Chapter 7
When people talked about Princess Victoria, they often mentioned how level-headed she was. The sensible one. Dutiful, kind, considerate.
Lately, she’d also been called morally bankrupt.
If those journalists could see Victoria now — strapped up, shoulder propped against the en-suite doorframe, intent written across every inch of her face — Ash was pretty sure they’d shout that slur from the rooftops.
The thing was, it was no slur in Ash’s mind.
Victoria was her Queen, and in this particular scenario, long may she reign.
Heat swirled low in Ash’s belly as Victoria pushed off the doorframe and prowled towards the bed. Slender hips swaying with that infuriating, confident sway. The smirk Ash had fallen in love with, weaponised. The strap riding low and obscene against the soft curve of her thigh.
Ash’s mouth went dry.
She couldn’t quite believe she got to marry this woman in two days. She never thought she’d get so lucky, in so many ways. Some nights, she still woke up half-expecting to find it had all been a fever dream. The proposal. The ring. The princess in her bed.
But here Victoria was. Real.
And about to absolutely wreck her.
“How do I look?” Victoria climbed onto the bed on all fours.
Ash lay back, legs already parting in invitation, heat pulsing between them in time with her hammering pulse.
“Like you’re the answer to all my fucking prayers.”
Victoria’s eyes darkened. She crawled up Ash’s body, agonisingly slow, and Ash gulped as the silicon pressed firm and unmistakable against her inner thigh. Her hips jolted up of their own accord, chasing it.
Victoria’s smile flickered into something dangerous. She rolled her hips down, deliberate, the strap dragging up Ash’s thigh in a delicious, cruel tease.
“Glad to hear it.” Victoria dipped her head, lips brushing the shell of Ash’s ear. Her breath was hot and unsteady, the small crack in her composure undid Ash more than the strap ever could. “I want to give you something to remember me by.”
Ash shivered.
“On our wedding day, when you’re getting ready…” Victoria’s teeth grazed her earlobe. “When you’re doing your makeup, and shrugging on your jacket, I want you to think about this. About me. Railing you into this mattress.”
A whimper escaped Ash’s throat before she could catch it.
She closed her eyes as desire fizzed through every nerve ending, molten and electric all at once.
Nothing had even happened yet, and she was already certain of two things: one, she was not going to last. Two, she’d be thinking of nothing else for the next 48 hours.
Through the procession. Through the photographs. Through the not-yet-written vows.
Her heart hammered against her ribs in the best possible way.
She forced her eyes open and glanced down between them.
“Is that the Lioness, then?”
Victoria followed her gaze, then looked back up with a slow, wicked nod. “I’m about to fuck the Lionesses’s captain with a Lioness. Brand-new on the market.” Her smirk deepened. “You can’t get more meta than that, can you?”
A laugh bubbled out of Ash, and she wound her arms around Victoria’s neck, hauling her down until their bodies pressed flush from chest to hip. She kissed the soft swell of Victoria’s breast, then the dip of her collarbone, tasting clean skin and something faintly floral.
But Victoria had other ideas.
She placed her index finger on Ash’s lips, then licked her lips, before pressing the finger into Ash’s mouth. “Suck it,” she said. “And then I want you to suck me.”
Bossy, dominatrix Victoria? Ash was totally here for it.
Within moments, she was on her knees, sucking Victoria’s strap, pulling her into her. She was never truly sure why this was so erotic, but it was. The pressure, the surrender, the want. It was visceral, and it was real, throbbing through Ash’s blood like lava.
“The first time you’ve had a Lioness in your mouth, isn’t it, Captain?” Victoria looked down and cupped Ash’s face. “You don’t have to say anything, just nod.”
Fuck, Ash could feel how wet she was. She’d never loved being topped as much as she liked it with Victoria. Scrap that, she’d never liked sex as much as she did with Victoria.
She’d met her match, and then some.
That thought was cemented when she gently withdrew, kissed Ash’s lips with pin-point precision, then leaned over and grabbed the bottle of lube.
“Lube me up, please. Just so I can slip in easily.”
Ash was just about to tell her she wouldn’t have an issue, when Victoria returned a finger to Ash’s lips. “No talking until I say so.”
Ash squirted the sticky liquid onto the strap, making sure the entire shaft glistened.
“Wrap your hand right around it like a good girl.”
Was Victoria trying to kill her? She was pulling out all the stops today. Ash glanced up, and gave her a weak smile. “It’s fully lubed, Ma’am.”
At her words, Victoria closed her eyes and let out a small groan.
Ash knew what that word in this situation did to her.
Two could play at that game.
“Now I want you on the bed, facing the mirror.”
Ash didn’t think the anticipation could heighten anymore, until Victoria uttered those words. She did as she was told, then gulped.
Damn, she wanted this so much. The past couple of months had been so full of football, of sponsorship commitments, of wedding preparation.
She hadn’t let herself go very often, because she couldn’t afford to.
She needed to be on top of everything, lest it all get out of her control. She knew Victoria felt the same.
But here, with Victoria stroking her bum cheeks with such a gentle caress, the calm before the storm, Ash didn’t need to be on top of a single damn thing.
She had her Queen to do that. In this moment, she was ready to let go, and let her fate be decided.
There was nobody she’d rather be in the hands of than Victoria Richmond.
“That’s it, good girl. I’m going to fuck you now, Captain.”
Holy fucking hell.
Victoria smoothed her palms over Ash’s arse some more, and Ash’s pulse started to sprint. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as the tip of the strap edged into her. Hot vibrations rumbled through her as she tensed every muscle she owned.
Victoria squeezed her arse. “Relax.” Her voice was low, cool.
Ash opened her eyes, looked into the mirror right ahead, just as Victoria eased into her with a beatific smile on her face.
A thousand tiny stars illuminated inside Ash, as deafening desire exploded, wild and free. She let out an impossibly low groan as Victoria eased out slowly, then thrust back in, a hand on Ash’s shoulder blades, claiming her as her own. She was already that.
The wedding was just a document to sign and seal it. But honestly? Ever since Victoria had cooked that first risotto for her all those months ago, Ash had been a goner.
“You look so beautiful,” Victoria told her, staring at Ash in the mirror, building up her rhythm second by second.
Ash went to reply, but nothing came out. Her mind was blank, all her mental powers stripped away so that her body could focus on the pleasure pill currently arrowing through her bloodstream.
In moments, the heat built to a crescendo, so much so that Ash could hardly recall her own name. She just knew she wouldn’t be able to hold on too much longer. Victoria was inside her, in front of her, all around her. She anchored her with her hands, and centred her with everything else.
“Look at me,” Victoria rasped, face flush as Ash looked up.
She slowed her rhythm for a second, then buried herself inside Ash, before reaching around her, finding Ash’s swollen, slippery clit with her fingers.
Fireworks exploded inside Ash’s brain as the sensation of the strap and Victoria’s skilled fingers floored her. She arched her back, leaning into Victoria’s touch, little fires everywhere.
A feral drumbeat grew louder in Ash’s ears as Victoria didn’t let up, giving one final thrust, before issuing her final instruction.
“Come for me, Captain.”
Ash let out a strangled cry as all the tension she’d locked up for the past few weeks rushed out at speed.
Every positive emotion she’d ever felt tangled itself in her throat as she came and came and came, as if her life depended on it.
As if she’d never come before, and would never come again.
Victoria didn’t stop until Ash pushed her hand away, and then slumped forward on the bed, her body still pulsing with whatever the fuck had just happened.
Would she be able to see when she opened her eyes? To speak when she opened her mouth? At this very moment, she wasn’t sure. She was a bundle of nerve endings, exposed and raw.
Victoria pulled out, and seconds later, wrapped her arms around Ash and pulled her onto the bed beside her. She kissed her neck, her shoulders, her breasts, her clavicle.
Eventually, when she thought she could risk it and her heart rate had returned to a semi-steady pace, Ash opened her eyes and peered up at Victoria.
She had no voice, no clue what to say.
“I can’t wait to marry you, Ashleigh Woods. Always my captain. I scored big when I met you.”
“You’re a fucking queen,” Ash croaked.
Victoria raised a single eyebrow and gave her that special smile she reserved just for her.
“Not quite yet,” she replied.