Lucas doesn’t have to be told twice.

He bends his head and captures my lips with his mouth in a kiss. Unlike the kiss at the press conference, which felt hesitant and exploratory, this one is hard and demanding. It leaves no doubt that Lucas knows exactly what he wants and he’s tired of waiting.

I am too.

Lucas’s tongue probes my mouth, exploring the secret interior as his hands slide lower to cup my ass. His thumbs rub back and forth as he applies pressure, drawing me into the cradle of his hips. Despite our clothing, I feel the steady pulse of his cock.

My pussy spasms in response.

Lucas catches my lower lip between his teeth and tugs at it. Every nerve in my body comes alive as I moan into him. My hands twist into his shirt, trying to pull him even closer.

I’m dimly aware of a sound. Steel against hardwood. It isn’t until Lucas pushes me backward, slowly lowering both of us to the floor that I realize the sound was the sword being kicked out of the way.

Nothing about Lucas strikes me as him being the kind of person who generally abuses his equipment. The fact that he is now, indicates he wants me as badly as I want him.

My shoulders connect with the hardwood floor at the same time Lucas breaks the kiss. He sits beside me, a hand braced on either side of my head, and stares deeply into my eyes. This is it. The moment of truth. Either I surrender myself to him or I walk away.

The fact that he’s giving me this moment to decide charms me. Something deep inside of breaks of emotions, too complicated and unfamiliar to identify, much less comprehend flood me.

I want to laugh, I want to cry and I can’t decide which I should get to first.

Instead I extend both my arms, until my hands rest on the floor above my head and stare up at Lucas, surrendering myself to both him – and to whatever else the future holds.

His hands rest on my stomach, the touch causing my tummy to do a delighted back flip.

“I don’t love you,” he says.

I flinch. It’s the last thing I expected him to say. Even while the words cause something inside me to die a little, I appreciate his honesty. Does that make any sense? Maybe it does, and maybe not.

“Okay,” I murmur in a shaky voice, my mind spinning. Boy, you need to learn a thing or two about women!

He looks at me with worry in his eyes. “It only seems … fair to warn you. I don’t want you to get hurt. I … couldn’t bear it.”

You sure don’t sound like a player. But what the heck do I know?

“It’s fine. My eyes are open. “I don’t expect anything from you. I only want what you’re willing, what you’re capable of giving me. Nothing more.”

I don’t know what Lucas makes of my response, but he must accept it because he stretches out beside me. I don’t know how to take this man. Spending time with him is like riding a rollercoaster.

But I don’t want to get off.

One of his big hands finds my left breast and he squeezes it, the sudden pressure sending points of pleasure radiating to my most intimate areas. My breath shudders as his mouth rains light kisses along the side of my neck and along my jaw.

I’ve never felt anything like this.

I squeeze my eyes closed as Lucas’s free hand finds the hem of my sweater and slides beneath it. The light calluses he’s developed from working out without gloves scrape at my skin. Pressure builds inside me. I squirm on the sweat-slicked floorboards, desperately seeking a moment’s relief from the onslaught of sensations – even as I crave more.

Lucas’s thumb makes a slow circle around my belly button before his fingers curl around the bottom of my sweater. In one long, smooth motion, he slides it up my torso and over my head and tosses it to some unseen corner of the barn.

I lay still, enjoying the feel of the night cool air on my passion dampened skin. Lucas looks down at me with smoky eyes, seemingly taking in the way my skin glows in the soft light from overhead.

He leans close, his breath fanning across my skin, eliciting a shiver even before his lips find my collarbone and place feather light, toe-curling kisses upon it.

A split second later, my bra follows my shirt and Lucas rains kisses over the slight curve of my belly.

“Beautiful,” he whispers as his fingers explore my waist band.

His thumb slides beneath the denim while another finger manipulates the button. I hold my breath as the button slides free of the hole and the denim slides down my legs.

Except for a small scrap of electric blue silk that barely covers anything at all, I’m naked.

Lucas Nikolay the crown prince of Moravia – and my short-term husband – is now seeing more of me than any man ever has. The realization both frightens me and turns me on more than I’m prepared to admit.

Lucas shifts his position and rains light kisses on my body. Pausing only long enough for his tongue to make an intimate exploration of my belly button before sliding lower, not stopping until he encounters the elastic waistband of my last piece of clothing. I close my eyes and focus on the incredible pressure building in my pussy.

I expect Lucas to rid me of my panties in the same smoothly efficient manner he dealt the rest of my clothing, but he doesn’t.

He plays with the elastic. Pulling it a few inches away from my body only to let it snap back, resulting in a tiny pinch that sends jolts of pleasure/pain zinging through my body. His fingers slide beneath the silk, creeping downward until they almost brush my clit, only to slide free of the elastic again.

Moaning, I arch my back and thrust my hips in his direction, silently begging him for more – even as I worry that the expanding sense of anticipation and desire will tear me apart.

Finally, he tires of the game and slips the panties free of my hips. With incredible slowness, he guides them down my legs, using the opportunity to explore every single inch of my thighs, locating an unexpectedly sensitive spot behind my knee that causes my breath to hiss and my body to jerk, before gliding along the graceful curve of my calf.

The panties slide free of my body, but Lucas holds on to my left foot. He studies my toes.

“All day, I’ve been thinking about your feet,” Lucas growls, “and imagining what fucking a woman with rainbow toes will feel like.”

He draws my big toe into his mouth, suckling it, before releasing it to pepper my instep with kisses that feel like drops of fire and cause my heart to hammer against my ribs.

I’d painted each of my toes a different color because I thought they’d make me feel good, I never imagined they’d impact Lucas this way. And yet it has. Such a little thing, but he’s eating it up. Me up. Literally.

Lucas works his way back up my legs, leaving a trail of light kisses in his wake, until his hair brushes my lower stomach and he pauses.

I hold my breath, guessing what's about to happen. I’ve read about it, heard Tessa talk about it, and always wondered if they were exaggerating it. It never seemed possible that the touch of a man’s mouth could feel as good as they claimed.

And yet… My breath catches in my throat.

Lucas’s fingers part my thighs. His mouth finds my clit. He rolls it with his tongue. I gasp as sparks touch each of my pleasure points and erupt. My painted toes curl. My hands reach out, grasping Lucas’s head, my fingers tangling in his hair.

Each lick and nip sends wave after wave of pleasure crashing over me until I writhe on the barn floor. My hands both tug at Lucas’ head and push him deeper. His finger enters me – touching me in a way I’ve never permitted any man to touch. His nail scrapes my inner wall, and I shiver with delight.

My back arches and stars explode behind my eyes. Moisture floods my pussy, soaking his finger as the scent of my desire mingles with the spicy clean scent I’ve already come to connect with Lucas. With my husband.

Lucas releases my clit and lifts his head. He looks pleased with himself as his gaze collides with mine. Shockwaves of pleasure crash over and through me, one after another, in an unstoppable rhythm.

“Like that?”

Forming a single coherent thought right now is beyond me, forget about forming a single word.

“Want more?”

God yes, though I don’t know how I’ll ever survive the experience. If he can trigger that kind of reality altering response with just his mouth and a single finger, how will I react when his entire cock fills me.

I can’t wait to find out.

“Please,” I beg. My voice sounds like it’s coming from someplace far, far away.

Lucas doesn’t need to be told twice. The word is still hanging on the air as he sheds his own clothes and covers my body with his.

His mouth takes mine in a kiss that’s both brutal and intoxicating. While our tongues wage a war with one another, one hand digs something out of the pocket of his discarded pants. Cellophane rattles and, without breaking the kiss, he covers himself.

A more cynical woman than I would have wondered how he could be so practiced… But that’s the furthest thing from my mind right now. In fact, there’s nothing on my mind. Nothing except wave after wave of pleasure.

A moment later the same hand is between my legs, nudging my thighs apart. He rolls my clit between his fingers. Every nerve in my body snaps to attention.

I moan into his mouth before tugging his lower lip between my teeth.

He slides first one, then a second finger into me. The tips brush my G-spot. My legs spasm and my belly convulses. I squirm against him, wanting more, even as I wonder how I’ll even live through the experience.

He spreads his fingers a little, stretching me.

I whimper. My hips slide on the sweat slick floorboards beneath me.

“Easy,” Lucas murmurs. A third finger swirls near my extended opening, using my natural juices to lubricate my entrance.

My gaze slides down his body, landing on his cock pressing against my thigh. It looks bigger than any of the toys I occasionally play with. It’s a Hell of a lot bigger than his fingers. It doesn’t seem possible…

He takes my mouth in another searing kiss. For a moment, I almost forget about his probing digits and the massive size of his cock. The next thing I know, the tip probes me. Before I can stiffen against the intrusion, Lucas’s hips jerk, and the entire length of his shaft enters me in one long smooth motion.

I hold my breath, waiting for … something to happen, but there’s nothing. No pain, no real pleasure, certainly no orgasm. Just general sense of being stretched.

I’ve heard of women who, for some reason or another, simply don’t have much of a sex drive. Maybe this sense of nothingness is that, though I seemed to be doing pretty well up until this point.

My brow furrows and I try to figure out exactly what I’ve done wrong.

Lucas kisses my forehead. His hand slips between us and his fingers brush against my clit, the touch causing my hips to jerk.

Okay, this is more like it. I reach up and grab on to his shoulders.

Lucas starts moving, pumping slowly in and out of my pussy, the motion making it shudder and tighten around him. Hot flames lick at my loins while the same intense pressure I’d felt earlier starts building again.

I groan. Lucas answers the sound by increasing his rhythm, each stroke seeming to take him deeper and deeper, until I just … shatter. Wave upon wave of pleasure, crash over me until I’m afraid the onslaught will pull me under.

I hear a shout that sounds like it’s coming from a million miles away only to realize it’s my voice. Brilliant fireworks explode behind my eye lids. My body convulses while my vaginal walls cling to Lucas, holding him tightly within myself.

The power of my release triggers Lucas. His hips slam into me, the power of the thrust pushing my hips across the sweat soaked floor, as he empties into me.

Spent, we collapse together. A sticky tangle of skin and bent limbs, too exhausted to move.

My eyes start to drift closed. I should get up, clean myself up, but that requires energy I simply don’t have. Instead I kiss Lucas’s shoulder, tasting salt, and give in the siren’s call of sleep.

As I let loose of my tenuous grasp on consciousness, I think that if I could just convince Lucas to laugh from time to time, my life would be perfect right now.