Czech Mate by Sloane Taylor Page B

With me.”
    Her eyes filled with tears as her body turned to stone, a horrid sign to any man who had just opened himself to hope. Her instant reaction proved she did not share the same emotion or have the ability to pretend. He whispered into her hair all his plans and hopes, knowing he would never be able to say them aloud again.
    Midway through his confession a finger pecked on his shoulder. Ready for the blow that would change his life forever, he inched away.
    “I love you, Dragan.”
    His heart leapt at her throaty whisper. He clasped her tighter to him, afraid to believe, afraid he had only heard what he wanted to.
    “Don’t you want to kiss me?” She wove an arm around his waist as her light laughter sang in his ears. “I want to kiss you.”
    “ Kristus , yes.” He not only wanted to smother her with warm kisses, he wanted to scale the spire at St. Nicholas’s and shout to the world that this wonderful woman loved him. But she never gave him the opportunity to do either.
    She flung her other arm around his neck and tugged his head closer to hers, then kissed him like he had never been kissed before. Her pliable lips molded to his, while her hips melted against him. He enfolded her in his arms and silently vowed to keep her safe and for all their lives.

    Lacey broke the kiss long enough to gulp in air before she zeroed in on his wonderful mouth again. He was the best thing ever to happen in her life, and she didn’t want to let this moment go. Tomorrow she’d worry about the future. Right now, she planned to enjoy her man. Damn, but she loved that phrase.
    Dragan stroked his hand along her arm, then clasped her hand and raised it to his lips. She felt like a queen when he kissed her lightly on her fingertips.
    And then reality hit her like a body blow from Mohammed Ali in the first round. Little common Southside Chicago girl Lacey Blake had the balls to be in love with Crown Prince Dragan Petrovič. That was something she’d have to deal with on the long flight home.
    “Come back to me, Lacey.”
    For a moment, she thought he had read her mind, until he caught her chin and tilted it to his face. She pushed up on her tiptoes and touched her lips to his. He deepened their kiss with such tenderness her body quivered. She never wanted this to end.
    He broke away and unbuttoned her blouse before he slid it off her shoulders and down her arms. A flick of his fingers undid her plain white bra and he smiled as if he approved of its utilitarian appearance. She slipped off her loafers as he glided her slacks over her hips. And there she stood in her white cotton panties and was shy with these shared new feelings that swarmed through her.
    “I wish to make love with you. Slowly. Throughout the night.” He teased a finger along her cheek, down her throat, then along the side of her breast before stopping at her waist. “Would you like that?”
    Her heart pounded like a drum in anticipation of his next move.
    A blink later, he had shucked out of his clothes and stood before her with his beautiful hard-on twitching against his abdomen.
    He took her hand and led her the few feet to the bed before he pulled back the comforter. “Please, lie with me.”
    She moved across the cool sheets toward the middle while he edged in beside her. Evening shadows billowed along the ceiling and made the room all the more intimate as if they were the only people in the world, or at least the only ones who had discovered love.
    He stroked along her torso and created wonderful shivers in his fingertips’ path. She rolled to her side and mimicked his movements. His muscles quivered beneath the light touch of her fingers, and a sigh wisped across her cheek.
    He gathered her in his arms for another of his sensual kisses that held the same gentleness as before. She curled into him and slid a leg between his, leaving enough room to rub his erection against her mons. He cuddled her closer and nuzzled her neck while whispering sweet-sounding