Modern Romance April 2020 Books 5-8

Right before she altered her touch. The hands on his shoulders weren’t caressing. They were insistently pushing him away. A little stunned, he watched her kick away from him. ‘Is that enough for you? Are you convinced now?’ she asked, her voice passion-husky but determined.

‘No, I’m not. Because that wasn’t enough, mia bella,’ he growled, lunging forward to recapture her. Drag her close once more. ‘Not nearly enough.’

Electrifying sensation threatened to douse the warning signs flashing through Violet’s brain as Zak lowered his head. The thought of experiencing his explosive kiss once more, of feeling his tongue and teeth and lips saturate her senses made her whole body grow weak, wantonly needy.

It was a good thing he still held onto her or Violet was sure she’d be a useless lump at the bottom of the pool right now.

He drew closer still, his sensual lips a tempting whisper away.

Dear God, what was she doing?

Proving a point. But one that she’d already proven, surely?

Not nearly enough.

His words echoed in her head, louder, more insistent, eroding her common sense. Because he was right. That taste hadn’t been nearly enough. All it’d done was rake over every dampener she’d put over her emotions and reawakened them so rudely, so effortlessly it’d set her whole body on fire.

Now the very thought of walking, or swimming away, felt like an insurmountable task. One that would be made easier by giving in one more time?

She ignored the voice mocking her logic, made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a whimper when he held himself that last scant inch away. Ruthlessly teasing? Or perhaps as unsure as she was?

She ventured a glance into his eyes. And was met with blazing arousal that left her in no doubt that Zak was as into this as she was. Still, his lips brushed furtively over hers. Sizzling but way too brief.

With a helpless groan she sealed her lips to his once more, ignoring his grunt of pure male satisfaction.

Just once more. One more minute and she’d end this insanity.

They strained against one another, determined to best each other in this battle of wills and kisses that required a victor. When the hot steel rod of his arousal imprinted itself against her belly, she whimpered some more, a driven urge to touch him, stroke him driving her hand beneath the water.

At her first touch, he tore his lips from hers. Eyes dark and mysterious in the failing light raked over her face. At first, Violet thought the thundering in her ears would surely deafen her. Until she realised they’d swum right up to the waterfall.

She blinked against the drops pelting her face, gasped softly when Zak’s large hand framed her jaw, tilted her head upward to meet her gaze. Without releasing her, the arm banding her waist lifted her onto one flat boulder.

He moved between her legs, ferocious intent in his eyes.

She wanted to compare this moment to those in her mother’s garden six years ago, but Violet knew she couldn’t.

For one thing, the cool reserve lurking in his eyes then was nowhere in sight now. The hands trailing up her knees to frame her hips were possessive, purposeful enough to convince her that he wasn’t about to stop any time soon. That unless she stopped it this time, Zak was fully intent on accepting whatever she gave.

His gaze dropped from hers to trail a fiery path down her throat to the agitated rise and fall of her breasts. One hand moved from her hip, up her ribcage to rest beneath one breast. Momentarily freed from his gaze, she glanced around her.

He’d set her down on a flat boulder large enough to recline on, solid enough to take both their weight. And with the thundering waterfall now shielding them from the outside world, it seemed like the perfect place for a seduction.

Was this what he’d intended all along?

Her heartbeat tripled as she stared at him. Whatever words she was cobbling together to ask him, they dried in her throat as his thumb grazed one tight nipple, his gaze riveted on her face, absorbing her every reaction.

Another pass and she shuddered, biting back a moan.

‘You like that?’ he rasped.

Violet caught her lower lip between her teeth, absurdly reluctant to admit she did despite the blatant evidence he couldn’t miss. A twist of his lips told her he had his answer and was perhaps content to let her off the hook.

In the next instant his other hand joined in the torture, moulding the twin globe until she couldn’t help the tight cry that fell from her lips.

After an electrifying minute, he started to draw back the wet fabric of her bra. And at last she found a shred of common sense. ‘Your guards—’

He shook his head. ‘They won’t disturb us. Their job is less about watching me and more about watching out for potential threats.’

Her privacy protest battered away, she was confronted with another question that loomed large in her mind.

Was this really happening?

‘Should I be pleased or insulted to be excluded from that scenario?’ The question was a throwaway one, meant to buy her time to regroup and rebalance, but she was nowhere near sane, shuddering as he caught her flesh between his thumb and forefinger and squeezed.

Expecting a rapier-sharp comeback, perhaps even desperate for one to restore her sanity, Violet was mildly stunned when his face grew dark and dangerous. ‘Any misjudgement will be down to me. Not them.’

She couldn’t help but wonder if there was a hidden meaning behind his words. A meaning she herself needed to heed before it was too late. ‘Zak—’

‘I believe that’s the first time you’ve used my name. Say it again, Violet.’

‘Why?’

Expert fingers caught her chin, angling her face so he could better scour her expression with his electric gaze. ‘Because I find my name on your lips…pleasurable.’

‘Zak.’

Ferocious eyes spiked into hers. ‘I want to taste you,’ he announced, his voice hot, raspy, setting fire to her pelvis. ‘Stop me now if you don’t wish this to continue, Violet.’

She opened her mouth intending to do exactly that or at the very least slow down this relentless freight train of passion threatening to run away with her. At the last moment her throat closed up. Was this a turning point? Or was this her opportunity to draw a line under what had started six years ago?

She’d spent long endless nights craving more of that brief taste of desire. Now he was offering her a feast on a platter. Wasn’t he? She searched his gaze, eager to discover whether this was another prelude to a rejection. She found only a fierce hunger that matched her own.

But hadn’t he looked the same that night too?

Sensing her reticence, Zak dropped his hands from her body and rested them on the rock beside her hips, holding her in place just with the look in his eyes. ‘Don’t overthink this. What happens here stays here, Violet.’

‘You mean in the light of day we forget that this ever happened?’ Why did that press on a tender spot in her chest?

He shrugged. ‘If that is what you wish. What it will not be is a pretence that what happens between us here will lead to something more. That is not on the table.’

Why not? she wanted to ask, but she already knew the answer deep in her bones. Something more would never include the likes of her. She only needed to glance at his family history to see the sort of pedigree the Montegovas chose to have lengthy relationships with.

Remi had been engaged to a woman with a flawless background, despite her commoner status, and their mother was a renowned ex-beauty queen, coming from a prestigious family and an heiress before she’d married the King.

Even now, the Crown Prince was said to be hunting for a woman of impeccable pedigree to replace his dead fiancée. Violet was sure nowhere on that list was a minor aristocrat with a background soiled with near bankruptcy, disgrace and a tabloid-hungry mother who sold gossip on a regular basis.

‘This isn’t a world-altering decision,’ he insisted.

But in a way it was to her. A few mind-blowing kisses were one thing but giving herself to Zak Montegova completely was quite another.

And just like that the issue of her virginity loomed large before her eyes. She bit her lip, nerves eating fresh at her as she contemplated how to break the news to him. Perhaps he would be turned off, just as he had been by her awkward crush on him six years ago. Was she better off keeping it to herself?

‘You want me,’ he insisted, his tone deep and fierce, angling his mouthwatering body closer.

‘I’m not denying that.’

‘Then what is this about?’

His eyes gradually grew icy as he stared at her. ‘You didn’t answer me before. Is there someone else? Is that why you hesitate?’

A wave of anger swept over her. ‘You really think I would be here doing this with you if I was in another relationship? What sort of women do you date?’

He barely flinched at her accusation. ‘While I’m inclined to think that heated response answers my question, I don’t wish to assume. Is there someone else, Violet?’ he demanded again, his voice terse.

‘No, there isn’t. I haven’t had the time or the inclination to do…this or have a relationship. Of any kind,’ she added, just so he would understand she was including whatever schemes he believed she was hatching with her mother.

‘I have an understanding with my liaisons and I’ve set out what my expectations are.’ He stopped, his eyes heatedly scouring her body before returning to hers. ‘I despise deceit. So this is your chance to end this or give me your answer.’ He brought his body another tempting inch closer. ‘If you want me, touch me.’

The invitation was too much to resist.

In that moment, Violet knew she’d passed the point of no return. As for her virginity, one way or the other he would find out that she was truly innocent soon enough.

Even if he didn’t realise it, after this she only needed to proceed as normal for a few more months. Then she would be out of this life. Why that thought sent a lance of pain through her chest, she refused to examine.

She would take this moment out of time, slay the dragon of need that’d consumed her for so long and then put it all behind her. Then she could go on with her life.

‘Dio mio, do I really need to beg?’ he demanded roughly.

‘Perhaps you do. Perhaps I want to see that unique event,’ she teased.

A smile twisted his lips, but it was the raw need in his eyes that threatened to stop her breath. A feeling of urgency rose inside her, and without waiting to see whether he would actually resort to begging, she hooked her fingers behind his neck.

The blaze of triumph in his eyes should have made her hesitate, but all Violet could think of was that her fierce hunger was about to be sated.

He delivered a hard, consuming kiss to her lips, and every thought melted from her brain. The tasting was over in an instant and then his lips were trailing down her neck again. This time his destination was purposeful as he caressed the skin with one hand while his other eased in a downward trajectory to one breast.

He lightly bit the plump slope, causing her to cry out again. Before the sound died, he was wrapping his lips around one tight peak. He licked, tortured and delivered heady sensation the likes of which Violet had never experienced. Flames flared from the point of contact throughout her body, coalescing in that tight space between her legs and making her hips jerk and strain with the need for satisfaction.

Because this was Zak, because he was effortlessly attuned to her needs, he didn’t leave her waiting for long. Taut fingers trailed over the sensitive skin of her belly before stopping at the boundary of her panties.

Bold and brazen, his fingers delved beneath the wet fabric. Her breath strangled in her throat. She hung on the edge, every molecule in her body strained at the twin points of contact.

And then his finger slipped between her folds, igniting raw, acute pleasure through her veins. Her head dropped back on her shoulders, the effort to keep herself upright weakening as Zak spread her knees wider, sought better access.

Access she couldn’t deny him as her craving escalated.

He caressed her swollen flesh, growling in satisfaction as he encountered the slick evidence of her need. In raspy Montegovan, he muttered against her nipple, the sound lost in the thundering waterfall but no less arousing. For endless minutes he toyed with her while swirling his tongue around one nipple until need gathered unbearably in her pelvis.

‘Zak…’

He laid her back against the rock, dragged down the straps of her bra and bared her breasts to his eyes. Then he drew back, taking his time to conduct a sizzling scrutiny of her body. ‘Madonna mia, you are exquisite,’ he breathed.

Flames of lust lit through her at his words, her reaction pleasing him, if the turbulence in his eyes was any indication. He returned to his attention to her breast, catching the sensitive flesh between his teeth as his fingers delved deeper between her thighs. He breached her core, growling a torrent of Montegovan when he encountered even more evidence of her need.

Slippery, hot, ready, he caressed her expertly before pressing one finger to her core. Violet tensed momentarily. It wasn’t enough to change her mind but the knowledge that this was actually happening was enough to attract fresh nervousness.

‘So tight. So snug. It’s almost enough to make me wonder if you’re untouched,’ he said.

Here’s your chance. Tell him.

She didn’t know why she held back or why she dropped her gaze instead to watch the magic he was evoking between her legs. The sight of the carnal, erotic caress made her whimper.

His head surged up. ‘Violet? Is there something you wish to tell me?’

She swallowed, then dredged up the keenest poker face she could muster. ‘Is this a Q&A or are we going to get on with it?’ she asked boldly.

His gaze raked her face, narrow eyes probing hers. Violet undulated her body, straining closer to his touch. She wasn’t aware her nails dug into his shoulder until he relaxed and gave a low laugh.

‘Is my little hellcat impatient?’

‘You’re the one who seems to have all the answers. What do you think?’

Without answering, he sucked one nipple into his mouth, and then the other, groaning at her fresh shudder before licking the space between the globes.

She lost the ability to string thoughts together, falling backwards on one elbow as he charted a path down her midriff to her navel and then lower.

Aware of what he intended to do, Violet was torn between stopping him and going with the flow. ‘Please…’

He lifted his head, speared her with those intense grey eyes. ‘Will you give me what I want, Violet?’ he rasped.

‘And what’s that?’ she whispered.

‘To taste you. Here,’ he said, running his knuckles over her heated core.

She cried out. He gave a harsh exhalation, dispensed with the teasing and tormenting, lifted her hips off the rock and sealed his mouth to her aching body.

Sensation like she’d never known rushed through her. Her body twisted and jerked as Zach boldly explored her. Her clitoris became his plaything, her centre his playground as he took his time to deliver pleasure heaped upon pleasure.

Eyes squeezed shut, Violet could only ride the wave as paradise beckoned. She was vaguely aware of tiny screams ejecting from her throat, of cool water lapping against her shoulders and the hot solid column of Zak’s body positioned between her legs. Everything else ceased to matter as her climax gathered with fierce concentration between her legs. And when that moment came, when with a bold caress he shoved her off that peak, she screamed, certain she would never be the same again as every cell exploded in ecstasy.

For endless minutes she floated, almost afraid to open her eyes, afraid to discover if this had just been another lurid dream. Even though none of her dreams had ever felt this earth-shattering.

Violet opened her eyes, her heart lurching when she was confronted with the solid reality of Zak in his full magnificence, totally focused on her.

She understood at that moment why women went crazy for this man. If what he’d done to her moments ago was even a fraction of the pleasure he could deliver, then every flick of his arrogant eyebrow and every word that fell from his lips in utter self-confidence was justified.

Not that she was about to tell him any of that. His ego didn’t need the boost from her.

Certainly not in the manhood stakes, she thought in stunned wonder at her first glimpse of his arousal. At some point between laying her down on the rock and gifting her that mind-blowing orgasm, Zak had removed his boxers. Unashamedly naked and magnificently virile, he held himself over her, making room for himself between her thighs.

The faintest flicker of uncertainty slid through her mind. Could she accommodate him? Perhaps he spotted it. One corner of his mouth lifted in a tense little smile. He lowered his head and brought his lips to hers, his tongue easily breaching her lips to commence a slow gliding dance that evoked what he intended to do to her.

Apprehension melted away but a warning tweaked the back of her mind. It evaporated when he settled his mouthwatering body against hers, leaving her gasping as every erogenous zone in her body roared to life.

‘Look at me, Violet,’ he urged, his gaze fusing with hers when she raised her eyes to his. ‘Touch me,’ he commanded.

All along she’d fooled herself into thinking that this was simply an experience to indulge in and move on. But even before he had settled his hard length against her core, Violet suspected that this was so much more.

‘I want to see your eyes as I take you,’ he said, his voice deep, profound, soul-stirring enough to make her tremble with something more than pleasure.

Too much. It was too much.

Thoughts loomed large and impossibly momentous in her mind as Zak surged inside her, filling her up, breaking through that final barrier of her innocence.

He froze, shock filming his eyes and slackening his jaw as he stared down at her with something close to icy condemnation and searing regret.

CHAPTER SIX

‘MOTHER OF GOD. You’re untouched?’

Violet struggled to breathe, struggled to drag her mind from the sensations ricocheting through her body. The initial sting of his penetration had receded fast to leave behind a wild hunger that demanded fulfilment. Hunger she was immediately terrified he wouldn’t sate as he started to withdraw.

‘Please.’

Zak shook his head once, a tight, shaken expression still on his face as he glanced down at where they were still joined and then up to meet her gaze once more. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Does it matter?’

A rough sound barked from his throat. ‘You think it didn’t?’

‘Perhaps I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.’

He started to pull back even further. She clamped her legs around his waist, somehow believing that would stop him. Miraculously it did, fresh tension shadowing his face as he paused. ‘It is a big deal, Violet.’

‘Why?’ she asked, then winced inwardly. Dear God, was she really having this discussion with him? Right now?

Shock and a touch of bewilderment washed over his face. ‘You really think me so callous that I wouldn’t have minded whether you were innocent or not?’

She clamped her legs tighter. He shuddered, his body falling forward as he groaned. ‘It’s already done, Zak. Let’s not overthink it.’

For the first time in her life she spotted indecision on his face. It made her bolder, the thought that here, now, her femininity was more powerful than his resistance, sending a wave of triumph through her. ‘You wanted to take me. Well, here I am,’ she dared.

With a torn grunt, he surged forward, driving the last dregs of apprehension away and filling her with searing pleasure. One stroke. Two. On the third stroke, Violet was introduced to a new platform of sensation that made her jaw drop. Whatever came next, she was sure that this sublime feeling would never be surpassed.

‘Why, even now when I know I should be stopping this, can’t I end this thing?’ he groaned almost under his breath, his bewildered gaze dancing over her face. The gleam morphed, turning deeper. Possessive.

Why that infused her with even more pleasure, Violet didn’t want to pause to examine. Emboldened, she spiked her fingers through his hair, raking her nails over his scalp the way she’d tested at some point and discovered he liked. He shuddered, his eyes glinting in the dark as he stared at her.

‘You’re determined to bewitch me, aren’t you?’

‘Am I? Then why am I being denied?’

He sucked in a harsh breath, his chest expanding, dragging it against her nipples. They both shuddered. She undulated, that peculiar need surging high as her body demanded more. Zak thrust inside her one more time.

From then on no words were necessary. The slide of hands, the stroking of tongues, the slippery penetration transmitted need and propelled her towards another earth-shattering climax.

Violet was almost afraid that she would be wholly consumed by the depth of her pleasure, so much so she tightened her grip on him, attaching every part of her body to his solid frame, revelling in the deep shudders that racked his frame as he found his own climax. Eventually the tide receded, hearts slowed, reality intruded, leaving behind a slow-cooling lava of alarm that hollowed her stomach.

Because while throwing caution to the wind had been freeing and eye-opening in the pleasure stakes, she was terrified that she may have given a whole lot more than she had intended to.

Even now as Zak withdrew from her and turned to swim a few feet away, she wanted to grab him and pull him back, beg him for more of what he’d just given her. Like her distress as he’d taken up her thoughts and invaded her dreams for the last six years, with this experience she was suddenly terrified there would be none other like the man who had just taken her virginity.

There was no such profundity on his face when he tugged on his boxers and faced her, however. Just grim-faced shock.

‘Violet,’ he rasped, his voice ashen with something close to horror. ‘I didn’t use any protection.’ Regret and fierce condemnation drove away pleasure as reality smashed into her brain.

Oh, my God.

How could she have been so reckless?

He needed a moment to think. Scratch that. He needed several moments.

A week. A month.

Perhaps a stint in an asylum because only that would explain what he’d just done. His error of judgement came rushing back in a torrent wilder than the waterfall thundering behind him.

He’d taken her innocence.

Even while that admission sent another spike of primitive possessiveness through him, Zach was reeling from how he’d spectacularly compounded the severity of the situation.

He’d not only taken her, he’d taken her innocence without protection.

Dio mio.

He’d handed her everything she needed to destroy him. He wasn’t a wet-behind-the-ears schoolboy, so how could he have been so monumentally stupid? Acrid bitterness wove through him, enough to make him bunch his fists as he sorted through his shaken thoughts. Was this what had driven his father, too? Desire so strong common sense had ceased to exist?

Unwilling to dwell on his father right now, he returned to Violet.