Going Royal 01 - Some Like It Royal (15 page)

“No—but I was thinking a little further. Ever been to Big Bear?”

Having repaired most of the tear damage, she shook her head slowly. “No.”

“Me either. Wanna go?” His eagerness must have been contagious, because she no sooner nodded than he threaded her arm through his and they cruised through the room. Quick pleasantries, glad handing a few executives and they were at the door, claiming her wrap.

As she stepped into the elevator, she caught sight of Prentiss’s gentle smile and he lifted his wineglass in quiet salute. She inclined her head and let out a squeaky breath as the doors whooshed closed.

As if by mutual consent, Daniel caught her face in his hands and his lips slanted over hers, a hot salty kiss that smashed through the wobbly barriers, already raw from the grand duke’s invitation and Daniel’s success. She clung to him, arms twining around his shoulders. A clatter of noise pushed between them as the doors opened and a couple of photographers snapped their photos. The flashes dazzled her eyes. Daniel lifted his head with a mild oath and tucked her into his side.

Building security appeared and escorted the photographers away, but more waited in front of the building. The flashes cut through the dark evening and she hid her face against Daniel’s shoulder as he guided them through the throng and to the open door of the limo. The driver closed them in and hurried around to pull away.

“Holy crap.” She glanced back at the crowd on the sidewalk.

“Yeah, I know. But let’s forget them.” Daniel grinned and tugged her to him. She met his lips with a sigh and dropped the necklace box onto the seat. He palmed the privacy control and the window to the driver slid shut. When his hands shaped over her breasts, she let out a little moan.

“In the car?” Breathless laughter rose up.

“Oh yeah. In the car. On the car.” A zipper on the side of her dress gave way and he hiked her skirt up. Moisture flooded between her legs and she could feel the weight of his erection pressing up to her as he tugged her onto his lap. “Right here. Right now.”

“But the driver—”

He cut her off with another tongue-thrusting kiss. She forgot about the necklace, the photographers and the driver. It took a little juggling to get his pants open and she teased his cock as she helped him into a condom and then he was inside her, filling her, stretching her. Pleasure licked lazy flames through her belly and she braced her hands on his shoulders.

“He’s paid by the hour. He can drive us around all night.”

“Daniel...” But his kiss swallowed the rest of her words.

I
love you.

Chapter Eighteen

He woke to the feeling of her hands on his chest.

Three days...

Three days of hiding away at the cabin in Big Bear and all he had to do was look at her to feel his pulse quicken. They’d stayed up late, feeding each other ice cream and watching another marathon of
Red Dwarf
episodes. Episodes they repeatedly had to start over. Particularly after the whipped cream dripped onto her breast... He grinned at that memory. He preferred his whipped cream with nipple on top.

Telling her as much had earned him a shocked look and a delicious peal of laughter that squeezed his orgasm out of him.

Daniel sighed, shifting against the pillows and adjusting her so she seemed more comfortable. Her hair trailed across his chest and her face relaxed completely into slumber with her lips still swollen from kissing him all night long.

This was the purest definition of perfect.

No
, he amended mentally, his gaze tracking up to the beat-up bear sitting on the nightstand on her side of the bed. They’d hurried home after making love in the backseat of the limo, drunk on success, and he’d made love to her on the stairs and again in the shower until they’d collapsed on his bed. Two hours of sleep later, he woke her with a gentle stroke across her rump. Big Bear was just a few hours’ drive, but he didn’t want to wait.

He hadn’t questioned his own impatience or taken a look at motivations. Walking out of that meeting with Takahashi to see her stricken expression as a stranger leaned into her set off every alarm bell in his head. He’d marched over there, fighting the first real urge to violence he’d ever experienced.

Alyx shifted and her leg nestled deeper between his. He grinned as her mouth opened and closed, a hint of a kiss brushing his pec. It was ridiculous just how deep he’d fallen for this woman. The news that the grand duke made his approach should have him crowing about financial good fortune, but all he could think about were the tears in her eyes, the absolute blown-away expression on her face and the traces of fear in her voice.

She couldn’t imagine why someone would want her or reach out to her.

He couldn’t imagine not having her right where she was—in his arms.

That was why he’d wanted to go to Big Bear. The photographers closing in, the messages from Lucy about press calls and Martin’s satisfaction about how well his insane plan worked echoed in the back of his mind. He’d wanted to crown her a princess, but it never occurred to him that changing her life meant he’d really changed it. Business deal or not, when all was said and done, she would still be a princess. The press would be there, demands for her attention would only continue to increase if the world fell half as much in love with her as he was.

The sobering thought sent adrenaline surging through him. The urge to take her somewhere it could be just the two of them flooded through him so strongly that he’d woken her up, two hours of sleep or not, to leave for Big Bear. He’d rushed her through the packing and she’d only pushed back long enough to grab her bear from the car.

The ratty one-eyed, overstitched bear sat like a monarch on his nightstand throne.

That bear made this perfect.

The ridiculous soppy sentiment prickled through him and he twisted, turning her over to nuzzle her cheek. Like a kid at Christmas, he didn’t want to wait for her to wake up.

Her arms wrapped around him and she murmured against his lips, “Good morning.”

“Morning.” He deepened the kiss, inviting her tongue to dance with his. Her foot slid along the back of his leg and his stiff cock glided against the wet heat of her sex.

For the barest moment, the idea of skipping a condom and just burrowing into her body tried to take root. If he could fill her with a baby, she wouldn’t go anywhere, but he shook away the thought. She’d lost enough choices in her life and as much as he longed to tie her to him, it had to be her choice.

“Did you get any sleep?” Her drowsy voice stroked over his senses like hot dark chocolate poured over a cold treat, sensuous and inviting. He nibbled along her lower lip, drawing it between his teeth and answering her with another soul-baring kiss.

“Some,” he murmured, tracing a path to her ear and then down the slender column of her throat. He nipped at the steady pulse beating beneath her skin. Her pebbled nipples stabbed at his chest and reminded him that he had so much more to play with. He continued his descent, enjoying her low sigh as he circled one nipple with his tongue. Blowing cool air, he grinned at the red tip pearling tight just for him. “But this is so much more interesting than sleep.”

He latched on to the nipple and thrummed it with his tongue. Moments later, as she arched up to him, he rolled a condom on and sank into the hot clamp of her sex. She let out a low cry, legs scissoring around his waist. The urgency to take her quieted only to be replaced by the singular purpose of burying himself so deeply in her she would forget they’d ever been two people.

She gazed up at him. Her hands stroked up and down his sides in time to his thrusts and a smile played on her lips. “I don’t want this to ever end.”

“It never has to.” He promised and sealed the oath with another kiss before letting himself get lost in the feel of her. The orgasm that shot through him left them clinging together. Slippery with sweat, he rolled onto his back and draped her across him, enjoying the way her hair curtained around him.

This is perfect.

“I’m hungry,” she announced with a half yawn and more than impish grin. As if to illustrate her point, her stomach growled.

He chuckled. “Ride me to exhaustion and then demand to be fed. I see how you are.”

She propped her chin in her hand and lifted her eyebrows. “I beg to differ. You kept me up all night and then woke me up to ride me to exhaustion. You need to feed me or I may perish from fine sex.” The wicked twinkle in her eyes sent a wave of humor through him.

“Well, I would not want you to perish from fine sex.”

“Good. Because I believe I’ve finally acquired the taste for it.” She studied him, her lashes dropping to cover her eyes. “A very specific taste—which means you’ll have to work to keep me pleased.”

“I see. And what does my princess want for food this morning?” He pinched her bottom, grunting as she flexed around him and jerked.

God, it hurt so good.

Her outraged laughter, however, was music to his ears. “I want pancakes. Big fat, fluffy pancakes.”

“Hmm...” He massaged the buttock he’d pinched, rubbing his palm against her skin. He really liked her ass. He loved squeezing it as she took him inside her. “That means getting up and getting dressed.”

“We have to get out of this bed sometime.”

He considered it. And slid out of her and rolled her over so he could look at her back, teasing a line of kisses down her shoulder. “No, we don’t.” He gave her rump a little smack when she started to rise. “Stay put.”

After disposing of the condom, he found his cell phone and called down to the lodge. His cabin was nestled into a private area of the resort, hidden away and secure. He ordered up pancakes, bacon, orange juice and coffee and told them to deliver it in forty-five minutes. She stayed on her tummy, but shot him a questioning look. “I’m hungry now.”

Grinning at the plaintive whine, he slid back onto the bed behind her and nudged her legs apart. “So am I, and I seem to remember promising to go down on you.” Her startled squeal, then low sigh, was all the reward he needed as he flicked his tongue out for a taste. She was just as sweet and spicy as he remembered.

* * *

It was lunchtime before he heated up the pancakes and served her in the bed. She looked like a queen, draped out and exhausted. He wasn’t sure where all his need to take her came from, the urge to fill her up, to keep touching her, to never be apart. Maybe the fact that the press and world noticing his princess meant they would try to take her away from him.

After all, he’d only rented her for the year.

Grimacing at that thought, he stared down at his pancakes moodily.

“Hey.” She nudged him with a foot along his leg. Whisker burns reddened the sides of her breasts and her cheeks. He really needed to shave before he touched her again. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he lied with a quick shake of his head. “Just—just business stuff.” He wanted to tear up the contract. Martin would kill him, but that was exactly what he needed to do. Tear it up and give her the shredded copy.

Then get down on one knee and ask her to stay for real. Not for money. Not for business.

But for him.

The thought cheered him somewhat and he dredged up a smile. “I’m going to shower and shave—” Her fingers stroking his cheek stilled the next words and he looked at her questioningly.

“I kind of like my sun gods scruffy.” The sultry words went straight to his cock and it gave a valiant attempt to firm up.

“Sun god, huh?”

“Oh yeah.” Her fingers rasped against the stubble. “Blond hair, blue eyes, bronze skin and a killer smile. Definitely a sun god.”

“Thank you. But the scruffy keeps marking your skin and I don’t want to hurt you.”
In any way.

She leaned back against the pillows and nibbled her last slice of bacon. She was so unabashed in nudity, one knee up, her breasts full and lush and utterly kissable. God, if he sat here much longer he’d forget about the shower and remind them both why he needed to shave.

Stacking the plates together, he set them on the table. “I’ll be right back.”

“I hate to see you go, but I love watching you walk away.” He could feel her gaze on him all the way across the room and he resisted the urge to puff out his chest. But when he paused in the bathroom door to look back at her, he couldn’t help but grin at her wolf whistle.

“You’re terrible,” he accused her, still smiling.

“You love it,” she teased, wrinkling her nose.

“Oh yeah.” He swept his gaze over her. “I do.”

Her little inhale sent another grin to his lips as he stepped into the bathroom. He met his gaze in the mirror and nodded. Everything would change when they went home. Shred the contract, talk her into staying and turn this charade into the real thing. Princess or not, deal or not—he wanted Alyx.

Fear punched him in the gut.

But does she want me?

* * *

The bathroom door closed behind him and Alyx rocked up to hug her knees. Her heart beat triple time. She’d teased him about loving her, but the look in his eyes, the way he agreed and said
I
do
... Her insides knotted up.

She’d fallen for him, hook, line and glass slipper. But the Daniel she fell for wasn’t the one paying the bills or writing a check—it was the crazy man knocking on her car window. The sensitive guy who seemed truly troubled by the fact that she slept in her car. The thoughtful one who took her to Sacramento to search for her past. The crazy guy who made love to her in the backseat of a limo. The playful one who pinched her bottom and tickled her even as he made love to her.

It was the Daniel who stayed up all night to fix a software problem because it helped someone or shared ice cream and silly stories with her in his kitchen. It was the protective Daniel who stood up to Victor. And—God help her—the passionate one who kissed her until the rest of the world faded away.

But does he mean it?
Or has he just fallen for the image we’ve been creating?

Self-doubt was a cold bed companion and it crawled across their passion-scented sheets to wrap its icy fingers around her spine. She looked at the bathroom and listened to the sound of the water. Sliding forward, she started off the bed to join him—to ask him. She’d never been a coward and she wasn’t going to start acting like one now, but a buzzing interrupted her. His cell phone sat next to the bed and Martin’s name flashed on the caller ID.

Ignore it
, she told herself, but hesitated. It could be important. Daniel had kept his phone off for most of their sojourn at Big Bear. They’d actually been followed part of the way by photographers—a first and totally unwelcome experience—but once on the resort property, they were safe behind security gates.

On the fourth buzzing vibration, she scooped up the phone. “Hello, Martin. He’s in the shower. Is it important?”

“Well, Princess, it’s definitely fantastic news, but I can tell you and you can tell him. How’s that sound?” Martin didn’t sound like the tough, cynical lawyer she’d first spoken to. His guarded tone was gone, replaced by one that was almost giddy.

She wanted to say no, call him later. But she’d answered the phone.

In for a penny... So she exhaled and said, “Sure. What’s going on?”

“The Grand Duke Armand and his retinue will be in Los Angeles tonight and request the honor of your presence—both of you—at a private gala for the family and a few close business associates.”

Her stomach plummeted at the news, but Martin continued on, oblivious to the ice creeping around her heart.

“But that’s not all. Spherecast has been scouted by an EU consortium—the same one your cousin heads. They’ve invited us to a demonstration at the Brussels conference next month.” She could practically hear the fist pump in his words. “This is a real coup, Alyx. A real coup. I know you weren’t that thrilled on this when Daniel proposed his insane idea—and neither was I.” His conversational tone took on an almost confidential note, as if they’d truly been aligned on this matter from the beginning. “But you did it. The two of you have completely sold the world on your romance and escaping to Big Bear—genius. Online and off, it’s all the social media hawks have been able to talk about. Where you’ve gone, the beauty of your romance—and now the grand duke...” He sighed. “Thank you, from the bottom line to the headlines, thank you for doing this for him. I told him to buy a royal bloodline and he did it. Now, get your butts back to L.A. and that party tonight. Invitation says cocktails will be served at seven.”

She wasn’t aware of the tears until they dripped onto her bare thighs. “Okay, we’ll be there.” But Martin had already hung up. She looked at the phone for a long time. God, she was such a fool.