Royal Tease

by Nana Malone

  Chloe was happy to speak up. For her first date, she’d done a tasting room. It was something she’d always wanted to do. It was one of those chef experiences where you end up at a penthouse somewhere in the city, and a chef cooks for you and a group of strangers. “It was fantastic. And Marc, my date, he mostly just wanted to do something exclusive and different. He’d been trying to get a reservation at that chef’s restaurant for months. This killed two birds with one stone.”

  Rick nodded. “Same thing for me. I’ve always wanted to drive Formula One since I was a kid. And my date, Amber, her dad was a car enthusiast when she was a kid. He used to talk to her about all these different kinds of cars, took her to car shows, and she’s a Top Gear fanatic. So we went to a driving course. We had a fantastic time.”

  Everyone talked about their experiences, including Ariel. But she said, “Well, it’s my app, so unfortunately, I sort of know how to beat it. It tends to be inaccurate for me. But I still had a fantastic time. I had to go on an experience that I probably wouldn’t have picked for myself.”

  I nodded. “See, this is exactly what I mean. It should be about the elite experience you can get nowhere else. And that’s the publicity we need to focus on. We’ll keep it small, just an elite clientele. No Sussex wannabe footballer’s wives allowed, and only the biggest and best influencers in social media. I think that’s our niche. We keep it exclusive. The more exclusive it is, the more people want it. We’re going to have membership cards and things like that, and we’ll publicize it amongst the lords and lots of royalty. That’s what we do. That’s our promotional push.”

  For once, Roone looked happy when I walked him through our PR plan. “Yeah, that works. You get it. It’s not about everyone. It’s about only a select few.”

  After the meeting, Evan pulled me aside. “Have you checked the app lately?”

  I swallowed. I really didn’t need him asking questions about me using the app to date. I didn’t want to lie. “Not yet? Why?”

  “I’m so curious what experience you’ll get next.”

  Shit. I needed a better way to ease out of this. “I’ll check a little later. I mean what if my date says no to date two. That’s more humiliation than I need in the standard work day.”

  “Oh, right, of course. Keep me posted.”

  As if. “Sure thing.”

  I bolted out of the conference room and headed for the stairs. I didn't want to get embroiled in another uncomfortable conversation with Evan that I’d have to lie my way out of.

  I shoved open the door to the stairwell.

  "So, I noticed you haven’t said yes yet?"

  "Jesus Christ, Roone. Are you trying to terrify me to death? I’m mulling it over. I’m not sure the terms of the bet apply."

  "Oh, come on now, you know you want to,” Roone teased. “Unless you’re chicken of course.”

  "No, I don't. And I have never backed down from anything. You have invaded every corner of my life. If I didn't know better, I'd think I’d pissed someone off in a previous lifetime. I mean honestly, in the span of a fortnight, you moved in across the hall, you're working at my company, and you're trying to take my clients."

  "Hey now, easy does it. I'm not trying to take your clients, I can’t help it if your contacts like me better."

  "Madison Jeffries does not like you better. And I swear to God on this.”

  Roone tossed his head back, his laugh low and melodic, and quite frankly making me tingly in all the right places. "You sound nervous. And it sure as hell feels like Madison and I have the perfect working partnership. After all, she requested me for a private meeting. Ariel seems to like me too."

  "I’m not going to dignify that situation with Madison with a response. And Ariel is fantastic. And she's named me primary."

  Roone frowned. "When did this happen?"

  "Oh, while you were so busy preening in there with the Evans, she pulled me aside and told me I was primary, so you can feel free to kiss my ass."

  "Ooh, you like the kinky shit. I'm down with that. So, date two we can explore that if you'd like."

  My hand twitched. I really wanted to hit him across the face. But no, I wasn't going to do that. I was going to stay calm and collected because I liked this job. I liked the stability. I liked being here. I didn't want to have to uproot my entire life again, and if I beat the shit out of him right now, I'd have to. And then I'd have the kind of life I'd had before. Constantly a vagabond. I'd had this job for nearly three years. I liked being a normal person. One who wasn't packed up and ready to run every minute. And he was certainly not going to make me run.

  "Oh, you'd like that."

  He laughed again. "What guy wouldn't like a kinky girl? I mean you have that crazy-girl vibe to you, so you might be kinky as shit."

  "Well luckily for both of us, you'll never know."

  "Well, as it turns out, I already know how you taste."

  Heat crept up my neck. "You kissed me."

  "Yes. I did. And we both agreed that you'd be asking me for another one, right?"

  "Fuck off."

  All that got me was a chuckle. "Come on, princess, what are you so scared of? Another date isn't going to kill you. Besides, I thought you said you could resist my charms."

  "I can." He knew how to goad me. I didn't want to go on another date with him. Are you sure? "I thought you said you could charm my panties off in three dates or less?"

  "I did. If you want to be chicken, the bet's null and void."

  "I'm not a chicken."

  He was so close that every inhale felt like he permeated my synapses in every cell. God, he was so sexy. Problem was the idiot knew it.

  "We'll go on this date. I don't care. But you're not getting into my panties. And let's be really, really clear… If I resist you, London Lords is mine, got it?"

  He grinned and winked. "Of course. A deal is a deal."

  "I don't get it, what do you win? Because all I have to do is tell you no and I get my client back."

  His voice went whisper soft then. "Yeah. It's fairly simple. And I know it looks bad for me. Because you just say one word, and that's the end of that. But you and I both know you liked what happened in the gym. Hell, I liked it. And I figure with these dates, it's very unlikely you're going to say no, so you might as well get use to not having Jeffries and London Lords on your client roster."

  "Oh God, I'm going to really enjoy it when I get my client back. I'm going to rub your face in it, and it's going to be a sweet day."

  The left corner of his lip tipped up. "Just what are you gonna rub my face in? Because I have to tell you, I was really looking forward to—"

  I didn't let him finish. I shoved him and yanked open the fire door. "You're a pig."

  "Maybe. But you seem to like me." His voice sobered for a moment as his gaze narrowed on me. "You okay though? I didn’t want to ask in the meeting."

  If nothing else, that threw me. Because the concern in his gaze, that was genuine. I flushed. "Um, yeah. I'm fine. No big deal. The police cleaned up the fingerprint residue, and it’s like they were never there.”

  He studied me. "Of course. No big deal. But you know, if it was a big deal and you don’t feel safe or whatever, just give me a shout and I’ll distract you with popcorn and cheesy eighties movies.”

  How the hell did he know about my love of all things John Hughes?

  “Thanks for the offer. I’m tougher than I look though.”

  Roone nodded slowly. “You know what princess? You're tough as nails. Too bad you're going to lose that bet."

  "Too bad you’re delusional."

  Now all I had to do was shore up the lady parts because there was no way I was losing to Roone.

  Roone…

  I wasn't primping and preening. No way no how. Except, maybe I'd fluffed the pillows a couple of times. And changed twice. But to be fair, I'd been in my Evans PR work clothes. I had also made a point to put all the surveillance equipment away behind the bookcase where she wouldn't look, l
eaving only my laptop out. If push came to shove, I could access her surveillance feed from here, but since she was with me that wasn't necessary. While she was here, I was the only one on duty. Ariel would be on audio based on the bug we had in her purse, if she brought it with her, but other than that it would be just me and Jessa.

  At the sound of the knock on the door, I jogged to open it. She stood in the hall, laptop bag and purse on one shoulder, pizza on an actual pizza stone in the opposite hand.

  My brows lifted. "Is that fresh?"

  She nodded and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, it is. I get the dough from this bakery down the street. I don't know if you like the weird British toppings like corn and pineapple, so I figured I'd make something that I liked and hopefully you’d like it too."

  I laughed and stepped back. "You have this way of making sure you get what you want, don't you?"

  She grinned. "Is there any other way?"

  I stepped back to let her in, and she glanced around. "Oh, your kitchen is a mirror image of my place? But the rest is loft style."

  "I guess so. I love it. It's exactly my style."

  Her gaze slid over me. "I never really would have pegged you for a modern, contemporary kind of guy."

  "Yeah well, at my last flat I couldn't really change the décor, so this is a nice change of scenery."

  "Oh, your place in the Winston Isles?"

  I nodded carefully as I took the pizza from her. "Yeah. Let me get some plates."

  She dropped her laptop onto my island and took a seat at one of the stools. "I have wine in the bag." She pulled out a bottle of red and a wine opener.

  "I see you came prepared."

  "Well, I moved around a lot. I know that sometimes the essentials aren't always on hand."

  "Were you a military brat or something?"

  "No, nothing like that. Just a vagabond father."

  "Ah. Well, you are the expert because I have no idea where my corkscrew is."

  "No wine opener, no beer opener? What kind of red-blooded British bloke are you?"

  "I'm British enough to head straight down to the pub when I need something."

  "Right. Good point, solid comeback. Did you miss that just-heading-to-the-pub situation when you were in the Winston Isles?"

  I shook my head. "No, not really. There were plenty of pubs in the Winston Isles."

  "I've heard it's beautiful. The Caribbean. I've never been."

  I set the plates on the counter and tried to find my pizza slicer. Ariel had put that away somewhere. As a matter of fact, she and the staging team that had come in advance had set up the whole kitchen. Which is probably why I had no idea where anything was. She and a few of the rotating team lived in the flats across and down the road from Jessa’s unit.

  Ariel wasn't exactly domestic. I had already discovered that I cooked more than she did, and she genuinely thought that Maltesers were a food group. More often than not, she popped through around dinner time to see what I’d made. "Where did I put the knives?"

  She shook her head. "Already to the rescue.” She reached in her bag again and pulled out a pizza cutter.

  "Wow. You really do come prepared."

  "Yeah, well we have a lot of clients to go over. I set a timer. There's another pizza in the oven at my place just in case this isn't enough."

  "Woman, I could marry you."

  What? You're insane. Stop talking to the princess.

  But she saw it as a joke. Thankfully. "Well, there's a very long queue, so you'll have to form an orderly line to the left."

  "I don't see anyone else in line."

  "Yeah, there's a good reason for that."

  "Oh, come on, despite the slightly prickly personality, you're clearly beautiful. You're smart. There should be a queue."

  "Aw, Mr. Ainsley, are you giving me a genuine compliment?"

  I shook my head as I laughed. "Don't get used to it." Why was it that she wasn't used to compliments? My heart squeezed at that. While I cut the pizza and plated the slices, she jumped off the stool and started walking around the flat. Ariel and the staging team had put scattered photos around. Some of me and Sebastian. A few with Penny and the whole team. Several of my mother. Where Ariel had even found those, I had no idea.

  "Who's this?"

  "That's my mum."

  Jessa smiled at that. "She's beautiful."

  "Yeah. She was. She died when I was 15."

  "Shit. I'm so sorry."

  "It's okay."

  Jessa turned to study me for a long moment. "You look like her a little."

  "Yeah, I've heard that before. Although, I mostly look like my dad I know."

  She nodded noncommittally. "I uh, I lost my mum when I was ten. And my dad a year ago."

  "That sucks. It really sucks. I'm so sorry."

  She shrugged. "Honestly, I think I was probably losing my dad long before he was actually gone. He wasn't well at the end."

  I knew what she was talking about, but I couldn't allude to it, so I had to ask. Even if I didn't like poking at her wound. "Was he sick for a long time or something?"

  She shrugged and then gratefully took the glass of wine I poured. "Yeah, but not like that. Mental stuff. He never quite recovered from when my mom died. And then in the end, he was just more and more delusional, you know? So it was tough. My dad, the guy who raised me, I hadn't really seen him in a long time."

  "Still sucks." I clinked my glass with hers. "Look at us, getting along and everything."

  She shifted on her feet. "Yeah. About that, I figured that maybe I misjudged you. I thought you were out to steal my clients."

  I grinned at her. "I am."

  "Yeah, but if you can steal my clients it means I don't deserve them. If they're happy with me, they won't come to you. I have been acting like a brat, and I'm sorry. You're not completely evil."

  I laughed at that. "Well I'm glad to know I'm not evil through and through."

  "No, you're not. So truce?"

  "Yeah, sure, I'm down for the truce. Although, I do have to wonder does this null and void our little kiss bet?"

  She lifted a brow. "Oh, well see, here's where you lose. I'm not fighting you anymore, but I'm certainly not going to ask you for a kiss."

  I clapped a hand over my chest. "You wound me. If I didn't know better, I'd say you didn't enjoy the last one."

  Her teeth grazed her bottom lip, and she shifted on her feet, pupils dilating slightly. Oh yeah, she’d liked the kiss.

  "My point is that I'm not going to ask you for another. So, I'm keeping my clients, and we might as well divvy up the ones that I don't really have time to work on."

  "So, you want me to just give in? Even though we had a deal?"

  "The deal is for a kiss. And you and I both know I'm never going to ask you for one."

  I cocked my head. "We don't both know that. Because here's the thing. I remember exactly how you taste." I took a step toward her. I watched intently as she swallowed hard. "I remember that little sound you made at the back of your throat when I slid my tongue over yours."

  She took another step back, and her legs came in contact with the coffee table.

  "You also made this little whimper sound when you could feel me drawing back. It was so unbelievably sexy. I remember the way your hand tightened just so on my shoulder as I waited for you to push me back, which you didn't do. Instead you clawed your fingernails into my shoulders. So, you can tell me you don't want me to kiss you again. And that's fair. But you can't tell me you didn't like it the last time. If you don't ask me to kiss you again, I won't. I gave you my word. And I'm a man of my word. But don't you go pretending that you didn't feel that."

  Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she dragged in short, panting breaths. I was so close now. She was wearing that perfume, the floral one with just a hint of spice as a chaser. I wanted to bathe in that scent. I wanted to kiss every spot where I could smell it on her skin.

  You are out of control. Rein it in. Back on the other side of
the line.

  Problem was I didn't want to go back on the other side of the line. This close to her, I wanted to touch her, taste her, smell her, watch her melt on my tongue.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Nothing. Just getting my laptop so we can get to work." I reached down and grabbed my laptop from right behind her on the coffee table. I made it a point to brush her body gently with mine. Jesus fucking Christ, I could feel her nipples through her blouse, her heat clawing at me, begging to wind around me. I stood with laptop in hand and showed it to her. "Are you ready to get to work now?"

  Her lips were parted, and her eyes were wide as she stared up at me. "Yep, of course."

  I smiled down at her. Oh, I had her. I absolutely had her.

  I thought we weren't going to get close to her this way.

  Shut it. This little exchange wasn't about the mission. It was about what Jessa McLean was doing to me. And frankly, she deserved a bit of her own medicine.

  "Let's get to work, princess."

  She cleared her throat and nodded. "Yeah. Of course, right, work."

  "Yep, after all, that's why you're here isn't it?"

  With a sigh she tipped her chin up. "Yep, that's exactly why I'm here, so you just keep holding your breath. Because it's still not going to happen."

  I grinned at her. "Whatever you need to tell yourself."

  18

  Ariel…

  I had made a mistake. I'd known it the moment I said yes, but because he was my father, I'd still done it. And now I couldn't get in touch with him. I scanned the monitors again in Jessa’s flat even as I fired off another text to my father, demanding he return my calls.