CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER TEN
Jasiri stood on the balcony looking out over the ocean view. He’d specifically chosen this part of the palace as his own because of the calming effect the push and pull of the ocean to and from the coast always made him feel whole. It was like the waves were reaching for him, returning each time to come back to him.
Once he’d returned home after Reigna rejected him, part of him had held on to the dream that someday she’d come reaching for him too, the same way the great waters that fed life to his land did.
“Jasiri?”
As if he’d conjured her with his mind, Reigna stood in the sitting room, just beyond the doors to the balcony.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you. I thought it might be nice to get some air on the balcony.” She pointed her thumb over her shoulder before continuing. “If you want to be alone, I can certainly find somewhere else to be in this ridiculously large space.”
“It is rather ridiculous, isn’t it?” Having grown up in this space, he spoke those words with honesty.
Her eyes widened as she held out the palm side of her hand.
“I didn’t mean to offend you. This place is the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen. I just never imagined anyone living in something that looks like it was magic, hand-painted by God. Considering I grew up in luxury, that’s saying something.”
“No offense taken.” He gestured for her to stand beside him, and he was glad to see she’d come willingly. “Everything is relative. It wasn’t until I’d become the Nyeusian ambassador that I realized just how extravagant my life was. It humbled me. Kept me grateful for who I am and grounded about the duties I was born to fulfill.”
She studied him for a moment, and he wondered what she was trying to see. She’d already known Jasiri the man. He’d never had the opportunity to show her Jasiri the dutiful prince, though.
That regret, like so many others he buried in his gut trying to forget and disassociate himself from, sat heavy at his core. It weighed him down, kept him tied to it no matter how desperately he wanted to be free.
“Have you eaten, yet? I didn’t have the heart to wake you after you went down again once we dealt with Pili in my father’s office.”
It was an obvious ploy to throw her off his scent. Her pointed gaze and the wry twist of her mouth told him she wasn’t fooled by his antics either.
“I found the kitchen and made myself a quick sandwich when I woke up. I guess between the travel, stepping inside a real-life palace, and meeting a king and queen—not to mention the opening scrimmage with your uncle—I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes open once I sat down.”
She looked out into the ocean, seemingly captivated by the same ebb and flow that had him rooted to this spot himself.
“Speaking of Pili, he’s not going to make your ascension easy, is he?”
“Not one bit,” he replied making them both chuckle at the inevitable fight they knew awaited them.
“I’m not afraid of him.”
Although she continued to gaze at the water, her words gripped him, making him look directly at her profile. She was breathtaking, no matter the angle. Watching the light breeze shift her braids, his fingers itched to touch the end of one. He wanted to twist it back and forth between his fingertips over and over again until his stress bled out of him.
“I know you’re not afraid of him, Reigna. That’s why I brought you here. I knew you were the one person I could trust to have my back when it came to Pili.”
Her brows furrowed and she pursed her lips, silently asking why.
“Two reasons. One, you’re the most loyal person I know. Just look at the lengths you went to just to snatch Ace’s home from my clutches.”
She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it abruptly because they both knew his recollection of the facts was true.
“Two, you don’t like bullies. I’ve seen you cut some of the richest and most powerful people down to size in defense of someone who couldn’t defend themselves. I knew you’d never willingly stand by and let Pili corrupt the throne.”
Her hands were on her hips, and he could see her searching for an argument where there was none. She glanced up at him, taking a deep breath and then releasing it into the quiet of the night.
“I guess you got me there. I really can’t stand that man, and I only spent five minutes in his presence.”
“Pili tends to have that effect on people.” He moved closer, laying one hand on the stone railing and using his finger to pull her gaze up to his. “Never underestimate him, though. He’s sneaky, ruthless, and relentless. Always keep your guard up when it comes to him. I don’t want to see anything happen to you, Reigna.”
He hoped she could understand what he was really saying. He certainly didn’t have the words to express it verbally. The idea of her coming to harm because of Pili burned through him like hot metal on skin. It would mark his soul in a way he wasn’t sure he could ever recover from.
“I see it now.”
“See what?” His voice was gruff but not as stern as he’d wanted it to be. It seemed whenever he was in this woman’s presence he could never get his body to do as he’d directed.
“All the arrogance and obsession with control, I thought it was just your overinflated ego. It was more than that, though? Wasn’t it?”
She leaned closer to him, placing her hand atop his on the stone railing of the balcony.
This is not good.
He should’ve heeded that thought and left right then before her wide, soulful eyes looked up at him. The glint of the moonlight bounced off the ocean and into her pupils, making the brown pools turn to glass. Glass that reflected into the depths of his soul giving a clear view of everything he was trying to hide from her.
“Yes.”
The word slipped from his lips like a petal on the breeze, easy, without the ability to steer or control where he’d land. He gripped the stone beneath his hand in an effort not to grip hers. If he returned her touch, it would be his undoing, and then where would he be?
Right back at her feet, rejected at her whim.
“If meeting my uncle today didn’t teach you anything else, it should relay how heavy the burden of succession is. My life has been written for me since before I was born.”
He tried to stop there, but her pleading gaze silently asked him to continue, and he couldn’t help but oblige.
“My name, my occupation, my education, my place in the world, it was all locked in place from the moment my parents learned of my conception. It can easily take control of you if you don’t have the skills or the desire to control it.”
“Don’t you ever get tired of always being in control, hypervigilant, Jasiri? Don’t you want to let go sometimes?”
Her hand began to glide up his hand and beyond his wrist. He stood rod straight, apprehensive about where her touch would lead to but still so desperate for it, he refused to push her away. She let her hand move up his arm and over his chest, resting it above the strong thud of his heart before her eyes met his.
“If only for one night,” she continued as she stepped into the circle of his arms and pulled them around her. “Don’t you just want to let go?”
“Every goddamn second of every day.”
His voice was gravel against rough sand, scraping up the tender flesh of his throat as he ground those words out. The closest he’d ever come to it was the moments he’d spent in her arms. Her touch had done more than just excite him: it had healed something broken in him that he’d never been able to name. With her looking at him, no, through him, he could see from her perspective what had been missing before and after her. It was his ability to just be himself.
With Reigna, he didn’t have to carry a title or responsibilities. The crown wasn’t looming over him like a recurrent bad dream that was just waiting for him to fall deep enough asleep until it hijacked his dreams. As long as he was with her, his title felt like a job he left at the end of the business day. When he crossed Reigna’s threshold, he was a real man, not a title. Not a cog in a nearly three-hundred-year-old machine.
“Jasiri?”
She put her hand in his and slowly walked them to the bathroom. She left him standing in the middle of the large room to turn on the shower heads. Like so many other places in the palace, it was too large and ostentatious to be called by its functional name. Yes, this was technically a bathroom. The multihead shower with the large marble bench long enough that Jasiri at over six feet could lie comfortably on it took up one wall on its own. Its glass enclosure so clear you could hardly tell it was there. This was a spa.
Even if you could ignore the shower, the gold-encrusted basins and the wall and flooring tiles made of onyx and marble made it clear that this room, like every other in the palace, was an experience.
Reigna made quick work of undressing them both. Once she covered her head with a shower turban, she waited until he donned his too, then without preamble she pulled them inside and under the spray.
The moment the water touched his skin all the noise in his head stopped and all he could see was her. Her full, luscious body slick with water, begging for his touch. He’d been taught to control his urges lest they control him. As a king, you could never allow anything or anyone that kind of power over you. Her full lips with the perfect bow opened slightly and said the two words he’d never been able to resist coming from her.
“Jasiri, please.”
He heard the brittle snap of his control echo off the glass enclosure and any hopes he had of resisting Reigna were gone. He pulled her to him, consuming her mouth in a greedy kiss as he pressed her back into the cool wall. She’d wanted him to let go, and dear God, he’d give her everything she’d asked for.
“On the bench now, Princess.”
* * *
Reigna had meant to comfort the man, help him lay down his heavy burdens for just a few moments. How that had landed with her in the supine position on this giant marble bench while Jasiri stalked over her like she was his prey, she didn’t know, and she didn’t care. The same fire that blazed in his eyes before he wrung both their bodies dry of pleasure flashed in front of her now. This wasn’t a warning. It was a promise, and Reigna was here for every pledged moment of it.
Jasiri’s hands were all over her, stroking her expectant skin. His mouth found her nipple, licking and grazing it with his teeth until it was taut and stiff. He worried it until she was squirming with need beneath him.
Jasiri’s touch had always been the truest thing she’d known in her life. His touch instantly meant she’d splinter into pleasure, and there had never been a moment when that wasn’t true with him.
He loomed above her with his one hand planted just above her head on the marble bench and one of his knees rested against the outer shell of her hip. She felt his other hand slip between her wet folds, caressing her nub until it hummed with a delicious ache. She lifted her hips, chasing his touch, and he rewarded her by applying a light pat against it that made her shudder with her desire for him. Before she could recover, his fingers were inside her, plunging, searching, and scissoring until they found that hidden spot within her core that made her body tighten and her breath catch.
Their eyes met in the haze of the water, steam, and need, and when she lifted her hips again, this time he didn’t make her wait. He knelt before her, pressing her thighs apart, licking her slit until she was open and exposed to him just the way he’d always like her.
To be devoured by Jasiri was to be worshipped. He lapped at her core like she was made of the sweetest nectar he’d ever had, and with the expert use of his mouth, tongue, and fingers, he was going to consume every last drop she possessed.
The orgasm was so quick and fierce that her body seized in one long spasm as she succumbed to its power. Jasiri gave no quarter; he kept at her until another climax was crashing down on her again, rendering her at his mercy.
He shifted, reaching under the bench, and when she could see his hand again, there was a condom between his fingers.
“I won’t make any assumptions because we’re technically married.”
She understood what he was saying. This wasn’t about sexual health. To marry a royal meant you were given a battery of tests to make sure both parties were in optimal health. At the time, she’d assumed those tests were a requirement to get a Nyeusian marriage license. After learning who Jasiri really was, she knew and understood the real reason for such thorough documentation of her health. This was Jasiri’s way of acknowledging her agency and caring enough about her needs, that he would protect her for as long as she wanted.
He handed her the condom and then whispered, “Get me ready, baby.”
Needing no further encouragement than the smooth sound of his deep voice, she snatched it from his hand, opening it as quickly as she could and sliding it down his length in eager anticipation of having him inside her.
This had started as a way to help him let go and somehow, he’d turned the tables on her and all she could think about was him burying himself inside her to satisfy the ache that throbbed so deeply inside, she wondered if it could ever be reached.
He pulled her up from the bench and turned her until she was facing the glass with his chest plastered against her back.
“You said you wanted me to let go, right?”
He slipped inside of her in one rough stroke, filling her to the hilt. The burn of the stretch nearly took her breath away. He slipped his hand between her folds, caressing her clit until her body began to relax in pleasure, and once it did, he snapped his hips forward, his length grazing her sensitive flesh driving her over the edge again.
He was relentless, never letting up, never letting her go until her body was no longer hers to control. It obeyed every filthy command he gave, and each time she did, he rewarded her with raw pleasure that made her weep in satisfaction as her sheath spasmed around him again as the wave of her climax pulled her beneath the current.
“God, Reigna, you still fit me so well.”
His breathing was erratic, and his movements faltered as he slammed into her over and over again until she splintered apart one last time and he fell over into his own climax too.
When he turned her to face him, panting, his muscles still twitching from overexertion he looked at her with wild, lust-filled eyes before he placed his hand at the base of her throat.
“Damn, woman!”
She shook her head, trying to fight her way through the lust-induced fog of her brain to focus on him.
“You would destroy me if I’d let you.”
She licked her bottom lip, holding his gaze and returning all the fire she saw in them.
“I’d do any and everything you’d ask me to.”
Jasiri’s chest heaved, his pupils becoming pinpoints as he stepped away from her. Despite the steam from the hot spray surrounding them, the air inside the shower was almost frigid, causing her to wrap her arms around herself as she watched the passionate man she’d just shared amazing sex with fade into this detached representative that she didn’t recognize. He closed his eyes and took a breath, somehow completing his transformation. When he opened them again, Jasiri of a few moments ago was completely gone.
He reached for the shower door handle and said, “That’s exactly why this should never have happened. It’s exactly why it will never happen again.”