Aurora turns pink instantly, her cheeks flaming against her red hair. Her lips part slightly, and I do my best not to stare.

“Prince Declan,” she finally says. “Of course, it would be my pleasure.”

We’re completely surrounded by other people, so of course I don’t say what I’m thinking: that I could give her untold other pleasures, all of them much better than dancing.

“Wonderful,” I say, and smile gallantly at her. “Shall we?”

I lead her back to the dance floor, her arm in mine. I force myself not to peek down her dress, even though it’s perfectly demure and I can hardly even see the swell of her breasts from this angle.

Normally, it’s not what I go for. Normally, I’d already be leaving the ball with Danica VanOwen, the woman I just danced with. Danica’s my type, not Aurora; I go for women with in-your-face-tits, the ones who whisper to you during a dance that they’re not wearing panties and they’ll prove it if you want.

But for some reason, Danica left me cold. Even when she practically tried to fuck me through my pants at the end of the dance, all I could think about was Aurora and how I wished it was her.

Putting her legs around me. Alone, in my room, not here in front of everyone.

“Are you having a nice time at the ball?” Aurora asks as we step onto the dance floor.

“Positively scintillating,” I say. “And you? Seems you’ve got quite an interest in older gentlemen.”

Aurora scrunches her nose at me as we take up our positions, one hand curled around her back and the other in hers.

“You know how these things are,” she says. “I can’t turn down a dance. That would be frightfully rude.”

“So that’s why you’re dancing with a lout like me,” I tease as the music starts.

We whirl together, perfectly in time. Just watching her body move underneath her dress, I can’t help but feel the blood start flowing straight for my dick.

Think about the best ways to conserve water, I tell myself. Anything but this.

Ways to conserve water, like showering together?

The next thought is a fucking disaster, of course: Aurora, naked, water running down her perfect, tight body as she leans over, both hands against the tile of the shower, her legs parting as she glances over her shoulder...

“Declan, you’re the one person I could turn down and get away with it,” she says. “If you hear a popping sound while we’re out here, that’s just the top of my father’s head blowing off.”

I sneak a glance over at King Maxwell. Sure enough, he’s glaring at me.

“Well, that’s why you’ve never had an orgasm,” I say, keeping my voice low.

Aurora just gasps, her face flushing bright pink again when I look down. She looks scandalized.

But then she glances quickly over at her father, her face changing. The blush fades, and she looks up at me, something new and decidedly naughty in her eyes.

“I haven’t got a chastity belt, if that’s what you’re getting at,” she says.

“The thought hadn’t occurred to me, but I’m glad to hear it,” I say. “Those can’t be pleasant.”

“I don’t think they really exist anymore.”

“I just meant that it must be nearly impossible to get off, if every time you try to fantasize about someone else your father’s glare simply pops into your head,” I tell her. “That’s one hell of a wet blanket.”

“It sure doesn’t help,” she murmurs, then looks up at me. “So everyone in the whole studio heard that, huh?”

I just nod, whirling her around again. She sighs.

“Grayson swore up and down that it wasn’t that loud, but I was pretty sure he was just trying to make me feel better,” she says, sounding slightly dejected.

“I think he was,” I say. “Though look on the bright side. I’m sure you’ve already rejected a dozen offers from men who’d be happy to introduce you to the fine art of orgasming.”

Now she frowns, twirling, then looking up at me.

“And why would you say that?”

I pause, stepping and turning.

Because I can’t imagine not wanting to make you come, I think.

Because since the moment you said that, I haven’t been able to think about anything else.

“It seems like the natural next step,” I finally offer. “Pretty girl says the word orgasm, men everywhere rush to attention.”

Aurora just watches me, the barest hint of a smile around her eyes, and I realize I’ve just shown my entire hand.

She knows. I’ve got a feeling she doesn’t know the whole story, but now she knows exactly what I think. She knows that the second she said that, my very first thought was I’d fucking love to make you come.

May as well give into it.

The dance is almost over, but as we turn another corner I pull her body against mine a little too hard, and for a few moments, she’s pressed against me. I can feel her chest heaving under her bodice, and even more, the thick rod of my hard cock is pressed tightly against her belly.

Aurora gasps. She looks up at me, her long eyelashes in the way, and I just smirk at her.

“Then let me be the first to offer, Princess,” I murmur.

In another second the dance goes on, and we separate. She pulls away, and she looks shocked, but not that shocked. We twirl a few more times, and then the music dies down, the dance ending.

Despite myself, I glance over at the edge of the dance floor, where I’m met with a double-barreled glare, from both King Maxwell and, standing a few feet away, Prince Grayson. They must have seen me pull Aurora in, and I’m sure they knew exactly what I was doing.

There’s no way they heard me, at least.

“Thank you for the dance, Princess,” I say to Aurora, holding one of her hands and bowing politely.

She levels her gaze right at me, and if she was shocked before, she’s gotten her composure back completely by now.

“It was lovely,” she says.

I’ve still got one of her hands in mine, and even though it’s not technically protocol, and even though her father and brother are both watching, I bend down and kiss it.

For one second too long. I squeeze just a little harder than necessary, and when I look up, I know she understood my message.