The Summer King Bundle 3 Stories - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,53

again. “My name is Caden.”

A swelling sensation rose in my chest. “Okay. Caden. I can do that.” I lowered my hand to his bare shoulder and he flinched. I jerked my hand away. “Are you sure you’re okay? Did you take enough?”

“Did I take enough?” He let out a dry laugh as he dropped his chin to the chest. “I took enough.”

“Then what’s…?” Air caught in my throat as the Prince—no, as Caden shifted just an inch, pressing against me, and I felt him then, hard and heavy against my hip.

He was aroused.

Seriously so.

Those odd eyes were closed again and those features were just as stark as they had been before he fed. He was hungry… he was hungry for me.

I don’t know what it was. If it was what we just shared that gave me the courage or if it was something deeper than that, but whatever it was, I welcomed it.

Grazing his cheek with my fingertips, I dragged my thumb over his full bottom lip, reveling in the way he inhaled sharply, as if my touch had some heavy impact on him. My thumb followed the line of his jaw and his eyes drifted shut as the muscle along his jaw flexed against my palm.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” That wasn’t completely true. I knew what I was doing as I threaded my fingers through the silky soft strands of hair and curled my hand around the nape of his neck, tugging his head down as I lifted mine.

I knew exactly what I was doing when I brushed my lips over his parted ones, touching the tip of his tongue with mine.

Caden locked up. He didn’t move. He didn’t kiss me back. He just froze above me, and when I opened my eyes, his were wide and dilated.

Oh no….

Had I done it… wrong? It had been forever since I’d been kissed and even longer since I kissed someone, so I had no idea if I was doing this right or if there really was a wrong way of doing this.

I started to pull my hand away. “I’m—”

His hand left my hip and shot to my neck just as his mouth came down, stopping a hairsbreadth from touching mine. “We can’t.” His thumb smoothed over my wildly beating pulse. “We can’t do this.”

Confusion filled me. “We can’t?”

Caden shuddered as he dropped his forehead to mine, his hips moving in a slow roll.

“No.”

“No?” I whispered.

“I promised you that I would not let this go too far.”

“I want this.” To prove my point, I ran my hands down the tense muscles of his back and then lower, slipping my fingers under his loose pants. “Don’t… don’t you want this? It seems like you do.”

“God,” he groaned, moving his mouth to my neck. “I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you.” He kissed the spot just below my ear, causing my back to arch. “But you can’t say what you want is all yours. Not after me feeding.”

“It feels like it’s all me,” I said, and I thought I felt him smile against my neck.

“I’m trying to be… better than who I was,” he explained after a long moment. He lifted his head and that striking gaze latched onto mine. “I don’t know if that will make a difference or mean anything, but I’m trying to be better and it’s never been harder than this moment.”

My breath caught as I slid my hand back along his jaw and I remembered what he’d said before he fed. That there were some things you couldn’t come back from. I searched his gaze as a knot of emotion formed in my throat. I could understand that feeling—that there were some things in life, even if you weren’t responsible, you just couldn’t get past.

But I didn’t… I didn’t want that for him. “You aren’t guilty for those things you did when you were under the Queen’s spell.” I caught his gaze when he started to look away. “You’re already better. You didn’t hurt me. You don’t want to take advantage of me. You’ve saved my life, more than once. You’re not him.”

He was quiet for a long moment. “Knowing I didn’t have control doesn’t erase the memories. I was aware of everything, but I couldn’t… I couldn’t stop myself. I couldn’t stop any of it.”

My heart squeezed with sympathy. “I’m sorry, Caden. I really am.”

His eyes flared wide and then he rolled off me, onto his back beside me. “You’re really