by Lia Lee
“Not really.”
Okay. That was weird. He was an important man. He had flown halfway across the world for a business meeting. Surely he had plenty of friends and tons of people around him all the time.
“I suppose,” he began hesitantly. “I have a few people in my life that I feel close to.”
***
ALEX MULLED HER question over in his mind. He was a very private person. That personality trait didn’t lend itself to vast numbers of friends or random conversations with people that resulted in confidences or shared secrets.
“I suppose I have a business associate that I spend quite a lot of time with,” Alex admitted. “Vladimir and I have known each other for decades. We went to school together. He probably knows me better than anyone else does.”
“That’s something, I guess.” She settled herself on her couch. Kicking off her shoes, she grabbed a throw and pulled it over herself. Then she snuggled into the cushions and looked pointedly at Alex. “Are you going to sit down, or would you rather just lurk in my doorway?”
He pulled out his phone. “I suppose I’ll tell my driver to come back in an hour or so.”
“Whatever you want,” she murmured.
He paused. What if she didn’t want him to stay at all? It was impossible to tell from her tone of voice. “Would you rather I go?”
“Not really.” She lifted one narrow shoulder. “I don’t particularly want to be alone, and my friends are at a club downtown tonight.”
“I see.” He sent a quick text to his driver. Then, glancing around the room, he chose a seat on a chair adjacent to the sofa. His reasoning was that he didn’t want her to feel crowded. “Do your friends often go clubbing?”
“We used to go just about every night.” She huffed a little sigh and picked at the throw covering her legs. “It’s part of my job, you know?”
Alex was sort of at a loss. “I’m not exactly certain how your job works. Could you explain it to me? I apologize, but I know next to nothing about the music or celebrity scenes.”
“Which seems rather odd to me since you’re a frequent topic on the gossip blogs,” she mused. Then she pursed her lips and gave a little shake of her head. The gesture was utterly feminine and very beguiling. “My job is to find musical talent. I discover it in clubs or at parties, or sometimes on a street corner near Central Park. More than once I’ve found a really great act because it was recommended by a friend.”
“What happens after you—” He searched for the appropriate word. “—discover these artists?”
“Then I develop them a little bit.” Her smile suggested she liked this part of her job best. “These days it isn’t enough just to have a skill. If you can sing, that’s great. But if you can’t look good on TV, dance, or get recognized by the right people, your skill won’t mean crap. The record label would put out a CD, and nobody would buy it.”
“So you exploit the gossip rags, paparazzi, and social media sites,” he guessed. Actually, it was rather brilliant. It was obvious that she not only enjoyed her work, but that she was good at what she did. He could respect that.
“Considering how annoying those things are to the rest of us, I think I’m just glad they’re useful for something.”
Alex thought of his mother and the fact that she was very likely seeing photographs right now of him carrying Maddie out of a restaurant and disappearing into a limo. Maddie had no idea how right she was, and he wasn’t certain what to tell her when it came to his family and how their expectations and prejudices were likely to start affecting Maddie now that she was going to be the mother of his child. What an absolutely surreal thought.
Chapter Seven
Maddie couldn’t quite decide if she liked having Alex around or not. He was such an odd sort of man. She felt bizarrely comfortable around him, and yet his exterior shell was almost impossible to crack. She wondered if it was the whole royalty thing. Maybe he was just wired differently. He was certainly formal enough to be royalty. The guy was practically buried in protocol.
She noted the way he sat on her overstuffed chair with his back ramrod straight. “Do you ever relax?”
“Of course.”
“When?” she shot back. He looked at her as though he wanted to answer, but couldn’t. It was sort of sad. She patted the sofa beside her. “Come on. Come closer. I promise I won’t bite.”
Now he seemed really stiff. He stood up. He moved around the coffee table. And then he sat primly on the edge of the cushion beside her feet. “There. Happy now?”
“Oh absolutely!” She didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm in her voice. “Buddy, if you had been this stiff at the club that first night, I would have never gotten pregnant. What is your deal anyway? You’ve seen me naked. I’ve sucked your cock. And we screwed so enthusiastically that you broke a condom, which is what landed us in this situation. So why are you afraid to sit next to me on a freaking couch?”
Alex looked mystified by her outburst. She didn’t know why that struck her as funny, but it did. Maddie started to giggle, and before long she was pressing her hands over her mouth to stifle her unladylike guffaws. This man was such a conundrum. She just didn’t get him!
A slow smile spread across his handsome features, and Maddie stopped laughing. The guy was so attractive it was like a kick to the gut every time she saw him.
“I remember the first time I saw you,” she said softly. “There was something about you that gave me chills.”
“You were wild,” he murmured. “I’d never met a woman who was mad as a hatter and yet so sexy she could make me have decadent thoughts about what I wanted to do to her in bed.”
“You walked up to me in the club. I had just come off the dance floor.” Maddie shifted position on the couch. She gathered her legs beneath her and got just a little closer to Alex. “You took my hand, informed me that I was going to be dancing with you, and then you led me out onto the floor. There was something so powerful about the way you moved that I almost melted into a puddle.”
***
THE PICTURE SHE was painting raised the hair on the back of Alex’s neck. He recalled that night perfectly. Maddie had looked like a goddess. The moment he’d touched her hand he had felt as though the sex was inevitable. He had wanted to possess her. And nothing much had changed since that night.
The air between them right now was charged with something dark and sensual. He watched as she raised her hand. Her fingers brushed his face. She traced the line of his jaw before moving to his nose, his eyebrows, and finally sinking her fingers into his hair. She tugged at the strands to bring him closer to her. He allowed her to lead just this once. Taking a deep breath, he waited. Then her lips pressed against his, and the civilized facade he wrapped around himself burned away beneath the onslaught of need she awakened within him.
Alex slid his arms around Maddie’s body and pulled her closer. He locked her into place against him. Twisting his head, he altered the angle of their kiss and took utter possession of her mouth. He slid his tongue between her lips and plundered everything she had to give. He heard her tiny whimpers and felt her nails scoring his scalp. He didn’t care. He tasted her mint toothpaste and that underlying, indefinably sweet flavor that was only Maddie, drinking her in as though he would take it all and still demand more.
She was squirming against him. He felt the fullness of her breasts and could not resist the urge to cup one of the full globes in his hand. He thumbed her nipple to hardness through the crushed velvet of her dress. She arched her back and pushed against his hand, silently begging for more. The only thing Alex could think about was how wet he knew she was at this moment. He’d never met a woman so hot and wet as Maddie. He longed to feel her pussy once again. He wanted to excite her and feel her come for him in return.
He slid his hand down her torso toward her hips. She moaned against his mouth, but he didn’t release her from their kiss. Instead, he crumpled the fabric of her dress in his hand and drew her skirt up to expose her hip. His fingers encountered t
he soft satin of her panties. Finding the elastic band, he slipped his index finger beneath the barrier.
She was stretched out full length against him now. He reclined against the arm of the couch and used his legs to keep her spread on top of his body. Delving beneath her underwear, he let his finger glide over the light dusting of hair covering her mound. She gyrated her hips forward and pressed herself closer to his touch.
***
MADDIE WAS GOING to die of acute arousal. Her pussy was so wet she was afraid she was about to die from wanting this man. His finger was so damn close to her clit. She squirmed helplessly, trying to get him to push between her nether lips and just give her what she wanted. But Alex was in control, and that wasn’t likely to change.
He was still lazily exploring her mouth with his tongue. His kisses were long and languorous. They seemed to be in perfect rhythm with the way his finger swept across her mound and drove her crazy with lust. Then he suddenly used his second and third fingers to spread her pussy wide open. The exposure intensified her need. She clenched her buttocks and whimpered, but she didn’t have to wait long.
Using one long finger, he stroked her from her opening to her clit. The wet sound of him touching her was erotic as hell. Maddie groaned in relief. He began to circle the tiny bundle of nerves using the pads of two fingers. She started to tremble as she rose rapidly toward orgasm. This was what she wanted. It felt so damn good. Seconds later she dissolved into a symphony of high pitched cries and wails as her body hit a peak and came hard. She was nearly insensible as her hips thrust toward Alex’s hand and her inner muscles clenched tight.
She collapsed against him, letting the warmth of his body soothe her agitation. He tugged his hand free of her underwear and cradled her gently in his arms. Why did it feel so natural right now to be close to him? He wasn’t stiff. He was supple. The way the angular planes of his body seemed to cup hers made her feel as though the two of them were meant to be together in this way.
He exhaled a sigh and touched her hair. “It’s a little disconcerting to think of having sex while you are already pregnant.”
Maddie drew back in surprise. Raising her head a little, she gazed up at him and wondered what he was getting at. “Are you afraid you’re going to poke the baby?”
“I don’t know.” His expression showed he was being very transparent. For once he wasn’t hiding what he felt. Emotions flitted over his features at light speed. She saw worry, curiosity, surprise, more apprehension, and then a softness that made her feel strangely cherished.
“Nothing the two of us are going to do will hurt the baby,” Maddie assured him. “The kid is pretty durable while he’s baking in the oven.”
“You have the oddest way of phrasing things.” Alex shook his head.
She snorted. “Call it a Texas thing. It makes me popular at parties around here because nobody knows exactly what I’ll say.”
“And you like being unpredictable,” he suggested.
“Who wouldn’t want to be unpredictable?” She thought of all of the people back home in Dallas who had made some pretty strong assumptions about who and what Madison Castillo was. She would do anything to prove every single one of them wrong.
***
THERE WAS SOMETHING lurking beneath the surface of Maddie’s words, and Alex could not put his finger on what it was. Her voice often grew soft when talking about Texas and home, but he had a sense that she felt in her heart that she could not return there. He wondered why. Not only why, but when she would feel secure enough with him to divulge what she obviously considered her personal secrets.
“It is odd to be physically intimate with someone and yet not know their deepest held secrets,” he said suddenly.
Her lower lip puckered into the most adorable frown. “Deepest held secrets? Do people actually trust each other with that stuff? Sounds dangerous. Don’t you think?”
“Don’t bat your eyelashes at me,” he warned with a chuckle. “You Americans are all obsessed with the tragic Romanov story. If I have to sit through another romanticized version of my own family history, I will die of boredom.”
“The way you say that makes me think it’s your family putting you through that misery and not a bunch of romantic American women.” She put her finger in the center of his chest. “Am I right?”
There was no harm in telling her a little about his mother. After all, the poor woman was going to have to know something if she was going to be a part of his life in any manner.
Alex made a face. He didn’t like talking about his mother. “Let’s just say that my mother married into the Romanov family on purpose.”
“And I would guess that you were the prize she coveted the most.” Maddie’s expression suggested she didn’t approve.
He was surprised by her insight, but uncertain if she truly understood what he was getting at.
“I was her ticket to the succession,” he explained. “She wants so badly to be a dowager Duchess. Every time another title is handed out—whether deserved, ceremonial in name only, or otherwise—my mother begins to spin schemes to somehow manage to have me bump my cousin off the throne.”
“I didn’t think there was a throne.” Maddie sounded confused. “Are they really trying to reestablish the Imperial Throne and put a tsar back in power?”
“Some people feel it would be best.”
“Probably because they don’t remember what it was like when the Romanovs were in power.” Two lines appeared between Maddie’s elegant brows. “I recall learning about that time in history. It was confusing to the general populace, plus Nicolai and his wife were more than a little obsessed with that whole hemophilia thing.”
Alex sighed. “Yes. It was ironic that the Tsarina brought that disease with her, and yet nobody realized at the time that it was genetic and all of the girls were carriers.”
“Wait a second,” Maddie said slowly. “Will our kid have that?”
He grunted. “No. My line descends from Nicolai, not Alexandra.”
“Okay. So now are we actually talking about this baby?” she continued. “Because that’s something we’ve sort of glossed over a bit.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” His stomach clenched at the thought of trying to iron out those details, but most of the problems would be on his end and not hers. It wasn’t Maddie’s fault that his family had ridiculous aspirations of grandeur that held no place for a woman from Texas.
Chapter Eight
Maddie yawned. It was getting late, and she’d been noticing in the last few weeks that the hours she used to keep were no longer possible. She needed rest, and that meant Alex needed to decide what he was doing.
It was odd. She wanted him to stay, which wasn’t like her at all.
In any case, it was time to make her stand and see what happened. If she was going to try and have any kind of relationship with this man, she was going to have to get comfortable with pushing him for answers, because it was obvious that he wasn’t going to be forthcoming with them on his own.
“All right.” Maddie rolled off of Alex’s chest and stood up. “You need to decide if you’re staying here with me or going back to your hotel.”
“Staying here?” His flat tone suggested he was completely out of his element at this moment. “As in spend the night with you?”
“I do have a queen and not a king, so the bed space won’t be what you’re used to, I imagine.” She winked at him. “But since I never—repeat—never invite the few men I spend time with to sleep in my bed, this will be a first for both of us, I expect.”
He seemed to respond reflexively. “How do you know I don’t spend nights with women?”
Maddie didn’t even bother to answer that. She just looked at him and raised an eyebrow. It took all of two seconds for him to give a half nod of his head.
Then she lifted her dress up and over her head. “Just so you know. I sleep naked.”
“As if a man is going to walk away from that,” he muttered.
&n
bsp; She heard him pull out his phone, still cursing in what was most likely Russian. Of course, she hadn’t a clue if he was cursing or not. She didn’t understand Russian and wasn’t even entirely sure she wanted to learn. She knew the basics about his country and even less information about him personally. And yet she was inviting him to spend the night.
Because his child is inside my womb.
The thought was absolutely mind boggling.
Leaving Alex in the living room to make his decision, she headed for her bathroom to finish preparing for bed. She took comfort in the familiar ritual of washing her face. She hung up the dress she had already removed, and put her shoes on the rack. Then she finally headed back into her bedroom to go to bed.
***
ALEX COULD TELL by the expression on Maddie’s face that she hadn’t really expected him to stay the night with her. Truthfully he wasn’t even certain he should have been doing it. Yet he undressed, carefully laid his clothing over the chair in the corner, and then turned the covers back and crawled in. It was more than just intimate to be in her bed with the scent of her surrounding him. This was the first step toward sharing a life together.
Her hands twitched at her sides as though her reflex was to cover her body. Yet she didn’t give in. She stood for a full minute, staring straight at him, before turning out the light and coming to bed. He felt the silkiness of her legs as she climbed in beside him. It awakened something primal within him that had nothing to do with lust. He lay on his back, his hands stacked behind his head. In seconds she was curled up beside him with her cheek on his chest.
After a few moments of not uncomfortable silence, he felt her take a breath to speak. “This is kind of nice.”
“It is.” He didn’t even have to pretend that was true.
His eyelids grew heavy. He had just started to doze off when he heard his phone begin to vibrate. It was in the pants that were draped over the arm of her chair. He willed the noise to go away. He had already texted the driver and his cousin. No doubt Yuri was pissed off that Alex wasn’t going back to the hotel. It would be just like his nosy cousin to start demanding to know the reason why.