His tongue dragged through my folds, and I bit down hard on my knuckle to trap the traitorous moan clawing up my throat.
Voices floated from the ballroom, and the other background noises sliced far too close down the corridor.
We were barely hidden. Pressed against the cold marble pillar, a flimsy curtain was the only barrier between us and the swarm of nobles ten feet away. One tug and we'd be exposed.
And this sick bastard didn't care.
His broad shoulders shoved my thighs wider beneath the slit of my gown. Hot breath ghosted over my exposed flesh before his mouth sealed over me, greedy and merciless. He sucked hard, like he wanted to devour every drop of my unwilling shame.
I hated him.
Hated the way his silver eyes had mocked me for months. Hated the cruel tilt of his smile whenever he reminded me just how much he had ruined my life. Hated that this arrogant monster was now on his knees, making my body sing for him.
My spine bowed against the marble as his tongue plunged inside me. My fingers twisted viciously in his red hair, yanking hard enough that I hoped it hurt.
I despised the slick heat pooling between my thighs. Despised how my hips rolled forward without permission, grinding against his face like a desperate whore. And I absolutely hated the vicious, sharp wave of pleasure twisting deeper with every flick of his tongue against that traitorous, throbbing pearl.
A cluster of nobles strolled past the curtain. Their silhouettes loomed large. One paused.
His tongue drove deeper.
A broken whimper nearly escaped me. "Stop…"
He only groaned against me, the low vibration shooting straight through me like lightning. His fingers dug bruises into my thighs, spreading me obscenely wider as he licked a long, filthy stripe along my entrance.
"I said stop!" I yanked his head back violently.
Silver eyes met mine. His lips and chin smeared with my arousal, a thin, glistening strand still connecting his mouth to my swollen, pulsing flesh.
He held my gaze.
Then, he shoved himself back in and dragged the flat of his tongue over me in one long, lazy stroke.
Pleasure detonated through me. My thighs clamped around his head as I came hard, hips jerking against his face while wave after wave ripped through me.
I slammed my hand over my mouth to smother the sob tearing from my throat, body convulsing, broken and trembling as he kept licking, kept sucking, milking every last brutal pulse until I was oversensitive and ruined.
He finally pulled back and rose to his feet, that ugly smile on his lips.
I slapped him with every ounce of fury in my body.
The crack of my palm against his cheek echoed off the marble. His head snapped sideways. When he turned back, blood welled bright red at the corner of his split lip.
His tongue slid out, dragging slowly through the blood and the glistening mess of my release still coating his chin. He tasted both, his eyes never leaving mine.
"You taste better when you're angry," he murmured, voice rough and low, laced with dark amusement.
I glared up at him, my chest heaving. My core still pulsed with aftershocks, thighs sticky with evidence of my body's betrayal. I wanted to claw that smug expression off his face.
I wanted to kill him.