by Claire Adams
“I’m sure it’s different when a man is standing right in front of you and you have to pull the trigger,” she said. “But if that man is threatening my life or my son’s life, I’m sure I can do it.”
“I hope you don’t have to, but I want the gun to feel as comfortable as possible in your hands, just in case.”
We spent the next couple of hours having her shoot targets at different ranges. She really was good and I had no doubt that if she could get the gun out before Miguel or whoever threatened her got the upper hand, she would terminate the threat. I could see in her eyes that she’d had enough and that made me feel just a little better about her going back into that environment.
“My arms are tired; can we stop now?”
“There’s just one more thing we need to do.”
“What’s that?”
“Count how many hits you got against how many bullets we used and see who gets to call the shots tonight.” She giggled and put the gun down.
“Let’s go.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EMMA
“I’m hungry.”
Nicholas laughed. “You won. You can have me any way you want me and you’re hungry?”
“Yes, I think I’ll need lunch before I can decide how to torture you.”
He laughed again and shaking his head he said, “Okay, I’ll get the basket and blanket from the car.” When he got back with it, I spread out the blanket and we sat down. Nicholas stretched his long legs out and leaned back on one elbow and watched me. I picked up a peach while I was laying everything out and took a bite of it. It was so juicy that the juice flowed down my chin and neck to the top of my shirt.
“Huh oh, this is the only shirt I have. I shouldn’t get peach juice all over it.” I sat up straight and pulled it over my head. Nicholas watched me incredulously as I sat there in my bra and took another bite of the peach. This time, I gave it a little squeeze and a torrent of juice ran down in between my breasts. He watched it as it rolled, licking his lips.
“I’m so clumsy. Maybe your first task for me could be cleaning that up?”
He didn’t ask any questions. He just moved in and began lapping up the juice with his tongue. He licked between my breasts and down across my belly. Then he moved up and licked the juice off my chin and across my neck, stopping to take a sexy little nip on my sensitive spot before moving back down to my cleavage. He used his fingers to pull the lace of my bra out slightly and then he used his tongue to clean underneath each side, giving my nipples each a lick to make sure they were clean, as well. When he finally finished, my panties were sopping wet. He looked up at me with those sexy, blue eyes and grinned.
“Did I miss anything?”
“Hmm mm,” I was almost breathless.
“Any other orders, Princess?”
“Not yet. Let’s eat first.” He grinned again, but reached for the bread and started making himself a sandwich. I lay back on my elbows and watched him.
“I thought you were hungry.”
“I am; I’m just thinking about what I want.”
“Okay, let me know if I can help.”
“Maybe if you get the time you could pick one of those fat strawberries in your mouth and feed it to me.”
He dropped his half-made sandwich and picked up a particularly large strawberry with his teeth. Moving over so his body was almost on top of mine he leaned down until the strawberry was touching my lips. I opened my mouth and let him place it between my lips. We both started eating the strawberry until we met in the middle and then we shared a hot, hard, passionate kiss. Nicholas ended it with a lick across my lips.
“Mm, I love strawberries.”
“Me, too,” I agreed breathlessly. I had given up on holding myself up during that toe-curling kiss and was now lying flat on the blanket.
“You want another one?”
“No.” I patted my stomach and said, “I’m good for now, but if you want to eat, feel free to use me as a table.”
He licked his lips and within seconds I had melon, berries, and pieces of dark chocolate all over my stomach. Nicholas looked at me with lust in his eyes and then he began to eat. He ate each item slowly, stopping to close his eyes and savor every bite and then completely licking any juice or melting chocolate left behind.
I was having a hard time staying still and not knocking his food off me. The man knew how to use that tongue. When he was down to two strawberries, he reached up and took the bottom of my bra his hands and said,
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” He lifted it up, exposing my breasts and rock hard nipples. Then he put one of the strawberries in his mouth and positioned himself right above one. He bit down on the strawberry and let the juice drip out right onto my nipple.
I was hot and the juice was cold. I groaned and squirmed while he moved over and did the same to the other. Then he bent down lower and sucked one of my nipples into his mouth. He sucked it hard and used his tongue to flick back and forth across it.
I had lost any sense of the game. I had my hands in his hair, and I ran them down his back, scratching his skin lightly with my fingernails as I went. I pulled up his shirt and scratched back and forth across his back and then down to the waistband of his pants. I felt him lift up enough to get his hand underneath him and he unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans.
I let my hand slide down inside and underneath the waistband of his shorts. I grabbed a handful of his ass and squeezed while at the same time pulling him into my chest even harder. He was getting more excited and as he did, he used his teeth more. He bit down on my nipples and down my chin to my neck.
Once he made it there, he sucked a piece of skin into his mouth and began to suck and flick. I was writhing and moaning, and finally, I couldn’t stand it any longer,
“Take off your clothes; I need you.”
He stood up and started to strip. I stayed where I was and pulled off my pants and panties. With a mischievous grin, he reached for the rest of the peach I’d been eating and still standing up he squeezed it and watched as the sticky juice spilled down across the lower part of my body. I almost jumped out of my skin when the cold juice mixed with the thick, hot juice between my pussy lips.
Nicholas dropped to his knees, picked up my feet, and put them over his shoulders before going in. He lapped hungrily at my pussy and made sexy little moaning noises as he did. I was out of my mind with desire. I wanted him inside of me so badly, I felt like I might explode. “Nick…I need you inside of me….” He stopped what he was doing right after giving me one long, slow final lick.
I saw him reach over into the basket and when his hand came out his fist was closed around something. He moved it over to the top of my mound and opened his hand. Something freezing cold was pressing down between his palm and my mound and the cold water as dripping down across my lips. He slid his hand down and rubbed the ice down my slit, skimming over my swollen and aching clit. I was ready to scream from both pleasure and frustration.
I thought I’d had all the stimulation I could stand when suddenly I felt the small piece of ice slide inside of me. Nicholas had slipped it in with his fingers and then he leaned back down and sucked it out. He put it back in and sucked it out again.
If there was any wildlife in these woods, the sounds I was making then definitely would have scared it off. I’d never felt anything like that…ever. By the time the ice was completely melted, I was numb on the outside and absolutely dying to feel his cock on the inside.
“Nick!” I cried out his name, begging in that one word for him to take me.
He finally moved up to kiss my lips and I felt his hard erection pressing into my thigh. I reached down while we kissed and took hold of it with both hands. He groaned into my mouth as I gave it a few strokes and then at last I pressed the tip into my opening and Nick thrust forward hard, burying himself inside of me in one thrust. We both cried out and he started moving in and out, striking my clit with the smooth shaft each time and causing me to shake and qu
iver.
I moved with him, thrusting my hips up each time he thrust down. We got into a rhythm and very quickly, I felt an orgasm building that I wasn’t going to be able to control if I tried. He must have felt my muscles clamp down on him because he suddenly grabbed me by my hips and rolled onto his back.
I was in control now and I loved it. I moved my hips and bounced up and down on him grinding my pelvis into him each time, taking every inch of him and holding on as tightly as I could with my internal muscles. I saw him reach for the basket again and he came back with a bottle of wine in his hands. I smiled and took it from him. I twisted the cork out and then took a long swig from the bottle, holing it in my mouth and leaning down and giving him a drink.
I took the bottle then and poured what was left across my breasts. He pulled himself up and kept thrusting with me as he licked the wine off my nipples. I bucked against him frenetically as the orgasm slammed into me. I let out a long, deep moan as I came and my body began shaking all over.
I took a minute to recover before I started rocking again. I felt his cock swell inside of me, and he began moving with me again. I rose up and down over and over while he gripped my hips with his big hands and gave them a hard push each time I came down to get maximum deepness. It didn’t take him long after that to let out a groan and begin bucking and heaving underneath me like a crazy person as he came.
Once he’d rocked into me a few times, he looked into my eyes and smiled. Something about it looked sad and I realized he was probably thinking I was going to disappear back into my palace and we’d never be together again.
I wished that he could see inside of me. I was done. I was done being abused both emotionally by my parents and physically by Miguel. No titles, no power, and no money was worth that and no real family would treat someone they loved that way. As soon as I could safely get out of there with my baby, I was going to take him far away from here and show him what a real family should be like…hopefully with his daddy, too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
NICHOLAS
“It’s been three days.” I dragged my fingers through my hair. I was pacing and every muscle in my body was tense. My security team were all present except for the two guys posted near the castle. They were all silent and just watching me. They looked at me like they were worried I might implode. They might be right. It’s what I felt like I was on the verge of.
Three days since Emma left to go home to the castle and we hadn’t heard a word from her. The men watching the palace reported that Miguel had shown up a few hours after Emma got there. They’d reported the comings and goings of everyone and neither Miguel nor Emma have left…and still no sign of my son. “How long are we supposed to just sit here and wait?”
“Sir, there is a 24-hour guard near where those tunnels end. The palace itself is heavily guarded and there is video surveillance everywhere in the common areas both inside and out.”
“I know all of this, Brandon. I do. What I don’t know is how much longer I can do nothing. Shit!”
“I’m sorry, sir. I’m working as quickly as I can on those plans for the tunnels. I’ve met with Prince Viktor twice already.”
“I know, Brandon. I know you’re working hard.” Shit, I’m being an asshole to the very people I won’t be able to do this without. “I’m sorry, I’m just so fucking worried about them.”
“I know, sir, we’ll get them out.”
I nodded. “When do you meet with the prince again?”
“Tomorrow around three p.m.”
Damn, it sucks having an informant that’s still in school. “What about the guard, this Luca?”
“He lives in the village north of the palace. He lives alone, from what we’ve been able to figure out. I’m not sure about approaching him, however. If we talk to the wrong people, we could blow this whole thing up.”
“How much money does a royal guard make in a year?”
Brandon shrugged. “It’s a military position, so if I had to guess, I’d say about thirty thousand a year.”
“I wonder what he might say to a million.”
“That could go really well, sir, or really bad, depending on how loyal he is to his king and his country.”
“He helped Emma escape once…so maybe not so much.”
“Or maybe he’s sympathetic to a pretty girl. I’d say we’ve all been guilty of the same at one time or another.”
“It’s something to think about. Emma says he knows the tunnels.” Brandon’s radio suddenly crackled to life. He put it to his mouth and said,
“Yeah, Kelly, what’s up?”
“I found a guy wandering around out here. He says he needs to talk to Mr. Vansant. He has a message from the princess.”
“What’s the message?”
“He says he can only give that to Mr. Vansant.”
“What’s this guy’s name?”
“Luca Maldonado, sir. He says he’s an O-2 in the army…whatever the hell that means.” Brandon looked at me. I was grinning.
“Send him up, Kelly.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Make sure he’s not armed first.”
“Already did, sir.” Brandon smiled.
“I should have known; thanks, Kel.”
A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Brandon opened it. A young, scared Spanish man stood there. He was dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, and if I didn’t know he was part of the Royal Guard, I would have pegged him as a college kid. “Luca?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Come in. I’m Brandon Holt, this is Mr. Vansant.” The kid looked at me like he was afraid I might shoot him dead on the spot. I wondered what he was so afraid of. I held out my hand and said,
“Call me Nicholas.” He shook my hand and then looked around the room at the security team and asked,
“Is there some place we can talk in private?” His accent was thick, and I could tell that he was taking care to enunciate each word.
I looked at Brandon. “I’m going to talk to Luca in the kitchen. If you want to send the rest of the guys on to the hotel, that’ll be okay, and you and I can finish up here.” Brandon nodded at me and I pushed open the kitchen door and told Luca,
“Right in here.” Luca moved into the kitchen and I closed the door. I gestured to the table and he took a seat. I sat down next to him and said, “You have a message for me?”
He nodded and said, “Yes, sir.”
“Nick.”
He nodded again. “The princess would like me to let you know that she’s safe and the young prince is safe, as well.”
“The young prince?”
Luca swallowed. “Prince Gabriel, sir.”
Luca looked at me like I’d lost my mind when I started laughing. “I’m sorry,” I told him. “I just haven’t wrapped my head around the fact that my….” I hesitated. I had no idea how much this kid knows or how much I should trust him. “That the little guy is a prince. Is that all she said?”
“She asked me to talk to you about the tunnels.”
“And, you’re willing to do that?”
“Yes, sir.” I gave up on getting him to stop calling me sir.
“May I ask why?”
“Why, sir?”
“Why would you be willing to risk your job…your career, for us?”
“No offense, sir, but not for you. Princess Ariana will succeed to the throne one day and Prince Gabriel will follow. I find it…distasteful, to say the least, the way they’re being treated.”
My stomach clenched, and I realized I’d balled both of my hands up into fists. I was almost afraid to ask the next question, but I had to, “How are they being treated, Luca?”
He made a face and said, “When the young prince was first brought to the palace by his…by Mr. Esparza, he was upset a lot and asking for his Mama. I overheard Miss Carmelita telling him that his Mama had gone away and not coming back. It made the little man cry even more.”
My fist tightened and it dawned on me tha
t I’d heard the name Carmelita before. When we were planning the attack on the villa, we collected the names of all of Miguel’s employees. Carmelita Delgadillo was the name of his cook, and she has worked for the family for years.
“Is that the same Carmelita that worked at the villa for Esparza?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Isn’t she a cook? Why would she have anything to do with the baby?”
“She comes to visit him often, but he doesn’t seem to like her very much.”
“If she’s telling him things like that about his Mama, I can’t say that I blame him. What about Em-Princess Ariana? How is she being treated?”
“They have her locked in her room, sir.”
“Locked in her room? Why?”
He sighed. “Mr. Esparza has them convinced that she’s unstable. He brought a doctor in to see her and the doctor said she suffers from a delusional disorder and she should be watched at all times to keep her from hurting herself or anyone else.”
Jesus, poor Emma! “They let her see her baby, though…right?”
“Only an hour a day, sir, and only while supervised.”
“Fuck!” I spat the word out and Luca flinched. “I’m sorry, but what is wrong with those people? Why would her family let this man control her life this way? What does her father the king say about all of this?”
He looked sad as he said, “Princess Ariana has always been somewhat of a disappointment to His Majesty and Queen Mother. She told me that she thinks believing she is mentally ill makes them feel better. It gives them an excuse for her behavior.”
“Has she mentioned a reporter? She called one that morning before she went back. She arranged an interview.”
“Yes, sir, the reporter was denied access to the palace. The king and queen are fond of their privacy.”
“Luca, is she treated well? Are they abusing her in any way?”
“Not that I know of, sir. But she’s under lock and key except for the hour she’s allowed to see the baby every day. Today was the first time I’ve seen her since she’s been back. We only had a few minutes in the nursery out of the prying eyes of others. She looks well, if not slightly anxious.”