by Nana Malone
It was in that moment I realized I had long been over the sting of Laila. The pain she’d caused me was over now. I’d spent a lot of time being angry with her, remembering everything that had happened, and how I hadn’t been good enough for her. But now I felt nothing. Was this what peace felt like?
The problem was I wasn’t at peace, not really. My mind was entirely too focused on the woman by the door glaring daggers at me while in a conversation with the Earl of Comston. And I liked it. I liked her being jealous. I liked her being angry, which was just some fucked-up bullshit because it wasn’t like I could keep her. The law was the law. And it was one I might not be able to change after all, especially not if I chose to make my brother and sister officially on the record.
I let Laila’s hand linger, and I covered it with one of mine. “Have you heard? There’s a gorgeous Picasso hanging just around the corner. Follow me.”
Even as I stepped through the doors with Laila, my mind was on Penny.
* * *
Penny
This was my worst nightmare. First, I was in this skintight, unbreathing, slinky evening gown. Who the hell in their right mind saw me and thought evening gown? Plus, I was in heels, staggering, four-inch stilettos complete with red soles.
The cocky king himself had brought me the dress this morning, looking rather pleased with himself when I had stared at it in disbelief.
“What’s the matter Penny? Cat got your tongue?”
All I could do was stare at the black sequined number wondering where in the hell I was going to stick my gun. Funny thing was Sebastian had the same question for me.
Now I was standing next to him wearing these god-awful undergarments. Honestly, how was I supposed to protect the king with spaghetti straps and a thigh-high slit?
Angelina Jolie makes it look so easy in movies.
“So, where did you stick that gun exactly?” Sebastian’s voice was low, sexy, and intimate.
I held my breath until he moved away several inches. I knew this game. He was trying to get a rise out of me. Get me to jerk back, roll my eyes— something to show that he was getting to me, but I refused. He was not getting to me.
After a day and a half with him, I was ready to murder him. Yes, that joke was in poor taste considering his father had just been murdered. But the son was about to follow the father if he kept picking at me. I blinked up at him innocently. “It would be best if you don’t know, Your Majesty. It might just remind you of things that you cannot have.”
Low blow. Direct hit.
His gaze flickered to mine, and his lips flattened to a firm line before he took a sip of his drink.
“Touché, Penny. Touché.”
That seemed to do the trick. For the rest of the dinner, which, joy of joys, included the Duke of Essex, Sebastian was on his best behavior. Across the table sat Roone. I was seated next to Sebastian. On his other side sat Princess Laila. All night I could see her flirting with him. She had her hand on his arm, leaning to whisper things at him. I kept trying to tell myself I wasn’t jealous.
Roone raised his eyebrow and mouthed to me, “Are you okay?”
Jesus Christ, did everyone know? I nodded. I squared my shoulders and tried to focus on the meal in front of me, all the while watching everyone at the table, my gaze flickering to the exits and silently checking in with each of the guards that we had posted on the perimeter. This was certainly not how I thought I’d be enjoying my first ball on the other side of things.
Oh sure, I’d been to dozens of balls, always as security. And even though I’d never entertained the possibility of being a princess, there was a part of me that wondered what it would be like to wear a fancy dress, to dance, to get to be one of the people having fun and not working.
Well, being on the other side having fun was not so fun. No wonder most of the socialites looked so pinched, like they had sticks up their asses. Because they had literal sticks along their ass to keep their backs straight and their assets standing out. None of it was comfortable. The corset doohickey, combined with the evil Spanx I was wearing, sucked monkey balls. But on a good note, they made my tits look outstanding.
And yes, there was a sadistic part of me that liked that Sebastian’s gaze kept flickering to my chest. Yeah, see them and weep, cocky king.
At the end of the dinner, as we were led to the ballroom, the princess took Sebastian’s hand and tried to lead him away. She was not too pleased when I stood directly in front of her. “I’m so sorry, Your Highness, but His Majesty will not be accompanying you.”
She lifted a brow. “Excuse me? I was under the impression that you weren’t a real date.”
How awesome. She’d gone from zero to bitchy in one point four seconds. This was going to be fantastic. “Regardless of whether or not I’m his date, I can’t allow you to go with him, at least not without me and Roone. So unless you’re looking for a foursome … ”
Her gaze skimmed over me. “Well, well. I didn’t know you had it in you. I mean, if you’re offering.” She slid her gaze to Roone, who was trying to look everywhere but at her. Yeah, real helpful Roone. “I mean, I’m not shy. Are you shy? What’s your name again?”
“Right now I don’t need a name. All you need to know is that I’m technically Sebastian’s date. So, unless you want to have a girl fight in the middle of the hall, I need to ask you to step away from His Majesty.”
Behind me, Sebastian’s chuckle was low. Asshole. “Easy does it Penny. Laila has no plans on hurting me. She was just trying to rekindle an old flame.”
I turned to face him. “Old flame or not, I have a very specific job to do for these three days. Like it or not, you asked for me specifically to do this job. You know why we’re here. You know what’s at stake with you being here. You can either choose to do that, or you can just dick around. If you’re dicking around, there’s no reason for me to be here, and you’re not taking your job seriously.”
I knew I was poking at him. I also knew I was right. He had a job to do, and he was messing around with this woman. She was all tits and ass in a very revealing ball gown. I knew who she was. I was surprised her husband didn’t have a problem with the dress. Through from the guest list, I knew he wasn’t here. Though there were rumors about the two of them and their wild lifestyle.
She also looked like a hard party girl with too much smoky mascara, and I could tell she was used to wearing barely anything but attitude and a smile.
Not that you’re jealous or anything.
I was not jealous. I was trying to do my job. Sebastian’s gaze flickered from mine to Laila’s and then to Roone’s. Roone was giving him a hard glare, because Roone knew exactly how difficult it would be to protect him if he opted for hide-the-salami time with a tart.
He grinned at me. “Sorry Laila, looks like I’m on lockdown. I have to be king and all.”
Laila pouted of course, because she was the kind of girl that would pout. “Oh come on, what’s the point of being king if you don’t get to do what you want? For old time’s sake?”
For some reason, it seemed to straighten Sebastian’s back. “When you’re king, you don’t get to do what you want.” He shifted his gaze to me. “Happy now?”
“It’s not my job to be happy. It’s my job to protect you. Now, Your Majesty, if you’ll follow us?” I deliberately blocked Laila’s path with my body, so when he looked her direction, all he saw was me, and I led him toward the ballroom.
“Yes, of course, as you wish.” He started to walk across the ballroom, but then faltered for a moment. “Actually, I’m suddenly not feeling well. I’m a little light-headed. My skin is buzzing.”
I immediately took hold of his forearm. “Are you okay?”
Roone was at his other side in an instant.
“Do you need to lie down?”
Behind us, Laila giggled. “Oh my God, don’t be so dramatic. He asked for an aspirin earlier at dinner. I gave him something like an aspirin.”
I was going to kill her. “W
hat do you mean like an aspirin?”
She rolled her eyes. “It was sort of a hit of X. He should be feeling good, not all uptight or whatever.”
I stared at her. “Are you insane? You gave His Royal Majesty a hit of Ecstasy?”
She backed up several steps, teetering on her heels. “Relax. It’s only supposed to make him loosen up. He’s supposed to be happy. It’s fine.”
“No, it is not fine. He’s here on a trade mission, and you gave him a hit of X? What the hell is wrong with you? He’s here for the good of his people. He’s here working. But you thought it would be funny to slip him drugs?”
I reached for her, and a firm hand wrapped around my bicep. Roone’s voice was low in warning. “Let me handle the princess. I’ll find her guard and get her back to her hotel where she can’t cause any more trouble. In the meantime, you get Sebastian where he won’t make an idiot of himself. When I’m done with this one, I’ll go ahead and make his excuses.”
Well at least Roone was the voice of reason, because I was about to knock the bitch out.
Sebastian was leaning against one of the gilded archways on the way to the bar. He blinked rapidly as he tried to get his bearings. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
I sighed. “Yeah, of course, something doesn’t feel right. That’s what happens when you take unknown drugs from your flavor of the week.”
His brows furrowed. “I don’t do drugs. Just say no.”
Oh fabulous. He had jokes now. “She didn’t give you headache medicine; she gave you a hit of X.”
He blinked again, as if trying to understand what I was telling him. “Ecstasy?”
I nodded. “Yeah. So we’re going to get you to the hotel. It will be fine. Come with me.”
At first, I was worried that he would fight me on this. He was over six feet tall, and I knew the only way I was going to get him to do anything was voluntarily. I could have used my weapons, but that would cause an international incident. ‘Crazy woman threatens to shoot off the balls of the king of the Winston Isles.’ I could see the headlines now.
When I reached out my hand to him, surprisingly he took it. “Come on, let’s get you back to the hotel and you can sleep whatever the hell this is off.”
He stared down at my hand, his thumb gently stroking over my knuckles, each movement sending a shiver and a pang of electricity and desire through my body.
“Why did you have to lie? This would all be different if you hadn’t lied.”
11
Penny
Once I had Sebastian in his hotel suite, I left the king propped against the wall while I ran to the bar to get him some water.
“Drink this. We need to flush your system.”
He took it and guzzled it down then placed the glass on the side table. “Looks like you’re taking care of me now when I’m incapacitated.”
I shook my head at him. “I only drank two of those shots. The other three I handed over to Ariel, who was standing and mingling behind me.”
He frowned as his brain tried to process what had happened in New York from a new perspective. “You weren’t drunk the first time I kissed you?”
I shook my head. “No. Now if you’ll just let me get you to bed—”
But he was not in a bygones kind of mood. “Was anything real?”
“You know it was,” I whispered.
“I was told you saved my life.” He frowned as if remembering something. “Did you even have a boyfriend, or was that a ploy to keep me interested?” His brown drew down into a frown, but it was ruined by him sticking his bottom lip out a little. The effect was an adorable sulk.
“I had a boyfriend. That was true. You’ve met him.”
His brows snapped down. “What the fuck?”
Shit, wrong thing to say. “Robert. He did your notification.”
Then Sebastian did the unexpected. He laughed. “You went out with that guy? He’s a stiff, pompous prick. He’s been on my service before.”
I crossed my arms. “Who I date is none of your business.”
“You made it my business when you turned up on my doorstep with those eyes and those lips, talking a mile a minute.”
He pushed off the wall and started to close the gap between us, and my breath caught as I automatically backed up. The look on his face was something close to feral, and my body heated.
I wanted him. Of course, I wanted him. But I didn’t want to do this, not when he was rolling on Ecstasy. I needed to stop torturing myself. The thought hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t want him. He couldn’t be with me.
Sebastian reached out and gently grasped my chin. His fingers were warm on my skin and sent sizzles skipping over me. Any second now, I was going to stop him. I really was. The tension in my body coiled tighter than a drum.
He watched me with enough intensity to send tingles through my body. He hadn’t even really touched me, and I was melting into the floor. “Sebastian, don’t.”
My beautiful cocky king leaned against the doorway, a slight smile on his face. “Are you telling me you don’t feel it anymore?”
Sebastian leaned over me. I could smell his cologne swirling around me, making me remember the taste of him, exotic and forbidden. But I wanted more. I needed more.
His lips were soft, and his tongue traced my bottom lip. I knew exactly what I should do in this position. Make like those poor krill in Finding Nemo and run away, but I couldn’t. Nope. Instead I gasped, allowing his tongue entrance. The moment it slid over mine, I blindly grabbed his shirt and yanked him closer.
He made this low humming sound at the back of his throat and his hands roamed over me, sliding down until he palmed me. I felt his testing squeeze of my left breast all the way to my core. Unable to help myself, I arched into the caress, silently begging him for more.
God, so damn good. So good. Too good.
His fingers plucked my nipple, and I knew if I let this go on it was only a matter of time before I did something I couldn’t come back from.
So I broke our kiss. Sebastian’s breath was harsh against my cheek as he backed away, and I said, “You should get to bed, Your Majesty.”
“Yeah, see I was working on that.”
“Not with me, sir.”
“For fuck’s sake, stop calling me sir.”
“I—” I swallowed hard. “Not happening, Sebastian. Now you need to come down from the high.”
He stroked my arm, he eyes going half lidded. “So what are we going to do until then?”
I stepped away from him, then went around to the other end of the settee and kicked off my shoes. Then I pushed it and placed it in front of the door. “I’m going to sit here with you until you come down. I’ll make sure you get enough water, something to eat to help with the after effects. And, I’ll keep you calm and safe. You can’t leave.”
His lips twitched into a broad grin. “You’re going to take care of me.”
“Looks that way.”
“You’ve been doing this since we met.” There was that goofy grin again. “I fucking love you.”
My breath caught. It’s not real. It’s not real. I knew the truth, this was the drugs talking. I swallowed hard. “If you say so.” I grabbed one of the bottles of water on the table. “Now take a few sips. It’s going to be a long night.”
* * *
Penny
I woke to the smell of coffee, decadent French roast coffee. Was that cinnamon? Slowly, I blinked my eyes open and shut them immediately when the bright streams of light hit my pupils.
“Nope, you don’t get to get back to sleep. Wake up.”
“Why are you in my room, Roone?”
His chuckle was low and warm. I wondered if, under different circumstances, we might be friends. But he was Sebastian’s best friend, which meant technically, my enemy. I blinked awake. I was not in my bed. As a matter of fact, the straps of my gown had slid down, and my corset was open in the back. Oh crap, I was still in my clothes from last night. I blinked rapidly, tr
ying to remember what had happened. Oh, crap. Sebastian happened.
He’d been a mess. Constantly moving, unable to be still. Everything was a new sensation. That had been in the good hours. Somewhere around three things took a turn. He’d become depressed, sullen. He missed his father. He’d only managed to fall asleep around 4:30 or so.
At that point, I’d gone out to the main room to try to sleep.
Quickly I sat up, trying to untangle myself from the blanket. Roone’s gaze shifted away as I wrapped the blanket around myself and then grabbed the coffee off the table. “Thank you, for the coffee.”
He nodded and took a sip of his. “Have you heard anything from him?”
I glanced towards the closed door and then shook my head. “He was ah…”
“Not himself?” Roone offered helpfully.
I nodded. “Not himself.” Because if he had been himself, he wouldn’t have wanted to touch me at all. Are you sure about that? “He fell asleep around 4:30. I figured it might be a good idea to just sleep on the couch in case he needed anything.
His gaze shifted back to me now that I was covered. I could see the tension roll off his back a little. “You should have just called me. I would have just taken the night shift.”
“Yeah, but you were smoothing over the ruffled feathers of the princess, so I figured I could do the babysitting thing.”
Roone took his coffee and sat on the chair across from me. We enjoyed companionable silence for a moment, just the two of us, two people who happened to care about the idiot cocky king, but still two people who didn’t know each other at all. I barely knew Roone, but from what I’d seen so far he seemed outstanding, and it was clear that he cared about Sebastian. His next words to me were slow. “Why do you let him treat you like that?”