House of Royals(44)

“It’s all very tragic, you and I,” he breathes quietly. His gaze is intense and deep. “I’m the enemy of a House you won’t be able to run from. I stand for what I stand for, and we can’t deny what you will become one day.”

I hadn’t thought of it that way, but suddenly there’s a sharp pain in my chest. “It’d be easier to walk away now, wouldn’t it? Before this goes any further. Just call it done.”

“There’d be nothing easy about it,” Ian counters, shaking his head. I realize he’s taken a step forward, pushing me back toward the bar. “It’d be extremely painful. But it’s what should happen.”

“But…” I whisper. My eyes are locked on his lips. My nerve endings are sizzling to life. There’s an electric storm in my lower belly.

“But I just can’t.”

I don’t know if it is him or me that closes the distance between our lips, but instantly it’s gone. They’re fierce, and demanding, and frantic. There’s no distance between our bodies and my back is being pressed against the bar. Ian’s center is pressed against mine and I’m sure I’m going to loose my ever-loving mind into blissful obliteration.

Skin to skin. It’s a maddening, beautiful thing.

Ian’s hands clamp around my hips and he hoists me up onto the counter, wedging himself between my knees.

There’s no walking away from this.

Ian’s lips trail from my mouth down to my neck. My head falls back with a sigh as I expose more territory for him to claim.

“We should stay away from each other,” Ian growls into my skin, even as his right hand trails from my neck, down my arm, over my thigh. He wraps his fingers around my ankle.

“We’re going to be enemies someday,” I manage through my quickened breathing.

Ian kisses his way across my throat and then back up to my lips. “But damn, there’s no time like the present.”

A smile crosses my lips as they are consumed again. Ian slides me back on the counter. My butt catches something and the mixing bowl with the rest of the cookie dough goes flying to the ground. Ian places a knee on the counter, hoisting himself up, pressing my body back onto the countertop. I hit something else, and the open container of sugar crashes to the floor.

Ian places a hand next to my head to support himself and smashes an egg. But neither of us cares too much, apparently, because our lips never part. My hand is exploring the wonderland of Ian’s torso, and his other hand is snaking its way around my bare back.

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been with a man. I’ve been on only a few dates since my mom died. I’m far out of practice and I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be any good at this anymore.

But Ian and I together…we are magic.

I’ve crossed a line before, though, and there was a price to be paid.

“Ian,” I say against every instinct in my body. “I…I want to be careful.”

Ian backs away from me just slightly so he can look down in my face. “I don’t exactly want to stop this, cause damn,” he chuckles, and I can feel all the ways his body is reacting. “But I’m not the kind of guy to just take a girl on the kitchen counter for his first time.”

A little chuckle makes its way out of my chest. “There’s no way you’re a virgin,” I say before I can think to stop it.

“And why the hell not?” he demands, his brows furrowing in offense.

“Because,” I say. I can’t help the smile on my face, he’s totally joking. “You’re you. You’re all cocky and presumptuous and you say the stuff you say without thinking twice about it. There’s just no way.”

“Well,” he says, his eyes softening. He runs the back of his fingers over my cheek. “It’s true. I’ve been too busy taking care of my family and trying to keep the streets of Silent Bend clean to form much of a relationship. And honestly, it’s hard to bond with anyone with a normal life, when mine has been so…un-normal.”

His eyes are soft and open. And I can see it there, that it’s true.

“I’m sorry,” I say, placing my hand over his and trapping his hand on my cheek. “I just—”

“It’s okay,” he interrupts. “But I take it that you’re not a virgin, too.”

I shrug, trying to be casual, but really, I’m ashamed. “Just once, the summer after high school. I’d just broken up with my high school boyfriend. You could say it was a rebound or revenge. Whatever it was, it was a mistake.”

“That sounds super romantic,” Ian says as he climbs off of me and back to the floor.