Robyn Donald - Captured by the Billionaire - Brooding Billionaire, Impoverished Princess

‘Look at me,’ he commanded, his voice low and raw.

Serina obeyed, and abandoned the final remnants of caution when she saw his gaze heat with a blaze of desire.

It was far too soon to surrender, she thought vaguely, but when his mouth claimed hers her mind closed down, yielding to the pure carnal rapture of sensation, releasing the barriers of her will to let her body enjoy what it craved—had craved so desperately since their first kiss.

No, even before that, although she’d rarely let herself admit it. Their first meeting a year ago had sparked a hunger that the long months apart had only increased.

His lips opened on hers, coaxing and persuasive. Shivering deliciously at the silent invitation, she accepted it. His tongue plunged, and she wriggled against him, her body insistently demanding a satisfaction she’d never yet experienced.

Alex’s arms tightened, bringing her into intimate, explosive contact with the hardness of his loins. Rivulets of fire ran through her, turning into ashes all the convictions that had kept her a virgin.

He lifted his head. Serina sighed, turned her face into his neck and sank her teeth lightly into his skin.

‘Serina.’

The way he said her name—in a voice raw with passion—sounded more wonderful to her than the most exquisite music. She kissed the tanned, subtly flavoured skin she’d bitten, inhaling the faint sensuous scent that was his alone. A shudder flexed his lean body and she felt the latent power there, the male strength she both desired and feared.

‘Alex,’ she said softly and, in her own language, the language of her ancestors, she murmured, ‘Your kiss has stolen my soul…’

‘What are you saying?’

Realisation iced through her. How could she have been so swept away as to come out with that? Shocked, she overcame her reckless need sufficiently to say tonelessly, ‘It’s something from an old Montevellan folk song. My first nurse used to sing it to me…’

The words faltered in her mouth and she could have bitten her tongue out. If this was what lust did to you—unlocked the bars of your mind so that all the secrets came spilling out—it was terrifying.

And love had to be even worse—a total revelation. How could anyone bear it? Closing her eyes, she turned her head away.

‘Translate it for me,’ Alex said.

Ever since she’d been old enough to realise the depths of passion in the simple words, she’d refused to believe anyone could feel so desperately lost to desire. Now she’d known that same reckless capitulation, she understood, and the knowledge locked her lips.

A lean finger turned her head, tilted it. She forced her eyelids up, braced herself to meet and repel the leashed authority of his gaze.

‘Serina?’

And, when she couldn’t move, he said, ‘All right, you don’t want to tell me, but you can come out of hiding.’

Shrugging, she tried for a smile. It wobbled precariously, but she managed to say in a reasonably level voice, ‘It’s nothing, really. Take the music away and it turns into the usual treacly sentiments you find in every pop song. And I’m not going to sing it to you!’

She felt his chest lift, and his quiet laughter reverberated against her. ‘It seems only poets can do true justice to our deepest emotions. Whatever was said in your old song, it’s entirely mutual.’

Swift and sure, he kissed her. His previous kisses had taken her to an unknown place where the rules she’d lived her life by were shattered. This one was so frankly carnal it set her head reeling. Her mouth softened under his, opened again.

A prisoner of dangerous need, she melted into him, taking reckless delight in the harsh intake of his breath. Whatever he felt, she thought with her last remnant of logic, he couldn’t hide his hunger.

When he lifted his head she tensed, thinking he was going to stop, but he transferred his attention to her throat, and after he’d found the vulnerable hollow at the base he trailed kisses across the silken skin to reach the acutely sensitive spot at the junction of her neck and shoulder.

Her knees buckled at the sensation—urgent and savagely consuming—that drowned her in molten pleasure, singing through her body with a primal magnetic summons.

His teeth grazed her skin, repeating the erotic little caress she’d given him. Sensation stormed through her. In her innermost heart Serina realised that she had been born for his touch.

Born for this man…

Panic clogged her throat.

Alex raised his head. Half-closed gaze holding her still, he shifted one hand to cup a pleading, sensitised breast.

Anticipation, wild and feverishly sweet, clamoured through Serina. Unable to bear the intensity of it, stunned by the discovery she’d just made, she let her lashes droop to hide her eyes.

But he commanded, ‘Look at me.’

Barely able to articulate, she whispered, ‘It’s too much…’

‘It’s not enough,’ he rasped.

‘Alex,’ she muttered, unable to say anything more, clinging to his name as a life-raft in this turbulent sea of emotional discovery.

He lowered his head again and took her mouth.

The kiss was urgent and compelling. Inside, she became hot and slick, her body preparing her for the ultimate embrace. For a fleeting moment she stiffened but, when his other hand found her hips and eased her even closer, she knew that if she didn’t follow where her heart led she’d always regret it. No matter what happened, what lay ahead, she wanted this—wanted Alex —with a desperation that made rejection unthinkable.

Her breath stopped in her lungs as his thumb moved slowly, lightly across the nub of her breast, sending jagged white-hot darts of excitement through her.

She needed…something else; without volition, her back arched, pressing the curve of her breast into his palm.

His smile taut and humourless, Alex repeated the small movement. Its impact went right down to her toes, sizzling from nerve to nerve and melting her spine. A soft, erotic little sound in her throat startled her.

He had to be able to hear—and feel—the thunder of her heart as her breasts lifted and fell more and more rapidly, in time with the tormenting glide of his thumb over the acutely sensitive centre.

Waves of pleasure swelled through her in intolerable yearning. Buttressing them was an emotion even stronger and more durable than this shimmering, incandescent desire.

Somehow, without realising it, she’d fallen in love with Alex.

Knowing full well that it wasn’t returned…

Dimly, Serina knew she should be afraid, shocked, bewildered—should feel anything other than this sensuous delight that gave her the courage to raise her lashes when the kiss had finished.

Alex’s eyes gleamed like midnight sapphires in the bronzed, autocratic angles of his face. Her pulse rocketed when she saw the evidence of her fierce response to his kisses on his mouth—both the thinner top lip and the sensuous curve of the bottom were fuller than normal.

Her hands had somehow worked themselves across his back. She let them quest further down, her body tightening in exquisite supplication when she felt his response beneath her palms. Emboldened, she went further, only to freeze when the powerful thigh muscles stirred against her.

His eyes blazed a question.

Colour burned across her skin. With a lingering kiss to his throat, she signalled her wordless agreement but he demanded, ‘You’re sure?’

‘Very sure.’ Could that be her voice, vibrant with languorous promise?

But should she tell him that this was very new to her?

It seemed only fair, although a cloud darkened the surface of her excitement. After nervously wetting her lips, she muttered, ‘I haven’t…haven’t actually…’