Prince's Triplet Babies

by Sophia Lynn

  “So what am I going to be, exactly?” she blurted out. It was a question that Erin had had on her mind, but it was hardly the most important question. The most important questions had no words, they were only things that she felt deep inside herself. They were questions of what his hands would feel like on her body, how his lips would taste, how it would feel to kiss him on the point of his chin...

  “What do you mean?” he asked, and she coughed a little.

  “I mean, well, you mentioned a little bit about the history of what I am doing, what we're doing together. We're going to be... to be creating an heir for Hazn. I'm obviously not your wife or your sheikha. I don't really feel like your girlfriend, and the word 'mistress'...”

  “Does not really suit you, no, not at all,” he said, and she nodded with relief.

  “So what am I? I want to know where I stand, and that means talking with you about it, as long as that is okay?”

  By the end of her speech, she was down to a squeak, and she was grateful when his large hand came to cover hers.

  “Of course it is all right,” he said, his mouth curved in a gentle smile. “I will always want you to speak to me, no matter what is on your mind. I have always felt that honesty is something that people must have if they are going to come to some kind of accord.”

  He paused for a moment, considering her question.

  “I believe you are a courtesan,” he said finally, and Erin looked at him quizzically.

  “You used that word before,” she said. “What does it mean, exactly?”

  “It is an Italian word, but one that suits our purposes admirably. A courtesan was a woman of great beauty and taste-”

  “Ha, now I know you’re buttering me up,” she said with a laugh. “It's okay, I'm on the plane now...”

  “Once again, I am only saying what is true,” he said with a smile. “To continue, a courtesan is a woman possessed of such beauty and such grace that she need not marry. Instead, she takes lovers who look after her needs so that she can simply be the wonder that she is, conferring grace on those around her.”

  Erin thought for a moment, raising her eyebrow at him.

  “Um, I'm not sure I understand the difference,” she said slowly. “I mean, she's a woman who gets her bills paid by a man that she's sleeping with? Isn't that a mistress?”

  “It could also be a definition for a wife,” he pointed out. “Things were very different once upon a time. A courtesan was not a woman one kept hidden away, however. She was not a secret. She was someone to be gloried and celebrated, one who made the world brighter with her intelligence and her charm. Many of the great sheikhs of my line were mothered by courtesans.”

  Erin considered that thought, the glamorous women who had stood next to the throne and given the men of the day their sons and heirs. She wondered if they were lonely, if they regretted their choices or not. She wondered how close she truly was to them, when just a few hours ago she had been a waitress.

  “They sound very impressive,” Erin said. “I hope I can live up to their tradition, then.”

  There was something warm in Askari's gaze.

  “They said that the first thing a courtesan had to be was intriguing and fascinating, and you are already excellent at that,” he murmured. “I think you will do just fine.”

  She smiled at him, but that warmth had grown. She started to feel a little heated herself, and she knew she was blushing a little. She frantically sought another topic for them to talk about, but then he was standing.

  “Come here. There is certainly a more comfortable place for us to spend the flight.”

  Hesitantly, she gave him her hand and followed him to what she thought of as the living room area of the jet. Behind them was a shut off sleeping compartment, which she was painfully aware of, but the living room felt innocent enough.

  “I think that if we talk any longer, it is simply going to be because you are nervous,” he said, and she nodded because he wasn't wrong.

  “There is no room for nervousness between the two of us, wouldn't you agree?” Askari asked.

  “No,” she said, striving to sound as levelheaded and calm as he did. “Not at all. Not when... when we are going to be doing what we are going to be doing.”

  His eyes sparkled with humor at the slight tremor in her voice, but when he sat her down on the couch, his touch was kind.

  “I think that it is time we got to know each other a little better,” Askari murmured. “Perhaps it will help you calm yourself. Perhaps it will make you feel at ease with me.”

  “What a good idea! That sounds good to me, I mean, I really do want to get to know you, and I think that will be important as... as we...progress, I guess...”

  Erin knew that she was babbling, but she couldn't figure out how to stop herself. It was as if the words wouldn't stop, as if they were some kind of self-protective torrent that flowed out of her, one falling over the other and keeping her afloat. Then Askari apparently decided that he had had enough of that, and kneeling down on the ground in front of her, he leaned in and kissed her.

  Every time he kissed her, it was different. This time, there was absolutely no element of hurry. There was nothing predatory or stalking about this kiss. He had her right where he wanted her, and he could take his time. This was a panther leaning down to devour his meal in a leisurely fashion, taking his time.

  Erin whimpered as her lips parted for him, and she gasped when he leaned her back. Now he was pressed between her knees, leaning her back on the couch as he rose over her. In this position, she could feel his body more clearly than she had before. He was lean and strong, and there was an elemental power to it that made something in her cry out with desire. She had never understood what kind of power a man could have before, and she had never understood how she herself could respond to it.

  She was startled to find her hands sliding up along his body. She couldn't stop herself. She needed to touch him. Erin found herself tugging at his clothes because she didn't want them keeping her from his skin.

  “Oh, my little courtesan is so eager?” Askari crooned. “Beautiful little thing... I knew there was a reason that I chose you.”

  There was something in his voice that made an alarm bell start going off in her mind, but his mouth on hers, on her throat, on the intimate place where her neck met her shoulder, simply felt too good. She could feel the shudders of pleasure that ran through her, leading to a heat that thundered through her. She had never felt like this before, and she thought that she was going to die if she didn't get more.

  He pulled away from her briefly to strip off his jacket and then his shirt. Now he was bare to the waist, and she couldn't resist running her hands over his chest, marveling at his sleek skin and the coiled muscled underneath.

  “You are so beautiful,” she murmured in frank awe, and that surprised a chuckle out of him.

  “That is not something that I am often told,” he said, coming to lean down over her again.

  “Why not?” she gasped as he ran his lips over the curve of her shoulder. “You are.”

  “Perhaps the other women in my bed are more calculated,” he murmured between kisses. “Perhaps they are more intent on telling me what they think I want to hear rather than what they are truly thinking...”

  Erin winced. Once again, her mouth had run away with her, and she couldn't seem to pull it into check.

  “I'm sorry, was that what you wanted...”

  She trailed off as he kissed her. God, there was nothing in the world more languorous than his kisses, than the sweetness of his mouth as he teased her lips apart before sliding his tongue between them. Erin was already gasping and clinging to him when he pulled away briefly.

  “Haven't I already told you that I want nothing but honesty from you?” he murmured. “I want to hear whatever crosses that clever brain of yours, and it is even better if you barely know you are saying it.”

  “So you like hearing me babble?” she giggled. “Well, that's a good thing
because I do it a lot!”

  Something about her laugh seemed to be contagious, because there was a bright light in his eyes when he glanced up and a frankly challenging look in his eyes.

  “Go ahead,” Askari said with a grin. “Try to talk.”

  Erin had always had a rather competitive streak, and in the past, her boyfriends had always seemed to find it distasteful. She remembered, however, that Askari wasn't her boyfriend. He was paying her, and that meant that she could be as competitive as she liked.

  “Well, I can talk about whatever you want. I can talk about how scary it was to leave my job, walking away from... oh!”

  She was interrupted by a gentle nip to her throat, a flash of white teeth followed by a sweep of his hot tongue. The sensations were brilliant, flashing like fireworks, and she barely knew that she had stopped talking before he pulled away with a smile.

  “Is that all you had?” he asked with mock pity. “I thought that you were going to be a challenge...”

  “No!” she cried in dismay. “I was going to tell you that the farther I got away from that awful place, the more confident I became. I knew... oh... I knew that you were waiting for me... that I had to get across town, and once I saw you there, it would be alright...”

  He had reached the buttons of her shirt, and he undid them one by one, kissing each inch of exposed skin. She was still talking, or at least, she thought she was, but when she started murmuring his name, she realized that he was winning.

  Taking a deep breath, she tried to keep talking, because deep down, there was something she did want to tell him.

  “And I don't know what is coming next. I'm... I'm a little afraid, but this all feels like an adventure, one where we can give each other what the other needs...”

  She felt a deep tremor go through her as Askari laughed against her skin. She was startled by how good such a simple thing could feel, but that was Askari. He seemed to be full of surprises, full of laughter in unexpected ways.

  "And what is it exactly that you need, beautiful one?" Askari asked between kisses. "What is it that I am going to give you? I warn you, it will be a little unromantic to say the money, though I would certainly understand if you did."

  Somehow, somehow, she had forgotten about the money. Erin wondered if that was something that she should worry about. She knew that he was going to give her three million dollars. As a matter of fact, he already had. He had shown her the transfer in the limousine, and she had confirmed it with the bank.

  "That money barely seems real," she said, gasping a little when he unbuttoned her shirt down to her navel. She knew now that he was looking at her dull-as-dirt beige bra, but there was nothing to be done about that. If he had done his research, he knew exactly how little money she had, and the dull underwear shouldn't have been a surprise at all.

  "It is plenty real, I promise..."

  "Oh, I know it is. You seem to be a man of your word, and I'm inclined to trust you..."

  She wound her fingers through his dark hair, tugging gently. Erin had only meant to do it as a sort of tease, but when he groaned, she was so entranced she did it again. She could feel him trembling against her body, and for a moment, she relished how good it felt. Then she continued, because after all, he had asked her a question.

  "What I need from you is adventure," Erin murmured. "I want to experience a world that I have never experienced before. I want to learn about Hazn, and about how you live. I wanted to leave the country and not have it be a random company trip to Toronto..."

  "You have an explorer's spirit, I can see that," Askari said, leaning up to pull her hands away. He pinned them at her sides, giving her a grin that warmed her right to the heart. "Now let us see if you are as hot as I thought you were..."

  She barely knew what he was doing before he deftly unfastened her jeans, sliding them down her hips. Suddenly, this was all too real, much more than she had thought it would be, and she froze. Erin could tell that Askari had noticed, but he leaned down to kiss her pale, rounded thighs. The heat was back, making her shiver, but there was a layer of anxiety that overlaid all of it and prevented her from fully feeling it.

  His kisses traced gently to the soft mound between her thighs, nuzzling and sweet, but she couldn't get her mind away from her fear. For heaven's sake, she was lying here mostly unclothed with a man that she hadn't known for more than forty-eight hours. He was kissing her, he was touching her, and soon, he would... he would...

  Erin closed her eyes, ready to sink into whatever it was that Askari was going to do, but then he pulled back, a quizzical look in his eyes.

  "Why did you stop?" she asked in surprise, and he raised an eyebrow at her.

  "Because despite what you might think, I am not a monster."

  "I don't think you are a monster!" Erin exclaimed, scrambling to sit upright on the couch. She closed her shirt ineffectually over her chest. It wasn't very much protection at all, but somehow, it helped a little have something shielding her.

  The look on Askari's face was shockingly cynical, and he stood up and backed away from her. For a moment, she could see the turgid shape of his manhood underneath his trousers, and then he turned away from her, picking up his shirt.

  "Then I would like to know why you look so horrified," he said, his tone slightly sharp. "Right up until the last five minutes, I had no reason to think that anything is a problem. Then suddenly you freeze up like a princess who has been stolen away by some kind of enormous monster..."

  She stared at him in surprise.

  "I don't think you are a monster," she protested. "Not at all!"

  "Well then?"

  She took a deep breath. Erin wished for a moment that he were a little less perceptive, but that would likely mean that she would never have wanted to speak with him at all.

  "I suppose there is something I should have told you before we entered into this bargain at all," she said, and he turned back to her. To Erin's surprise, there was a dark look on his face.

  "Erin, it does not bother me if you are not a virgin or if... if you have been... injured somehow..."

  For a moment, Erin's brain was so slowed by heat and need that she had no idea what he meant, but then it caught up and she gasped.

  "No! No, nothing like that. Neither of those things really apply, I promise."

  She paused, and then she decided that she should just forge forward. It's not like he wouldn't learn the truth in a little while anyway.

  "The first thing I want to tell you is that I have every interest in following through on our bargain. I want you to have children, and... I think it would be amazing to bear them. The truth is, I should have told you that I'm... frigid."

  Erin had to resist the urge to close her eyes. She had no idea how Askari would react. He might shrug and care not at all, or he might be so incensed that she had not told him the truth that he would order her out of his presence and put her on the next flight back to the United States. She had no idea how he might want it to play out, but she had not expected laughter.

  She stared up at him in shock and in no small offense.

  "Um, did you hear what I said?" she asked, and then she repeated it for good measure. "I said that I'm frigid."

  "If it helps, I would have had the same reaction if you had told me that the sky was purple or that I was a blond," he said, not unkindly. "I do not think that I have encountered anything more ridiculous."

  Erin scowled, standing up to face him. Of course, then she had to face the fact that her pants were slipping down, and red-faced, she hastily did them up again before facing the sheikh.

  "It's not ridiculous," Erin said indignantly. "I've had lovers before. Well, one lover, years ago, and we definitely tried a few things, and as it turns out, I’m frigid.

  "As I said, I have every intention of continuing with our bargain, but I don't want you to... to have expectations that I cannot fulfill."

  By the end of her little speech, Erin was speaking in a quiet, miserable little voice. Go
d, she sounded broken when she had to say things like this. She wouldn't be surprised if he really did turn the plane around and drop her off in New York again.

  "And as I said, what you are saying is patently ridiculous," he said, coming to sprawl on the couch. While Erin had been dressing herself, he had made no such move, and now he was spread out over the couch like a lordly beast, completely unconcerned with his bare chest and watching her with a feral amusement in his black eyes.

  "The woman who was kissing me as if her soul would fly out of her eyes is not frigid," he said. "Nor is the woman who left everything she knew in search of adventure. Nor is the woman who crashed into me simply because she was afraid for some little pickpocket. You are not frigid, I promise you."

  Now Erin felt a pit open up in her belly because this was a conversation that had to happen. There was no way that she could allude to it, and he wasn't letting her squirm away. She supposed that for three million dollars, Askari deserved the truth, but at the bottom of it, he simply deserved it. So did every man who wanted to touch her like this.

  "Look, I don't know how to make it clearer than this," she said, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "I did have a lover, and no matter what we tried, I just never... seemed to get into it, I guess. I mean, I told you it doesn't change much except for maybe the way we do things..."

  "No."

  His tone was so firm and solid that Erin looked up at him in surprise.

  "Um, no?"

  "We will change things if you need to have them changed," he said. "Perhaps a position does not work for you, or perhaps you find that you need a little more than I am giving you."

  "Oh god, you are actually saying those things," she moaned, covering her face, but after a brief laugh at her shy outburst, he kept on going.

  "Those are legitimate reasons to change the way we do things."

  She had her hands over her eyes, so she didn't see when he rose. Instead, Erin felt his strong arms go around her, so powerful and so all-encompassing that she could do nothing but lean into them with a sigh. He held her tight, and then he sat back down on the couch, propping her into his lap. His thighs were hard with muscle, but there was something amazingly comforting and comfortable about simply resting on him.