The Hidden Princess At All-Boys Alpha Academy

When she sees who's standing out there, holding a plate of food in his hand, her face breaks into a wide, laughing smile. She swings the door open and leans against the frame, staring up into Rafe Sinclair's pretty green eyes. "Well, aren't you a surprise," she says, beaming at him.

"Thought you might be hungry," Rafe says, giving a too-casual shrug and holding the plate of food out towards her.

Daphne laughs as she crosses her arms over her chest, a sound and a sight that makes Rafe's pulse rush more than the hasty walk down here did. God, but she's beautiful - and that laugh?

He takes a deep breath, working hard to settle the butterflies in his stomach as his wolf eagerly paces back and forth in his soul.

"Come on, Rafe," Daphne says, nodding towards the already-empty dinner plate resting on the tray by the door. "What did you think, I went starving every night when you didn't bring me the cold leftovers from your table?"

"Listen, I was just being considerate," Rafe says, grinning and indulging in a blatant lie, pressing an earnest hand to his heart. "We worry about you, Daphne. About your nutrition, primarily."

"Well, instead of worrying about my...nutrition," she murmurs, her voice dropping a little, along with her lashes. "You could tell me why you're really here."

Rafe goes still for a moment, trying to think of something witty to say.

But god damn it that was never his realm of expertise -

Suddenly he gives up all pretense and moves, shoving Ariel's unappetizing decoy plate onto Daphne's tray in the same moment that he dips low, wrapping an arm around Daphne's thighs and pulling her up against him, hard and fast, as he moves into the room. The next moment her mouth is on his as he kicks the door closed, and god - the way she moans - the way she tastes -

He's nearly undone with it already.

Rafe stumbles over to Daphne's bed, sinking down onto it, taking her with him. She laughs as they go, kind of delighted, and Rafe is dizzy at the sound of it - the feel of her -

He pulls Daphne tight against him as he lays down in her tiny bed, his head falling back against the pillow, her knees finding a place on either side of his hips. Rafe doesn't even know how they do it - how they draw breath - between the fervid kisses - each one deeper than the last.

Each one pulling him in further so that he's drowning in her - in her heat, her scent, the feel of her body beneath his hands. Drowning, and happy to do it - to give it all up, everything.

Things slow then, growing more serious and intent after the shock of his sudden appearance passes. Rafe moves his mouth deliberately over hers, even as his wolf pants in his chest, desperate and aching for her. Still, he moves his hands slowly, exploring every inch of her as they kiss, moving down her back, over the swell of her ass that he can't help but grasp -

And god, fuck, but the shuddering little gasp that comes out of her when he does that -

He stirs, the weight of her on top of him absolute torture, the clothes between them...an abomination.

His hand slips lower until it reaches the hiked-up hem of her dress, his fingers slipping eagerly beneath -

But suddenly, she pulls away.

"Um, Rafe?"

His eyes slowly open and Rafe looks up at Daphne above him, struck dumb by the way her auburn curls look in this light - casting almost a halo around her head.

She frowns a little, confused at his nonresponse. "Rafe?"

He blinks and swallows, hard, finding his breath. "Yeah?" he says, sitting up a little. "Are you...are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she says, smiling at him softly, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I think we just..." she hesitates, biting her lip, and Rafe clenches his teeth as his eyes move immediately to her mouth in that moment.

Because god does he wish that was his teeth right now, doing precisely the same thing.

Daphne laughs a little, and he returns his eyes to hers. "Rafe, I think we just need to...slow down a little?"

Rafe stares at her for a long moment, kind of appalled at the idea, because all he wants in the world right now is to...

But then he blushes scarlet, embarrassed that he hasn't even bothered to figure out if Daphne is in the same place as he is. If she, too, wants to rip off all their clothes and spend the next several hours so wrapped up in each other that they lose track of time, space. Everything.

And, obviously...he should have checked. Because clearly she does not.