“I still feel it.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers sliding into his hair.
When their lips met, it wasn’t a crushing, powerful kiss. Not that Hadrian didn’t want the crushing power. It certainly was inside him. This was a one-night stand fantasy, all over again.
Only it wasn’t.
The kiss deepened, and his hands were suddenly all over her, rubbing against the terrycloth towel. She twisted to the side, and the towel on her head fell to the ground.
He broke their kiss to examine her hair. “Dark.” He ran one hand up into the locks, fisting the dark hair, slightly longer than it was in Vegas. “Good.” He yanked her back to his mouth and resumed kissing her senseless.
She moaned, and he backed her up to the small bathroom counter. Her hands slid to his waistband, finding the line where his jeans met his button-up shirt, and she started pulling the buttons open and un-tucking the shirt.
He ran one hand across her upper chest, at the towel line, and she arched her back, loosening it. Her hands met his chest, and her fingers flickered over his nipples.
“Syd, I need you.”
She let out a low moan, and put her hands in his jeans, unfastening the button.
He pushed the towel open, revealing her breasts, those beautiful breasts and their little rings, hanging in…
Wait.
Where were the rings?
“Hey,” he said, flicking her nipples. “Where are my toys?”
She looked down. “Uh…”
“Why’d you take them out?” he asked, leaning forward and taking one nipple in his mouth, sucking on it, then sliding over to the other.
“The doctor advised it,” Sydney replied, her voice deep and lost in passion, like she could barely speak coherently.
“Were they infected or something?” He licked his way down her tummy.
“No,” she said, stroking his head. She moaned as he placed a kiss on her lower abdomen as he moved over her smooth, fresh skin. Was it him, or was she a bit softer than she had been in Vegas? Her bones weren’t sticking out as much on her hips. While he’d loved how she looked in Vegas, the softness on her now was even sexier.
She was even better than in his memories.
He slid a hand in between her legs, rubbing her clit a bit before slipping his finger inside her. “So why?” He almost couldn’t keep up with his own thoughts—she was so wet. His cock pulsed in his pants.
She moaned and bucked against his hand.
It gave him a thrill to see how lost she was. “Why what?”
He came back up her body, keeping his hand between her legs, letting his palm rub against her.
“Why are your rings gone?”
She reached between his legs for his cock, and she started fumbling with his pants. “Right now, you need to fuck me before I lose my mind.”
Hadrian didn’t hesitate. Pants opened and shoved down enough to get out of the way, he grabbed Sydney and set her on the counter, pushing the few bottles of girly stuff into the sink.
The clatter echoed in the bathroom, but he didn’t care. He plunged into her.
He didn’t have to hesitate. He took her with everything in him—all the frustration, the worry, the difficulty he’d been through. She washed it away, her body against his made it all gone. Made it all disappear.
She was his.
Chapter Twenty-One
We rejoined the others in the living room after a while. And I was pleased to be walking out of my bedroom a very, very happy and sexually sedated woman.
I’d heard that a female’s sexual appetite could intensify with pregnancy, but I hadn’t put any stock in the notion. And I had been feeling sexually frustrated as of late, but I figured that was because I’d been so well satisfied in Vegas. Hadrian’s sexy phone voice and sweet text messages the last few weeks were nice, but they didn’t help.
Then I saw Hadrian.
Seeing him turned me on like nothing else. On television, yeah, he was handsome, but he wasn’t—the energy wasn’t there or something. To feel those eyes on me was the biggest aphrodisiac I’d ever known.
It’s a miracle we made it out of my bedroom at all. I half-expected Bella to throw water on us. I had wanted to run into the bedroom and throw on some clothes, but Hadrian followed me, and well, it took a little longer to get dressed than I had thought.
I couldn’t help grinning.
On the couch, Bella was sitting next to the royal guard guy. I think it was the same one from Vegas, the one who gave my ex the Eat-Shit-and-Die card. She was drilling him about everything going on.
And the guy wasn’t giving her anything to work with, which was frustrating the Hell out of her.
Hadrian sat in the 1980’s overstuffed pink chair I had, and as I walked by, he snagged my hand, and pulled me on his lap.
“Really, I can sit over there.”
“But you won’t.” He wrapped his arms around me.
“What are you? Twelve?” Bella asked, grinning at him.
“I’m not letting this woman out of arm’s length ever again.” He tightened his grip around my waist.
Bella’s eyebrows went up, her eyes wide. “Wow. Uh, okay then.”
He held me tight against him, one hand around my waist, the other caressing my knee.
“So when do we leave?” the guard asked.
“The sooner the better,” Hadrian replied.
He nodded. “I’ll make arrangements. Twenty-four hours?”
“Sooner if at all possible.”
“I won’t be able to get security in place in less than twenty-four hours.”
“Wait,” I said. “You’re leaving already? You just came out for the afternoon?” Panic washed over me. What was I, a piece of meat? A little booty on the side?
“Yes. We’re getting out of here. It’s not safe.”
I pushed away from him. “I know you’re a duke and all that, but really, who would be looking for you here in Wichita? Surely it’s safe here for you.”
“It’s not safe here for you.” His eyes were very dark and intense.
I stopped for a second. “Sure it is.”
Bella, my friend, and partial nemesis added her thoughts. “I will go pack her a bag.” She hopped off the couch and headed to the back of the apartment.
“You will not,” I said to her. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Robert got up and followed Bella. “I’ll go make some calls.”
Hadrian nodded to him. Then he met my glare. “You are going with me. An hour ago—”
“More like two.”
“Okay, fine, two hours ago, you were freaking out because your ex sent you a bouquet.”
“You didn’t see it.” I grabbed his hand and tugged him into the kitchen where Bella had put the destroyed arrangement.
I shuddered when I saw it, feeling nausea come up again at the sight of the destroyed booties and onesies and everything else. Maybe I had thought it wasn’t as bad as I imagined before, but it was as bad.
Worse, even.
Hadrian stared at it for a few moments, reaching up to caress the little booty. “And you don’t think you need to leave?”
My hands shook. “I can’t leave my job. I have to pay bills. I have to work. I have doctors’ appointments. I have people that depend on me.” It was true—though a default answer.
The same one I used for not accompanying him to Koros before. I felt rather shitty about that. If anything, that basket proved all the reasons I should be running screaming into the night.
He met my gaze. “Then don’t consider it me whisking you away for your safety. Consider it an elopement.”
I blinked. “Uh…”
He put his arms around me. “I remember the stammering Sydney.”
“I…uh… What?”
“We’re going to have to get married.”
I let out a sigh and caressed my stomach. “We don’t have to. This is America. I can disappear into the woodwork, as it were, and…and…” The
thought of that brought tears to my eyes, and I started studying the kitchen cabinet very, very intently.
“And I’m nothing more than a check?” He pulled my chin up to his and put his hand over mine. Both our hands covered my stomach. “How fair is that?”
I shook my head. “It’s all I expected.” The words were truer than I thought. The ugly, negative, underside of my thinking, the realistic part that had grown up expecting to be let down. My shield.
“Well, I’m here. Expect more.” He pulled me into his arms.
I started to cry. I wasn’t exactly sure if they were tears of joy or tears of sadness. It didn’t seem real. That he could want to have me? Someone who’s not anything, not important in any way? I wouldn’t be anything to him. He’s a prince, after all. I’m just…
I’m a commoner.
A commoner marrying a prince.
Cinderella couldn’t do any better.
This had to be a dream. Yep, I’d wake up in a little bit, and it would be over, and I’d be back to reality of Jim and work and being pregnant, and it would be over.
So maybe, just for the moment, I oughta live in it.
“Okay.”
Hadrian smiled. “Good. We’ll leave as soon as we get a few things settled.”
So far it wasn’t a dream.
It was about three hours before we were on the road, but soon we were driving out of Wichita, heading east. Hadrian and I were in the front seat of the sedan he’d rented, and Robert was stuck in the backseat. He looked like a lonely sardine.
I’d offered to sit in the back, but Hadrian insisted I sit up front with him. Probably because he wouldn’t be able to hold my hand if I was in the backseat.
I watched the land start to get more defined as we headed southeast. Not so flat and straight, but more hills and lines to look at as we traveled. I knew the area well enough. I’d been this way before as a kid with family. Back when I was a happy part of my family. They used to take us to the area of southern Missouri and Arkansas called the Ozarks.
All Hadrian would say was that we were going to a secluded lake house he owned.
My thoughts drifted to Jim as we drove, and I smirked.
“What’s so funny?” Hadrian asked.
“I’m thinking about Jim. He’s gonna be so pissed off.” I smiled as I looked over at Hadrian.
“I hope that’s a good thing.”
I nodded. “He’s going to be wondering what happened to me.”
“You don’t think he’ll do anything to Bella, do you?” She was integral in our plans to sneak me out of Wichita without Jim finding out where I was going, or with who.
Which tickled her to death.
“I don’t think Jim will hurt Bella. Soundman would kill him.” Soundman was almost as large as Robert, and had come running when Bella called him, needing some muscle. Hadrian hadn’t seemed intimidated by the man, but maybe he was used to men the size of appliances.
Robert was proof of that.
“She has my number if there is a problem,” Robert said from the back.
Bella started packing some of my stuff to take it to the rental house. I paid the rest of my lease on the apartment, well, Hadrian paid. I was there. This way, when I did come home, I could move into the house and I wouldn’t have to come back to the apartment at all.
Soundman came over, helping with boxing up everything. We loaded up my car, Bella’s car, Soundman’s little truck and Hadrian’s rental car with as much of my crap as we could get into the vehicles. I don’t know what was sadder, the fact that I was able to pack up most of my apartment in that short period of time, or that I really didn’t feel that bad about the whole mess. I’d only been in the apartment about a year. I still hadn’t unpacked from moving in.
Not everything got packed, of course, and Bella had packed most of my clothes up in my suitcases, and filled up my overnight bag with all my toiletries, because we weren’t sure when I’d get back.
“Will he follow your car?”
I shrugged. “Probably. He’s been known to follow it anyway. I told you about the pissed-on seats.”
Hadrian’s jaw tightened.
“Your seats were pissed on?” Robert asked from the back.
I glanced back at him. “It was gross.” I relayed the highlights.
Robert glanced at Hadrian in the rearview mirror. “I hope the bastard does follow us.”
“Why?” I asked.
“So I can teach him a lesson.”
I blinked. A shiver ran down my back. The look in Robert’s eyes said volumes, and I didn’t want to speculate what he considered lesson teaching.
“I can’t wait to get you on Korosian soil,” Hadrian said.
“I thought we were going to your lake house.”
“It is an embassy,” he replied. “My house is considered property of Koros. I was titled a couple of years ago with an ambassadorship by Korosian government. My property here is an embassy. International territory.”
“In Missouri?” That sounded so sad. Really, really sad.
“Well, I have two other houses. One in Los Angeles and one in New York City. Alicia thought it would be prudent to mark the two places Korosian territory. The king insisted I become an ambassador, so my titles wouldn’t be questioned. It was kept extremely quiet, but while she was making arrangements for the other two houses, she set this one up as Koros territory as well.”
“What this long winded boy is trying to say is that when he’s at home, he’s not on American soil. American laws don’t apply there. Korosian law does. And I protect the royal family from any threats.”
“I’m not a member of the family,” I replied.
“You will be.” For a minute he looked at me like Yoda glared at Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back.
I felt very much like Skywalker in that second, and a shiver ran down my back. “That sounds ominous.”
“Dom, dom, dom…” Hadrian hummed.
I had to laugh. “Maybe I don’t want to marry you. Maybe I want to be your mistress. What do they call that? A kept woman?”
“Concubine.”
“Maybe that’s all I want.”
“I am a prince, a duke and an ambassador. I don’t have kept women.”
“Where have you been? I thought the more titles you had, the more kept women you were allowed. In the historical romances, a lot of those titled people had bed buddies.” Not that I really wanted that, either, but everything was moving so fast, I felt trapped in a tornado, the only sign of stability seemed to be Hadrian.
“Those are the English. We are Korosian,” Hadrian muttered.
I bumped his leg. “Calm down. You know I was just giving you crap.” I looked back out the window. I swear, I think my boss is going to have a—wait a minute.
“Crap,” I muttered.
“What?”
“I didn’t call my boss.”
“You’d better call her.”
I started fishing around in my purse for my cell phone.
Chapter Twenty-Two
After all of Hadrian’s ambassadorial talk in the car, I half expected to find a fortress waiting for us in Missouri. Something with large metal fences, barbed wire and generally mean looking.
Instead, we pulled down a gravel road that was practically hidden by the over brush and the dusky sky. Had there not been a set of fresh tire marks in the muddy wet ground, I wouldn’t have realized there was a road there.
We drove for probably a mile down this old abandon road until we pulled up at a house.
And it was a house.
Not horribly large. It was built with cedar that blended into the surroundings between the combination of overgrown bushes and grass. Everything was a little ruddy and hard to make out, because the sunset was behind the house. The yard and surrounding area was in shadow, and I wished it were brighter out so I could see more. The house itself was a couple of stories high with large full glass windows, and off in the distance, I could hear the water.
&
nbsp; Probably the most soothing sound I’d heard in a very, very long time. The tension in my shoulders started to decrease, and even though I’d sat on heated seats all the way up here, my muscles were rock solid with tension.
There was a thick air in the car—so much unsaid, and frankly, I didn’t want to talk about being pregnant or the sincerity of his proposal in front of Robert.
No matter how much Hadrian tried to assure me that Robert could be completely trusted, I still didn’t feel comfortable. He may be loyal to Hadrian, but would he be loyal to me?
I took a deep breath of the cool air, smelling the water—I could practically taste the cold in the air, but oh how incredibly cleansing it felt.
At least some things in life didn’t change that much.
My stomach was finally calming down from the drive. We had woven in and out of so many roads, many of them didn’t even have signs. And the pitch of them, I swear. I thought I would throw up a few times the way the road would almost drop out from under us and curve off to one side or another.
And in the passenger seat, hand on the oh-shit bar, all I could do was put my other hand over my mouth to hold back the urge to vomit.
Through the trees as we zoomed over the crazy curves, I would catch a glimmer of Table Rock Lake. The lake was a part of a river, dammed up to make it into a lake, but it twisted and curved as though it was a river that forgot it was supposed to be a lake.
I stretched for a minute, not caring that the cool air was tickling my stomach through the front of my coat. “How close are we to the lake?”
“I’ll show you.” Hadrian took my arm and started leading me toward the house. Even though a lot of the house was overgrown, a cleaned up path lead around the side of the house.
And over to the view.
“Oh my God,” I said, staring at the cliff we were standing on. The sun had shifted, setting low behind the trees across from us, lighting up the sky in brilliant oranges and pinks.
The backside of the house was completely open. What yard that existed was all rock—the house was set on a cliff’s edge. An edge about a hundred feet above Table Rock Lake. I had my hands on a very thick piece of wood decking that felt secure under my fingers—old but not forgotten, wood that would stay in place come what may.
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