She does. I can tell from the way she’s breathing heavier, the way her pupils are dilating as she stares at my lips, the way she swallows, her throat so pale and delicate I’m suddenly envious of vampires.

I let my hand drift down over the smooth slope of her shoulder, down her arm, to her hand. “The more I touch you, the more you touch me, the more believable this is going to be. If we go out there as we are, where you try to run every time I come near you, it’s not going to work.”

“I’m not running now,” she whispers and meets my eyes. “Try me.”

My lips curl into a smile. “I will. Maybe it’s best, though, if you try me first.” I take a step back. “Go ahead. Touch me.”

She lets out an incredulous huff of air. “I can’t touch you on demand.”

“Sure you can. I give you permission.”

She shakes her head. “This doesn’t seem right.”

“Princess, nothing seems right at this point.” I walk around her over to the door and close it.

Lock it.

“What are you doing?” she asks warily. “Magnus, I thought you agreed—”

“Would you just relax,” I tell her, turning around. “I’m not making you do anything.”

But as I walk toward her, I’m removing my tie and throwing it on the bed. I’m removing my suit jacket and tossing it on the ottoman.

“Magnus,” she warns.

I smile and start unbuttoning my shirt. It’s wildly presumptuous of me but I’ve seen the way she stares at my body when I’m parading it around in front of her. I know the thoughts she’s had. I know that she’s ashamed that she’s had them.

I also know that she’s somewhat inexperienced, that I intimidate her, that my sexual history scares her a bit.

It’s better if I’m the vulnerable one here.

“This is the body you’re going to be sleeping next to after we’re married,” I tell her, my shirt dropping to the floor.

“Actually, that was never in the contract,” she points out as I start unbuckling my pants next. “You know I want separate bedrooms.”

I’m going to pretend the fact that she’s still sticking to that doesn’t hurt.

“Then this is the body you’re supposed to have been sleeping with for years,” I amend as my pants drop to my ankles, leaving me in just my gray boxer briefs. “You better get a damn good look at it. Please. It will be such a waste otherwise. Years and years of marriage ahead of us and no one to admire my hard work.”

She’s trying not to smile as her eyes drop to my dick.

Hard work, indeed. I’ve never been stiffer.

I run my thumbs along the waistband. “Want them on or off?”

“On,” she says quickly. “I’m having a hard time handling all of this as it is.”

“Well, I definitely have something hard for you to handle.”

She laughs, her cheeks redder than ever. But when her eyes meet mine, they’re sparkling deviously, like she’s enjoying this. “So now what? This is your plan for us to get comfortable with each other? Just you standing there in your underwear with your pants around your ankles?”

“Don’t forget my hard-on. It’s the perfect accessory.”

She shakes her head, eyes closing briefly. “Honestly, Magnus. You are such a man-child.”

“Definitely all man,” I tell her. “Touch me and find out for yourself.”

“This is way too weird,” she says as I step out of my pants, taking off my socks and pushing them to the side. Now I really am all naked except for my boxers.

“Do you want people to believe we’re comfortable with each other physically or not?”

“I…” She trails off, her eyes roaming freely all over me now, like she just gave herself permission to take me in. She licks her lips then says, weakly, “I can fake it.”

I don’t say anything to that. I’m at the point where opening my mouth isn’t doing me any good. I feel like a fucking fisherman with their line dangling in the water, waiting for hours on end to see if the fish will bite.

She comes closer to me.

Hell, it’s working.

I keep quiet, holding my breath so as not to scare her, as she reaches out and touches the Viking axe tattoo on my shoulder. “When did you get this one?” she asks.

“When I was twenty,” I tell her. “I went to Thailand, as one does. Woke up with it.”

She smiles, letting her fingertips trace the outline. My skin comes alive under her touch. “That’s not a very romantic story.”

“No. Most of my life hasn’t been very romantic, to tell you the truth. Just impulse after impulse.”

Her fingers freeze, and she gives me a sharp look.

“I mean with travel,” I assure her. “Or tattoos. Or spending money. Some days I wake up in other countries. Some days I buy a car and then leave it somewhere I don’t remember. Some days I get tattoos. Now mind you, this Viking tattoo was one I wanted for a long time. And Thailand was a place I’d always wanted to go. And I’d always wanted to drive a Ferrari for one day. It’s just that these things have an odd way of working out with me.”

“Very odd,” she says softly, gently squeezing my muscles now. “But I think that’s what I like most about you.”

“My bulging biceps?”

“Your…uniqueness. How terribly boring it is to be normal. I should know. I’m normal and I’m boring. I’m not even interesting enough to be a basic bitch.”

It breaks my heart to hear her say that.

“That is nowhere near true,” I tell her, my voice rising a bit. “You’re not boring. You’re more normal than I am but you’re not boring. You’re not basic. You’re smart as hell. You’re interesting. I’m always learning something from you, every single day. You’re not afraid to put me in my place, you keep me on my toes. You’re gracious, you’ve got a big heart, and you’ve fought really hard to become the person you are. I can tell. I know what that fight is like.”

She gazes at me with those searching eyes of hers, her face just inches from mine, and I know if I lean in just a bit, my lips will brush her lips. It takes all my restraint to stay in control.

“You’re breathing hard,” she says after a moment, her fingers resuming their path, this time across my chest which is rising and falling faster than usual.

“You’ve got me all fired up,” I tell her, my voice coming across gruff and low. “I don’t want to hear you talk about yourself like that. I will always defend you, even from yourself.”

Her eyes go to my mouth and all I can think is kiss me, kiss me, and it pains me that I need this to be in her court. I swear to god, the moment she does, all hell will be unleashed. I’ve got enough pent-up sexual tension to last into the marriage and beyond.

She knows I’m thinking that too. She might even enjoy it. Again she glances at my dick and again her expression turns hot and wanton.

Her hands slide around my other shoulder and she walks around to the back of me. “I’m still not sure what you’re trying to accomplish here.”

Even though I can’t see her eyes, I can feel them on my ass.

“The British royals never touch each other like this in public,” she goes on, running her fingers gently over my shoulders. “Maybe not even in private.”

“We’re Norwegians. We do things differently.”

“Savagely,” she says, now bringing her hands down my back, her nails scratching me gently.

Oh fuck that feels good.

“Trust me,” I growl. “I’m holding back.”

“And what happens when you let go?”

I nearly let out an explicit groan. “I don’t think you’ll be able to handle me.”

“Try me.” I hear the smile in her voice.

Oh, fuck me.

I manage to swallow. “Do you know what you’re asking for?”

A pause. “Then tell me.”

This is a side of her I didn’t think I’d see so soon. Maybe touching me has riled her up the same way it’s made me fucking stiffer than cement.

“Is this an official question?”

“I’m not singing it.”

“Well I’m going to answer it anyway.”

She moves her hands around the sides of my waist, letting them run over the hard ridges of my abs, down, down. Stopping just at the waistband.

My breath hitches in my throat.

She reaches further and slowly slides her palm down, down, down, over the hardened length of my cock.

My eyes flutter back in my head.

Sweet Jesus.

She grips it, hard.

Helvete.

There is no holding back now.

I whip around and grab her face, her beautiful, sweet face and kiss her more wildly, more violent and desperate than I’ve ever felt before. Her mouth is warm silk as my tongue thrusts inside, wanting to claim every wet inch, and her skin feels like the best version of heaven.

Valhalla.

A small whimper escapes her lips and into my mouth and her hands are on my bare chest, trying to push me back, but I can’t wait. Not anymore.

I grab her roughly, and with a grunt, whirl her around and throw her on the bed. She bounces on it, her mouth open in surprise.

I reach down and pull off my boxers.

Not hiding anything now.

She’s breathless and wide-eyed as she stares at my naked, massive cock for the first time. It’s just the reaction I want. Actually, she’s looking slightly intimidated, which isn’t bad for my ego.

“Do you know I’ve thought of this every single night from the moment I first saw you?” I tell her hoarsely. “Do you know how badly I’ve wanted you? Do you know how much I’ve dreamed of doing exactly this?”

“Stop talking and show me,” she says breathily.

I didn’t expect her to say that.