her hair, coaxed her head back to tilt her face to his.
And his mouth came down on hers.
Time stopped. Her heartbeat simply paused. Somewhere inside she recognized how she had provoked him, but his kiss tasted of a need that shocked her, a hungry man.
Mirie couldn’t think past her surprise, not when his need became hers, catching her in an upsurge the way the fire sucked in the surrounding air.
She sighed against his mouth, her lips yielding eagerly. Their tongues tangled in discovery. And she was so grateful she had pushed, so glad he had given in.
Winding her arms around him, she ran her hands down his back, thrilled when he trembled beneath her touch. He was no longer Drei, but a strong, handsome man making her body hum with his kisses. Yet he was still Drei, a man who had always been there, a man she could trust with her needs.
Mirie felt comfortable with him, able to abandon herself to this haze of sensation that stole her breath, made her bold and eager and heedless of the consequences.
But not so her protector.
“You better be sure about this, Your Royal Highness,” he whispered against her lips. “There’s no turning back.”
She could practically feel the battle raging inside him, the tension in the body against her, even though his words might let her go.
Gently nibbling his upper lip, she teased his skin into her mouth, determined to win him to her side. He should forget who he was because she was no longer Mirie. She would shed the limitations of rank and duty to become a nameless woman who savored the moment with no inhibitions. A woman able to forget everything that normally dictated her life.
For one stolen moment, she would be only a woman.
“I have never been more sure,” she admitted. “Let this moment be ours, Drei. Just this one.”
He didn’t believe her. She could see doubt all over his face. Maybe she was a fool to believe her own words. Or naive.
But Mirie didn’t care because she felt.
Drei coaxed her head back to expose her throat. Deliberation carved stern lines in his handsome face as he considered her as if she were some tempting morsel he wasn’t sure whether to resist or devour.
Her chest rose and fell on a sharp breath, the anticipation making her body vibrate.
Had she ever felt so alive?
Her answer came when Drei nibbled his way along her jaw, lingered in that valley below her ear with his warm breath and teasing tongue, such an unexpectedly sensitive place.
Never.
His mouth traveled freely, as though he had waited forever for the privilege to explore and was determined to savor every inch of her. Fire filtered down into her very deepest places until an ache throbbed low in her belly, and she gasped when he flipped down her bra with a quick move that sent her breasts tumbling out as a feast for his devouring.
And he devoured with exquisite tenderness. His stubbled cheeks teased her skin. His tongue tested a peak that tightened eagerly. His strong hands lifted her breast so he could draw the tip into his mouth with a soft pull.
Mirie gasped and her whole being trembled with a prayer that he would not stop.
He didn’t.
Acquainting himself with her responses, Drei coaxed the fire inside her to feverish life. Until her body grew molten and she clung to him.
But he held her securely, raking his firm grip down her ribs as he lifted his head to catch her mouth with his again. Her excitement spiraled in response to his need when he ground his hips greedily against her, a dare to frighten her off, maybe, or an invitation to accept the challenge.
Mirie touched him with an urgency she had never known before. She dragged her palms down his back, over the tight curve of his bottom as she pressed him close, determined to explore every inch. She rode the length of his arousal and caught the sound of his excitement with her kiss, trembled against him as his hard body shuddered with need.
She wanted to make him feel the way she did, but he was the one in control. She found herself suddenly on her back, tangled in the weather cloak, as he maneuvered between her legs. Not to make love to her with his body, but to pleasure her with his mouth.
And she could only glance up at this familiar stranger and tremble in anticipation, for he touched her in ways so intimate that she grew dazed with desire, and could only reach out and hang on to his strong shoulders, as her thighs trembled and silken moans slid from her lips unbidden.
And only when her body pulsed and she was wet with her own pleasure did Drei cease his tender assault. He pulled her into his arms and forced her legs wide so she could straddle his lap, leaving her mouth poised perfectly to kiss him.
She did.
Mirie tasted her pleasure on his mouth, the strength of his hunger, the need that stunned her with its intensity. How could he be invisible to her one moment, then in an instant, the world revolved around their kiss, as if she would die right there if he stopped touching her?
When Drei joined her with an upward thrust, his growl was a desperate sound that reverberated through the cave, through her, and Mirie understood that while she had made love before, she had never made love with a man.
And there was a vast world of difference.
* * *
THE FIRE HAD burned dangerously low. Drew needed to get up and add more kindling before he wound up back outside stripping sappy branches. A part of him was relieved for the task. He was tempted to sit here forever, his back propped against a frigid stone wall, his butt numb from the frigid stone floor.
Life should stop right now, so he could die a happy man. He didn’t know what had just happened between him and Mirie, but he sure as hell knew it wasn’t smart.
He had a mission, and so did she. Two different missions to two different countries. Hers by blood; his by oath. This, whatever this was, would only complicate their work.
He could control his imagination. He could distract himself with other women. He could even feel noble about sacrificing his life to protect Mirie’s journey from childhood to royal duty. He had always told himself the fantasy would be better than the reality anyway, that he’d had the better part.
But he no longer had that excuse.
Reality was far beyond the fantasy. There had been no way he could have known how he would feel inside her, with her body melting around him, pulsing with pleasure as if her mouth had been formed to fit only his. As if her every curve had been formed to align just perfectly with him. As if her sighs had been tuned to his exact frequency.
As if inside her was the only place he should be.
He had never known that feeling before. Discontent had sent him fleeing family and home when he had been younger. It was what had kept him chasing thrills with Special Forces, what had allowed him to dismiss his identity for a mission as a sleeper agent.
He had never known right.
Until
