Princess for a Summer: An Amanda Clarke Novel

by Amanda Clarke

  “You are of otherworldly beauty, Amelia…” Erich’s native, German tongue caused goosebumps to blanket my skin thickly, and my cheeks flamed at the bare, extremely genuine compliment. Taking a heavy, short step forward, his tension rippled under his suit noticeably, and I came to a stop at the foot of my bed.

  “I was hoping, since you won’t be staying…” Trailing off, I pursed my lips thinly as my heart squeezed to send a harsh throbbing down to my toes. A deep crease appeared between his brows, but it was a short display before Erich edged closer to me. Reaching for me, his fingers slipped across my clammy palms, and he brought both sets of my knuckles to his lips to kiss them with a feathered gentleness.

  “I will fill you with everything you need to last a lifetime, Ame… I will last within you long after I have disappeared. Do not feel guilty. This is special because it will not last.” The relief that surged through me couldn’t be overstated, and I exhaled softly as Erich finally smiled tenderly. Swirling desire in his eyes broke up slightly to make way for affection, and he pressed his lips more firmly to the backs of my fingers. “You’re not wrong. You do not want commitment, and I cannot offer it. But… I will offer you so much more.”

  “I worried.” My simple admission flowed heavily off my tongue, and Erich’s smile widened at the thick German that filled the dense bubble around us. Shuffling my fingers into one hand, he reached to cup my cheek, and his thumb caressed my cheekbone gently.

  “Know that you’re free, Amelia. There’s no reason to worry. You’re not using me, and I’m not using you. This will end, and we both will be left with nothing more than memories.” Despite the fact that Erich’s promise should’ve been gut-wrenching and heartbreaking, my heart soared with joy that we were on the same page. We liked each other- we would miss each other- but the point would come when we were going to disappear from each other’s lives for good. He wouldn’t expect me to stop my insane work schedule, and I wouldn’t live pining for him on the miniscule hope that he returned to America.

  That knowledge only solidified how important this was; our togetherness had an expiration date, and both of us accepted that.

  Lifting myself onto the pads of my feet, I inhaled a shallow breath as Erich ducked his head until our lips collided. His palm flexed against my cheek, fingers stretching across my skin to creep down to cup the back of my head. Warm and soft, his mouth coaxed mine open with a tenderness that sent shivers down my spine, and I wrapped my own palms around his jaw to take a half step closer.

  Our kiss wasn’t like the others- soft, tentative, exploring- and a moan bubbled up from deep in my chest when Erich wrapped his tongue around mine with confident desire. His saliva assaulted my taste buds, and his fingers slithered around my waist to push me flush against him. Even such a gentle nudge was enough to dislodge the pleased sound that clogged my throat, and I sighed in the pure blissfulness of our kiss.

  My blank mind refused to work, and my feet stumbled slightly as Erich carefully forced me back. His hold on my lower back tightened, and I wrapped my arms securely around his neck to intensify our kiss. Desire bubbled like sticky, hot tar in my abdomen, and my knees wobbled dangerously even as their backs hit the foot of my bed.

  Expertly laying me down on the soft, silk comforter that spread across the mattress, Erich explored my mouth with a low groan. My core tightened as I swallowed the sound, and he gripped my ass in a big, trembling hand to shuffle up to the center of the bed. Every move he made was calculated as he struggled to maintain his composure, and my juices seeped from my entrance at the mindboggling thought he put into me.

  Grasping at Erich’s suit jacket insistently, I broke our kiss to gasp at the cold air that invaded the space between us when he sat up on his knees. The sight of his face twisted in desire and hunger stole what breath was leftover, and he shirked off his jacket with practiced ease. His chest heaved under his button down, and I bit down on my bottom lip at the eroticism of the moment. Even fully clothed, he was in my top 3 ‘Most handsome men I’d ever met’ list, and he cocked a drop-dead sexy smirk as he rushed to unfasten the buttons.

  “Spread your legs wide for me, my beautiful woman.” Thick and rasping, Erich’s demand floated on hot breath between my legs, and my thighs quivered with anticipation. Throwing his shirt over the edge of the bed, he tore his eyes off mine to trail down, and the hungry expression he wore only intensified. My flushed, aching folds trembled behind soaked panties, and I held a small breath as he draped himself over me.

  A moan burst from my throat when Erich kissed my lips hungrily, but he ducked down the column of my neck to lick and suck and nibble. Arching into his mouth as his breath scorched my skin, I closed my eyes to savor his attentions. Need coiled tightly in my abdomen, and my nipples throbbed when he dragged his palms heavily up to squeeze my breasts.

  Rolling back the hampering lace of my bra, Erich gave a soft groan at the tight peaks, and my heart stuttered in its already erratic rhythm. Tangling my fingers in his hair, I tugged as fire threaded through my veins, and I couldn’t hold back my moan when he kissed each nipple.

  But that softness- that gentleness- seemed to snap the thin thread holding him back.

  Thrill shot through me like lightning when Erich clamped down on my nipple, kneading my breast as his teeth gyrated against the sensitive peak. Arching sharply, I gasped and sputtered when his thick happy trail grazed my belly, and my thighs locked around his waist. Dropping to hold my down, he ground his impressive bulge against my core, but his assault on my chest never wavered. Moans dropped from my unhinged jaw, and red fog slithered into my mind to block out everything else.

  My eyes rolled slightly as Erich licked up my sternum with all of his tongue, and he squeezed my breasts tightly on his way south. Panting harshly, I shuttered my eyelids harder, but it only heightened the sensation of the tip of his nose dipping into my navel.

  “Oh-h- E-r-rich!” Flying open, my eyes widened as my head shot up, and Erich tugged on my panties with his teeth. My high-pitched moan bounced off the walls, amplifying when it rang in my ears, and he smirked around the bunch of green fabric in his mouth. Lifting my hips, I let my head fall back as lace rubbed my clit raw, and the pressure in my abdomen spread up to beat against my eye sockets.

  “You smell divine…” Leaving my breasts, Erich’s fingers hooked around the straps of my panties, and his low growl reverberated up my hips and spine. Easing the lace down my quivering thighs, he groaned in appreciation as the damp fabric peeled from my core. “You look divine.”

  Unable to articulate a response, I only drew back my knees against Erich’s cheeks, and he slipped my panties off in one, smooth movement. Prying my tense legs apart, he stared for a long moment heavy with sexual anticipation, but that moment ended eventually. Lifting my head yet again, my eyes widened at his torn expression, and affection blossomed in the confines of my chest already full to bursting.

  “Erich…” My wavering whisper floated down to him on electrically charged air, and Erich’s eyes crackled brilliantly when they met mine. Crawling up my body, he anchored and arm on either side of my head before capturing my lips in a searing kiss. The pure passion behind it blew me away, and I flung my arms around his neck as I forced my legs to work even the minimum.

  Shuffling heavily against my feet, Erich managed to get his pants around his knees, and I opened my mouth for his sweet invasion. His cock throbbed against my sopping wet entrance as he thrust, and he dropped to his elbows to kick off his shoes. His pants quickly followed, and I spread my legs as wide as I could as he slathered my juices onto his silky, hot flesh.

  “Prepare yourself, Amelia- it will be a wild ride.” Erich’s mix of English and German speared my brain, and the promise that rode his hoarse voice had me clenching. The bulbous, spongey head of his cock eased past my entrance, and I nearly choked on a mix of our saliva at his girth. Arching sharply, I ground my teeth as he stretched my channel to tearing point, and he stroked my hair even while his hips settled against
mine.

  Erich was long… but- fuck…

  “I will stop if you want me to.” Cracking open my eyes as Erich’s voice rained down on me, I shook my head wordlessly. There wasn’t even the slightest, faintest hint of brag in his gaze- only concern- and I inhaled sharply to heave a great, stabilizing sigh.

  “I want it all… Enough to last me a lifetime.” My weak, crackling German earned me thinned lips and a furrowed brow, and I tilted my hips in insistence. A gasp flew from my tight, swollen throat, and I craned my neck as pleasure rolled my eyeballs in their sockets. “More! All of it! I want- I want more…!”

  Chapter Fourteen Erich

  “I feel like I’ll develop well-defined abs in the next week and a half- even better ones than yours.” Grinning broadly as Amelia poked at her abdomen with a long, perfectly manicured finger, I took a deep breath of the heavy air before pushing myself up to stand. Her naked ass twitched and clenched weakly, and my palms itched to grab her. “Do you get compliments often, or do I just not have sex enough?”

  “I do.” In the mirror, Amelia’s reflection brightened, gaze sharpening into a mock glare, and my grin morphed into a cocky smirk as I took hold of her wide hips. Sticking her ass out, she braced her hands on her armoire, and her reaction sent violent pride tearing through my chest. “I do not know when the last time you had sex was, Amelia. I do know the last time I was complimented.”

  “… I don’t really remember, either.” The confession wasn’t surprising, and I hummed as I bent to kiss Amelia’s shoulder. “I work too much, and guys don’t like that I never have and refuse to make time for them. I don’t really do one-night stands, either- the whole situation just seems kind of dangerous.”

  “I will hold your compliments nearest to my heart, mein schönes Mädchen. Speaking of work...“ Mumbling softly, I squeezed Amelia’s hips as she blushed furiously, and her warmed skin clung to mine with a glue of sweat and cum and saliva. “You should get cleaned up if you want to make it on time. It’s nearly 6am.”

  “Thank you, Erich- for being understanding.” There wasn’t a single ounce of sourness in me as I nodded firmly, and Amelia twisted in my arms to press her lips to mine in gratitude. Her kiss was quick but deep, traveling to the secret part of me that no one would ever see.

  No one but her, at least.

  “You are welcome.” Smiling wistfully as she slipped from my grasp, Amelia wandered out of her bedroom to leave me alone. Standing in the middle of the adequately sized space, I finally started to take stock of things I had been too distracted to notice as the night turned to early morning. Sheer, navy blue curtains hung over the windows, and the carpet was a dusky brown color.

  Amelia’s entire apartment felt less than lived in; I hadn’t really believed her when she said she ‘practically lived’ at her shop. Now, the evidence was staring me in the face. If I checked, I’d bet money I wouldn’t find much in her refrigerator or cupboards. Her living room furniture was stiff, as if it’d barely been used, and the protective plastic was still covering the screen of the television in her living room.

  “I wonder if she knows how to cook…” Mumbling to myself, my lips quirked in a slight smile as I shook my head. “My uncle would have a heart attack if he knew.”

  “If he knew what?” Twisting at the curious question, my legs tensed, and my throat tightened at Amelia’s drawn expression. “If he knew I don’t know how to cook?”

  “… More that you are extremely ambitious and independent, Amelia.” Answering carefully, I cocked my head as her slender eyebrow rose in silent question. “My uncle has a very… specific… view of women.”

  “He’s a narcissistic, misogynistic, control freak, you mean?” I had divulged many things to Amelia about the King of Kastav than I probably should’ve, and I threw caution to the wind as I nodded firmly.

  “Yes. While he’s not a bad or vile-tempered man, he can be a bit much to handle for many people. That is part of the reason he relies on his publicist so much- without her, he wouldn’t know how to handle himself in public. It is also part of the reason I cannot leave Kastav. My uncle feels very threatened by me, so he makes sure to do his best for the country to hang it over my head.”

  “I did wonder why you wouldn’t leave… Your uncle chewing you out over it didn’t seem like a very strong reason.” Floating towards me, almost like a fairy in those ancient, Norwegian folktales, Amelia froze my muscles with her intense beauty and eyes even as my blood boiled with unquenched desire. “You’re a good man, Erich.”

  “Can I tell you a secret?” My German sounded coarse to my own ears, and Amelia nodded silently as she came up on me. Thundering in my ears, my blood roared via my furiously beating heart, and I held my breath just underneath my tightening throat. “I do not want to be a good man…”

  “There are always going to be things we can’t achieve, no matter our ambitions, Erich.” Soft palms cupped my face, and she drew me to her chest to stroke my hair- like a mother would when her child was hurt. Not that I would know. “It’s my last day of work for the week. You can hang around my apartment if you want. Maybe get some sleep- you worked so hard last night.”

  “I will not sleep without you.” My mumble was only muffled deeply by the towel wrapped around Amelia’s shapely body, and I nuzzled the swell of her breasts. “You worked just as hard, and now, you are off to work once again.”

  “It’s a date, then.” Smirking at the ease of our banter, I kissed the base of her throat before nodding. Just as quietly as she’d appeared, Amelia wandered out of her bedroom, and I sighed heavily once she was completely out of view. Rolling her offer around in my head, I raked my hand through my hair before tearing my gaze off the entryway.

  Snatching my pants off the floor, I shuffled into the fabric, coarse and uncomfortable compared to Amelia’s smooth, creamy skin. The intimacy between us lightened my chest, and I furrowed my brows in concentration as I tried to think of any woman I’d been with that came even close.

  But Amelia was a breed all her own; she couldn’t be compared to, leaving all other women in the dust of her passion for life and capturing those fleeting, beautiful moments for all eternity.

  Dropping onto the foot of Amelia’s king-sized bed, I propped my elbows on my knees and clasped my hands as my thoughts consumed me beyond the drone of the shower running.

  I was, by no means, inexperienced with relationships; my uncle discouraged it, and I’d disobeyed him out of spite. Even here, in America, women came up to me out of nowhere- most of the time, they didn’t know who I was. They thought I was handsome and well-cultured, and that was enough for them.

  It wasn’t enough for me, though. Jason’s wedding had been barred from the press very well, but the women he’d invited were gossipy to the extreme. I was lucky that I hadn’t run into any of them thus far. I was lucky there wasn’t a mob outside of my hotel room because one of them hadn’t run their mouth. I was lucky that those women from the wedding didn’t confuse politeness with interest.

  These were all reasons Amelia had a strong appeal to her. She kept her mouth closed and her expectations reasonable. Just as she liked the certainty that what we do will end, I liked the certainty that she would keep my secrets.

  My uncle- the King of Kastav- the man portrayed by the press as a great leader and family man… I had been forced to keep my mouth shut about him for so long, and Amelia was very easy to talk to. Even in an ocean of people, it always felt as if it was just us. She judged him based on what I told her, not by any other means. The relief of knowing that lifted a burden from my shoulders whose weight I had grown comfortable with.

  But she would never know that my uncle had forced me to become a reproductive invalid. I couldn’t allow her to carry that particular ton of bricks.

  Here, in America, it was clearer than ever that my life in Kastav was like being in an abusive relationship. Even realizing all of this, I knew I had to go back, but the reasons were becoming less and less defined. The people of my cou
ntry needed my uncle to keep his head on right, and I provided that threat he needed.

  At the same time, though, my relationship with Amelia would degrade if I stayed. Right now, there was no room for me in her life as a permanent fixture.

  Maybe, just maybe, that would change in the future. After all, goodbye doesn’t mean goodbye anymore. They invented cell phones for this particular reason.

  Chapter Fifteen Amelia

  Raking my hand through my hair roughly, my lips twisted into a grimace as I scanned the album in my lap. The wedding depicted in the pristine, crisp pictures had been beautiful, but the reality of that day slammed into my weary brain like a brick wall. The bride’s screaming match with her new mother-in-law at the reception bombarded my ears, and I sucked in a sharp breath as my headache intensified.

  None of that was shown in the album, and I flipped to the last, laminated page before closing the book. The fresh spine crackled slightly, and my fingertips tingled across the fabric covering to exhale softly.

  “Is that one good to go? I’m about to leave for the post office, Amelia.” Twisting as Tyler sauntered into my office, I nodded heavily while his mouth curved into a huge, relieved smile. “So, we’re all set to go on vacation? My plane leaves in a few hours, and I want to be early.”

  “Yeah, just ship these out. You don’t have to come back. Good luck in Hollywood, Tyler…” My tired voice couldn’t display the excitement I had for my friend-slash-underling, and I passed him the album to clear my throat roughly. “By the way, did you ever hear back from that studio?”

  “Not yet, but they said it could take up to six months to get a response. I’ll text you when I land, then, okay? Have a great week off- you deserve it.” Smiling as I propped my chin in my palm, I waved Tyler off to practically bounce out of my office. His time with me was coming to an end, but the bittersweet moment did nothing to wet my heavily lidded eyes. As much as I’d miss him, he needed to go do the things that made him happy.