It takes at least three hours to finish cleaning up from the party. Then it takes another hour of storytelling to coax Lina into bed.

“When is Princess Tilly coming back?” she keeps asking, and I have to admit, I can’t blame the kid.

That’s all I can think about, too.

God damn it. Why didn’t I get her number, at the very least? Or give her mine? Or ask her out on a fucking date? Anything but just suggest she swing back by the house—as if a woman like her is going to be interested in that. I’ve gone soft. Lost my game. She’ll probably think I’m just as big of a fucking creep as Bill—some lecherous dad who hits on the women he works with all the time. After all, I did hire her, and she works for… well. A company that’s professional above all else.

There’s no way she’s going to show.

But that doesn’t stop me from reading Lina her favorite picture book with one eye on the window. Or from playing the white noise soundtrack she loves so much, the one that never fails to have her out like a light within half an hour.

And then, unable to stop myself, I tiptoe out of Lina’s room and into my own, to take a quick shower.

Just in case.

By seven thirty, I’m sprawled on the sofa in the living room, a book open on the table beside me, but face-down, because I’ve given up trying to focus on the words on the page. All I can see every time I blink, every time I close my eyes for half a second, is her.

Those big blue eyes of hers locked on mine. That lithe, supple body, visible even under layers of tulle, because she carries herself with such confidence. The way she caught my gaze, held it, like she wasn’t afraid. Like she felt the same thing I did. An irresistible urge—no, need, to get my hands on her body, to feel, kiss, touch, taste every inch of her.

For a second out there, as we hid from Lina—from the whole world—I swear I could hear her thoughts. And I’d swear she was thinking the same thing. She wants me. I want her. We’re both adults.

So why didn’t I just fucking ask for her number like a normal person? Who cares if I hired her to host a birthday party? Who cares if she works as a “princess” all day—surely she’s a normal person after hours, right?

I grit my teeth and take a small sip of the evening scotch I poured myself. The burn distracts me just the right amount.

It also clears my head enough that I catch the faint sound at the front stoop. A tapping, like knuckles on the wood, but soft. As if someone’s knocking quietly, not wanting to wake up anyone inside.

My blood rushes south as I stand, and my heart hammers in my chest as I stride toward the door. I pull it open a crack, not sure yet if I’m hallucinating, if I’m just imagining what I want to hear.

But no. There she is on my stoop.

Haloed in the porch light that I left on, since it’s well after dusk now, and with her blonde hair down in soft waves, no longer wrestled into the elaborate up-do she wore earlier, she looks completely different. Her makeup is gone, replaced by a tasteful layer of lip-gloss and a touch of mascara instead of the princess pink she had before.

Her body is on full, gorgeous, sexy as fuck display in a simple pair of tight jeans and a white T-shirt. Like she’s trying, but not too hard at all. And those eyes…

Her eyes haven’t changed one bit. They catch the porch light and sparkle, bright and happy and teasing all at the same time. Like she knows what she wants and she’s not afraid to go for it.

Clearly.

I’m hard by the time I finish opening the door. I’m still trying to think of something to say when, to my surprise, she reaches up toward my face, past it… And plucks something from my hair that flashes in the porch light.

“Glitter,” she murmurs, grinning at me as she brushes the flake off her fingertip. It spirals to the ground. “Sorry I wear so much. It tends to get everywhere.”

Then she steps closer, reaches back toward my cheek, and I can’t stop myself anymore. I catch her around the waist, pull her against me, and without another word, our mouths collide.

Fuck, she tastes incredible. Her lips are pillow soft, perfectly shaped against my mouth, and when she parts them to let my tongue claim hers, I catch mint, and salt, and something else, something soft and sweet and delicious, like she’s a piece of delicate candy I could let melt on my tongue forever.

Her body shifts against mine and I tighten my arms around her waist, pull her up and into me. She lifts one leg and wraps it around my waist just as her arms fling around my neck and her fingers bury in my hair. She clenches her fists, pulls me down against her, and her teeth worry at my lower lip for a second.

I pull back, only for a moment, just for long enough to gaze down at her with a flash of hungry desire. “Do you like it rough, princess?” I ask, one eyebrow lifted.

“As rough as you care to be, knight,” she replies, grinning in challenge.

I have to let go of her, before I do something stupid right there and then. I’m already hard as a rock, and with the way my cock is throbbing against the fly of my jeans, I know I need to get her somewhere else, somewhere private, before this goes any farther.

She gasps in protest the moment I pull away, but I just point upward, toward the bedrooms where Lina is sound asleep, and hold out a hand.

She nods in understanding and places her hand in mine. I tug her after me, leading her through the house and out into the backyard. I take her around the side, where the pool is, and beyond it, the little cabana I use as the pool house-turned-guest rooms, whenever I have overnight visitors who want a little more privacy than sharing a fold-out couch in my office down the hall from our bedrooms.

“Do you take all your rescued princesses out here?” she asks, voice low so as not to wake Lina as we stride across the dewy grass toward the cabana.

I pause to flash her a grin over my shoulder as we reach the door and I flick on the interior lights. “Only the ones I don’t want to let go anytime soon.” Then I draw her over the threshold and into the pool house.

Her eyes widen, taking in the room. Between the queen sized bed, the shower in the corner and the big bay windows that look out over the pool and yard we just left, I can see why she’s staring. But when I reach for her and cup her cheek again, she forgets all about our surroundings. She tilts her face up to mine, and I claim her mouth again, kiss her harder, deeper. Desperately.

I walk toward the bed with her, and she follows me, legs shifting backwards until her knees collide with the mattress. I let her go with a gentle push backwards, and she sits heavily on the bed and reaches for her shirt.

I lock eyes with her and draw mine off at the same time, and for a second, we’re both frozen with distraction, each studying the other. I could watch this woman forever—Tilly is fucking perfect.

Then she tilts her head, catching my eye again. “What?”

“You,” I answer, and then I lie down along her, pushing her gently back onto the bed until we’re chest-to-chest, nose-to-nose. I tilt my head and kiss my way along her jawline, savoring the way her soft cheek feels against my rough one. I reach the sensitive spot just below her ear and nip the skin there lightly, just hard enough to make her gasp and arch up into me. As she does, I slide my hands underneath her and hold her tight against me, my hard cock digging into her stomach through the fabric of my jeans.

“You are so fucking gorgeous,” I whisper against her ear, my breath hot on her skin, right before I catch her earlobe between my teeth and gently bite it, making her gasp and twist in my arms again.

She wraps her hands around my back and drags them slowly down my shoulder blades, her nails digging into my skin just hard enough that I groan in pleasure as I move my mouth lower. “I want you,” she whispers, just as my lips reach the curve of her breasts, exposed above the tight push-up bra she’s wearing, perfect handfuls that make me want to rip that bra off and kiss and suck until she’s moaning.

I pause just long enough to shoot a sly grin at her. “You’ve got me, princess. All to yourself.” Then I tilt my head, considering her. “Be careful what you wish for.”

Her eyes flash with desire. “I know exactly what I’m wishing for, knight.”

“Do you?” I arch a brow, grinning. Then I roll off of her, and lean back. “Stand up.”

Her cheeks flush bright red, but she does what I say. She rises off the bed and turns to face me, hips cocked in a way that make my hands itch to drag her right back down here with me. But that’s not what I have in mind. Not yet.

“Strip,” I tell her.

She keeps her eyes locked on mine as she reaches behind her back. My cock is practically breaking through my fucking jeans, I’m so rock hard, but I never let my gaze leave her body as she unclasps her bra and lets it slide slowly down her arms. With a flick, she tosses it to one side, and her breasts are exposed, her nipples slowly beginning to harden in the slight chill of the pool house air.

“Keep going,” is all I respond, though I’m sure she can tell from my broad grin and the tent I’m pitching just how hot she’s making me.

She shifts her weight, begins to turn in a slow circle as she undoes her jeans, taking her time about it. She eases them down her hips, then does a sexy little wriggle at the end to drop them all the way to the floor before she steps out of them, one long, lean leg at a time. “What about you?” She arches a brow, smirking. “When do I get to see more?”

“Patience is a virtue,” I tell her. But in truth, I’m just too busy enjoying myself right now—especially when she hooks a thumb under the edge of the little black panties she’s wearing, and begins to wiggle those down her hips. They drop to the floor, and I drink her in—every sexy, glorious inch of her, from her swollen nipples to her clean-shaven pussy. I love that she doesn’t try to cover herself up or flinch away from my gaze—this is a confident woman, who knows what she’s doing in bed. And that fact is hot as hell.

“Fair’s fair,” she says, tilting her head at me.

My smile widens as I stand beside her—over her, really, since she’s almost a full head shorter than me. And then I undo my jeans. Shove them down, and step close to her, cupping her cheeks, bending down, almost kissing her. I savor the way her face tilts up toward mine, her eyes flutter half-shut, and her lips part in anticipation…

Then I stop. “Kneel down, Tilly.”

That smile of hers widens. “Whatever you say, my knight in shining armor.” She drops to her knees before me, and without prompting, reaches up to catch the hem of my boxers. She pulls them down to my ankles, and I savor the moment when her eyes go wide, her lips parting with surprise. “Fuck, Killian,” she whispers, half to herself, as she reaches up to wrap both hands around the base of my shaft.

That earns a groan from me, and I reach down to run my hands through those long blonde locks of hers, watching her as she explores my cock. I’m thick enough that she needs both hands to wrap around me, but to her credit, she doesn’t seem daunted or worried about my size. She leans right in and flicks her tongue across the tip of my cock, where a bead of precum had already gathered, I was so goddamn hungry for her.

I inhale sharply through my nose and tighten my grip on her hair. “You’re dirty for a princess,” I tell her, my eyes half-shuttered as I continue to watch her, her hands sliding between my thighs now, one cupping my balls and gently drawing them down and away from the base of my cock, sending a riot of sensations through me, and her other hand tracing up and down my shaft, tightening around the velvety skin, the hard steel at the center. “I like it,” I add, with a grin.

Her gaze flashes to mine, as full of fire as ever, and then she leans forward and slips her lips around my cock.

Fuck.

Her tongue is darting, pressing against my underside, tracing me as she slowly eases her lips down onto me. Her mouth is white-hot around me, soft and tight all at once, and way too soon, before she’s even taken me halfway, she starts to lean back again, drawing back out.

She runs her tongue along the side of my shaft, then the underside, then along the top, eyes locked on mine the whole time. Watching her like that, kneeling before me, gets me hotter than ever. But when she leans back and tilts her head up at me to say, “I want you to fuck my face,” that does it.

I tighten my fists in her hair and draw her back toward my cock. She parts her lips, obedient, and lets me slip between them. “I was wrong. Your mouth isn’t dirty, Tilly.” I suck in another breath through my teeth as I use my hold on her hair to tug her closer, thrusting deeper into her mouth. “It’s fucking filthy.”

She moans in assent, and the vibrations seem to shoot through my entire body, from my toes all the way up through my skull, leaving my ears ringing with it.

“I’m going to fuck your filthy mouth,” I whisper, and her breathing around my cock speeds up. I thrust toward her, draw back, thrust again. Tiny motions, easing deeper into her mouth each time, as her tongue surges up to press against the underside of my cock. “You’re going to take all of my fat cock, aren’t you, dirty girl?”

Tilly moans again, louder this time, and I grit my teeth to maintain control because fucking hell her mouth feels incredible. I pull her toward me again, and this time, my cock touches the back of her throat. She almost gags, though she manages to hold it down, and I ease up, just a little.

Though she’s got tears stinging the corners of her eyes, she moans in protest when I start to pull back.

“Relax,” I remind her, my voice soft, in contrast to the rough way I’m pulling her forward, my hands wrapped around her hair. I push forward again, and this time, she lets her jaw go, lets her muscles relax. I touch the back of her throat, and then slide a little further, deeper, until her lips kiss the base of my shaft, and I’m all the way inside her mouth, and Christ, nobody has sucked my dick like this. Ever.

“Fucking hell, that mouth of yours,” I manage to murmur through gritted teeth.

I pull back, and she reaches up to grip my ass, rocking with me now. I move faster, begin to fuck her in earnest, let my balls slap against her chin and her lips slide up and down my shaft and the tip of my cock plunges to the back of her throat each time. It doesn’t take long for me to build toward a peak, close, so close…

But I stop her and draw back, just before I lose control.

She gasps in protest, but I just release my hands from her hair and offer her a hand up.

“Tilly. I’m nowhere near done with you yet,” I tell her, my voice low and strained from the pressure I just put myself through—coming so close to coming and then stopping myself took an immense concentration of willpower.

She takes my hand, lets me draw her upright. “Good,” she manages, though I can tell she’s flustered too—out of breath, her face red and her eyes shining.

“My turn,” I say, and then I catch her hips and spin her back to the bed. I push her back onto the mattress, and kneel between her knees, pushing them apart.

“Reciprocity, imagine that,” she murmurs.

I lean in to kiss my way up her inner thigh, making sure to let my stubble scratch that smooth, sensitive skin of hers along the way. I pause just above the delicate, clean-shaven mound of her pussy to flick my tongue along the skin there. “Never accept anything less,” I tell her. Then I slide my tongue along her mound, tracing her, leaving a glistening wet trail behind as I skip right past her pussy and lick down to the crease of her thigh instead, teasing.

She gasps, twists along the bed, her hands sliding into my hair.

I nip and bite and suck at the skin along her inner thighs. I probably leave bruises, but to judge by the way she’s moaning my name and arching up into me, she doesn’t mind.

Finally, when I peek up and find her red-faced, breathing hard, I reach under her to grip her ass, and draw her down to the edge of the bed. “Tell me what you want,” I say, voice low in the back of my throat.

“I want you to lick my pussy,” she says, eyes hooded as they meet mine.

I lean down, peeling apart her pussy lips with two fingers, spreading her wide for me, and slowly, slowly, I drag my tongue along her slit. Fuck. She tastes amazing. The same way she smells, clear and almost a little sweet, with a hint of salt. It’s dizzying, going straight to my head.

“Yes,” she breathes out, arching up against my face as her hands tighten in my hair. “Right there.”

I drag my tongue back and forth, up and down her slit, savoring her juices, the taste of her, the scent, filling my senses with Tilly. Then I stop. Grin up at her. “You taste so fucking good, Tilly. Has anyone ever told you what a delicious fucking pussy you have?”

“Please,” she pants. “More.”

But I keep going slow, waiting until her hips are bucking off the bed toward me. Only then do I lean forward and ease my tongue into her, an inch at a time, feeling the way her tight pussy contracts around me, her hips jerking with want, even though she’s clearly trying to control herself.

I draw back, still smiling.

Her eyes narrow in response. “You’re… enjoying this… aren’t you?”

“Tormenting you?” I raise an eyebrow. “Yes.”

Her jaw tenses. “Tease.”

“Not at all.” I lean back in to lick her clit directly, just once, but hard enough to make her gasp and jerk beneath me again. “I just want to hear you beg, that’s all.”

She swallows with an effort, and shuts her eyes, as though steeling herself. But as I continue to tease her with my tongue, she relents, her hands fisting in my hair. “Please lick me. Fuck me with that dirty tongue, Killian, please.”

It’s the last word that gets me, the raw way she says it: please. I start to lick her faster, plunging my tongue into her pussy and curling it so the tip drags along her inner wall, finding that sweet sensitive spot that makes her body shudder. I dig my hands into her ass, pull her hips toward my face as I eat her like I’m starving for her—and I am.

Her moans grow louder, more desperate. “Yes, fuck… I’m… so close…”

I draw my tongue out then, flatten it like a blade and lap along her slit up to her clit, over and over.

“Fuck, fuck… I’m going to come,” she manages to breathe, and I just press closer, clamp my mouth over her pussy and drag my tongue along her clit, over and over until she wraps her legs around my head, her fists balled in my hair, and cries out loud, her cry echoing through the room as her whole body arches up off the bed.

As the last after-shock shudders of her orgasm fade, I release her ass, let her hips fall back to the sheets and slowly pull away, kissing my way up her hips, over them to her belly, where I flick my tongue into her navel. I can still feel her juices along my chin, taste them in my mouth, but I’m enjoying the way they combine with the saltier taste of her body as well. I slide up to circle my tongue around her breasts, and find her nipples hard. I toy with one with one hand, as I lick and suck at the other.

Her heart is still racing. I can feel it as I slide my way up to her face. Then I catch her chin and pull her into a deep, hard kiss, knowing she can taste herself on my mouth, her flavor mingled with my own.

When we pull apart, she’s staring at me with glazed eyes. “Fuck,” she manages.

I laugh, and raise an eyebrow. “Why yes, actually.” My voice drops lower with desire. “I’ve wanted to fuck you since the moment I laid eyes on you.”

In response, she wraps her legs around my waist, just as I lie down along her, our bodies touching, every inch of us. I can feel my cock pressing into the soft skin of her belly, and I ease lower to position myself, before I reach across the bed to a little shelf nearby, and pull out a packet of condoms I keep stored there.

I tear the packet with my teeth, but before I can unroll it, Tilly plucks it from my fingers and unrolls it down the length of my cock herself. The soft brush of her fingertips along my shaft drive me fucking wild—as if she didn’t make me hot enough for her already.

“Tell me how you want me,” she whispers, her breath a whisper against my cheek, and I catch both her hands and raise them over her head, pinning her to the mattress.

“I want to claim you for my own,” I reply, quiet but steady, and I savor the way her breath catches, her chest heaves against mine, nipples hard enough to dig into my chest muscles where I lie along her.

Still holding her there, arms pinned overhead, I reach down with my free hand to spread her thighs, and then I catch the base of my shaft. I guide myself to her entrance, teasing the tip of my cock along her slit, coating myself in her juices. “I love how wet you get for me,” I tell her, eyes hooded with lust.

Her breath catches in her throat, and it takes her a second to respond, as I position myself at her entrance and arch my back to press into her. Just the very tip of my cock, but already I want to groan, because fuck. Her pussy is so hot, so tight around me, it feels like a glove.

“I’ve been… wet all day,” she admits in a whisper, her breath still coming short, her eyes finding mine once more. “Fantasizing about you.”

I press deeper into her, inch by inch. “I’ve wanted you since the minute I saw you.”

Her eyes flutter shut and her thighs tighten around my hips as I fill her. For a moment, I pause there, fully inside her, savoring the sensation of her pussy like a fist around my thick cock, her walls straining around me. Then I draw back and thrust back into her, faster this time. Harder.

She moans and bucks up toward me, angling her hips upward to grant me better access.

I slide my hands down her sexy, perfect fucking curves, and grip her hips tightly. I draw back and thrust again. Again. Her moans grow louder. “That’s right, dirty girl.” I tighten my grip on her hips. Thrust faster. “Let me hear how much you want this.”

I shift back then, switch positions so I’m holding her hips in front of me and kneeling in front of her, my cock dragging along her inner walls, pressing against the front as I thrust against her. She cries aloud now, and that sexy, throaty, coming-undone sound sends a pulse of white hot desire straight to my cock. I love watching her writhe across the bed, her hands fisting in the sheets, knowing that I’m making her feel this, I’m driving her wild.

“I’m… so close…” she pants, her breath hard and fast, and I slide my hand down between her legs to stroke against her clit with my thumb, even as I continue to fuck her hard.

“Come for me, Tilly,” I say, my voice low and hard.

She does, almost at once, her pussy clenching around me as she cries out, her body shaking with the force of the orgasm. Her voice sounds raw, and that drives me wild, too, the way she screams with abandon.

I keep my eyes locked on hers, savor the sight of her panting and breathless, her eyes glazed with pleasure, as I thrust into her again, again, and finally, I growl through gritted teeth, coming hard inside her.

When we’re finished, I lie beside her, tracing lazy circles across her chest, watching her slowly come back into herself, her eyes still half-dazed with pleasure. I cup her cheek and tilt her face toward mine, kissing her softer now, savoring the sweet taste of her lips on mine.

“You are a fucking wonder,” I murmur against her lips.

She laughs, breathy, and draws back just far enough to catch my eyes with hers, that mysterious, teasing glint in hers once more. “That was…” She shakes her head, laughing again, softer now. But then something seems to snag in her expression, as if she’s just remembered something. Her face shuts off at once, like a door slamming shut. She sits up and squints toward the pool house doors. “I should get going.”

I prop myself up on an elbow to watch her, loving the way the light beads over her skin, savoring the view of that perfectly round ass of hers as she bends down to pick up her discarded clothes. Fuck, I could watch this girl dress all day.

Though I prefer watching her undress. Or better yet, doing it myself. “Feel free to stay if you’d like,” I say, but she’s already tugging her jeans on one leg at a time. She shakes her head so hard it sends her blonde hair flying, before she tucks it behind one ear to glance back at me.

“Thanks, but I should really… yeah.” She grabs her shirt, yanks that over her head. I stand and cross over to her, and catch her wrist just before she reaches for the door.

“I’m glad you came back,” I tell her.

She smiles, and some of the nervousness leaves her expression, then. “Me, too,” she whispers.