Working Stiff: Casimir (Runaway Billionaires #1) (48 page)

Her fingers trailed down while she kissed him, holding his shoulder with one hand but still keeping her other hand on his left cheek. Her thumb grazed the scar there, and Casimir sucked in a breath.

“Did I hurt you?” she asked.

“No.”

It must’ve just startled him when she had touched the scar.

She ran her thumb over the lower part of the scar again, keeping well away from where the ember had burned him.

This time, she definitely felt him tense against her.

“Don’t,” he said.

“I am going to touch every part of you: your mouth,” she kissed him hard, breaching his lips and tangling her tongue with his, “and your body,” she ran her hands down his chest and ribs, feeling the hard ripples and sinews under his clothes, “and every inch of your skin.”

She kissed her way over his jaw and pulled his collar aside to nip his neck.

Casimir stretched under her mouth and hands, and a thrill ran through her as his fingers tightened on her hips. She pushed his black tuxedo jacket off his broad shoulders and down his biceps and arms. It fell on the bench behind him, the long tails trailing down into the darkness at their feet.

She trailed her lips up over his jaw and found the place on his cheek where his skin twisted under her lips. Careful not to get anywhere near the burned area that was blistered, Rox ran her lips over the healed scar tissue.

Casimir was still tense in her arms, but Rox knew how to distract him from that. Her fingers found his belt, and she unbuckled it.

He leaned back, bracing himself with his arms on the bench behind him, and glanced down at her hands.

Yeah, she had his full attention now.

She unfastened his pants and pulled his shirts out so she could reach her hand inside. Under her fingers, through his underwear, he was already hard, his erection curving back toward his stomach.

He groaned when she touched him.

Casimir pushed himself off the bench behind him and grabbed her around her waist, his hands sliding up to find her breasts. He kissed the tops of them, and a moment of worry passed through her about his mouth staining the silk, but he slid his thumbs over the thin fabric, kissing her neck and where she swelled above the neckline, caressing her until she was panting and her nipples were tight.

His hands roamed her body, and he drew her down, pressing on her hips, to kiss her mouth again.

Rox rose back up to cover his mouth with hers, kissing him, while he groped her hips and her ass and her thighs, sliding his hands under the thin silk of the dress. His hands rose farther, finding the waist of her control-top pantyhose, and he stripped them down her legs.

She stepped to the side of the bench and helped him drag the hose off her ankles. His fingers were already up inside her dress again near her waist, and he snagged the waistband of her panties and let those drop around her feet, too.

As soon as she was bare, he reached for her, digging his fingers into the soft flesh of her hips first, and then sliding his hand around and underneath her. His fingers caressed her folds, every massage sending delicious shudders through her.

Rox arched backward, her head falling back as he rubbed her first outside, then deeper, then finally slipping inside her.

He whispered, “God, you’re so wet. You’re always so wet for me.”

She had been for three years.

He rubbed her harder, rougher, sliding inside of her and out on her slippery skin.

Every slip of his fingers was winding her more tightly, and her fingernails bit into his shirt over his shoulders.

“Come for me,” he said. “Come now.”

Not yet.

Rox shoved his shoulders, and Casimir toppled backwards on the bench. She tugged and pulled away his clothes, exposing his cock.

Her voice was harsh in her throat. “Do you have a condom?”

“No.” He didn’t even open his teeth when he spoke.

“You okay with that?”

“Hell, yes.”

She moved up him, crawling, and Casimir reached between them to angle his cock to nudge against her center. The light from the cell phone’s beacon shone from behind her, and her shadow lay over Casimir’s white tuxedo shirt and the sash that still hung from his right shoulder. The pale light touched his face, shining from below his chin. Odd shadows deepened the scar on his left cheek, and slivers of light highlighted his cheekbones.

She pushed herself down on him, wrapping her body around him as she took him inside of her.

His lips parted as his brilliant green eyes glazed over.

Rox had all of him now, all of him inside of her, and she moved on his body, tilting her hips as she swayed on him.

Casimir bit his lip, and his fingers clutched her thighs. For a moment, it looked like he was going to lose control right then, but he gasped a deep breath and pushed himself up on the bench to half-sitting.

Rox straightened, her feet planted on the ground on either side of him and the low bench, raising herself up with her legs and lowering herself back down onto him. He watched between them for a moment, where their bodies connected, and she felt the air leave his body as if he had been punched. She swiveled her hips as she took him inside her, almost like she was dancing above him.

When he turned his face up to her, his eyes hooded, Rox leaned down and kissed him, and she continued to stroke him with her body.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and shoved her down onto him, the side of his face pressed against her shoulder as he thrust inside her.

His urgency startled her, but his deep thrusts rubbed her inside and shoved against her clit. She grabbed his shoulders, her cheek pressed against his, holding on as he stroked into her. Her body tightened, and her breath quickened. Between her thighs, his body felt like cords of steel were wound around his flesh, and she held on as his every leap up into her spiraled her toward release.

The tension clenched harder around her, and she was keening between her clenched teeth. Casimir leaned her back and pushed harder into her, filling her so deeply and grinding against her so that the knot inside her broke, throbbing through her veins and her muscles, all the way up to her head and the world went white and silent and fiery.

She drifted amid the roaring silence.

His arms.

She was in his arms, clutching his neck, while they both tried to breathe. His forehead was resting against her shoulder, his breath warm on her skin and trickling down her, cooling the sweat on her breasts.

He pressed his lips to her shoulder.
“Lieveke,
marry me.”

“Yes,” she said. “I will. Yes, Casimir.”

His arms tightened around her, “Every time I think that I couldn’t possibly love you more, you take my breath away.”

She stroked the short hair above the back of his neck. “I love you, too.”

“I love you.” He kissed her shoulder.
“Mijn lieveke, ik hou van jou.”

Rox didn’t need a translation. She just curled her body in his arms and held on.

In time, with care, they unwound themselves and, still touching each other’s face and hands, arranged their clothes so that they weren’t completely scandalous.

Her pantyhose still lay in a heap on the stones. It felt too good to have them off, so she didn’t bother with struggling back into them.

They sat side-by-side on the bench. Casimir had his arm around her as she huddled next to him, and they watched the leaves sway in the little breeze by the light of his cell phone.

“I can’t believe that we didn’t use a condom again.” Rox was a little mortified. “It won’t happen again. I’ll go on the Pill or something. We can’t keep playing roulette like this.”

He kissed her hair again. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” she asked, still watching the leaves sway.

“You want something that I’ve never done before? I’ve never had sex without a condom before you. I’ve never wanted to make a woman pregnant with my child. I’ve never been a father. I’ve never tried to. I’ve never wanted to.” She looked up at him, and in the night, his green eyes seemed softer. He smiled but bit his lip. “You’re my first.”

A lump hardened in her throat. “You’re my first, too.”

He adjusted his arms around her and leaned his head back. “I wonder what he would look like.”

“She,” she corrected him. “Our first would be a she.”

“First, huh? Of how many?”

“Couple, maybe. I’m an only. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

“I’m not an only. I can’t recommend parts of that, either.”

“Your sister seems nice.”

“Crown Princess Ana the Nefarious would have you drawn and quartered for saying that.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

“Ana is sweet, but don’t tell her I said that.”

“What does she call you?”

“Casimir.”

“You mean she doesn’t have a pet name for you, like Ana the Nefarious?”

He sighed. “Casimir the Notorious.”

“I like that a lot better than Prince Monster.”

Beside her, he stiffened. “Where did you hear that?”

Oops. Crap.
“I asked Maxence about some things.”

“Why didn’t you ask me?”

“I didn’t want to dredge anything up. I just needed to know some things, and I didn’t want to upset you by asking.”

“I’m not so easily upset as that. You can ask me things.”

She trailed a finger over the ribbon that lay across his chest, now crushed and wrinkled. “Okay, how many kids do you want to have?”

He chuckled. “See? I’m not so easily upset. Perhaps seven.”

Terror gripped her, and she leaned away from him to run the hell away.
“Are you serious?”

“I think Ana is going for six, so we could beat her by one. Or two. Maybe we should have
eight.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“I might be teasing you, but wouldn’t you like to have all those little counts and countesses running about?”

Rox paused. “Counts and countesses? Not princes and princesses?”

“Assuming that everything stays in place, they would be counts and countesses. Otherwise everyone in the Netherlands would be a prince or princess by now.”

“I don’t know, man. Sounds like a deal-breaker to me.”

He laughed and jostled her with his arm. “I think this evening has completely changed my impression of this gazebo.”

She watched the light and shadows flutter among the leaves, and when she held her hand up, the spray of light from his cell phone behind him on the bench caught in the huge emerald on her engagement ring.

“I really like the ring,” she said, admiring it on her finger and turning her hand to catch the light better. “It was a good choice.”

“Everybody does sapphires these days, ever since Wills and Kate, and really ever since Diana.”

“It’s weird that you’re on a first name basis with those guys. Those guys William and Kate. My good buddies Barack and Michelle. My dudes Beyoncé and Jay Z.”
Wait a minute. Casimir was a freakin’ prince.
“Have you
met
them?”

“Well, yes, if you mean Wills and Kate. Not the other people. I see them at most social events. I think Wills is my seventh cousin, if I remember correctly. Maybe eighth.”

“I know that all you royals are as inbred as a hoarder’s housecat, but seriously? You’re related to
them?”

He shrugged, obviously uncomfortable. “Through William the Fourth of the Netherlands, a common ancestor, and Anna of Hannover who was the daughter of George II of Great Britain.”

“So you actually know them. Duchess Kate and Prince William, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. You know, those guys. You
know
them.”

Casimir looked down at their hands, still clasped on his knees. “I was at their wedding.”

“I would have seen you on television!”

“It was before we met.”

“Oh, my God. I have to find my disk and see if I can spot you.”

“I was in the middle of the crowd, but the cameras caught me and Ana a few times. You can meet them when they come to our wedding.”

Her hands flew up in the air, fingers splayed wide. “Really? Oh, my God.” She fanned herself.
“No.
Really?
No.
You’re messing with me.
You are teasing me again!”

He laughed. “If they’re free, they probably will.”

“Oh, wow.” Yeah,
all
his family would have to be invited. “Does Willem have to come?”

“My brother must be invited. Protocol.”

“Can the invitation be addressed wrong? That works sometimes.”

Casimir laughed. “We’ll plan it tomorrow. Arthur and Maxence will stand up with me, of course. You?”

“Brandy, if she can get away. She has a lot going on.”

Beside her cheek, Casimir’s chest shook with laughter.

She knew exactly what he was chuckling at. “Oh, stop.”

“Who else? Your father? People from the office? Other friends?”

“All that. I’ll put together a list.” She let her head rest against his chest.

Beyond the leaves shingling the gazebo, pale pink strands of light glimmered in the air.

She asked, “You were kidding about eight kids, right?”

“I was thinking somewhere around two to four, with discussion, assuming everything works out.”

“That sounds not quite so insane.”

She leaned against his shoulder, feeling his arms around her in the dark.

That damn cell phone buzzed the bench yet again.

“What on Earth is going on with your damn phone?”

He shrugged, his tuxedo coat shifting under her cheek. “I’ve been getting these all day. It’s around eight o’clock in the evening in California, so I imagine that they’re getting frantic, trying to raise me before it’s too late to call. Let me put that on airplane mode.” He reached behind himself to grab it.

“Surely everybody in the law firm can’t need references already.”

“It’s the clients.”

“You aren’t the one who was swindling them! They should be calling Val and Josie.”

“They’ve been arrested, so they won’t be answering their phones.”

Rox grabbed her chest. “Oh my God!”

“As influential as the studios are, our clients have the weapon of public outrage on their side. The DA filed some interim charges while they investigate the matter. No, the clients want me back.” He flipped off the flashlight mode and held up the screen so she could see the list of text messages in the deep darkness of the gazebo.