Chapter 34: A Glimpse Of It- A Curious Arianna.
Arianna stood beside the large bathing tub while the maids filled it with fresh, steaming water. They added fragrant oils and scattered a handful of rose petals across the surface, leaving them to float beautifully on top of the water.
"We are finished here, Your Highness," one of the maids murmured, her head respectfully lowered.
Before Arianna could even open her mouth to thank them, Kane appeared in the doorway and dismissed the servants with a silent nod. He walked slowly toward her, his intense gaze never leaving her face.
A cold shiver ran straight down her spine, but she stood her ground, doing her absolute best to project strength.
"Did you miss me?" he asked softly.
The question wasn’t one she could answer right away. It left her completely bewildered as to how a man labeled a barbarian could know exactly how to captivate a woman so effortlessly.
He was already a far better man than Ethan had ever been, and it made her wonder where the Prince had inherited such a disgusting attitude when his father was this attentive.
"I did," Arianna replied, willingly leaning into the seductive game he was playing.
His lips curled into a faint smile, but as his fingers gently trailed up her neck, a shadow of a frown crossed his face. He couldn’t banish the memory of what had happened to her last night. The bruising mark on her skin was a constant, bitter reminder that he had failed to protect what was his.
"I am fine, Kane," Arianna said, giving him a gentle smile to assure him that she was alright.
"Really? If you feel pain in any capacity, you must tell me immediately," he whispered. His voice had dropped to a low, quiet baritone, making it hard for her to tell if he was referring to her physical wound or something else entirely.
There was no way they were actually going to have sex right now... right? So why was her heart panicking?
"I love how incredibly soft your skin is," Kane murmured, his fingers trailing lower, tracing the exposed slope of her cleavage.
Electric jolts shot straight through her body as he began to slowly untie the delicate laces of the thin fabric keeping her dress securely closed.
He was being intentionally, agonizingly slow and it was driving her completely nuts. Part of her found herself wishing he would just tear the fabric away like he had the other night but she quickly reminded herself that nothing further was going to happen between them today.
Then again, maybe it would. There were plenty of intimate things they could do without going all the way. But she highly doubted he even knew what they were.
After all, he had literally asked her last time to teach him how to please her.
The upper bodice of the dress suddenly slipped down to her waist, snapping her instantly back to reality. Her breasts were completely exposed now.
She noticed the intense, heavy way he stared at her, looking for all the world as if it were the very first time he had ever witnessed something so beautiful.
She caught the subtle way he swallowed the lump in his throat and she had to bite back a chuckle.
For all his commanding Alpha energy, he was surprisingly naive when it came to the finer arts of seduction.
No matter how hard he tried to project the image of a seasoned pro who knew exactly what he was doing, he ultimately ended up looking more like an eager student.
Kane carefully slid the remainder of the dress down her legs, leaving her standing in nothing but her small undergarments.
A sudden wave of shyness and embarrassment washed over Arianna. It was a bizarre realization—standing entirely vulnerable in front of the one man she had spent the last few days screaming at to keep his hands off her.
"You have a beautiful body too," he whispered, bringing his face tantalizingly close to hers.
Arianna braced herself for a kiss, but instead, he slid his large hands beneath her, effortlessly sweeping her off her feet.
"Kane..." Arianna’s heart skipped a heavy beat, her fingers instinctively tightening around his neck. She stared directly into his deep, bluish eyes—the kind of eyes that could make absolutely anyone melt.
"What is it, my wife?"
"You look incredibly handsome tonight," she told him, completely without regret. She hadn’t said it in a rush of emotion; it was a truth she had been desperately wanting to tell him ever since she woke up.
"Not even half as beautiful as you are," Kane murmured. He stepped carefully into the massive bathing tub, lowering her into the warm water with absolute gentleness, his eyes never unlocking from hers.
Arianna felt a deep blush creep up her neck, and she bit her lower lip to hide her smile. She would have cursed herself if she had let her pride deny her the pleasure of moments like this. It would have been a damn shame.
His hands began to glide over the wet skin of her legs, the sensation so intense it forced her to grip the edge of the tub for support.
He moved his touch higher, smoothing over her thighs, drifting dangerously close to the sensitive space between them.
For a breathless second, she genuinely thought his fingers were going to slip past her underwear, but he stopped just short.
Instead, he drifted his hands back up to massage her shoulders. "What exactly were you thinking, Princess? I am only helping you bathe... nothing more, my instructor."
"I-I wasn’t thinking about that... In fact, I-I wasn’t even paying attention to what you were doing."
Kane smirked, tracing the sudden flush on her face. She couldn’t bring herself to look at him, stubbornly avoiding his gaze. "Oh? And what exactly was I doing, Princess?"
Arianna took a deep breath and exhaled heavily, trying to settle her racing pulse. The atmosphere in the room was boiling hot, yet he just kept playing these agonizing games with her. Did he actually know what fingering was, or was he entirely oblivious?
No. He knew exactly what he was doing.
"Your hands were going..."
"The wrong way?" he asked, his brows furrowing in mock confusion.
"No, Kane. The right way," she corrected boldly.
"You are my instructor, have you forgotten?" Kane asked, his gaze burning into hers. She shook her head, swallowing hard against the sudden dryness in her throat. "Then teach me. I am entirely willing to learn."
Arianna wanted to laugh, but she forced herself to hold it back to avoid ruining the fragile, heavy intimacy of the moment. Who would have thought a man as terrifyingly powerful and breathtakingly handsome as Kane would be so eager to learn the absolute basics from a young woman like her?
She still found it hard to believe that he truly knew next to nothing about the art of foreplay.
"Fine," she whispered. She shifted her weight in the tub, moving closer to him. The water sloshed loudly against the porcelain walls as she completely closed the gap between them.
"You trust me far too much," Kane whispered, the breath leaving his lungs as their chests met. She was playing with absolute fire, yet she didn’t look the least bit eager to back down. "Aren’t you at all afraid that I might lose control?"
"You told me yesterday that nothing would happen, remember?" Her eyes clouded with a sudden flicker of genuine worry, no matter how hard she tried to project confidence.
"I don’t know, Princess," he murmured against her skin. He leaned down and pressed a heavy kiss to her neck, before his lips drifted lower, his mouth eagerly claiming one of her sensitive nipples.
A soft moan escaped her lips instead of the protest she probably should have voiced. Her fingers tangled tightly into the hair at the back of his head, anchoring him there and encouraging him to continue as wild waves of desire flushed straight through her veins.
His large hands slid down to her backside, squeezing the soft flesh firmly and pulling her hips flush against his own body.
The sudden movement caused Arianna’s eyes to widen in sheer shock. Beneath the water, she felt the massive, rigid length of him pressing hard against her lower abdomen.
Of course, she knew exactly what it was but she had never realized that a man could actually be built to such a staggering scale.
Worse, it was twitching, pulsing with a life of its own as it strained against the fabric of his clothes.
Arianna stared down through the water, her mind racing with a sudden, dangerous curiosity. What would happen if she reached down and freed it from its confinement?
Would he completely lose his sanity and consume her the way the other women claimed he did? Or would the beast welcome her touch instead?
Whatever the consequences, she wanted—at the very least—to catch a glimpse of it.
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