Page 33 of Claimed By the Crown Prince

Her eyes fell to his mouth. It wasn’t thin any more. It was lush and full. She frowned, her mind not able to let go the strand of thought it had just been picking at, in spite of Dax’s warnings.

She asked, ‘What happened to make your brother give you a life of freedom?’

She looked up as something occurred to her. He must have seen it in her eyes, because before she could say another word Dax had snaked his free hand under her wet hair and around to the back of her neck.

And then his mouth was on hers, and Laia didn’t have any thoughts in her head any more. Because they were incinerated by the fire.

CHAPTER SIX

DAXHADN’TINTENDEDto kiss Laia. Yet here he was, mouth fused to hers, and he’d never felt anything so erotically charged. She was everything he’d imagined—fantasised—and more.

She was soft and yet hard at the same time. Her hand was curled into his over his chest. He burned where she’d put her hand over his heart. No one had ever touched him like that. Her breasts were crushed to his chest. When had they moved so close that he could feel every inch of her lithe, supple body?

Her other arm crept around his neck. Dax desperately tried to claw back some sense of control, some coherence around why he was doing this, but it was impossible. It had something to do with needing to make her stop talking...stop looking at him as if she could see all the way down to his deepest darkest shadows.

She was lush and sweet and hesitant and bold all at once. Her mouth opened under his and Dax was lost, drowning, spinning into infinity. He’d kissed women. Many, many women. Not as many as people thought, but a lot. Enough to know that this kiss was unlike any other.

It beat through him like a drum:his, his, his.

He wanted this woman. He wanted to taste every inch of her and he wanted to sink so deep inside her that she would be ruined for all other men.

A klaxon went off in his brain—she’s not yours to ruin!

Dax jerked his head backwards so fast he felt dizzy. Laia opened her eyes. They looked unfocused. Her mouth was swollen. They were still welded together—chest, thighs, hips. His body was aching and hard, pressing against her soft belly.

Dax put his hands on her arms and took a step back, pushed her away from him.

Laia blinked. ‘What was that?’

‘That,’ Dax said grimly, ‘was a mistake.’

Laia was still trying to process what had just happened. An earthquake? But the island seemed fine. The sea was calm.No. The earthquake had happened inside her. One minute she’d been standing there, looking at Dax, and the next...the next she’d been consumed.

She could still feel his mouth on hers,hard. His body against hers,hard. She grew warm when she registered exactly how hard...pressed against her belly.

She’d imagined that kiss her whole life. That was the kiss of her dreams and fantasies. Yet it had burnt her imaginings to dust. She’d never expected to feel so full of fire. So full of earthy lustiness. She’d never expected to feel that ache in her lower body. That pooling of heat between her legs. The way her breasts had felt heavy and tight.

Dax was holding something out to her. She looked at it. Her kaftan.

He said, ‘Please, put this on.’

Laia felt uncoordinated as she took it and tried to figure out where the arm and head holes were. She heard a curse, and then seconds later Dax had stepped closer and was putting it over her head.

Laia, ridiculously, felt like giggling at Dax’s stern expression. He was helping her find the armholes now and threading her arms through. The light, diaphanous material settled around her body, covering her.

Then he started striding back up the beach towards the trees.

Laia called out, ‘Where are you going?’

He threw over his shoulder, ‘Back to the villa.’

Laia realised at that moment that her legs were like jelly. She sank down onto the sand. She just needed a moment to assimilate different things.

Dax wanted her.

She’d felt it.

She was sure it was just a consequence of his being stuck on this island with her...he was a highly sexed man. But her plan to seduce him didn’t look so ridiculous any more. At least she knew he wanted her.