Leo’s lips are hard against my own, soft and rough all at once as he kisses me so hard I think he might leave bruises.

After a long moment he pulls back slightly, just enough to let me breathe, and then he devours me again as he pulls me against his body, his tongue pushing my lips open and tangling with my own, and I can’t help but moan into his mouth.

He growls in response, his hand cupping my ass and dragging me against him and the absolutely massive lump in his pants, pressing urgently into my belly.

He must be wearing padded underwear or something, because it can’t possibly be that big.

Leo pulls away again. My lips feel swollen and bruised, and he’s still got one hand locked in my hair, my head tilted backward, but every cell in my stupid, traitorous body is absolutely writhing with anticipation.

As soon as his lips leave mine, they’re traveling along my jaw, to my neck, my ear, kissing and sucking and biting the sensitive skin there as I think I might lose my mind. I’ve got both my hands on his shoulders, but that’s just for show because I’m locked tight in his arms, and it’s obvious there’s no way he’s letting me go.

“Is this how you wanted your walk to end?” he murmurs into my ear as he finally takes his hand out of my hair and runs it down my back, grabbing my ass with both hands.

I don’t answer, because it is, and I close my eyes again as he squeezes me hard, his erection hard against my belly.

“Or were you hoping for more?” he growls. “Maybe you wanted to end your walk with my face between your legs, licking you until you came?”

His hand moves down, sliding between my buttocks, and I gasp when he slides it between my legs, stretching the fabric of my dress.

“Or maybe you wanted me to finger-fuck your sweet little pussy while you moaned,” he goes on.

Leo starts stroking me, through my skirt and panties, and it’s all I can do not to whimper with pleasure.

Then he leans in, lips against my ear.

“Or maybe you were hoping your walk would end with my thick cock buried in your tight little virgin cunt,” he whispers, and I gasp.

No one’s ever talked to me this way. No one’s ever even come close, but even though my face is burning, heat is flooding downward through my body with every filthy word he says.

I swallow.

“How do you know I’m a — you know...”

“Everyone knows you’re totally untouched,” he growls, his fingers still stroking me, every movement sending a shudder through my body. “It wouldn’t do for a princess to be anything but a virgin on her wedding night.”

I bite my lip as he keeps stroking me, because right now, that’s the last thing I want. As much as I know I shouldn’t be here, letting Prince Leo touch me like this, talking to me like this, I’m putty in his hands.

Suddenly, I hear voices coming down the path.

I gasp and try to leap away from Leo, but he doesn’t let me go, just keeps stroking me through my dress and panties, his fingers more and more insistent as he chuckles.

“Stop,” I whisper. “Someone’s coming.”

“They won’t be the only one.”

I blink at him for a few seconds, and then I understand the entendre and I blush even harder. The voices get closer, and I can tell that they’re just around a bend in the path, but Leo still doesn’t stop, his finger surprisingly rough but still milking pleasure out of me, even here, now.

“Leo,” I whimper.

He finally stops, and then in a split second he’s grabbed me by the hand, nearly pulling me off my feet, and he’s pulling me through a gap in some bushes, holding the thorns back while I pass through just as the voices get louder, clearer, and I can finally hear what they’re saying.

“I think it’s quite a fascinating proposition,” one says, and I hold my breath.

It’s Count von Messer, one of my father’s closest advisors.

“Fascinating, yes, but it might also be unwise,” cautions another voice, this one belonging to the Earl of Strathem, another of my father’s right-hand men.

Leo and I are in a small grassy area between two rows of bushes, and we’re out of sight but we’re not exactly hidden. If we do anything or make any noise, they’ll hear us for sure, and they’re walking with excruciating slowness.

“I think if the right provisions were made in the tariff, then we could...”

Leo stands behind me, his hands on my shoulders, and he bites my ear.

I gasp as a thrill runs through my body, nipples stiffening instantly.

The conversation beyond the bushes stops for a moment.

“Did you hear something?” the Count asks.

“There are stray cats who wander the gardens at night,” the Earl says, dismissively. “As I was saying...”

Leo’s tongue runs along the shell of my ear, and I bite my lip, forcing myself not to make any noise as his hand slithers down my body, over one hard nipple, and to the place where my hip meets my thigh.

“Better stay still and not make any noise,” he growls, his voice barely registering.

I could leave. I know I could leave. He’s not even holding me, I’m here completely of my own volition, letting this wild man touch me however he wants.

Hell, I don’t even have to leave. I just have to scream and this is over, but I don’t. I lean my head back against his thick, strong shoulder and sigh as he pulls the long skirt of my gown up to my waist, then slides his hand between my legs.

My legs turn to jelly almost instantly, and Leo has to wrap his arm around my chest to keep me upright as his thick, rough fingers part my lower lips roughly, slick and dripping with my juices. He strokes me slowly, barely touching me, teasing me.

I think my father’s advisors have stopped walking and are just standing beyond the hedge. They haven’t moved in long, long seconds, simply debating some point of economics.

“That could encourage trade, but might encourage industry to move...”

“Most of our neighboring nations have similar provisions in place...”

Leo’s fingers swipe along my drooling seam and then finally find the sensitive button of my clit. My whole body jolts as he does, though I manage not to make any noise as he does it again and again, teasing me for a few moments, then stopping.

I’m fully leaning back against his hard, thick body. It’s taking everything I have not to moan out loud, whimper, or sigh, because even though this is risky and dangerous, I’ve never wanted anything more.

Slowly, he circles my clit faster and faster, his fingers moving harder and harder. I’m in the throes of reverie, toes curling in my shoes. I can barely stay upright, and I’m arching my back against him, his thick, rock-hard erection pressing urgently between my buttocks.

He’s completely and utterly in control, so in control that he doesn’t even have to keep me there physically.

And I like it. I like it and I want more, I want him to push me to my hands and knees right now, grab my hair, and plunge himself into me hard and deep and with no mercy.

I want it so bad I can feel my juices running down the inside of my leg and my breath hitches in my throat.

“Come quietly,” Leo whispers, his voice so low I think I might be imagining it. “Like a good girl.”

His fingers slide over my clit one more time, and that’s all it takes for the pleasure to break over me like a waterfall, rivulets of pleasure running through my body, on the inside of my skin, as every muscle jolts and jerks again and again.

He doesn’t stop until I’m completely finished, gasping for breath, my body trembling against him, his arm still holding me tight. Leo keeps stroking me softly after I’ve come, dipping his fingers between my soaked lips, and even though I just finished I desperately want him to push inside me, stroke my sensitive inner wall while I moan.

“I disagree that the wider economic landscape would be so affected...” I hear the Earl say, and swallow hard.

I’d nearly forgotten that they were there, and that I can’t imagine what would happen if my ultra-strict father’s two closest advisors found his middle daughter in the bushes with Prince Leo of all people, her dress around her hips.

“Frankly, the only way to know what would happen is...” the Count answers, his voice fainter.

I don’t move, even though Leo keeps stroking me, teasing me, almost sliding his fingers into my tight entrance but then moving away. Slowly, I hear their footsteps move off, and finally, Leo stops, taking his hand out of my panties.

“Do you like it when I make you come?” he growls, and I turn my head.

He licks his fingers off, one by one, locking eyes with me as he does.