Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Win
Watching a strong woman open to me like a flower, might be the most satisfying thing I’ve ever seen.
I’ve built an empire.
This is better.
Her legs wrap around me, her torso arching into mine. Her hands are over her head, and her neck is exposed to me as she lets out a soft sigh.
I reward her with a gentle sweep of my lips down her neck.
She rewards me with a roll of her hips.
It’s fucking beautiful. I’m supposed to be downstairs wooing some aristocratic princess.
But they’re all the same. Sure, one is blonde, another brunette. And one might be loud while another isn’t.
But deep down they’ve all known a life of privilege. They’re princesses, not queens.
The woman below me, she is the kind of woman who could fight at a man’s back. She’s a warrioress. And she doesn’t need my strength, she needs my tenderness.
What’s more amazing, I’m capable of giving it. A thing about myself, until this moment, I’d all but forgotten.
I ignore the voice that reasons even this is manipulation. A carefully crafted trap to keep her where I want her, which is here, at my side, the bait for my trap.
It can be both, I argue. I can both want her and use this moment to win the war I’ve been fighting for a decade.
I kiss along her collarbone, running my fingertips over her exposed skin and then down lower, drifting across her nipple.
I feel it pucker under my light touch. Does Katarina like being treated with gentleness?
She rolls her hips again and I meet her movement with a thrust of my own. She lets out a keening moan that changes the tone for both of us as our bodies pick up the tempo.
My fingers reach the edge of her sports bra and push it up, over one breast.
They aren’t large, but they’re high and tight, her pale pink nipple pretty enough to devour.
I bend my head further, dragging my tongue across one and am rewarded with another deep moan, the skin growing even more taut.
Sucking the puckered nipple between my lips, I keep my touches light, resisting the urge to drag my teeth over her soft flesh. Tonight is for gentleness.
Another time…
I push that thought away. There won’t be another time. This is a targeted strike.
Her hips move in a rhythm against mine, the friction of my cock rubbing her clothed clit, clearly doing the job.
I run my tongue around her nipple, as I switch the hand holding her wrists so I can expose the other breast.
“Win,” she gasps as she rolls against me again. I suck her other nipple in my mouth, taking my time before I lift my head.
“What is it, kitten?”
She gives me a small smile even as she gasps in another breath. “Is this…are we…”
“Are we what?”
“I’ve never done this before. Are we going to have sex?”
Realization jolts through me and I lift up, staring down at her. “Katarina.”
She winces then and I realize how harsh my tone sounded. I’m rarely surprised, and she caught me off guard.
Dragging in a deep breath of air, I move closer, my chest coming to hers as I kiss her lips and then kiss them again. “No, kitten, we’re not going to have sex.”
She winces again. “Because I’ve never?”
“We’re not going to have sex because it’s too soon and too complicated,” I say right before I give her a long slow kiss.
I know what I want. And as tempting as Katarina is, I can’t forget why she’s really here.
And because her first time with a man should not be like this. Yelling, and screaming, and door slamming. Then again, it suits her.
But the manipulation…that is something she would never forgive, and I could not take her virginity like that. Not even I’m that cold.
“Oh,” she whispers against my lips.
“But that doesn’t mean I can’t help you feel good.” In fact, I’m dying to watch her have an orgasm.
I don’t casually fuck. I never have. It’s not that I can’t. It’s that I prefer not to give in to base needs.
But making her cum doesn’t seem base at all. All my other motives aside, nothing would bring me more pleasure than witnessing her break apart.
Her eyes go wide and I thrust my hips against hers, even as I tilt her lips, sliding my tongue across hers.
I swallow her cry, letting go of her wrists to reach under her, grab her ass, and grind our hips closer.
It has the intended effect for both of us.
She lets out a keening moan, my balls are on fire as our tongues tangle together.
Maybe it’s been too long, but I can’t remember ever feeling like this. Like my entire body is ablaze.
Her legs tighten around my waist, her tongue losing any art, her body so taut, I know she’s close. And then she breaks, her cries filling my mouth.
The sound of her orgasm breaks me too and I come undone.
My entire body shudders as I groan out my finish. Katarina holds me in the cradle of her body, rocking me softly, my vision slowly clearing.
I look down at her, her face relaxed, her arms still above her head.
Her hair is a mussed halo trailing over the bed, her eyes glossy, and her cheeks flushed. I’ve kissed her lips until they’re puffy and red and they curve into a small smile.
And I understand something I haven’t for a long time.
A little bit of soft goes a long way.
That’s when someone bangs on her bedroom door.
My brow furrows. Who could that be?
My staff would never knock like that.
I’m up in a second, adjusting Katarina’s bra back in place and then placing the shawl over her shoulders.
“But…” she says, as a second knock sounds.
“It looks good on you,” I say by way of explanation. “Off to the bathroom with you, while I see to whoever is knocking.”
She pulls the pashmina around her shoulders and then rises. “I can stay.”
“No.” And then with a hand at her back, I give her a gentle push toward the bathroom, as I realize I did that one-word thing again. A third knock sounds. “I’ll handle this.”
“It’s my room. Do you care that people—”
“No.” And then I pull her into my arms, kissing her forehead, before I send her toward the bathroom again.
The moment she closes the bathroom door, I turn and stalk toward the entrance of her room.
I jerk open the door, filling the opening as I glare.
Ken turns to me, his eyes growing wide. “Your Grace.”
I should have known it was that little shit. I need to fire him but now is hardly the moment. “Yes?”
“I was just checking on Katarina. She left so suddenly…”
My eyes narrow. I know he’s lying. I run a hand through my hair. Since Katarina never had a chance to touch it, the strands are all in place. I don’t lie. It’s a personal policy of mine.
“She’s in the bathroom,” I say by way of answer.
Ken winces, feigning sympathy. “Was it something she ate?”
“I doubt it.”
Ken nods, like I’ve given him real information instead of not so subtly telling him to mind his own business. “Should I send someone up so you can return to the party?”
No one tells me what to do. Not even passive aggressively. Even my mother has given up trying. So why does this wedding planner think he’s got the right? “No.”
His jaw hardens. “Should we discuss next steps?”
“The next step is that you give me a list of your potential replacements,” I rumble and then close the door.
Maybe I should have been nicer.
I cross Katarina’s room, heading for the bathroom door.
She and I have several topics that require discussion as well.
But not tonight. Tonight is for enjoying the moment. Tomorrow, we will get back to what we’re both really here for.
Revenge.