Page 72 of North’s Claim

The cheering gets louder.

I gasp and grab his shoulders, half laughing, half melting against him as he carries me through the room. My legs lock around his waist on instinct, and his hand tightens against me in warning.

“Careful,” he murmurs against my ear.

That one word ruins me.

By the time we reach the stairs, I’m trembling for reasons that have nothing to do with fear. I bury my face in his neck, laughing when the brothers start chanting his name, but North stays silent. His hold on me doesn’t loosen, not even when we reach the hallway and the noise from downstairs fades into a dull, distant roar.

The second his bedroom door shuts behind us, I laugh.

I can’t help it. It spills out of me, breathless and reckless, because I know exactly what I’ve done. I poked the president in front of his brothers. He cages me against the door, one hand braced beside my head, the other catching my jaw with careful, dangerous control. “You want a proposal?”

My pulse stutters and I wet my lips. “Maybe I need a better reminder.”

The room seems to tighten around us.

North leans in, his mouth brushing my ear, and his voice drops into a place that ruins me before he does anything else. “You keep asking for trouble like you forgot I know exactly how to give it to you.”

A shiver slips through me and he catches it.

A breathless laugh slips out of me when North presses me back against the bedroom door, the solid wood catching my spine while the party keeps roaring somewhere beneath us.

“A bit eager, aren’t we?”

He doesn’t smile.

That should be my first warning.

North fills the space in front of me like a storm blocking out the moon, all broad shoulders, dark eyes, and the kind of silence that makes my pulse stumble before he even touches me. His hand comes up slowly, but there is nothing lazy about the way his fingers close around my jaw. He tips my face toward his, thumb brushing the corner of my mouth, and the breath I was about to waste on another tease catches in my throat.

“You had plenty to say downstairs,” he murmurs.

My smile flickers, but I hold on to it because I like this too much. I like the danger in his voice. I like knowing I put it there.

“I only said I didn’t remember saying yes.”

His thumb presses against my lower lip, and the look in his eyes turns darker. “Then I’ll make sure you do.”

The words sink through me, hot and heavy, before his mouth takes mine.

There is nothing careful about the kiss. North claims it like he claims everything: with certainty, with hunger, with a kind of brutal focus that makes the rest of the world fall away and I melt into it even as the reckless part of me refuses to surrender too easily. So I bite his thumb, then I soothe the mark with my tongue and watch the exact second his control slips.

A sound rolls out of him, low and rough enough to make heat bloom beneath my skin. His hand tightens at my jaw, his body pressing closer until I can feel every inch of his restraint straining against me. “There she is,” he says, voice ruined around the edges.

The praise hits harder than it should but I lift my chin anyway. “Still waiting on that memorable proposal, Prez.”

For a heartbeat, he only stares at me.

Then his hands are on my dress. He takes his time gathering the soft blue fabric in his fists, dragging it up my thighs with deliberate patience while his eyes stay locked on mine. The dress bunches at my waist, exposing me inch by inch, and the cool air kisses my skin at the same moment his gaze drops.

He sinks to his knees in front of me, and the sight nearly steals the strength from my legs. “Is that what you want?” he asks, his voice rough against my skin. “A proposal?”

My fingers slide into his hair because I need something to hold on to. “Maybe I want a better reminder.”

His mouth brushes the inside of my thigh and every thought in my head goes still. “You’ll get one.”

The first touch of his mouth makes my body jolt, and my fingers tighten in his hair before I can stop myself. North groans like he likes the sting, like he wants proof that I’m losing control too, and then he stops being patient.