Princess in the Iron Mask - By Victoria Parker Page 0,49

walk.’

His lips twitched. He knew full well they were not discussing her foot, and he turned back towards the house, heading for shore. Which was torture in itself, because with every step the tip of his erection rubbed her moist core.

Dios...

Claudia wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Hung on tight as if she never wanted to let go. Thrust her fingers into the hair at his nape and nuzzled the skin beneath his ear.

‘No,’ he growled, a shudder racking his big frame.

So of course she did it again, quick learner that she was, and he could feel her lips curve into a wicked smile.

‘You haven’t shaved,’ she whispered. ‘I love the rough scrape against my lips. I want to know what it feels like in other places.’

He groaned as the heat built to inferno proportions. ‘No, you do not.’

As if to prove him wrong she ground her pelvis against him and Lucas gritted his teeth...he was going to lose it any damn second.

A tiny moan from deep in the back of her throat goaded him...tearing at his precarious hold. And when the hot sand seared his feet Lucas loosened his grip and allowed her to slide down his body. The friction severed the final thread, and he slanted his mouth over hers and kissed her with the full crush of his pent-up desire.

Finally.

Her lips, soft and pliant, felt like heaven, and the last few days and nights of sexual tension drained from his neck, trickled down his vertebrae to pool with more heat in his groin.

Dios, if he were any harder he’d be dead. But still he hauled her closer, pressing her tight against his body and glorying in the sensation of her lush curves surrendering.

Just one kiss, he told himself, needing to assuage the fear that still clung to his brain. One kiss. No more, he bargained. He traced the line of her mouth to be let in—a quick flick to the corner, a soft slide along her lower lip and she parted instantly.

Blood roared through his head, drowning out all caution, and he drove his hands into the thick fall of her hair, holding her head still as his tongue took hers in a wild dance of pleasure. Slip-slide, intense and erotic. All he could think was more...more.

Dios, he could kiss her for hours, days, months... ‘Claudia,’ he said, taking a breath before he suffocated. ‘Push me away.’

She cupped his jaw, her fingertips dangerously close to the underside of his ears, and nipped at his lips. ‘Make love to me, Lucas.’

His heart crashed against his ribcage. ‘No.’ Impossible. He closed his eyes. Touched his forehead to hers. ‘You need to keep yourself for...’

‘I told you—I’m married to my job, just as you are.’

He knew it. Bone-deep, he knew she was right. She was trying while she was here, but as soon as the green light shone she’d be gone.

‘I heard you the first time,’ he said, tightening his grip on the small span of her waist to grind against her. The delicious abrasion made them moan in unison—an erotic, mind-blowing sound that rent the air.

‘Oh, good. Finally we’re on the same page. I want you so much, Lucas.’

‘Untouched,’ he murmured, forcing himself to pull back, needing distance. To breathe. To think.

‘Mmm-hmm. And I want you to touch me. Make love to me.’

A fist of panic hit him in the chest. ‘I thought you wanted sex.’

‘What’s the difference?’ she asked, dropping lush, moist kisses along his jaw.

She’d never know what the difference was—not if he could help it. Claudia might not want commitment, but she was not some quick, easy lay. The mere thought made his guts twist, made him suddenly unsure if he was capable of being the man she needed.

Slightly distracted by the pulse pounding in his trousers, and the sight of her toned flat stomach leading to the curve of her femininity, it took a huge amount of effort for him to think. ‘You should not be so willing to part with your purity for a man like me.’

Slivers of molten anger lit her eyes. ‘What man is that, Lucas? The country’s hero? My protector?’

‘Claudia, you do not know me.’ He might be all of those things to her right now, but if she knew the dark truth of his dangerous past—

‘I know enough,’ she whispered, fisting his hair, tugging gently, kissing his mouth with the moist crush of her lips. ‘There’s only one man in the world who I want...who I trust. And that man