Her heartbeat tripled as she stared at him. Whatever words she was cobbling together to ask him, they dried in her throat as his thumb grazed one tight nipple, his gaze riveted on her face, absorbing her every reaction.
Another pass and she shuddered, biting back a moan.
‘You like that?’ he rasped.
Violet caught her lower lip between her teeth, absurdly reluctant to admit she did despite the blatant evidence he couldn’t miss. A twist of his lips told her he had his answer and was perhaps content to let her off the hook.
In the next instant his other hand joined in the torture, moulding the twin globe until she couldn’t help the tight cry that fell from her lips.
After an electrifying minute, he started to draw back the wet fabric of her bra. And at last she found a shred of common sense. ‘Your guards—’
He shook his head. ‘They won’t disturb us. Their job is less about watching me and more about watching out for potential threats.’
Her privacy protest battered away, she was confronted with another question that loomed large in her mind.
Was this really happening?
‘Should I be pleased or insulted to be excluded from that scenario?’ The question was a throwaway one, meant to buy her time to regroup and rebalance, but she was nowhere near sane, shuddering as he caught her flesh between his thumb and forefinger and squeezed.
Expecting a rapier-sharp comeback, perhaps even desperate for one to restore her sanity, Violet was mildly stunned when his face grew dark and dangerous. ‘Any misjudgement will be down to me. Not them.?
?
She couldn’t help but wonder if there was a hidden meaning behind his words. A meaning she herself needed to heed before it was too late. ‘Zak—’
‘I believe that’s the first time you’ve used my name. Say it again, Violet.’
‘Why?’
Expert fingers caught her chin, angling her face so he could better scour her expression with his electric gaze. ‘Because I find my name on your lips...pleasurable.’
‘Zak.’
Ferocious eyes spiked into hers. ‘I want to taste you,’ he announced, his voice hot, raspy, setting fire to her pelvis. ‘Stop me now if you don’t wish this to continue, Violet.’
She opened her mouth intending to do exactly that or at the very least slow down this relentless freight train of passion threatening to run away with her. At the last moment her throat closed up. Was this a turning point? Or was this her opportunity to draw a line under what had started six years ago?
She’d spent long endless nights craving more of that brief taste of desire. Now he was offering her a feast on a platter. Wasn’t he? She searched his gaze, eager to discover whether this was another prelude to a rejection. She found only a fierce hunger that matched her own.
But hadn’t he looked the same that night too?
Sensing her reticence, Zak dropped his hands from her body and rested them on the rock beside her hips, holding her in place just with the look in his eyes. ‘Don’t overthink this. What happens here stays here, Violet.’
‘You mean in the light of day we forget that this ever happened?’ Why did that press on a tender spot in her chest?
He shrugged. ‘If that is what you wish. What it will not be is a pretence that what happens between us here will lead to something more. That is not on the table.’
Why not? she wanted to ask, but she already knew the answer deep in her bones. Something more would never include the likes of her. She only needed to glance at his family history to see the sort of pedigree the Montegovas chose to have lengthy relationships with.
Remi had been engaged to a woman with a flawless background, despite her commoner status, and their mother was a renowned ex-beauty queen, coming from a prestigious family and an heiress before she’d married the King.
Even now, the Crown Prince was said to be hunting for a woman of impeccable pedigree to replace his dead fiancée. Violet was sure nowhere on that list was a minor aristocrat with a background soiled with near bankruptcy, disgrace and a tabloid-hungry mother who sold gossip on a regular basis.
‘This isn’t a world-altering decision,’ he insisted.
But in a way it was to her. A few mind-blowing kisses were one thing but giving herself to Zak Montegova completely was quite another.
And just like that the issue of her virginity loomed large before her eyes. She bit her lip, nerves eating fresh at her as she contemplated how to break the news to him. Perhaps he would be turned off, just as he had been by her awkward crush on him six years ago. Was she better off keeping it to herself?