time, I’d known the consequences in advance. Part of me was left uncertain by the fact Kyros’s explanation matched Laurel and Fernando’s information, and then some more. He was telling the truth. All the truth.
But if Kyros talked to his father, there was a huge chance King Julius would interfere again—perhaps permanently.
I couldn’t take that risk. This had to happen now. No matter what the king did in retaliation, at least I’d be safe from his compulsion after the fourth exchange.
Tapping my lip, I dragged my eyes from his hips, which were just shy of pressing into my core, all the way to his chest. “We should have sex too.”
Kyros froze.
I traced a line between his pecs and up his throat, stretching my arm up to splay my hand over his jaw. “I’m down for being less appealing to your enemies and having better senses, but I’d like a more immediate reward. Maybe several of them. What do you say?”
Kyros’s eyes blazed. “In the past, you’ve requested physical separation. I assumed that would remain true.” He leaned forward, and I leaned back onto my hands.
The unsatisfied urges of my body were driving me insane. It wasn’t desire at this point. It was an acute need. “I’m in a state of constant ache for you,” I whispered.
His breath came fast.
“I need you inside me soon.”
He hooked my lower back with his arm. Bright green eyes, furious with lust, latched onto mine.
I cocked my head. “Don’t you want to be inside me, Kyros? If you want physical separation, just say the word.”
He began to shake. “Yes.”
I smiled at his pained hiss. “Yes, what?”
I hovered my mouth over his, my smile widening as he closed his eyes. The desperation pouring out of him swelled to unbearable heights.
“I want to be inside you,” he answered in a rumble that reverberated through me.
Drawing away, I picked up his free hand and captured his opened eyes as I lifted his hand to my mouth and pressed a kiss to the palm.
“Show me then,” I breathed, lowering to lay across the glass, back arching over his arm. As though tied together, he moved forward with me, aligning his face with the top of my thighs.
Agony swept through me, a twin for his torment.
His growl filled the office space, shaking the glass walls. He inhaled deeply against the apex of my thighs, and fuck, I should have been embarrassed. It was the kinkiest thing anyone had ever done to me, but the action was so deeply erotic my insides clenched to snapping point.
Sliding his arm free, he inched his hands to my knees and used a burst of speed to spread them.
He lowered his face.
“I won’t be able to get through this without entering the fourth exchange,” Kyros rasped against my thigh.
Counting on it. But perhaps some effort on our part would help with King Julius damage control afterward. In a haze, I slid my phone free.
“What?” Deirdre snapped down the line three rings later. “I don’t like technology.”
“Kyros and I are about to bite each other. You all better come back. No promises on what you’ll see.” I squirmed, trying to push closer to Kyros’s face, but he held me still.
I hung up on his sister.
The air left me in a rush as Kyros flipped me, pressing me into the glass table.
“We can’t have kids, right?” I blurted.
“No,” he snarled. He drew down my dress zipper to the top of my ass.
“I’m clean,” I added, seeing as he didn’t seem too worried about the tiny details.
“I can smell that you’re clean, and Vissimo can’t contract sexual diseases.”
Okay, then.
I gasped as he whirled me back, setting me on my feet to slide the dress from my shoulders, like I was nothing more than a doll in his hands.
The low-cut dress fell away to reveal my lacy half-cup bra and matching thong.
Kyros gazed upon me like I held all the answers, like I alone could decide his fate. When he looked at me like that, I was tricked into believing I could. His hands squeezed my sides, caressing upward until his thumbs rested on the underside of my bra. He pushed my breasts up, lowering his head to drag his extended fangs over the swell.
I was wetter than I’d ever been in my life. “Kyros…”
He met my gaze.
“I’m so fucking angry at you,” I admitted.
His eyes glittered. “I know, my beauty. And I’m sorry.”
My hands fumbled for his shirt, yanking. Buttons popped off, and I shoved it off his