Page 47 of Claimed By the Crown Prince

She would have this knowledge of how it could be inside her for ever.

What if you never experience this again?

Laia went a little cold. She assured herself that she’d seduced him for this very reason—because she’d known it would be like this and this was all she wanted. It wasn’t meant to be anything more.

What happens on the island stays on the island.

She couldn’t shake a sudden pervasive feeling of intense melancholy.

‘Laia, are you okay?’

She realised that Dax was still waiting for her answer. She took a breath and looked at him, but he impacted on her like a punch to the gut, stealing her breath again.

She nodded. ‘Fine.’

Amazing.

‘Are you sore?’

She shook her head, and blushed as she said, ‘A little, but it’s...nice.’

He turned to her fully and reached out to trace a finger along her jaw. There was something in his eyes that made her insides swoop.

‘Nice...hmm? Was it what you expected?’

No. Because, even though she’d known the facts, Laia had had no idea the experience would be so transformative or cataclysmic. But she wasn’t going to reveal that to this man who now knew her more intimately than anyone else.

‘I guess...’

What she really wanted to say wasthank you, because she had immense gratitude for what he’d given her: the knowledge of her own sensuality and desirability.

Something flashed in his eyes. ‘Youguess?’

He reached for her, putting a hand around the belt of her robe, and tugged her towards him. She came, with a little stumble, and he caught her against him. She could feel the heat of the day, sultry and humid, rising with the sun.

Dax tipped her chin up so she couldn’t escape him. ‘Let’s see if we can improve on that verdict, hmm?’

Laia trembled with anticipation and not a little apprehension. She didn’t know if she could physically survive such an onslaught on her senses—on her body—again, but then she told herself it had been her first time. Surely that was why it had been so intense? And the second time would be...less...

But then Dax was kissing her, and stopping her thoughts, and undoing her robe, pushing it off her shoulders and baring her naked body to the warm, tropical dawn.

And then he was leading her back to the bed, and Laia discovered far too late that the second time brought even more intensity. Not less.

When Dax woke after making love to Laia for the second time, the sun was high outside and he could feel the heat. He was in a naked sprawl on the bed, over the covers.Alone.

His body felt heavy, with aching muscles and a bone-deep satisfaction that had eluded him for years. The last time he could remember feeling like this had been in the heady days of his first sexual experiences. Before he’d become jaded.

He was glad he was alone, to try and wrap his head around last night and this morning. He’d known the chemistry between him and Laia was off the charts, but in his experience chemistry didn’t always translate into the bedroom.

It was because she was a virgin.

Uneasily, Dax didn’t think he could put it down to that. It was Laia, uniquely. With her intoxicating mix of reticence and self-consciousness and that innate confidence that came from being purely who she was.

She was a queen. She couldn’t help but be regal even in the midst of learning a new experience.

The dominant thing Dax felt right now was humbled. All over again. Because she’d wanted him. Wanted him enough to be her first lover. Even though she wanted to marry for love.

She was such a contradiction. Idealistic and pragmatic at the same time.