My Royal Hook-Up

by Riley Pine

  “Nightgardin learned of the spring,” I said.

  My mother nods. “But by the time word reached them, the story had been twisted into a myth, one that they believed.”

  “And that has been the source of our differences for all these years?” I ask.

  X nods. “And The Order has kept it protected and hidden all this time.” His gaze trails toward a portrait on the far wall—one of my father sitting alone on his throne—one Evangeline painted not too long ago. “The map is safely hidden as well,” he says. “Should you ever choose to find it and see if its waters still run deep.”

  “Oh!” Juliet’s goblet of water topples forward, soaking the table as she stands with a start.

  “What is it?” I ask.

  She grips her round belly with one hand while the other braces against the table. “Contraction,” she says. “And I think—my water just broke.”

  Across the table, Kate yelps and grips Nikolai’s arm.

  “Good Lord, you have to be kidding me,” he says. “You’re four weeks early!”

  “And I’m two weeks early,” Juliet says through labored breaths. “But it looks like there are two babies coming tonight!”

  In mere minutes we are at the royal hangar. X hops in the Rolls with my parents, Benedict and Evangeline, ready to lead our small entourage through the city. Nikolai tosses me the keys to an SUV.

  “You sure?” I ask him.

  “There’s no one I trust more to get us there fast and safe.”

  “No trusty white steed?” Juliet asks when her contraction subsides.

  I grin. “Not tonight, love. While he’s healing well, Maximus isn’t quite ready for a ride of this importance. But by the time our little one is able to ride, I will trust no one but him for her training.”

  As we come to a halt in front of the emergency care doors, I see my parents along with Benedict and Evangeline already bursting through the entrance.

  Juliet has another contraction, and I turn my attention to her for the fifteen seconds it takes her to get through it.

  When I look back to where X was standing, he is gone.

  Nikolai claps me on the shoulder. “Ready to meet your daughter?” he says with a grin.

  “Ready to meet your son?” I answer.

  I throw open the door and hop down, sprinting to Juliet’s side of the car.

  “Are you ready?” I ask her.

  She bites her lip and nods.

  My eyes widen. “Wait! I almost forgot.” I pull the diamond ring from my pocket and kneel down beside her door.

  “We never quite did this part. I’d planned something for when we got home tonight, but—”

  “Put that ring on my finger and get me inside!” she yells, but the most glorious smile takes over her features.

  I do as I’m told and scoop her into my arms. She laughs. “I love you, my strong, courageous, beautiful queen.”

  She wraps her hands around my neck. “I love you, too. Now let’s go meet our future.”

  I carry her through the doors.

  For so many years I thought my life was about making it to the finish line, but now I realize I don’t ever want this race to end. In fact, I think I’m finally ready to slow down and just enjoy the ride.

  X

  I CHECK THE Rolex on my wrist as I stalk from the hospital. The new royal driver appointed by the Order will be here shortly to escort all those not giving birth back to the palace following the birth of the new heirs.

  The moment is bittersweet. My time with the Lorentz family has come to a close with this new reassignment. I’m not one for goodbyes, so I made an unceremonious exit on the pretext of fetching Princess Kate ice chips and sent a nurse back with the disposable cup instead.

  The unmarked black sedan idles outside the main entrance. I hesitate before climbing into the back seat. I’m not used to being the one driven.

  The door pops open. Someone is impatient for my arrival.

  A slender arm covered in a long satin glove emerges, a blindfold dangling from her index finger.

  “You know the rules, X,” the woman purrs. “No revealing of identities. Just the pleasure of the ride.”

  I know she’s already wearing hers, so I grab the small garment and affix it over my eyes, then feel my way into the vehicle.

  “It’s been a few months,” she says.

  My hand travels in her direction, my fingertips brushing a bare thigh.

  “It’s good to see you, Z.”

  I slide my hand up her leg and under her skirt and feel her knees fall open.

  No panties.

  She sucks in a breath as I slide one finger into her slick warmth.

  “Do you ever wonder what I look like?” she asks.

  I grin and lean toward her, using the sound of her voice to find my way to her lips. I nip at her bottom one.

  “Does it matter?” I ask.

  We’ve never truly met each other. For as long as I’ve known of her, she’s been working for the East Asian Order. We connected via missions online, but both know the futility of anything other than a physical relationship. To get attached is to endanger one’s lover. And so, we do this.

  “Do you want to?” she asks, and I pump my finger inside her. She writhes against my palm.

  It’s fun. It’s fast. And above all no strings, just how I like it.

  I’ll risk everything, except my heart.

  “Time for a taste,” I say, then drop to my knees in the spacious back seat and drink my fill.

  She digs her fingers into my hair and cries out.

  I’ll make us both forget the question of intimacy. Hell, I’ll make her forget her own name.

  This is all I allow myself to want, these short interludes with a woman whose face I’ve never seen and never will.

  Nothing more.

  * * * * *

  In Secret Agent X’s carefully controlled world there are always those who needs saving.

  And pleasuring.

  X is highly trained at both.

  His world. His rules. But he’s about to learn true love is the most dangerous adventure.

  Look for X’s story, coming December 2018!

  Keep reading for an excerpt from Sins of the Flesh by J. Margot Critch.

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  Harlequin DARE pushes the boundaries of sexual explicitness while keeping the focus on the developing romantic relationship. Calling all fun and fearless heroines! Come meet the alpha heroes of your wildest dreams.

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  Sins of the Flesh

  by J. Margot Critch

  CHAPTER ONE

  “WHEN YOU LOOK at a man like Rafael Martinez, you can see he’s really got it all. Being male, rich, influential. He knows the right people, and he knows how to strike a deal,” Jessica Morgan said on television, as if she was looking through the camera, directly at Rafael as she spoke his name. “But the people of Las Vegas need, deserve, a mayor who is attuned to the needs of their community. Someone who understands the housing and welfare issues we face. I do. I’m running for mayor to help the people, the women and children who need someone to protect them and their rights. I want a more accountable, community-focused city council—”

  Rafael bit back a curse and hit Mute on the remote control. So, he could still see the beautiful woman on the large flat screen in his living room, but not hear her slanderous words.

  “Well, she isn’t exactly wrong,” Alex Fischer, his best friend said, smiling, from the couch. “You are male, rich and influential, and you know how to strike a deal.”

  Rafael glared at him, but didn’t respond.

  Alex relented, and leaned back casually. “Okay, so where did she even come from? And why does she have it out for you?”

  “Jessica’s been a city councillor for two years, since the last election, and she’s been involved in community issues from the start. But with a few exceptions when we haven’t seen eye to eye on certain issues, she’s always been fairly quiet, and no one expected her to announce her candidacy.” Rafael had thought her intention to run was a joke at first. He thought he’d be the hands-down successor to Mayor Thompson, and he had been just as surprised as everyone else when she’d become his opposition.

  “So, she just up and decides to run for mayor?” Alex asked skeptically. “There has to be more to the process than that.”

  Rafael shook his head. “She only has to submit an application, have the money, campaign her ass off and hope to win. And guessing by the amount of press she’s been getting, she is definitely doing that. And get this—she actually crowdfunded the money for her campaign. And raised lots.”

  “Are you kidding? And what’s her problem with you? She clearly isn’t a fan.”

  “No, she is not.” His entire life, it didn’t matter to him whether or not he was well liked. He was confident, secure enough to let the opinions of others, good and bad, roll off his back. He needed a thick skin to survive in politics. But he didn’t know why Jessica Morgan’s negative opinion of him dug at him. They’d had some friendly enough interactions in the past. But now the stakes had never been higher for him. The woman who was bad-mouthing him was his only opposition for the job he wanted, the job that was rightfully his.

  “You got me. All I can think is that she wants to win. I’m the only other candidate, the one she has to beat,” he said bitterly, recalling the slight dip in his approval rating since Jessica’s entrance in the campaign. “She’s got her fighting gloves on.”

  “So, what are you going to do about her? She can do a lot of damage to your campaign, talking about you like that. The last thing you need is to be portrayed as just another rich, elite asshole,” Alex, who was also his campaign manager, needlessly reminded him.

  “You think I don’t fucking know that?” Rafael said, looking toward the screen at Jessica as she still spoke, now muted.

  But Rafael wasn’t just another rich, elite asshole. Hell, everything that Rafael had ever achieved, he’d worked his ass off for it. Every luxury he’d been afforded—the opulent home, the fast cars—were a direct result of the blood, sweat and tears that he poured into everything he undertook. Ever since he was a kid, his parents, Mexican immigrants who’d come to America for a better life, had instilled in him the knowledge that hard work begot success. And it was that belief that fueled his ambition in his business ventures and drove his political bid to be mayor of Las Vegas.

  But he wasn’t going to stop there. With his best friends and business partners—The Brotherhood, as they called themselves—at his back, he’d be unstoppable. Alex and their other friend Brett were local real estate moguls who ran one of the city’s biggest firms. Gabe was one of the city’s prominent lawyers and the group’s legal expert. Alana, The Brotherhood’s only female member, was a talented interior designer who also managed the group’s various clubs and restaurants. Political influence was Rafael’s contribution to the group. Together, they owned some of the most lucrative businesses in the city, and they were constantly looking to expand.

  He turned away from Alex and gazed out the glass door to his backyard, looking past the hot tub and the pool, out at the darkened sky of Las Vegas, where the lights of the Strip and downtown beckoned to him. But if he looked beyond the lights, the glitz, the glamor, that Las Vegas was known for, he could see the rest of the city, full of the people he wanted to help. The people who, like his parents, had built homes and lives in the inhospitable, scorching desert, and sometimes struggled, working toward the American dream. Despite what Jessica Morgan thought she knew about him, he wanted to be the mayor of the people. He had the ideas, he had the connections, he had the money, and it wasn’t just his ego driving him. Rafael just wanted to make a difference in the world. And for him, business growth that benefitted everyone in the local economy was a key way to do that.

  But his career path went much further than that. He not only wanted to help elevate the people of Las Vegas, but deep down, he really wanted to help the people of the state of Nevada, and then America as a whole. He looked around his home, and while it was lavish and contained every comfort he could ever imagine, it wasn’t enough; the money wasn’t enough for him anymore. He’d set his sights high, and since he was a child, he’d dreamed of someday sitting in the Oval Office, being the commander-in-chief, leading the country, making decisions for the betterment of everyone in America, no matter who they were, working with other world leaders to make the world a better, safer, cleaner place. It would be tough, a lot of hard work, but Rafael was ready. He’d been preparing all his life for the battle and would take it head-on. There was only one thing standing in his way at that moment—Jessica Morgan.

  He turned around, and his eyes narrowed as they zeroed in on the television once more, on Jessica Morgan’s heart-shaped face, her green eyes, pouty lips. Her smooth, creamy skin that his fingertips itched to caress, and her light brown wavy hair, which was lightened throughout and at the ends with honey-colored highlights. Her message was one of equality, of everyone having a place at the table, and while he admired that message, he’d yet to hear her plan of how to accomplish it. As far as he was conc
erned, as idealistic as her message was, she was all talk.

  But not only was she a bleeding heart, Jessica was a beautiful woman. Rafael couldn’t deny that. She dressed conservatively, but the suits and high-collared shirts actually put more of her delicious curves on display than they hid, and that could easily drive a man to distraction. There were more times than he’d care to admit in the past two years, sitting across from her at council meetings, when he’d found himself preoccupied, wondering what she must look like under all the layers of clothing, or how her light brown hair would feel tangled around his fingers as his mouth took hers. He’d been called out several times already, not paying attention at public events because he was thinking about her pink lips wrapped around his cock...

  “She’s good-looking.” Alex’s observation broke through his thoughts, and he turned around to face his friend.

  Rafael nodded, but didn’t respond. It wasn’t just her looks or raw sex appeal, Jessica had already proven herself to be strong, intelligent, passionate and one hell of a competitor. If the first few weeks of her campaign was any indication, he was in for a fight. It was imperative that he forget how good the woman looked and renew his focus on winning. He turned back to Alex, and saw his friend watching him.

  “And that obviously didn’t escape you,” Alex noted. “Did Harris find out anything about her?” he asked, referring to the private investigator Rafael had hired to help him gain an edge in the mayoral race.

  “I’m expecting him over here any minute now,” Rafael told him. “He’s been on her since the day she entered the race. That’s why I called you over tonight. Apparently, he’s got a bombshell to drop, and as my campaign manager and closest brother, I wanted you here for it.” Alex might not have been his brother by blood, but since they were children, they’d been inseparable. All the members of The Brotherhood were close, but he and Alex shared a special bond.

  Alex walked over to the wet bar and, helping himself to some of Rafael’s good stuff, poured himself a couple of fingers of bourbon. “Sounds juicy. Want a drink?”