Page 147 of The Encore’s Crown

He's mine tonight.

This won’t end with another almost. I’ll finally know what it feels like to have all of him.

Chapter 50

Lotus

Kiri

Natalia comes apart beneath my mouth, my name breaking from her lips. Every muscle in her pulls tight before the tension finally gives, her body trembling through it. I keep her there until the last shudder passes, until her grip loosens and she collapses against the mattress like I’ve drained every useful thought from her head.

When I sit back, I’m breathing nearly as hard as she is. She lifts her head enough to look at me. I raise my eyebrows, a self-satisfied grin on my face as I wipe the edge of my mouth with my thumb. Her gaze drops to my lips, then returns to my face. Whatever she sees there makes her fall flat onto the bed again.

“Oh. My. God.”

I bite back an even bigger smile.

“You’re trying to kill me, and we haven’t even had sex yet.”

“Kill you? We’re just getting started. I need you very much alive and… reactive.”

I catch my bottom lip between my teeth as I take in the sight of her, already completely wrecked. A smile pulls across my face while I watch her, all the muscles of her body rise and fall in gorgeous waves, still trying to recover. I want those waves pressed against me, along my skin. All mine. With that thought, my hands move to my collar, and I start stripping away every layer left between us. I take my time undoing each button while Natalia watches, her gaze following every movement of my fingers. By the time I shrug the shirt from my shoulders and toss it aside, she’s sitting upright with an expression that makes me want to drag this out even longer.

Then I reach for my belt. Her hand closes over it at the same time as mine. She’s trying so hard to tease me, but her half-lidded eyes are still glazed from what I just did to her. I smirk. She looks drunk on this.

On me.

On us.

“You can barely sit up.”

“That’s not my fault.”

I laugh then let go of the buckle and lift both hands in surrender.

“I was willing to handle it. You’re the one forcing me to submit.”

She laughs, pulling the belt free and throwing it somewhere behind her without looking. The sound only heightens the heat between us, another barrier gone. Then her attention drops, along with her hands. She finds the waistband of my pants but takes her time, tracing along it instead of removing anything. The teasing touch is light enough to make every muscle in my stomach lock.

“Kroppy.” My voice turns the name into both a warning and a plea. Her fingers drift lower, nails lightly scratching the skin beneath my waistline, and I suck in a breath. Then her eyes lift to mine, wide and innocent. Doe-eyed in the middle of purely deviant intentions. I catch the side of her face and drag my lips to her ear. The sound that leaves me when my teeth close around her lobe is closer to a growl than anything human. Natalia goes still.

Her fingers trace the same path once more before changing direction. Over my pants, her hand closes around the hard outline of how badly I want her. Her breath ghosts across my shoulder, already turning ragged from the anticipation; from knowing exactly what she’s doing to me. I bite the side of her neck. Her entire body melts against me, all that confidence dissolving so quickly she forgets whatever she was doing with my clothes. I kiss the place I bit, then pull back enough to look at her.

“I thought you were busy.” Her eyes are hazy. “Got distracted, hm?”

She blinks at me and I burst out laughing.

“You look more gone than I’ve ever seen Ronan on brutal indica, and he smokes actual pounds of that shit.”

Natalia bites her lip, gathers whatever remains of her concentration, and returns to my waistband. Her fingers fumble, then she gets the button open. The zipper quickly follows. My pants drop lower, leaving very little between her and the parts of me that resent that distance. She steadies both hands at the elastic of my boxers and draws them down. Finally, there’s no layers left between us. Her expression changes, gone is all the teasing. She reaches for me with a boldness that steals the breath from my lungs.

“Nat.”

My mouth falls open at the first stroke, her thumb working me along the places that make every thought scatter with each slow glide. Fuck. I can’t form a single coherent thought. All I can do is let her watch how she wrecks me with nothing but her hand. For a humiliating instant, I think I might lose control before we even cross the line I’ve insisted we wait for. She watches my face now, its her turn to collect every reaction.

“I’ve never had strong weed or whatever,” she whispers against my ear, laughter warming the words, “but I think you look exactly the same right now Mr. Chhim.”

I catch her around the waist and pull her flush against me. She gasps, letting go of me only to grab my shoulders. I’m still on my knees between her thighs, shirt gone, the rest of my clothes half shed while she’s completely bare against me. The thought alone sends another hard jolt of want through my body. Natalia feels it against her, the way my dick pulses at the thought of her.