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Everything in her tensed in response. It was true, she couldn’t. She had to resist him, shehadto.
Then his long fingers wrapped around her throat in a firm, dominant hold, and all that tension began to bleed away, as if something inside her had finally stopped struggling and given in to the inevitable.
All her life she’d been on her own. She’d never belonged to anyone. But right here, right now, with his hand on her throat, she felt as if she belonged to him.
The man who took your baby from you.
She barely heard the thought this time as he gentled the kiss, nipping at her bottom lip and tracing the shape of it with his tongue, his thumb stroking the side of her neck.
‘I won’t hurt you,’ he breathed in her ear. ‘You’re safe with me.’ He shifted his hips in a subtle movement, the hard ridge behind his fly pressing against the heat between her thighs, nudging the most exquisitely sensitive part of her and making her tremble. ‘But I want you. I want you to come home with me.’
It was what she’d hoped for. She’d spent the blood money the Kalitherans had given her in return for her son on her dress and flights to Kalithera, and not a little of it had also gone to various people she’d contacted who had inside knowledge on Galen’s schedule.
She’d planned for this meticulously and it was all coming together. She’d even hoped that their chemistry would be just as strong, because to tempt a man like him, she’d need it to be. And she’d assumed that resisting him herself would be easy, that the lure of her son would be enough inducement not to surrender.
But it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t.
There was a warm, pulsing ache between her thighs and a different sort of ache behind her breastbone, a longing she couldn’t get rid of no matter how hard she tried. He’d seduced her completely once and if she wasn’t careful, he might again, and that wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.
Does it matter? Why not surrender to him? It’s only physical and you would enjoy it.
She would. She could go home with him, be his lover for the night, then take some incriminating pictures and blackmail him with them. Tell him that if he didn’t give her son back, she’d release them to the press. And she couldn’t take those pictures if she wasn’t in his bed. Yet none of that meant she couldn’t have a little something for herself. Some pleasure before all the unpleasantness. She was allowed, surely? After all the months of crushing guilt and aching loneliness? All the months of agony?
‘Well?’ He was exploring the line of her lower lip, brushing soft kisses along it as he shifted his other hand from beside her head, his fingers dropping to slide beneath one of the chains holding her dress up, pulling at it gently so the material tightened over her achingly sensitive nipples. ‘Yes or no?’ He stroked down over the chain, over the silver mesh of her dress and down, tracing the curve of her breast.
She felt almost drunk, as if she’d swallowed four cocktails in quick succession. Then those wicked fingers brushed across one nipple, sending sparks cascading through her, making her gasp yet again. Only to have his mouth cover hers and swallow the sound, the sensual brush of his tongue against hers making a low moan of need vibrate in her throat.
‘Is that a yes?’ he murmured, his fingertips now exploring her collarbones with aching lightness.
She could barely speak, having to force out the word. ‘Y-Yes.’
He pulled back a fraction and stared down at her. ‘You can trust me.’
You can’t ever trust him. Not after what happened.
No, she already knew that. But all she was going to trust him with tonight was her body. The rest of her she would keep safely locked away. She just had to remember who this was all for: her son.
Very deliberately, Solace placed her hands on the warm cotton that covered his chest. ‘Then take me home, Your Majesty.’
An intense blue flame leapt in his eyes that stole her breath. ‘Galen. You may call me Galen.’ Then he pushed himself away from her and grabbed her hand, threading his fingers through hers. And without a word, he turned and led her out of the club.
Her legs were shaky, and she almost stumbled a couple of times, catching herself at the last minute. He didn’t stop and he didn’t turn, obviously desperate to get her away.
And you’re desperate to follow. The way you were last time.
But Solace ignored the voice. It wouldn’t be like last time. She hadn’t known what she was doing back then, but she did now. And this time she had a purpose. This time she’d take the physical pleasure without letting herself become lost in it.
The club’s exit was in a different place from its entrance for the added privacy of its patrons, so when she and Galen stepped outside it was into a narrow cobbled street, surrounded by the jumble of whitewashed buildings so typical of Therisan architecture. The street was quiet and empty, bathed in the sulphurous glow of the streetlights, the low hum of the old city—traffic and people and, beyond that, the sound of the sea—murmuring in the background.
A sleek black limo waited at the kerb. Galen’s security team came out of the club behind them and moved into formation, walking beside her and Galen as he strode to the car, pulling her along with him. One of the men darted ahead and opened the limo door, and then she was bundled inside, Galen following behind her.
The door slammed shut, cutting off the noise of the city completely.
‘Don’t worry,’ Galen murmured. ‘The windows are tinted. No one can see in.’ He leaned forward and pressed a button, so the divider rose between them and the driver. ‘Now,’ he went on as they were finally enclosed in the back seat and completely private. ‘Where were we?’
Then he reached for her and pulled her into his lap, positioning her so she was sitting astride him, facing him, her legs spread on either side of his lean hips, her knees pressed into the soft black leather of the seat.
The limo had begun to move, she could feel it, light from outside shining through the windows and flickering over his perfect face. His body was hot and very hard, his expression fierce. The blue of his eyes had darkened into midnight, and they glittered as he swept a glance down over the shimmering silver mesh of her dress.
