Going Royal 01 - Some Like It Royal (5 page)

“I hope you will.”

Something in his voice tugged her head up and she met his easy smile. For a moment, she forgot about his leg brushing hers or the weight on her finger. It was just lunch with a handsome guy.

“Okay, then. I will.” Decided, she concentrated on the food. They had a lot of work to do.

Chapter Seven

Daniel rubbed the back of his neck as the driveway gates closed behind Victor’s departing car. Exhaustion weighed on his shoulders and his neck ached. They’d sat through the most grueling dinner in his recent memory. Victor insisted they hold hands, and Daniel took every opportunity to explore her smooth skin, the way her fingers cupped his, and when she’d had to take her hand back to eat, he’d glided a leg against her.

The initial instruction to get used to touching her came a lot easier than he imagined and carried its own particular brand of torture. Locking up and engaging the security system, he found the downstairs lights already dimmed. Alyx’d escaped up the stairs at the first opportunity, almost, but not quite, rolling her eyes when Victor’d announced he would return after breakfast.

His gaze wandered toward the stairs. Because the first month would be the hardest, he told the office he would be working from home. He had two programs to review. Despite having a large staff of developers, he was a hands-on kind of guy. No Spherecast software went into production without his review. But he didn’t want to work—they were supposed to share the same room tonight. He could have given her an out by giving Theresa the week off, but the sparkle in Alyx’s eyes and the challenge in the stubborn jut of her chin were too attractive to resist.

Upstairs, he paused outside the room he’d given to her and listened. No sound echoed from within. Bypassing her room, he walked to his own door and hesitated. Knocking once, he let her know he planned to enter and twisted the knob at her muffled “come in.”

Alyx curled up on the sofa beneath the window that made up the whole exterior wall. He loved the natural light and the profusion of windows in the house attracted him the first time he toured it with a Realtor. She’d stolen a pillow from the bed and laid out one blanket against the cushions, and sandwiched herself beneath another one. She was brushing her hair and gave him a wry smile as he stared.

“You said we had to sleep in the same room, but if you sleep in the middle of your bed, it will be rumpled and I can sleep here. Then we toss the blankets on the bed in the morning to add to the mussed-up effect.”

Triumph sparkled in her grin and he shook his head, quashing the nibble of disappointment in the pit of his stomach. “That sofa is hardly big enough for you to sleep on.”

“Maybe not for you, Sasquatch, but I fit just fine. See?” She stretched out, extending one bare leg from beneath blanket. Her toes didn’t quite reach the other end. “It’s a lot bigger than my backseat, I assure you.”

He grimaced and tried again. “The bed would be more comfortable.” Not to mention, he’d rather looked forward to waking up with her...if they got any sleep.

“I’m sure it is, but I’m fine here.” She returned to brushing her hair. In the time he’d taken to send Victor off, she’d changed back into the familiar tank top and shorts. Her face, scrubbed free of makeup, shone and her hair gleamed in the low light of the room.

“Well, the offer’s open. If you change your mind, feel free to join me.” He let her take the victory for now. They had many more nights stretched out in front of them.

Nothing would help them get used to the intimacy of being together and touching as sharing the same bed.

Or being intimate.

He hid a frown as he closed the door and crossed to the bathroom. A cool shower was the best plan. Unfortunately, he’d agreed to that no-sex clause. It was too bad, too. They could definitely pass the time more pleasantly with sex. Stripping, he turned the shower on, then stepped beneath the cool spray. The chill water braced the raw need heating his body.
We just got started
,
best to table any changes until later.

The shower cleared his head and eased the ache in his neck. Dried off and clad only in boxers, he shut off the bathroom light and opened the door to a dim bedroom. Only the low-wattage light next to the bed burned. Alyx slept with her back to him, the blanket outlining her silhouette beautifully.

Clock set for five, he punched the pillows and stretched out under the sheet before shutting the remaining light off. Tucking an arm behind his head, he stared up into the darkness. As tired as he felt, sleep remained elusive. The soft, regular sound of her breathing filtered through the quiet. The sheet was too warm. He pushed it off and rolled onto his side, looking for a comfortable position.

An hour later, tired of staring into the darkness, he gave up. Careful to be quiet, he used his phone as a flashlight and padded toward the door.

“Can’t sleep?” Her voice whispered through the blackness.

“Nope. Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you. Just going to go downstairs.”

“Hang on.” The blankets rustled. “I’ll come with you.”

He pulled the door open to let the low light from the hallway in, but was a little too late as her knee hit the corner of the bed. He winced in sympathy.

“I’m fine.” She hopped. “Ow. That smarts.”

“Next time we’ll just turn on the light.” He flipped the wall switch and gave her an apologetic smile.

“S’okay. I’ll live. After you.” She motioned for him to precede her and they trundled down the stairs. “Why can’t you sleep?”

“No idea.” He finished the answer with a jaw-popping yawn. “I’m tired.”

“Me too. I don’t suppose you have any ice cream?” The question surprised him and awakened a mild craving. Ice cream did sound good.

“Let’s find out.”

In the kitchen, the freezer air was too damn cold on his bare chest, but he pulled out a tub of chocolate chip. “Aha.”

“Excellent.” She grinned and disappeared into the pantry, returning with chocolate syrup. He set the tub on the counter and went in search of bowls. “Where’s the ice-cream scoop?” she asked, opening one drawer after another.

“Two to the right of the dishwasher.” Setting the stoneware bowls on the counter, he paused to open the top on the ice-cream container. “I think we’ve got whipped cream too.”

“If you have nuts, I may die of happiness.”

“Noted. I won’t tell you there are dessert toppings in the cupboard to the right of the fridge.” He found the can of spray whip in the fridge and shook it. Alyx skipped over and pulled the cupboard open. He leaned past her, shoulders brushing, to grab the nuts. “See, no nuts.”

She laughed and pressed a hand to his chest as she hopped to try and snag the plastic bag, but he swept it away, grinning. She pursued him and grabbed the ice-cream scoop. “Surrender the nuts or I’ll keep the ice cream to myself.”

“Ha, you play mean.” He squinted at her. “How about I give you the nuts and you give me the scoop?”

“At the same time?” Her brows rose. “Hmm... Can I trust you?”

“To give you some nuts? Why not?” The corner of his mouth curled upward.

“Because you’re sneaky.” She eyed the bag, a look of longing softening her face. “Okay, at the same time. We both put them down.”

“Right. On three.”

“One.” She grinned and stretched the scoop toward the counter.

“Two.” He lowered the nuts.

“Three.” She darted forward and snaked the bag right out of his hand, but he caught her on the escape, one arm banding around her middle and dragging her back against him. She squealed with laughter and he took advantage of her full hands to tickle her sides.

“That’s cheating,” he warned her and she squirmed, trying to evade his hands, and only managed to rub against him. His cock roused, half stiffening, and he grabbed the scoop and nuts before forcing himself to release her.

She danced away, eyes sparkling and her hands covering her bright smile. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

Yeah
,
neither can I.

“You first,” he offered graciously, sweeping an arm toward the counter and retreating behind it so she couldn’t see the wood tenting his shorts.

No sex.
No sex.
No sex.
If you break the damn contract
,
she’s out and then we’re screwed.

Martin thought his drive to make this deal—to pursue this contract with Alyx and use her royal connection—was about pride, and partially it was—but if Spherecast didn’t grow, if it didn’t stay on the edge and ahead of his competitors, then his bigger contracts might switch out and the whole house of cards tumbled.

“Such a gentleman.”

If she only knew, but he contented himself watching her scoop two generous balls of ice cream into her bowl and grinned when she added some to his as well.

“I warn you, I make a terrific sundae. I used to work at an ice-cream shop in high school. We had to make every single dessert on the menu—and they had
a
lot
—to be sure we got the presentation right.” She drizzled chocolate in perfect swirls on both before claiming the whipped cream and adding a generous mound. The nuts she sprinkled with care, and slipped a spoon into the side of his bowl before passing it over. “Sugar’s up.”

“Looks good.” He put a spoonful of the confection in his mouth. The sugar overload hit like a brick, but she was right—it was spectacular.

“Thank you.” She dug right into hers, and they ate in relative quiet on opposite sides of the kitchen island. “What kind of software do you create?”

“Hmm?” He lifted a brow, chasing an escapee nut trying to sink into the melting ice cream.

“Spherecast? It’s a software company. What kind of software do you do? I mean—video games? Finance software? Shoe comparison app that lets you take a picture of shoes and finds them for you online?” A drip of chocolate hovered at the corner of her mouth. It looked more edible than the ice-cream sundaes.

“We design a lot of things.” And he needed to stop staring at her mouth. “Water?”

“Actually, I want coffee. I know it’s weird, but I always get cold after eating ice cream—which is the point, I know. But coffee sounds good. Maybe? Please?” She batted her eyelashes in such a patently false show of modesty that he laughed.

“Sure.” He headed for the pot. It was already set up for morning, he just had to turn it on. He could reset it when they were done.

“Define a ‘lot of things’?” She licked her spoon clean and claimed both their bowls to rinse out in the sink.

“Finance software.” He waited for her nose to wrinkle and suppressed another smile when it did. “Database tools. Retail processing software, shopping carts and occasionally a video game here or there. We’re just getting our feet wet in that department, though. Mostly we specialize in high-end security, network internal and external.” He picked up the ice-cream tub and the whipped-cream can to put them back where they went. In a couple of minutes the center island was clean and she wiped it with a damp cloth as the coffeepot burbled and gurgled the last of the brew.

“Huh. Why software? I mean I know it’s lucrative, but why did you get into designing it?” She rinsed her hands off and passed him the two coffee cups they drank out of and washed up that morning.

Filling both, he shrugged. “Just something I was good at. I got my first computer when I was eight or nine. Wrote my first program at ten and never looked back.”

“What was your first program?” She sipped the coffee and leaned back against the counter, looking more relaxed than she had all day.

“You’ll laugh.” His lips twisted and he took a drink of the coffee. She was right—it was the perfect level of heat to chase away the chill of their dessert.

“I promise, I’ll try not to laugh too hard.” Her impudent, irrepressible grin drew him. He liked her brand of honesty.

“It was a stats tool.”

She squinted one eye closed and tilted her head. “How would that be funny?”

“Because,” he lifted his mug, “it was for an online game so I could get the best gear with the most attributes for my characters.”

Her mouth opened. “Why?”

“Because a lot of the good gear was BOP.” At her quizzical look, he chuckled. He’d already let his inner nerd out of the bag. “It was bind on pickup. When you went on raids with groups, you had to know whether you could really use an item before you took it, because you couldn’t give it away. Raids were a big thing and you were often limited to winning one item. I wanted to make sure whatever item I was after I could use and was the best for my character class. I created a database that let me see how adding or taking away a piece would affect my overall strength, health and talents. The best combos I saved and that way I knew what to get.”

“What you’re saying is that it was a shoe comparison program for geeks?” No malice or criticism echoed in her words, but the analogy wasn’t that far off.

“More or less.”

She grunted, the corners of her eyes crinkling. “That’s kind of cool.”

“Yeah, well, I thought so. When it worked well, I put it on a Web site—that way others could use it—and in six months I had a lot of hits and an offer from the game company to buy it. They wanted to add it to their own tools on their Web site.”

“All right. It’s funny, but I’m impressed. How old were you?”

“Eleven—or twelve maybe. I’d really tweaked the software by then, and set it up so all I had to do was update it with new tables for new equipment during game updates. But after I sold it to them, they charged a subscription fee to use it. That kind of annoyed me, because the work was done and the players already paid to play the game. But I learned from that error in judgment. The next time I built something like that I made it free and I didn’t take a gaming company’s offer to buy it out.” It also gave him the drive to look into computer degrees and programming design in high school. By his senior year, he’d finished three college-level courses and had gotten a full scholarship to CalTech.

“That’s really cool.”

“What about you? Why acting?” He regretted the question the moment he asked it. The cheerful gleam in her eyes shuttered behind a more guarded expression. She retreated from the easy intimacy of the chat and he was left to wonder why.

“That’s a long story for another night.” She finished the cup and rinsed it out, setting it on the counter. “I think I’ll try to get some sleep now.”

He wanted to pursue the issue, but she walked away and the stiffness returned to her posture. “I think I’ll do some work. Be up in a bit.”