CHAPTER 63: THE PERILS OF HAVING THIN WALLS

They froze, bodies locked together, hardly daring to breathe. Natalia could feel her pulse thundering everywhere—at her throat, in her wrists, between her legs where Satori’s hand remained pressed intimately against her. His weight pinned her to the mattress, a delicious pressure she didn’t want to lose.

Footsteps moved away from the door, fading down the hallway like a retreating tide.

Satori looked down at her, a predatory smile spreading across his face. "Thirty minutes," he whispered, voice rough with desire. "Think that’s enough time for me to make you come twice and still look presentable for dinner?"

A desperate whimper threatened to escape. Natalia slapped a hand over her mouth, the sound dying in her throat. The near-miss left her heart hammering against her ribs. Adrenaline flooded her system, sharpening her arousal into a raw, electric urgency.

"Why didn’t you tell me about her?" she asked, reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair, tugging just hard enough to make him groan. "About meeting La Sirena at the store?"

Satori’s fingers resumed their maddening movements, stroking her through the damp fabric with expert precision. "Because she doesn’t matter in the slightest."

"She’s an A-Rank with S-Rank potential," Natalia insisted, her breath hitching as his thumb found a particularly sensitive spot.

"And?" He leaned down, his breath scorching against the shell of her ear. "She’s not my queen. She never could be."

"Show me," she demanded, arching against him. "Show me I’m your queen. Prove it."

His fingers slid beneath the fabric of her panties, finding her slick and burning hot. She bit her lip hard enough to nearly draw blood, desperate to keep from crying out as he worked her with devastating skill, his thumb circling relentlessly while two fingers curled inside her with perfect knowledge of her body.

"Look at me," he commanded, his voice dropping to that register that made her insides clench. "I want to see your face when you come apart for me. Only me."

Natalia locked eyes with him, letting him see everything laid bare—her raw desire, her possessive jealousy, her desperate need to be the only one who knew this primal side of him. His fingers twisted inside her, finding that secret spot that made constellations burst behind her eyelids.

"That’s it," he murmured, reverence coloring his tone. "So fucking beautiful. My perfect, powerful queen."

She came with a silent scream, the sound swallowed by her own tightly clenched teeth, her body bowing off the bed like a drawn bow, hands clutching desperately at his broad shoulders. Satori captured her mouth with his, swallowing her gasps and whimpers as she trembled and pulsed around his invading fingers.

Before she could even catch her breath, he was tugging her shorts and soaked panties down her trembling thighs. "I need to taste you right now," he growled, eyes dark with hunger.

"We don’t have time," she panted, even as she lifted her hips to help him strip the fabric away. "My dad could come looking any second—"

"Then you’ll have to be very, very quiet, won’t you?" The challenge in his eyes was unmistakable, almost cruel in its intensity.

He slid down her body, settling between her thighs like he belonged there. The first velvet touch of his tongue against her oversensitive flesh made her gasp sharply and grip the sheets until her knuckles whitened. He worked her mercilessly, licking and sucking until she was writhing beneath him, one hand pressed brutally against her mouth to keep from screaming her pleasure to the entire household.

Her second orgasm crashed through her with stunning, almost violent force. Satori held her hips down with bruising strength as she bucked helplessly against his mouth, his hungry eyes never leaving her face as it contorted with ecstasy.

When she could finally breathe again, he moved back up her body, wiping his glistening mouth with the back of his hand. His expression was pure masculine satisfaction, arrogant and possessive.

"Still worried about Reyna Cabana?" he asked, pressing a claiming kiss to the vulnerable hollow of her throat.

Natalia shook her head weakly, momentarily robbed of speech. She reached for his belt, but he caught her wrist in a gentle but unyielding grip.

"Later," he promised, voice thick with restraint. "When we have more time." He kissed her deeply, letting her taste herself on his tongue. "When I can make you scream properly without risking your father breaking down the door to murder me."

A sharp knock made them both jolt upright.

"Satori?" Kimiko’s voice, painfully close. "Have you seen Natalia? Dinner’s almost ready."

Satori’s eyes widened comically. Natalia scrambled off the bed in panic, yanking her shorts back into place and frantically trying to tame her thoroughly disheveled hair.

"Haven’t seen her," Satori called back, his voice impressively steady despite their situation. "Maybe she went out for a run?"

"Her shoes are still by the door," Kimiko replied, audibly unconvinced. "Well, when you see her, tell her to wash up for dinner."

Footsteps retreated once more. Natalia released a shuddering breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

"That was way too close," she whispered, heart still galloping. "I think she suspects something’s going on between us."

Satori pulled her against his chest, kissing her forehead with unexpected tenderness. "Then we’ll need to be more careful." His hand slid possessively down to squeeze her ass. "But know this beyond any doubt, my queen—no A-Rank princess with a fancy nickname could ever take your place beside me."

Natalia smiled against his chest, the last embers of her jealousy extinguished by his words and actions. "Good. Because I always will be your number one pillar."

"Undeniably," he agreed, his eyes darkening with renewed promise. "Now, go get ready for dinner before they send out a search party." He delivered a playful smack to her ass, guiding her toward the door. "And maybe later tonight, I’ll show you exactly how much more you mean to me than any Hunter celebrity could ever dream of."