Temporarily His Princess - By Olivia Gates Page 0,34

why not?

This, whatever this was, wouldn’t last. But she knew that this time. She’d been forewarned, should be forearmed against any pain and disillusion. And it felt so good. The best she’d ever felt. Why not just revel in it?

Even at the cost of untold damages later? Maybe it couldn’t be survived this time?

She gazed into his gorgeous eyes, let his spell topple the last pillar of her sanity, and had to face what she’d never wanted to admit. She’d missed him like she would a vital organ. The accumulated longing was only exacerbated by the new appreciation that was taking her over.

So yes. She’d take this journey with him. At any cost.

*

“We’ll be landing in minutes, Principe.”

The announcement made Glory do a triple take over Vincenzo’s shoulder at the wall clock in the distance.

It was nine hours since they’d come on board already?

Time had never flown so imperceptibly. So pleasurably. She hadn’t felt sleepy all through the flight, only deliciously languorous yet energized at once, each passing minute electrified, alive.

And here they were. Landing in a place she’d never been, and till forty-eight hours ago had thought, for too many reasons, she’d never be. His homeland. A land of vivid legend and unique tradition.

Castaldini.

She’d been so engrossed in Vincenzo and their newfound affinity she hadn’t once looked outside the window as the pilot had periodically announced the landmarks they were flying over. She was now draped half over Vincenzo, one leg held in a possessive hand over his thighs, her face inches from his as they lay back on a now-reclined couch, gazing at each other, luxuriating in chatting and bickering and just relishing the hell out of each other.

Giving her thigh a gentle squeeze, he leaned in for another of those barely leashed kisses that had been scrambling her coherence, then withdrew with a regretful sigh. “Though I think some fuses inside me will burn out when I do, I have to take my hands off you. You need to see this. Castaldini from the air is breathtaking.”

He untangled them and took her with him as he sat up, opening the shutter on the window behind them. He stood behind her as she rose to her knees and bent forward to peer down at his homeland. But she registered nothing but him as he pressed against her, one hand pulling her back into his hardness, the other moving the mass of her hair aside to caress her back and buttocks. All she wanted was to thrust back at him, beg him to end the torment that had been building for hours, years, plunge inside her as she knelt like that, vulnerable, open. She wished he would plummet them into delirium as they descended into his domain and the limited time they’d have together.

He bent over her until he was covering her back then suckled her earlobe, pouring his seduction right into her brain. “See this, gloriosa mia? This is where I’m going to make you mine again, this land that’s as glorious as you are.”

Everything inside her throbbed like an inflamed nerve, screaming for his invasion, his domination. “So you took your hands off me, only to substitute them with your whole body.”

“Don’t tell me, tell your body.” His hand twisted in her hair, harnessing her as he suckled her neck, thrust against her, mimicking the act of possession. “It’s operating mine remotely. It must want to keep my fuses intact, needs them fully functional.” She was way past contesting this. With the way she’d been responding to his every touch, inviting more, she wondered how he hadn’t taken her yet. Or why. He nipped her jaw, which sent another shock wave of need spasming in her core. “Now look.”

It took moments to focus on the sight beneath her through the crimson haze of arousal. The place where she would come to life again, in his arms, in his orbit, however briefly.

And it was as he’d said. Breathtaking. Glorious.

The island gleamed like a collection of multifaceted jewels in the early afternoon sun. Jade masses of palm and olive trees, ruby and garnet rooftops on amber and moonstone houses, obsidian roads. White-gold beaches surrounded everything and were hugged in turn by the gradations of a turquoise-and-emerald Mediterranean.

Her chest tightening with elusive longing, she turned amazed eyes to him. “How can you leave this place, and stay away so long?”

Relief flared in his eyes, as if he’d been worried about her response. As if she could feel anything but wonder