shoving them down and pulling myself out. I glide my fingers over her hip and dip them beneath the waistband of her panties again, gathering up her wetness and using it to lube myself up.

Pulling the strip of material between her legs to the side, I step up closer and press the head of my cock to her hot, wet flesh.

She whimpers in response. That sound and the intensity of the sensation cause my heart to pound as if it’s going to beat its way out of my chest.

“Hold still,” I order, and when she does, I give one sharp thrust, sinking into her. “ Fuck .” She’s so damn hot and wet and silky. I’ve never felt anything as incredible as Chloe’s bare flesh around mine.

Any control I’ve been clinging to evaporates. Releasing her panties, I drive into her again and again, harder, faster, one hand splayed over her abdomen to steady my movements, the other massaging her clit.

Her arousal drips down my hand and cock. “You’re always so fucking wet for me. Have you been needing this?”

“Yes,” she moans, head dropping between her shoulders.

I move even faster, pounding into her, my fingers still sliding over her swollen bud. She’s tightening, already close.

When she groans and clamps down, her perfect cunt pulsing hard around me, I grit my teeth, holding on with everything I have.

My balls draw up, pleasure tightening around my spine, but I hold on. The minute she sags against the window, I pull my soaked dick out of her and slide it between her panties and her pussy.

With her name on my lips, low and guttural, I let go. Hard jets of cum burst out of me as I thrust against her slick flesh, the head of my cock rubbing over her clit, coating it, coating her panties.

“Oh my God.” Her body stiffens, her hands splaying flat on the glass. “I’m c-coming again.”

“That’s it, sweetheart,” I growl, as warm fluid floods over my shaft. “Soak us both.”

Finally, my dick stops throbbing and her trembling subsides. I can fucking breathe again.

I pull away from her but press my hand to her lower back to keep her still. I need a minute to study my handiwork.

“Fucking beautiful,” I murmur. Her pretty pink cunt is swollen and coated in a mixture of us, and her inner thighs are damp. The black lace of her panties is marred with white streaks, sending primitive satisfaction crashing over me.

I’ve marked her. Again. Branded her with my cum. And she looks fucking incredible.

Gently, I pull her thong back into place and cup the soaked lace now covering her pussy.

I turn her to face me, my breathing as heavy as hers. “You’re going to spend the rest of the night covered in me—in us. Every time you smile at a man who isn’t me, every time any asshole down there”—I jab a finger at the crowded room below us—“flirts with you, I want you to remember whose cum is dripping down your legs.” I lean in, relishing the almost drunk look in her eyes. “And when I get you home, I’m going to fill you up.” I brush my thumb gently over her cheek once more. “Okay?”

“It’s not going to feel very nice.” Lip caught between her teeth, she looks up at me through her lashes.

There’s no stopping the dark smirk that curls my mouth. I can’t even bring myself to feel bad. It may be a little uncomfortable, but with every movement, she’ll think of me.

I skim my mouth overs hers. “I promise I’ll make it up to you when we get home.”

She wets her lips. “Okay.”

I nod at the door. “You leave first.”

With one last long look at me, she turns and slips out of the room. I brace my hands against the windowsill and watch the crowd below, waiting for the moment I see her step back into the ballroom.

We were only gone twenty minutes, but it was twenty minutes too long. Twenty minutes where people could have questioned my disappearance. Questioned hers too.

I drop my head and let out a harsh breath.

At this point, there aren’t any more lines I can cross.