“It’s not that funny!”
“Oh, that is priceless.” He chuckled. “And you thought the best thing to do would be to take another picture?”
“Yeah. I mean what else was there? Wave her off and leave her feeling horrible?” I shrugged my shoulders even though he couldn’t see me. “It was the first thing that popped into my mind. I was hoping it would make her laugh.”
“And has it shown up in the papers?”
“The local post contacted Chadwick and requested a copy. Apparently Sally, the mother, told them they needed my permission.” I laughed. “They were good sports about it.”
“That was right of her.” I could hear his voice growing thick.
“I think so.” I sighed. “Go to bed. You sound exhausted.”
“Sorry, today was incredibly long.”
“I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Good night.”
Later, after my shower, I plugged my phone in to charge and realized there was a text message from Alex.
Alex: Miss you.
I bit my lip for a second before responding.
ME: Miss you too.
By the time the weekend rolled around, I was itching to see him again. I had almost forgotten that Cathy was coming until she texted me Friday morning. Stanley and I were in the front yard discussing some of the fencing damaged by the last snowfall when she arrived. She was wearing jeans and boots, which was the first time I had seen her looking so relaxed.
She hopped out of the car with a package in her hands. Running straight to me, she threw her arms around my neck.
“Hey!” I hugged her back.
“You look good.” She pulled back to look at me. “I knew you’d feel better once you got out here.”
“I’m really starting to love it.” I took her inside and she handed me the package.
“Happy housewarming.”
“You didn’t need to get me anything.” I held it in my hands and examined the wrapping paper.
“Hush. You don’t go to a person’s new home without a gift!” She smiled at me. “Open it.”
I pulled the bow off and tore into the wrapping. Inside was a beautiful bird statue. I pulled it out and examined the detail. It was a merlin, small but fierce.
“It’s gorgeous.”
“It’s considered good luck. Most homes have a bird tucked somewhere. When I saw this was a merlin I had to get it.”
“Thank you. I love it.” I reached out and hugged her with my free arm. “Where should I put it?”
“A lot of people keep them in their kitchens or offices.” She shrugged. “But it doesn’t really matter.”
“I know just the place.” I led her upstairs and put it on the desk in the library. “Perfect.”
I showed her the house and told her about the few things I had decided to change. While I loved all the history, I wanted to make it feel a little more personal. Most of the things would be very small but would help me settle in.
I had invited Cathy for a pizza party, but I hadn’t known there wasn’t a pizza parlor anywhere nearby. Instead of ordering in I had bought all the ingredients and we were trying to figure out how to make pizza dough.
“You’ve never done this before?” She looked at me over a glass of wine.
“How hard can it be? A little flour, a little water, knead. We can do this.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Grab the measuring cup.”
I had told Margie to take the night off, so it was just me and Cathy. She looked behind her at the cups on the counter and frowned. “How big?”
“What?”
“Which one do you want? There are four measuring cups here.”
“I don’t know.” I picked up the instructions and read over them. “Three-quarters of a cup.”
“These are in metric.” She laughed but handed me the right one. “Here.”
“I forgot about that.” I frowned. “I hope I don’t mess this up.”
Forty minutes later we were both covered in flour and giggling. The dough had been runny, so I had added more flour, but that hadn’t helped. Cathy was trying to scrape the sticky mess off the counter when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it.” I grabbed a towel on my way and tried to scrub the mess from my hands. I pulled open the door and my heart thumped in my chest. Alex was standing on there with a small duffle bag and a huge smile.
“Hi.”
“I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow night!” I smiled and stepped back so he could come in.
“I managed to get stuff done early, so hurried home.” He dropped his bag and walked toward me.
“Is that why you were so tired last night?” He had snored at one point, but when I told him about it, he denied it.
“Maybe.” He pulled the cloth out of my hands and threw it onto the entry way table. “It was worth it.”
His hands wrapped around my waist and I melted into him. When his lips slid over mine hungrily, I returned his kiss with fervor, devouring his taste. He growled against me and lifted me in his arms so that my feet didn’t touch the ground. There was no hesitation when he turned and started walking for the stairs.
“Now I know why you look so happy.” Cathy’s voice had me pulling my head away from Alex’s. “No, no. Don’t stop for me. I’ll just eat this nasty pizza all by myself.” The fake hurt in her voice made me roll my eyes. I looked over at her and laughed. There was flour all over her face and sticky dough clumped in her hair.
“Funny, huh? You don’t look much better,” Cathy pointed out.
I looked at Alex, who was still holding me off the ground, and realized I had rubbed flour on his face. “Oh no. I must look a mess!”
I wiggled and he set my feet back on the ground before kissing my nose. “I don’t care.”
“When did this happen?” Cathy leaned against the kitchen doorframe. “And I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“Last weekend.” Alex watched as I retrieved my towel and wiped at my face.
“So your big plan worked.”
“Big plan?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Yes, it did.” He smiled, completely unbothered.
“Oh, it was a doozy.” She snorted. “Incredibly intricate and well thought out.”
“Is that so?” I looked from her to him.
“Stick around as much as possible until you gave in.” He shrugged.
“And it worked!” Cathy laughed.
I shook my head with a smile. It certainly had.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re covered in goop?” Alex reached out and scooped a chunk from my hair.
“Pizza party.” I led him to the kitchen.
“The pizza party from hell.” He whistled. “Margie is going to have a heart attack.”
I looked around and cringed. He was right—we had made a mess. “Yesh.”
“You’re lucky I’m a good cook.” He moved past me and went to work. I looked over at Cathy, who was nodding her head.
“Sit! Talk.” She patted one of the chairs at the island. “What happened?”
“Um.” This wasn’t really a talk I wanted to have with Alex’s sister, especially not when he was listening in. “I just realized I was being dense.”
“And what was your big clue?”
“Chadwick poked me.”
Cathy threw her head back and laughed. “I’ll have to remember that in case you decide to overthink things in the future.”
“I need to tell him thank you.” Alex winked at me over his shoulder. His hands were busy turning our sloppy mess into something familiar.
“I thought you left last weekend for Paris.” Cathy grabbed some of the cheese from a bowl on the island and popped it in her mouth.
“I did. I left the next morning.” Alex laughed while I blushed.
“Then you definitely owe Chadwick a thank-you.” She shook her head. “And I’m leaving after dinner.”
“But I invited you to stay the weekend!” I frowned.
“I have to go back in the morning anyway. And there’s no way I’m staying here while you two act like horny teenagers.” She winked at me. “I’ll stay at D’Lynsal tonight.”
“I can behave myself.” I frowned.
“I can’t.” Alex didn’t look up from what he was working on.
“Yech.” Cathy grimaced. “Really, it’s fine. You can make it up to me and come out with me in the city. I’m tired of it being a boys’ club.”
“Cathy, I hate clubs and bars.” I shook my head. “I’ll do anything else.”
“Please?” She looked up at me with her big eyes and I almost caved.
“Hey! Stop that! No anime eyes.”
Alex chuckled. “I thought Tabitha was still in town.”
My stomach clenched at the name of his ex and I had to stomp on the jealousy. Who cared if she was at the palace? Alex was here in my kitchen.
“It’s not the same. She’s all over her new boyfriend.”
“What about Kyle?” I narrowed my eyes. He was the person she normally went with to the clubs.
“That’s who I’m talking about.” Cathy frowned.
I reached over and grabbed her hand. No wonder she wanted someone to come out with her. It was obvious that even though she had thought she was being careful, she’d still ended up hurt.
“I just don’t want to stop doing things because it’s uncomfortable.” She sighed. “Besides, you’ll have Alex to keep the guys away.”
“Samantha and I are keeping this quiet for now.” I could see Alex’s shoulders tense.
“Why?” Cathy narrowed her eyes at me.
“I just don’t want the attention.” I shrugged. “Or the pressure.”
“We’re just taking our time.” Alex slipped the pizza into the oven before turning around.
“Oh.” Cathy’s mouth pulled to the side and I could see she thought it was a bad idea. “It won’t stay quiet forever.”
“We know.” Alex shot me a look.
After dinner I called Becca and asked her to drive Cathy to Alex’s home. Even though she’d only had one glass of wine, I didn’t like the idea of her making the trip. I took my time cleaning the kitchen because I didn’t want to leave a mess for Margie, but it took a lot of willpower. I wanted nothing more than to drag Alex up to my bedroom. I figured if I took care of it now I wouldn’t have to worry about getting to it in the morning.
I was wiping the island off when Alex moved behind me. He placed a hand on either side of me on the counter and nuzzled my neck, sending shivers over my body. When he pushed against me so I could feel how hard he was, my breathing picked up. He tugged my rubber band loose, letting my hair fall around my shoulders.
I leaned on the counter for traction so I could rub against him and was rewarded with a growl of pleasure. He pressed against me so I was almost bent over completely, his body bracketing mine. Pulling my hair to the side, he ran his lips over my neck and up to my ear.
“Are you expecting anyone else tonight?” His teeth tugged at my lobe.
“No.” The word came out on a groan as he ground against me.
“Good.” He slid his hand between me and the counter to undo my jeans. “Because I don’t think we’re going to make it upstairs.”
His hand slipped into my pants and I moaned with desire. Pressed between him and the counter, I had nothing to do but enjoy the attention. My breaths were coming in pants and my knees were starting to feel weak. I moved my h*ps so that I was rubbing against him and he groaned deep in his throat.
“I really like those jeans.” He leaned forward to press a kiss to my neck. His free hand gripped my hip as he moved in a slow rhythm.
When he pulled away from me, I made a sound of disappointment. Thankfully he was just giving himself a little room and yanked my jeans down to my ankles. I gasped and started to turn, but he kept a hand on my back so I couldn’t see what he was doing. When I heard the zipper of his pants, my breathing picked up and I wasn’t sure if it was in nervousness or anticipation.
He moved his hands over my ass in appreciation, squeezing gently. I’d never been taken like this and I didn’t know what to expect. When he reached around to massage me again, I groaned loudly. I was putty in his hands, weak with wanting.
“Is this okay?” He pressed against me so that I could feel the heat of his erection.
I nodded my head, unable to find my voice. His fingers continued to rub me until I was slick with need. He pushed at my opening and my breath caught. I froze and had to take a deep breath.
“Samantha?” I could hear the strain in his words.
“I’m okay.” My voice sounded raspy so I swallowed and tried again. “I want you.”
He pressed against me again, but this time didn’t stop. Slowly he slid inch by inch inside me until I could feel his balls pressed against my swollen mound. He groaned something in Lilarian and I took a deep breath. It was different, but good. From this angle he filled me completely.
When he pulled back out, I gasped and then whimpered with his reentry. Soon my h*ps were rocking with him and I was moaning against the counter, my hot breath leaving little clouds of condensation on the cold stone.
“Alex.” I groaned his name loudly as his thrusts sped up.
“I missed you.” He slammed into me and I could feel the orgasm building to its peak. His thrusts came faster and faster until words were impossible. With one final push, he jerked inside of me and pleasure exploded over my body. My legs shook weakly and my breath came out in heavy pants.
“Missed you, too.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
A Prince on the Streets, a Freak in the Sheets?
—The Gossip Crown