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“Oh, sure,” she says nonchalantly. “I’m… friends… with a man who makes it in the south. He sends me packages all the time.”
The way she says friends makes me grin. Instantly, I know I like Helena. “If you ever need someone to test your creations out, I am your woman. I’ve tasted chocolate once, when my mother brought some home.”
Helena’s mouth drops open and her hands fly to her cheeks. “Only once? Oh, darling. We’ll remedy that tomorrow. Where are you sleeping? Raúl’s rooms?”
I grin and shake my head. “No, no. I’m in my own rooms.”
Raúl leans over me and says to Helena, “She’s in the queen’s quarters.”
Helena raises an eyebrow at me and winks. “Oh, is she now?”
Raúl’s cheeks redden slightly and he sits back. “Yes, well. They were available, after all.”
Helena slaps a hand over her mouth, but a tinkling laugh slips out, anyway. I shake my head at their antics. “So sorry, Penny. Tomorrow, then, we will test out some chocolate. To clarify, I mean at night after our breakfast.”
“I guessed as much,” I say. “I will be there and I can’t wait.”
A male vampire on the other side of Helena calls to her, asking her opinion on a debate between him and another. She smiles at me before turning her head. I look up at Raúl, my eyes glittering with happiness.
He bumps his forehead to mine and leans closer to my ear. “Want to take dessert to the library? Just you and me?”
It only takes a nod before I’m out of my seat, whisked away to the library with his arm around my waist. I laugh at the freedom as we fly down the hall, my braids floating behind us like a ribbon.
Raúl sets me down inside the library, between him and a wall. Slowly, he backs up to the wall, bracing an arm above my head. He presses his body against me and I wrap my arms around his neck, pulling him closer.
Chapter Forty-Three
Raúl kisses the side of my face. “Did you have fun at breakfast?”
I sigh as he gently bites my earlobe. “Yes.”
“Good.” Raúl captures my mouth again, kissing me into oblivion. I moan, and he pulls back, smoothing my hair away from my face. “Oh, Penny. It’s at a point now that I would do anything to see you smile like you did at dinner.”
I smile at him. “Then why did you stop kissing me?”
His eye darkens. “I have something in mind. Do you trust me?”
I tilt my head, wondering what he’s up to. “With my life.”
Raúl growls and tilts my head up, crushing his mouth to mine. His lips devour me and I whimper. His tongue slips inside and I gasp as he deepens the kiss. He pulls away and I protest, until he starts kissing down the side of my neck, planting kisses along the skin above the bodice of my dress.
A clang comes from outside the library door and Raúl groans, standing straight and tugging me to the sofa. We sit down just as someone wheels in a cart with desserts on top of it. “We’ll continue this later,” he whispers into my ear, sending shivers down my back.
I settle into the sofa with a small piece of vanilla cake topped with strawberry cream. Raúl stares at me until we are alone again. When the doors shut, he flits to it and turns the lock, before coming to the sofa again.
With me still holding the cake, he pulls me onto his lap until my legs are on either side of him. My eyes widen and I almost drop the dessert. Leaning over, I put it on the table. Raúl watches as I move, his eyes never leaving my face. When the cake is safe, I lean in and kiss him, deepening it like he just had. He reaches up and tugs at my dress, freeing my chest. My hands grip his shoulders as I tremble. His hands grasp my breasts, gently caressing me.
I cry out against his mouth, my hips rocking against him. My heart pounds against my ribs. I move my lips against his neck, scraping my teeth against his skin.
Raúl runs his hands up my bare legs, leaving heat trails in their wake. He keeps one hand on my hip, against my bare skin. The other hand slips between my legs. Startled, I inhale sharply and lean back. Raúl freezes.
“Penny,” Raúl says, his voice gruff. “Do you want me to stop?”
“No,” I say, no hesitation on my part. Thanks to Carmen’s information, and my own experiments, I know exactly what is about to happen. And I welcome it. Our lips join again.
Raúl does not disappoint, moving his expert fingers against me, eliciting moan after moan. He doesn’t stop until I cry out, breaking my lips from his and arching my back. Wave after wave of pleasure washes over me.
I shudder again, collapsing onto Raúl’s shoulder, my heart pounding. “Raúl.”
