Christmas with the Prince

by Michelle Celmer

  If she never married and had kids, would it be that big of a tragedy? She always had her work.

  “I love kids,” Louisa said. “I’d like at least six, maybe eight.”

  “Which is why when you meet men, they run screaming in the opposite direction,” Anne quipped, but her jab didn’t seem to bother her sister.

  “The right man is out there,” Louisa said, with a tranquil smile and a confidence that suggested she had no doubt. She was probably right. What man wouldn’t want to marry a sweet, beautiful princess? Even if it meant having an entire brood of children.

  “We all know that Aaron doesn’t want kids,” Anne said, shooting Liv a meaningful look.

  Did she suspect that something was going on between Liv and her brother? And if so, did she honestly believe that Liv would consider him as a potential father to her children? Nothing could be further from the truth. If they did have a fling, which was a moot point because she had already decided they wouldn’t, she would never expect more than a brief affair.

  Unsure of how to react, Liv decided it was best to give her no reaction at all and instead studied her cards.

  “I’m just not cut out to be a family man,” Aaron said to no one in particular. If he caught the meaning of his sister’s statement, he didn’t let on. Or maybe he was saying it for Liv’s benefit, just in case she was having any delusions of grandeur and thought they had some sort of future together.

  “You would have to drop out of the girl-of-the-month club,” Anne said with a rueful smile and a subtle glance in Liv’s direction.

  “And miss out on that fantastic yearly rate they give me?” Aaron said with a grin. “I think not.”

  “Are we going to talk or play?” Chris complained, which, to Liv’s profound relief, abruptly ended the conversation.

  Louisa tried occasionally to engage them in conversation, earning a stern look from her oldest brother each time. She finally gave up and said good-night around ten. Half an hour later Melissa followed. At eleven-thirty, when Liv was up by almost two hundred euros, they packed it in for the night.

  “Good game,” Chris said, shaking her hand, and added with a grin, “I hope you’ll give us a chance to win our money back next week.”

  “Of course,” she said, although she would have to throw the game to make it happen.

  “I’ll walk you to your room,” Aaron said, gesturing to the door, and he had a curious, almost sly look on his face. Something was definitely up.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

  “Because we finally get some time alone.”

  Ten

  T he idea of being alone with Aaron again both terrified and thrilled Liv, then he went and added another level of tension by saying, “You do realize that counting cards is considered cheating.”

  Oh damn.

  She really hadn’t thought anyone was paying that close attention. They were playing for only a couple hundred euros, so what was the harm?

  She plastered on a look of pure innocence that said, Me? Cheat? But she could see he wasn’t buying it.

  She sighed and said, “It’s not my fault.”

  He raised one disbelieving brow at her.

  “I don’t even do it consciously. The numbers just kind of stick in my head.”

  “You have a photographic memory?”

  She nodded.

  “I wondered how you managed to memorize the code for the lab door so quickly. Although for the life of me I don’t understand how you kept getting lost in the castle.”

  “It only works with numbers.”

  For a second she though he might be angry, but he shot her a wry smile instead. “At least you made a bit of money for your research.”

  He apparently had no idea of the going rate for genetic research. “A couple hundred euros won’t get me very far.”

  “You mean thousand,” he said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “A couple hundred thousand.”

  She nearly tripped on her feet and went tumbling down the stairs. “That’s not even funny.”

  He shrugged. “I’m not trying to be funny.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Totally serious.”

  “You said we were starting with one hundred.”

  “We did. One hundred thousand.”

  She suddenly felt weak in the knees. All this time she thought she’d been betting a dollar or ten, it had actually been thousands? What if she’d lost? How would she have ever paid her debt?

  “I’ll give the money back,” she said.

  “That would look suspicious. Besides,” he reminded her, “you already told Chris you would play again next Friday.”

  Damn it, she had, hadn’t she? If the rest of the family figured it out, they might think her some sort of con artist. Next week she would just have to lose on purpose, claim that her first time must have been beginner’s luck, then pretend to be discouraged and vow never to play again. Only she and Aaron would know the truth.

  When they reached her room she opened the door and stepped inside. A single lamp burned beside the bed and the covers had been turned down. Standing in the doorway, she turned to him and said, “I had fun tonight.”

  He leaned against the doorjamb, wearing that devilish, adorable grin. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I told you earlier, we can’t be…intimate.” Just saying the word made her cheeks flush.

  “You said it, but we both know you didn’t mean it.” He leaned in closer. “You want me, Liv.”

  She did. So much that she ached. He smelled so good and looked so damn sexy wearing that wicked, playful smile, and he was emitting enough pheromones to make any woman bend to his will.

  “That doesn’t make it right,” she told him, but with a pathetic degree of conviction. She didn’t even believe herself.

  Which was probably why, instead of saying good-night and closing the door in his face, Liv grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled him into her room and kissed him.

  He reacted with a surprised, “Oomf,” which she had to admit gave her a decadent feeling of power. But it took him only seconds to recover, then he was kissing her back, pulling her into his arms. He shut the door and walked her backward to the bed, tugging the hem of her shirt free from the waist of her pants. She did the same to him, their arms getting tangled. They broke the kiss so that they could pull the shirts over their heads, and the sight of his bare chest took her breath away. He didn’t even seem put off by her very plain and utilitarian cotton bra. His eyes raked over her, heavy with lust, and when his hands settled on her bare skin, she shuddered. He was so beautiful, so perfect, she could hardly believe it was real. That he wanted someone like her.

  It’s just sex, she reminded herself, although deep down, it felt like more.

  He tugged the band from her hair and it spilled down around her bare shoulders.

  “You’re beautiful,” he said, looking as though he sincerely meant it. She wished she could see what he saw, see herself through his eyes for one night.

  He lowered his head, brushing his lips against the crest of one breast, just above the cup of her bra. She shuddered again and curled her fingers through his hair.

  “You smell fantastic,” he said, then he ran his tongue where his lips had just been, up one side and down the other, and a moan slipped from between her lips. “Taste good, too,” he added with a devilish grin.

  “What are we doing?” she asked.

  He regarded her curiously. “As a scientist, I’d have thought someone would have explained it to you by now.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “I know what we’re doing. I just don’t understand why.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Why me?”

  She expected him to tease her, to tell her that she was underestimating herself again; instead his expression was serious.

  “Honestly, I’m not
sure.” He caressed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “All I know is, I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you.”

  She might have suspected it was a line, but his eyes told her that he was telling the truth. That he was just as stunned and confused by this unlikely connection as she was.

  Then he kissed her and started touching her, and she didn’t care why they were doing it, her only thought was how wonderful his hands felt on her skin, how warm and delicious his mouth felt as he tasted and nipped her. With a quick flick of his fingers he unhooked her bra, and as he bared her breasts, he didn’t seem to notice or care how voluptuous she wasn’t, and as he drew one nipple into his mouth, flicking lightly with his tongue, she didn’t care, either. He made her feel beautiful and desirable.

  There was this burning need inside her like she’d never felt before, a sweet ache between her thighs that made her want to beg him to touch her, but he was still concentrating all of his efforts above her waist—and it was driving her mad.

  Thinking it might move things along, she ran her hand down his chest to his slacks, sliding her fingers along his waistline, just below the fabric, then she moved her hand over his zipper, sucking in a surprised breath when she realized how long and thick he felt. She should have expected that he would be perfect everywhere.

  She gave his erection a gentle squeeze and he groaned against her cleavage.

  He reached behind him and she wasn’t sure what he was doing, until he tossed his wallet down on the mattress. Intelligent as she was, it took her several seconds to understand why, and when she did—when she realized that he kept his condoms in there—the reality of what they were doing and exactly where this was leading hit her full force.

  The fading flower who in college wouldn’t even let a man kiss her until the third date was about to have sex with a man she’d known only four days. A playboy prince who without a doubt was far more experienced than she could ever hope to be.

  So why wasn’t she afraid, or at least a little wary? Why did it just make her want him that much more?

  “Take them off,” he told her, his voice husky.

  She gazed up at him, confused. Only when she saw the look on his face did she realize how aroused he was, and that she was rhythmically stroking him without even realizing it. Reacting solely on instinct.

  “My pants,” he said. “Take them off now.”

  With trembling fingers she fumbled with the clasp, then pulled down the zipper. She tugged the slacks down, leaving his boxers in place.

  “All of it,” he demanded, so she pulled the boxers down, too. “Now, do that again.”

  She knew what he wanted. He wanted her to touch him again. She took him in her hand and the skin was so hot, she nearly jerked her arm back. Instead she squeezed.

  The point of touching him, or at least, part of the point, had been so that he would touch her, too, but so far he was the one getting all of the action. With that thought came a sudden jab of concern that he was one of those men. The kind who took pleasure and gave nothing in return. She’d never been with a man who had taken the time to even try to please her, so what made her think Aaron would be any different?

  Before she could even complete the thought, Aaron clasped her wrist to stop her. “That feels too good.”

  Wasn’t that the point?

  But she didn’t argue because he finally reached down to unfasten her chinos—much more deftly than she’d managed with his. He eased her pants and panties down together and she kicked them away.

  “Lie down,” he said, nodding toward the bed. She did as he asked, trembling with anticipation. But instead of lying down beside her, he knelt between her thighs. If she had been more experienced with men, or more to the point, with men like him, she probably would have known what was coming next. Instead it was a total surprise when he eased her thighs open, leaned forward and kissed her there. She was so surprised, she wasn’t sure what to do, how to react. Then he pressed her legs even farther apart and flicked her with his tongue. The sensation was so shockingly intimate and intense she cried out and arched off the bed. He teased her with his tongue, licking just hard enough to drive her mad, to make her squirm and moan. When she didn’t think she could stand much more he took her into his mouth and every muscle from head to toe locked and shuddered in ecstasy, sending her higher and higher, and when it became too much, too intense, she pushed his head away.

  She lay there with her eyes closed, too limp to do more than breathe. She felt the bed shift, and the warmth of Aaron’s body beside hers. She pried her eyes open to find him grinning down at her. “Everything all right?”

  It took all of her energy to nod. “Oh, yeah.”

  “Are you always that fast?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “What do you mean.”

  “No man has actually ever done that.”

  He frowned. “Which part?”

  “Either. Both. The few men I’ve been with weren’t exactly…adventurous. And they were more interested in their own pleasure than mine.”

  “Are you saying no man has ever given you an orgasm?”

  “Nope.”

  “That’s just…wrong. There’s nothing more satisfying for me than giving a woman pleasure.”

  “Really?” She didn’t think it worked that way. Or maybe he was in a class all by himself.

  “And you know the best part?” he said.

  “Huh?”

  He grinned that wolfish smile. “I get to spend the rest of the night proving it to you.”

  In his life Aaron had never been with a woman so responsive or easy to satisfy as Liv. She climaxed so quickly, and so often, just using his hands and mouth, that it sort of took the challenge out of it. But the way he looked at it, he was helping her make up for lost time. Those other men she’d been with must have been totally inept, completely self-absorbed or just plain stupid. That gave all men a bad rap. He’d never seen anything as fantastic as Liv shuddering in ecstasy, eyes blind with satisfaction.

  “I want you inside me,” she finally pleaded, gazing up at him with lust-filled eyes, and he couldn’t resist giving her exactly what she wanted. He grabbed a condom and tore the package open with his teeth. He looked down at Liv and realized she was staring at his hard-on with a look on her face that hovered somewhere between curiosity and fascination.

  “Can I do it?” she asked, holding out her hand.

  He shrugged and gave her the condom. “Knock yourself out.”

  He expected her to roll it on; instead she leaned forward and took him in her mouth. Deep in her mouth. He groaned and wound his hands through her hair, on the verge of an explosion.

  She took him from her mouth, looked up at him and grinned.

  “I figured it would go on better this way. Besides, I’ve always wanted to try that.”

  She could experiment on him anytime. And he truly hoped she would.

  He gritted his teeth as she carefully rolled the condom down the length of him.

  “Like that?” she asked.

  “Perfect,” he said, and before he could make another move she lay back, pulling him down on top of her, between her thighs, arching to accept him.

  She was so hot and wet and tight that he nearly lost it on the first thrust. And though he was determined to make it last, she wasn’t making it easy. Her hands were all over him, threading through his hair, her nails clawing at his back and shoulders, and she wrapped those gloriously long legs around his waist, whimpering in his ear. Then she tensed and moaned and her body clamped down around him like a fist, and it was all over. They rode it out together, then lay gasping for breath, a tangle of arms and legs.

  “I had no idea it could be like this,” she said.

  Neither did he. “You say that as if we’re done.”

  She rose up on one elbow and looked down at him, her expression serious. “I can’t marry William.”

  “That’s what I keep telling you,” he said. He just hoped she hadn’t decided to set h
er sights on him instead. They had fantastic sexual chemistry, but that didn’t change the fact that he had every intention of remaining a free man. William wasn’t the right man for her, but neither was he.

  “If I wanted to marry him, I would feel guilty right now, wouldn’t I?”

  “I would think so.”

  “I don’t. Not at all. In fact I almost feel…relieved. Like this huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.”

  “That’s good, right?”

  She nodded. “I’m not ready to get married. And even if I was, I can’t marry a man I don’t love, that I’m not even sexually attracted to. I want more than that.”

  “You deserve more.”

  “I do,” she agreed, looking as though, for the first time in her life, she finally believed it. “We have to keep this quiet.”

  “About William?”

  “No. About us. Unless…” She frowned.

  “Unless what?”

  “Well, maybe we shouldn’t do this again.”

  “Don’t you think that’s a bit unrealistic? Since you got here we haven’t been able to keep our hands off each other.”

  “Then we’ll have to be very discreet. Anne already suspects something.”

  He shrugged. “So what?”

  “I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that your family wouldn’t approve of you slumming it with the hired help.”

  “You’re a guest,” he reminded her. “Besides, I don’t give a damn what my family thinks.”

  “But I do. I spent most of my life trying not to be one of those girls. Having sex for the sake of sex.”

  “This is different.”

  “Is it really?”

  He wanted to say yes, but they were by definition having an affair. And although he hated to admit it, if he were sleeping with a woman of his own social level, his siblings wouldn’t bat an eyelash. Liv’s humble beginnings and lack of pedigree put her in an entirely different category.