Risking the Crown

by Violet Paige

  “Karen, I can handle him.” If she knew our arrangement she might have more faith in me, but that would cost me the last bit of respect I still had from her.

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I am. I can bring this back around. By the time he leaves Rio, Lachlan will have a completely new image.”

  “I’m counting on it. I’m counting on you.”

  “I’ve got this. Please tell the stockholders that Lachlan is still the face of our game. He can represent our brand. He has the right delivery. He’ll be edgy and sexy with just enough respectability. I promise you.”

  “You’re setting the bar high.”

  “I know I am, but I can deliver.”

  The truth was I didn’t know if I could deliver. I didn’t know if I could control Lachlan. But I had three weeks to make this plan work. I had three weeks to redesign him. I had three weeks as his girlfriend. Three weeks in his bed.

  “I don’t have to run interference with his agent or any other labels. It’s all about how Revolution wants to spin it. I have complete control, Karen. We couldn’t have a better scenario.”

  “All right. I’m trusting you with this even though my gut says it’s a dangerous idea. But I know your resume in PR and you’re one of the best. You’ve always had good instincts at Revolution. Call me if anything changes.”

  “Thanks, Karen. I will.”

  I hung up and headed to my hotel. First thing I needed to do was get Lachlan out of the village. The place was brimming with temptation. I saw the bowls of condoms in the hallways. I saw the women’s Swedish volleyball team. The pools. The rec rooms. There was no way I was leaving him there at the mercy of his own decisions.

  I needed him somewhere I could keep an eye on him.

  The blast of cold air hit me as I walked into the hotel. The front desk clerk smiled at me.

  “Oi brigado.”

  I nodded. I knew exactly zero Portuguese.

  “I’m here to check in, but I need to add a room to my account. A room next to mine. Please.”

  I handed the man my passport.

  “Ahh.” He nodded.

  “Two rooms?” I held up two fingers.

  He typed something into the computer while I waited. I didn’t know if it would be too difficult to ask for joining rooms. I decided to let it go.

  “These should both be on the Revolution account.” I felt slightly guilty for spending company money for my Olympic sexfest.

  He handed me my passport and two room keys.

  I pulled my bags onto the elevator and rode the few floors to the room Revolution had booked for me. The rooms were next to each other. At least I’d be able to keep an eye on him.

  I stuck my key in the lock and walked inside. As soon as I saw the door connecting our rooms, my heart beat wildly. All I had to do was unlock it and Lachlan could walk in here anytime he wanted.

  My hand fell to the handle. I didn’t know whether to unlock it or not. I didn’t know if I was going to go through with the arrangement. Was I really willing to let him control me in bed? Was I ready to give myself over to him?

  And then I remembered this morning. I remembered how he took me. How he took his time with his tongue. There was a deep flutter in my core and I knew there was only one answer. I’d keep that door unlocked as long as he wanted to be in my bed, or invite me into his.

  I clicked the lock open and started unpacking before I had to meet my fake womanizing boyfriend at the stadium.

  15

  Lachlan

  “What now?” I asked as Aspen ushered me into a car outside the stadium. The quick Q&A with the press had gone well. I didn’t slug anyone and with Taylor and Alex next to me the questions focused on the tournament not my personal scandals.

  “Now we go back to the village and get your bags.”

  “What do you mean, love?” I stretched my legs.

  “You’re moving into the hotel with me until the end of the games.”

  “Worried you’re going to leave me with the other wolves?” I grinned.

  “You are the wolf. Nothing good can happen for you in there. I cleared it with your coach. You’re not the only one staying outside of the village.” She peered at me from the corner of her eye. “Without an agent, you’re going to have to count on me for your public relations. This was my first executive decision.”

  If she expected me to be angry, she was wrong. I hated the village.

  “I’m not used to counting on anyone. I learned a long time ago not to make that mistake.”

  She turned to face me while the driver whipped us through the streets that led to the athletic housing complex.

  “How is that possible? You play a team sport. Of course you count on people.”

  “I’m the keeper.”

  “So?”

  “So.” I stared hard. “I don’t need anyone. It’s between me and the bloody striker who has the ball.”

  “That’s a rather dark and isolated way to view your sport.”

  “It’s the truth. When someone is coming toward me, it’s my job to protect the box—no one else’s. It’s man versus man. There’s no one holding my hand or patting me on the back when the ball is kicked toward my face. There’s no one there to catch me so I don’t land in the metal or get tangled in the net. It’s only me. I’m the one I have to count on.”

  “I think I’m starting to understand why your team thinks you’re such an asshole.” She crossed her arms.

  “And what do you think?”

  She flinched. “It doesn’t matter what I think. I only have to see what other people see and fix it.”

  “It didn’t seem to bother you this morning when I was shagging you.” I gritted my teeth.

  “Lachlan!”

  “What? I’m good enough to be your bad boy in bed, but you don’t want to admit that you like it. I know your type.”

  “Excuse me. I am not a type.”

  I rubbed my jaw with my palm. I didn’t know why I was letting her get to me like this, or why my mood had suddenly soured.

  “You are a type. Tight. Stuck up. Controlling. But behind closed doors, you don’t want any of that. Do you? You want a man who can take you to your knees and make you beg for more. You want to be fucked so hard you scream.” Her eyes widened and she pressed her hands against her thighs. But I didn’t stop. She was right. I was an asshole. “You like it when I lick you. You like it when I take you from behind. You like all those things because deep down you’re exactly like me, Aspen. Exactly.”

  “I’m nothing like you,” she seethed.

  The car had stopped on the outskirts of the village, but I wasn’t leaving this seat until she knew the rules. I wrote the rules.

  “We are the same. And at the end of these three weeks, you’ll see it.”

  She whipped her head toward the window so that I couldn’t see her face. “Get out.”

  I had taken it too far. But the recklessness in me was fierce. This was what I did. I wrecked things. I blazed my own trail of destruction. When something was good I found a way to darken it.

  “We had a deal,” I reminded her.

  It was a slow turn, but she let her eyes land on mine. I saw the tears glisten from the sun.

  “I can’t follow through on something like this. Not with someone like you. I’ve changed my mind. I didn’t know this side of you when I agreed.”

  It shouldn’t have mattered that I had brought tears to her eyes, but they hit me in the center of my chest. Why was I such a prick?

  I reached toward her cheek, and brushed one away with the pad of my thumb.

  “I’m sorry, love.”

  “I can’t do it.” She tried to shake my touch from her face.

  “I took it too far. I didn’t mean it.”

  I realized it was the first time I had apologized for something in a long time. The words came easier than I thought they would.

  “I did like what we did this morning,” she whispered. “But I can’t be with a man—even
if it’s only a pretend relationship—who thinks I’m only a piece of ass. I can’t do it. Sex is one thing. This—you—it’s something totally different. There’s darkness I can’t handle.”

  Damn it. She was making this difficult.

  “Bloody hell, Aspen. I don’t think that.” I cupped her chin with my fingers. “If I did, I wouldn’t be sitting in this car right now. I wouldn’t have agreed to go to the hotel. I wouldn’t have handed over my brand to you.” I didn’t expect the confession to pour out. “I trust you. You’re the only one I have left. And you’ve stuck with me even when I’ve been a prat. Sometimes I’m a cock up.” I hung my head.

  “You’re just realizing this?” she questioned.

  I looked into the shimmer of blues swirling in her eyes. They cut through me like a dagger.

  “No. I’m just realizing I care that I’m a cock up.”

  She closed her eyes. “How do we do this?”

  “Like this.” I pressed my lips to her mouth and kissed her.

  “You are fucking sexy and smart.” I grinned. “And I’m an asshole. Can we agree on that?”

  She nodded. “Agreed.”

  “Will you accept my apology even though it’s not going to be the last time I’m a bloody fool?”

  “I’m afraid I’ll regret it,” she whispered.

  She wasn’t wrong.

  “I’m going to grab my bags. Keep the car running for me? I know how to make it up to you.” I winked.

  Things seemed to have calmed down. I wanted to kick myself for jeopardizing it all. Without her, I didn’t have a chance of making it back to England with my contracts. With her, I had everything.

  16

  Aspen

  I waited in the car while the driver turned up the radio station. I sat back on the vinyl seat and watched Lachlan turn the corner for the security gate to the Olympic village.

  What was I doing? For an instant in the car I thought he had shown his true colors—the mean, doesn’t-give-a-shit, prick everyone had grown to despise. And then suddenly he softened. He kissed me tenderly. He apologized. He agreed with me.

  I couldn’t figure him out. Really, I couldn’t figure myself out. Why was I still here? Why did I let him persuade me? Why did one confession turn me into putty? Why did I want him to hop back in this car and kiss me again?

  I’d never met a man like Lachlan. He was irresponsible and selfish. He was a walking tornado, only the carnage was usually women’s hearts and not barn doors. I didn’t want to be one of those women. I didn’t want to leave Rio in pieces.

  But I couldn’t stop the pull. I couldn’t deny the attraction. I couldn’t say no even when my mind and heart told me he was dangerous.

  Because for three weeks, I could be his. For three short, glorious weeks, he wanted me. And no matter what the rationale was for protecting my heart or my spirit, I wanted that. I wanted him.

  Lachlan and I walked into the hotel together. I heard the whispers and saw a few phones emerge as we passed by. But this was what we wanted. We needed him to be seen with one woman for the next three weeks.

  The buzz would start today. The speculation would be out there, and that was okay. Eventually enough people would see us together. I liked how he held my hand firmly as if he was showing the world I was his.

  “Which floor, love?” he asked.

  “Seven,” I responded.

  I don’t know why I felt so nervous. The time for nerves was last night when I stayed with him in the village. That part should be over, but it wasn’t.

  As we approached the doors side by side, I retrieved the key from my bag.

  “Here you go.” I handed him the key to his room.

  “What’s this?” he asked.

  “Your room. We’re next to each other.”

  He looked at me with confusion. He had one damn sexy face. It was enough to make me forget how to speak.

  “Hmm,” he turned the handle. “Part of your professionalism?” He smiled.

  I didn’t know whether to follow him or go in my own room. In a matter of seconds, he would discover our rooms were connected. And as soon as he twisted the knob, he would know I had already unlocked my side.

  It wasn’t as if we were a real couple. We didn’t need to spend all our waking minutes together. We weren’t going to map out Rio’s tourist spots or go for a hike. We weren’t planning a day at the pool or beach. Those were the kinds of things normal vacationing couples did. There was nothing normal about our relationship.

  I decided I’d try to get some work done.

  I set up my laptop on the built-in desk. The air conditioning sputtered and churned overhead. I heard there were complaints from many of the athletes that the village wasn’t ready for them. I was glad I had a hotel room during the unexpected heat wave.

  I had a few emails from Karen. My assistant had also sent an update on the sales numbers for last month’s adventure game. I exhaled as I scanned the spreadsheets. Shit. It wasn’t performing as well as I wanted. It made the pressure for the Kenzie game all that more critical.

  I looked up when I heard a loud thump on the other side of the wall. I had no idea what Lachlan was doing over there. It sounded as if a caged animal was trying to break free.

  I typed out a response to Sylvie, trying to ignore the sounds that were beating the wall.

  I tried to read through a memo about the new launch schedule for the spring when the bookcase rattled overhead.

  I pushed back from the desk and marched next door.

  “What in the hell are you doing over here? I’m trying to work.”

  Before I could dodge, a ball hit me on the shoulder. “Ouch!”

  “Sorry, love.” Lachlan grabbed the ball from the floor and tossed it on the bed. “I didn’t see you.”

  “What are you doing with that ball? Shouldn’t you be outside on a field?”

  He chuckled. “The pitch. It’s called the pitch, not a field.”

  “Oh.” I knew we had different terms for soccer, but I hadn’t bothered to study up. “We have dinner reservations later.”

  “Sounds fancy.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  “It’s a high-profile restaurant. We should have lots of visibility.” I had researched the best restaurants in Rio and made a reservation.

  “Optics again?”

  “Everything we do from now on is about the optics.” I sighed. We didn’t have much time to change the public’s perception of Lachlan. If it was going to work, we had to be in the public eye every day of the games. I needed to check the schedule for women’s soccer and a few other UK sports to make sure he attended in solidarity of the UK teams.

  “What time?” he asked.

  “I think we have three hours.”

  I saw the expression in his eyes change. The playfulness disappeared and was replaced with a dark hunger.

  I took a step back.

  “Three hours for you to be mine before we go.” He snaked a hand around my waist.

  “What? I’m in the middle of emails and mapping out our strategy. I’m lucky I got us those reservations.”

  He spun me, pressing his lips into my neck. “This is how it’s going to work, Aspen.”

  My legs buckled. His hands roamed over my chest, pushing my bra down. God, he worked fast.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “We’re going to go to dinner, but not before you’re properly fucked.”

  I closed my eyes as my core tingled with excitement. His hands coasted over my hips, shoving my dress to the floor.

  “Because I want everyone with a bloody camera to know you’re mine. I want them to see it when they look in your eyes. And I want you to know. I want you to still feel me when we walk down the street. I want you sore and aching from me.”

  I moaned as he slipped his hand under the band of my panties, diving between my slit.

  “Don’t you want that?” he growled. “You want my heat between your legs?”

  I nodded, biting my lip. “I do.”<
br />
  He rubbed and circled until I rocked into his hand, begging his fingers to release the ache building inside me. I didn’t give a damn about emails anymore.

  He nipped at my ear, plunging a finger, hilting it as far as he could. I sighed into his back, riding out the rhythm.

  “Get on the bed,” he whispered in my ear.

  I did as he asked, moving to the center of the king-size bed. I watched with anticipation as he stepped out of a pair of jeans and threw his shirt on the floor. He had an unbelievable body. A body that had taken me to new heights this morning. A body that was getting ready to rip pleasure through me again.

  He crawled toward me, stopping to kiss my ankle and tender spots along my leg. I shivered with each heated touch from his lips.

  Everything he did made me wet. He eyed me with desire. He touched me with fever. He kissed me, moaning in a low, sexy tone, as if promising there was something even better yet to come. But I couldn’t process any of it. All I could do was exist in this haze of lust, skin, and sweat. I couldn’t think beyond Lachlan’s kisses. I couldn’t see beyond the blackness in his eyes. I couldn’t feel beyond the strokes of his fingers between my legs.

  He snapped the lace along my panties and I felt a rush of cool air breeze over my clit.

  “Oh, God,” I whimpered.

  His wolfish grin was enough to make me think I was out of my league. This man was a sex god. He didn’t do anything by accident. No touch was by chance. No words were uncalculated. He had me exactly where he wanted. And he knew it.

  “How much did you like what I did to you this morning?” he asked, tugging the panties against my thighs.

  I licked my lips. “More than I can describe.” Good God, my voice was raspy and unrecognizable. Was it possible he had turned me into a sex goddess from one good roll in the hay?

  He kissed the inside of my thigh, and I whimpered at the impact of his rough stubble. It was like the trailer before a movie. I knew what was coming next.

  His lips moved to my folds, separating them with the tip of his tongue. I groaned as he worked the last bits of fabric over my ankles.