Impossible Heir for the King by Natalie Anderson

Author:Natalie Anderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-05-02T15:20:54+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

THE AWFUL, awful thing was she was shaking and he wasn’t even touching her. She quickly turned her back on the pool. The view beyond was incredible but she barely saw it because a wall of heat rose within her and it was unstoppable.

‘Maia?’

She heard a muttered oath and his hand felt light on her face. ‘You’re too hot,’ he growled. ‘You overdid it.’

He pushed her, leading her to the shallow steps of the pool that were currently in the shade. He made her sit so now the water lapped over her feet.

He moved out of her sightline for a moment. Next minute he pressed a cold glass into her hand. ‘I knew you shouldn’t have spent hours in a hot kitchen.’

She sipped the juice, savouring the sweet yet acid bite of the pineapple. ‘It’s not that.’

‘No?’ He took the drink and drained the remainder before setting the glass on the marble tile beside them. ‘Then what?’

She shivered and he sat one step up behind her, drawing her back against his chest. ‘Lean on me for a minute.’

His strong legs stretched out either side of her. Encircling her. Reminding her of those moments when he’d held her through that boat journey when she’d been blindfolded. When she’d not known who he was. When she’d not even known she was pregnant. When she’d felt absurdly, yet completely, safe. The safest she’d felt in so very long. Now he ran his hands down her hair, sweeping it from her shoulder, exposing her neck—cooling it. Her breathing slowed.

‘Better?’ A soft query right beside her ear.

She nodded, unable to resist sinking more fully against him and inclining her head so more of her neck was exposed to the delicious, tickling tease of his warm breath on her sensitive skin. He slid his arms around her waist and, giving up her resistance completely, she rested her head on his chest.

‘What do you need, Maia?’

She shook her head imperceptibly. Something she shouldn’t.

‘Maia?’

A question. An admonishment. A prayer. He was so very gentle and she so warm. Yet goose bumps rose on her skin. Being this close to him filled her with the sweetest, sharpest longing. Every cell yearned for contact with him.

‘I cannot resist you,’ he muttered.

‘But you want to.’

‘Because it’s what’s...honourable.’

‘Is it honourable to refuse a woman—’ She broke off on a sigh as his fingertips glided to her breast.

‘Is that what I would be doing?’ he asked. ‘Then I won’t refuse you.’

Her bikini top slipped down so easily—exposing her breasts to the air and her nipples to his hands—to the teasing swirls of his fingertips, to a pinch and a soothing stroke. To his palms as he cupped her. She moaned at the press of his mouth on her neck. He kissed, licked, sucked...savouring. And she just heated. Melted.

‘You never wanted me before,’ she muttered sadly.

His laughter was soft. ‘I never met you before.’

‘You said this happening was extremely unlikely.’

‘I was being rude because at that time I was feeling extremely provoked.’ He pressed another kiss on the side of her neck.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.