My Taboo Harem!

Phei woke to fingers moving through his hair.

Soft and gentle fingers.

A touch so careful it seemed less like an attempt to wake him and more like affection losing self-control. A few strands were brushed away from his face. Fingertips traced lightly near his temple, paused, then slipped back again as though the person touching him had stolen one small moment and wanted to stretch it before he opened his eyes.

Then a kiss touched his forehead.

Warm, familiar and filled with so much tenderness that it passed through sleep, through fatigue, through the leftover weight of the night, and reached something in him no system reward had ever touched.

Phei opened his eyes.

For one breath, the world was soft.

Silver shadows.

Dim room.

Warm sheets.

The faint scent of Melissa.

’Melissa~’

Her dark hair fell loosely around her face, a few strands brushing her cheek as she smiled down at him with the tired warmth of someone who had spent the night holding together a celebration, a household, a collection of princesses, and probably half the emotional stability of the penthouse because apparently mothers were expected to be infrastructure now.

Her eyes carried sleepiness, affection, and that deep mature softness that always did something unfair to him.

Phei’s eyes widened.

Love moved first.

Then instinct.

Melissa started to draw back, perhaps thinking she had woken him gently enough.

She made it half an inch.

Phei caught her.

One arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her down before she could escape. Melissa gasped, startled, and then the gasp broke into bright pearled laughter as he rolled with her, gathered her fully against him, and settled her onto the bed as if he had just reclaimed treasure from a thief.

"Phei!"

Too late.

He tucked himself behind her, wrapping her in a spooning embrace so close that her back fit against his chest, his arm firm around her waist, his breath warm near the curve of her ear. He held her as if the room, the island, and the universe itself had briefly forgotten who she belonged beside and he had taken personal offense.

As her soft, round ass settled back against him, Phei felt his cock — already half-hard from sleep and the warm scent of her — swell instantly into a thick, heavy throb that pressed right between the cheeks of her ass through the thin silk.

Holy fuck.

Melissa laughed again, low and beautiful, then relaxed into him with a sigh that felt like surrender and victory at once.

"My love," she murmured, "you are awake."

"I wasn’t, I am now."

Phei grinned against the back of her neck, voice still rough but already turning cocky and horny. "And damn... you feel way too good like this. You sure you came in here just to wake me up? ’Cause I’m already hard as fuck and we haven’t even started."

Melissa’s breath hitched. She could feel him — thick, hot, and shamelessly nestled against the middle of her ass cheeks.

"You attacked me."

"I rescued you from leaving."

"I was not leaving, my love."

"You were moving away."

"I was sitting up."

"Mmmm~ So suspicious."

She laughed, and the sound settled through him with absurd ease.

While she laughed, Phei rolled his hips once — slow, deliberate — grinding the hard length of his cock against the soft cleft of her ass. "Fuck, that laugh... you have no idea what it does to me. You came to be strict and now you’re pressed up on my dick. Classic."

"You’re so horny... what do I even do with you?"

Phei just closed his eyes for a moment and held her tighter. Melissa always did this to him. Other women made his blood hotter, his thoughts sharper, his pride louder, his hunger more unreasonable. Melissa made something in him unclench. She turned the room into a place worth staying in.

She made warmth feel less temporary... same but different reaction he had with Maya.

But right now that warmth was mixed with pure teenage lust. His hand slid down from her waist to rest over the gentle swell of her pregnant belly which he didn’t know held his babe, his fingers spread possessively.

Her hand lowered over his where it rested against her stomach wishing he knew, wishing their precious would kick at daddy’s hand.

Too bad, it was too early for that to happen.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked.

"Eventually."

"That does not sound like yes."

"It is the closest my night deserved."

Melissa’s thumb brushed slowly over his knuckles. "Maya stayed with you until you fell asleep."

"I know."

"She looked tired too, but she would not leave until she was sure you had settled."

Phei smiled faintly into Melissa’s hair. "That sounds like Maya."

"She is very sweet."

"She is very dangerous too, I love her so much, Mels."

"I know, sweetness can be dangerous."

"That sounded wise."

"I am a mother."

"That... is an unfair advantage."

Melissa’s laugh was softer this time. "You think motherhood explains everything?"

"It explains enough."

"Does it?"

"It explains why everyone obeys you and pretends it was their idea."

She turned her head slightly, just enough for him to see the amused curve of her mouth. "You are flattering me because you know I came to scold you."

Phei kissed the side of her neck — slow, open-mouthed, tongue flicking out to taste her skin. "I would never."

"You absolutely would."

"I am innocent."

"My love, you vanished from your own celebration."

"It was not entirely mine."

"It was enough yours."

"It was your daughter’s birthday."

"And who turned my daughter’s birthday into a gathering of princesses, legacy families, impossible revelations, powerful women sighing in corners, mothers crying quietly, and half of them trying to decide whether they should fear you, worship you, seduce you, or run?"

Phei considered the accusation with grave seriousness.

"Society contributed."

Melissa snorted. "Society did not buy all those cars, collect half those women, unsettle the other half, and then disappear."

"I did not collect anyone."

"No?"

"Women arrive."

"They do not arrive by accident."

"Some do."

"Phei."

"What?"

"Do not make me laugh while I am trying to be strict."

He grinned against her neck, grinding his cock against her ass again, slower this time. "You are strict right now?"

"I am trying to becoming strict but you’re not letting me."

"You feel very comfortable."

"That is because you are holding me. Comfort does not cancel guilt."

"What a cruel law."

"Necessary law, actually."

He kissed her neck again, lower this time, just beneath the soft line of her jaw. His hand slid up to cup one heavy breast through the silk, thumb brushing over her nipple. Melissa’s breath deepened, and her fingers tightened over his hand.

"You are doing it again," she said, "Distracting me."

"Is it working?"

"Unfortunately."

"Then I should continue."

"You should apologize."

"I apologize for being missed."

Melissa turned in his arms with enough grace to make the movement look easy despite his hold. She faced him beneath the dim glow of the room, one hand resting on his chest, her hair falling over the pillow. Here, away from the guests and the roles she carried for everyone else, she looked softer, more open, her beauty warmed by trust rather than ceremony.

"You left me with everything," Melissa said, her tone carrying that calm accusation she had perfected over the years.

Phei only smiled. "And you handled it perfectly." When she told him that was not compensation, he called it praise instead, which earned him an unimpressed look.

"Praise is free." Phei looked almost offended by the suggestion.

"Mine is rare."

Melissa’s brow lifted, and the shameless smile answering her made it painfully obvious he considered that a serious argument.

She shook her head, fondness already betraying the corner of her mouth. "You are impossible." Phei corrected her immediately.

"I am charming."

She gave him a long look before sighing. "You are both, and that is exactly why arguing with you becomes work."

He suggested she simply stop arguing with him, which Melissa dismissed at once. "I have to. Otherwise you will start believing your own nonsense."

Phei tilted his head. "Start?"

Melissa’s expression flattened. "Yes. I noticed."

Laughing softly, Phei placed his hand over hers where it rested against his chest. "Fine. What compensation does the queen demand?"

Melissa reminded him that it had not been her birthday, only for Phei to point out that it had been her daughter’s.

When she agreed, he nodded as though that settled everything. "So you were the queen mother."

Melissa stared at him. "That is not a title."

Phei’s smile widened. "It is now."

"You cannot solve every argument by inventing titles," she told him, though by then she was already losing the battle against her own amusement.

Phei admitted he could at least try.

Melissa informed him that he absolutely may not.

"Strict," he murmured.

"Experienced," she returned, and that finally pulled another grin from him.

Melissa softened despite herself. She always did that around him, beginning with every intention of remaining severe only for affection to reach her face first.

Still, she refused to surrender the original point. "You owe me."

This time Phei nodded. "I do."

The tiny victory brightened her eyes immediately, and Phei caught it.

There it was. The fatal opening.

He sighed with theatrical defeat and settled deeper beneath her hand. "Fine. Compensation it is. Fortunately for you, I happen to have the best gift."

Melissa’s amusement quieted as she studied him more carefully. "The best?"

"The best."

That answer made her pause.