No, much as Alexandre desired Anastazia, his circumstances said he would never be able to offer her any more than an affair. Short- or long-term.
Much as he desired her…
And he did still desire her. More than ever. Had spent the rest of the previous evening thinking about her. How she smelled of lemons and flowers, how soft her skin was to the touch, how delicious her lips and mouth tasted beneath his. He had dreamt about her too, once he was in bed and finally fell asleep. Those dreams, sensual and unchecked, had taken him much further than just those explorations of the sweet temptation of her mouth.
His hands had roamed freely over each curve of her body, cupping her breasts, lifting them each in turn so that her nipples could receive the rasping attentions of his tongue before his mouth closed over one and suckled hard, while his other hand stroked and pulled on its twin. Before that hand moved lower, to the undulations of her hips, her whimpering sighs becoming a plea.
His fingers had stroked along the dampness of her curls before moving lower, and then deeper, two of his fingers entering her as she parted her legs wider for him, her sighs becoming groans of ecstasy as the soft pad of his thumb found and pleasured her clit and she climaxed, coming apart beneath him as she rode that climax, and then another, until her breath was no more than gasping sobs.
Alexandre closed his eyes now as he remembered the pleasure as he slowly pushed his cock inside her slick, tight, hot pussy, inch by inch, until he was seated firmly inside her. Her legs—those gloriously long legs—curved about his back as she lifted up and into each thrust, until Alexandre couldn’t hold back any longer and he thrust into her wildly, deeper, harder, before his seed erupted inside her.
He opened his eyes again as he remembered the ignominy of waking alone in his darkened hotel bedroom, the evidence of his spent seed all over him. Something that hadn’t happened to him since he was a teenager.
“Where’s your entourage today?”
“Entourage…?” Alexandre’s heart was beating so fast, his cock throbbing at the memory of his dreams, he had briefly forgotten where he was. What he and Anastazia had been talking about.
This woman who had been the sole focus of the dream, just those images in his head having caused his body to harden once again.
“Your cousin.” She nodded. “The scary bodyguards.”
“They went to their own rooms upon our return from a business meeting.” Alexandre had dismissed them all as soon as they entered the safety of the penthouse suite. His business meeting had been long and grueling and he’d had enough company for one day. Unless, he recognized, that company happened to be Anastazia… “And bodyguards are meant to be scary.”
“Yes, but yours are really scary.” Stazzi had been taken by surprise when she entered to check on the suite earlier—once she was sure Prince Alexandre had left for his business appointment—to find that one of his bodyguards remained on duty just outside the private lift.
It made sense, of course. The hotel prided itself on its privacy and security for all its guests, but a prince really couldn’t just leave his temporary living quarters unguarded.
“Especially the guy that came from Knight Security to check the suite yesterday before your arrival.” She gave a shake of her head as she once again thought of the man, over six feet tall, with long shaggy dark hair and piercing dark eyes that looked at everything, including her, with suspicion.
Alexandre laughed softly. “Caleb, Ethan, Asher, or perhaps it was Gabriel himself?”
“He didn’t offer his name once Daniel had delivered him up here.” She frowned. “You know all Knight Security employees by name?”
“The Knight brothers? Yes.” He nodded. “I went to school and university in England with Ash.”
Stazzi had already guessed at a possibly British education; Alexandre spoke the language with absolutely no foreign accent. He also seemed to get her English idioms. “Well, this brother was tall, dark, and yes, definitely scary.”
“All the Knight brothers are tall, dark, and scary. It’s the reason I always employ them as extra security whenever I come to England.” Alexandre chuckled. “It was probably Asher,” he decided. “We’re having dinner together this evening.”
Was that disappointment Stazzi was feeling? Because Alexandre’s dinner engagement meant he wouldn’t be renewing his invitation to her?
Perhaps it was as well; a rebound love affair with a sexy prince was a terrible idea.
Lissa didn’t agree. Her comment after Stazzi had told her about Alexandre’s kiss and the dinner invitation, had been “Whoo-hoo, go for it.” Lissa was sure that a few days and nights of raunchy sex with a hot prince were just what Stazzi needed to forget all about the two-timing bastard Will.
Stazzi felt so raw, so hurt by Will’s behavior, she was half-inclined to agree with Lissa. So it was probably as well that Alexandre was otherwise engaged this evening.
“Unless, of course,” he said softly, “you are available for dinner tonight?”
Stazzi gave him a startled glance. Were her thoughts and emotions so obvious to him? And her disappointment when he revealed he was meeting one of the Knight brothers for dinner?
Wouldn’t that be just wonderful?
It was bad enough Will had dumped her in the way he had; she didn’t need to have Alexandre guess any of that and feel sorry for her. She felt sorry enough for herself, mainly for being a stupid idiot who hadn’t seen what was right in front of her nose.
She gave Alexandre a bright, meaningless smile. “Some friend you are, thinking of blowing off dinner with your childhood friend in order to take a woman out instead.”
“Ash wouldn’t mind,” he assured her with certainty. “Or you could always join the two of us?”
Stazzi’s cheeks warmed as she thought of what Lissa would think of that idea. Ménage à trois. Stazzi, completely at the mercy of two gorgeous and virile men who were only interested in her pleasure.
Stazzi trembled as a delicious thrill of anticipation traveled the length of her spine.
What the hell was that?
She’d just told Alexandre how scary Asher Knight was, and now her imagination had taken her into thinking of having him and Alexandre both pleasuring her until she screamed for them to stop?
Well…yes.
Alexandre was so suave and seductive, and—yes, she could admit it now, she was no longer in another relationship—his kisses were to die for. And just because Asher Knight was scary didn’t mean he wasn’t also handsome as sin, or that edge of danger surrounding him wasn’t a direct challenge to any red-blooded woman. Being in bed with those two men would be heaven and hell—
She must be going out of her mind even to allow her thoughts to go there!
A ménage à trois, for God’s sake.
What was she thinking?
I’m not thinking, I’m feeling. And those thoughts alone, of being in bed with Alexandre and Asher at the same time, have made me wet and aching.
Chapter 5
“Anastazia…?”
She blinked as she refocused on Alexandre before firmly pushing those erotic thoughts away from her. Dangerous thoughts that made her body tremble and her panties wet. She needed to get out of here and well away from this man.
And perhaps go somewhere private where I can relieve some of this sexual tension.
Great, now she was thinking of— Shit. At work too. This was mad, unacceptable.
“What are you thinking about…?” It was impossible for Alexandre to miss the way Anastazia’s cheeks had become flushed, her eyes unfocused and a darker blue, and her breathing shallow and erratic. Signs of her arousal? The hard tips of her breasts pressing against her blouse, and the spicy heat of her body perfume, would seem to indicate that it was.
Why?
What had he done or said—
Ah.
He stepped close enough to breathe in the perfume of her arousal. “Ash and I would both ensure that you had an…enjoyable evening.” During
their years at university and since, he and Ash had often shared a woman.
Alexandre frowned, hands clenching at his sides, as he realized he didn’t want to share Anastazia. With anyone. Least of all Asher Knight. The man was a demanding, almost feral lover, and Anastazia deserved to be made love to and with, to be savored slowly. By one man. Him.
“It’s very kind of you, but no,” she refused the invitation.
Alexandre felt some of his tension ease as his hands uncurled and his shoulders relaxed. Although it was interesting that Anastazia had actually seemed to consider the invitation—amongst other things. “Your boyfriend didn’t propose to you last night,” he rasped.
She instantly tensed, her expression becoming defensive. “What makes you say that?”
He glanced at her left hand. “No ring.”
“It could be being resized.”
Even more defensive. “Is it?”
She turned away from him to glance around the tidy and comfortable room. “I think that’s everything for now—Alexandre, don’t…!” The last was a low groan of denial as Alexandre gently took hold of her arm and turned her to face him.
His gaze roamed searchingly over her face. The dark, almost bruised eyes. The pallor of her cheeks. The slight tremble to her lips. As if she were on the verge of crying. “What did the bastard do to you?” His forceful tone demanded an answer.
“Nothing.” Her voice was husky with those unshed tears. “He did absolutely nothing,” she repeated shakily.
Alexandre’s eyes narrowed. “He didn’t propose?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She gave a humorless laugh. “Turns out I’m not good enough for him.”
“What?” Alexandre stilled. His own thoughts had been so similar earlier.
Oh, not that Anastazia wasn’t good enough for him, but that his own wants and needs—his desire for Anastazia—were subject to the wants and needs of others. That he had a duty to his family name and the people of his island, one that didn’t allow him to say or act as he wished. That included dating a young English woman with no royal or political connections.
Wasn’t that the same thing?
Unfortunately not. His first duty had to be to Androcco, to his people, no matter how much he might wish it otherwise. Her boyfriend—ex-boyfriend, had no such onerous responsibilities.
She shrugged. “Will is a lawyer, an ambitious one, and he told me last night that he’s going to marry the daughter of the senior partner of the firm he works for.”
Whereas this other man, the man Anastazia had thought would become her husband, had chosen to do what? Further his career by marrying the daughter of the man he worked for? It certainly sounded like it.
“You know,” he cajoled, “I believe that an evening out with Asher and myself is exactly what you need. Bring a girlfriend with you, if it would make you feel more comfortable,” he added at her doubtful expression.
Could she do that, Stazzi wondered, knowing she was more than a little tempted by an evening out with two gorgeous and dangerous men like Prince Alexandre and Asher Knight. It was exactly what her battered and bruised self-confidence needed.
And what about the hotel policy that employees weren’t allowed to be overfamiliar with the guests? Okay, Asher Knight wasn’t a guest, but Alexandre definitely was.
If she invited Lissa too, then it would be less Stazzi fraternizing with a guest. She could even claim, if asked, that Asher had been her date for the evening, and she hadn’t known Prince Alexandre would be there.
It wasn’t an ideal situation, and she wasn’t particularly happy about the possibility of having to bend the truth to Daniel Meyers, if it came to that, but a part of her really wanted to go out to dinner with Alexandre. After Will’s despicable behavior, she needed to do this.
Besides which, Lissa would never forgive her if she turned down this invitation on behalf of both of them.
“Okay, I’ll bring my flatmate Lissa,” she accepted. “But it’s just dinner,” she added quickly as she saw the way those green eyes darkened with satisfaction.
“Of course.” Alexandre nodded. “You won’t regret it,” he added lightly.
Stazzi regretted it almost as soon as she left Alexandre. She also thought of calling him several times during the long day that followed, to tell him she had changed her mind. But each time, something held her back from doing so.
Consequently, she was a nervous wreck by the time she left work to go home, hardly noticing the short journey on the tube to her apartment. She had called Lissa earlier and asked her if she was okay for going out to dinner with Alexandre and Asher that evening. Her friend’s scream of excitement had been enough of an answer.
She couldn’t help smiling, after letting herself into the apartment and seeing Lissa had the whole of her wardrobe laid out across her bed as she discarded one dress after another in her search for something suitable.
Stazzi had no such problem, knew exactly what she was going to wear. The new black gown she’d bought to go out with Will the previous evening definitely needed an outing. It also gave her a perverse satisfaction to think of wearing it to go out with someone as handsome and sophisticated as Prince Alexandre St Sebastien.
Eat your heart out, Will Granger!
“I still can’t believe we’re actually getting the chance to eat at Fury’s!” Lissa gave an excited laugh when their cab arrived outside the restaurant shortly after eight o’clock that evening.
Alexandre had called Stazzi at her office shortly before five o’clock to ask for her address so that he and Asher could collect them on their way to the restaurant. Stazzi had insisted that wasn’t necessary, that the two women would make their own way there. Alexandre hadn’t been too happy with that arrangement, but Stazzi had been adamant. He had reluctantly given her the name and address of the restaurant where he and Asher Knight would be waiting for them at eight o’clock.
Fury’s was the most exclusive restaurant in London right then, and patrons usually had to book weeks in advance to stand a chance of getting a table. Unless, apparently, you happened to be a royal prince…
“Me either,” Stazzi answered Lissa. The meal this evening would probably cost more than a month’s wages from her job at the Meyers Hotel. “The bodyguards outside and inside are a bit…off-putting, though.”
She had easily recognized three of Alexandre’s bodyguards outside the restaurant, as they no doubt knew her, although none of them acknowledged the fact. Three more of his men were standing in the reception area as the two women handed in their coats, the bodyguards’ expressions watchful, eyes alert for any danger. As if they expected some knife-wielding maniac to storm into the restaurant and attack Alexandre.
Stazzi wondered how Alexandre coped with living in such a goldfish bowl every day. Used to it, she supposed, having no doubt lived this way since birth. It would drive her nuts to have bodyguards dogging her every move—
She forgot all about them, and their reason for being there, as she and Lissa followed the maître d’ into the main part of the restaurant and she immediately saw Alexandre as he stood up from a table situated—deliberately?—in the far corner of the room.
She could barely breathe as she took in his appearance in a black evening suit and white silk shirt, the overhead chandelier giving a slight copper sheen to his black hair, those intense green eyes watching her every move as she walked toward him.
“Stand up, idiot,” Alexandre instructed Ash as the other man remained sprawled in his chair on the opposite side of the table.
“They aren’t here yet,” Ash dismissed uninterestedly.
“Almost,” Alexandre hissed under his breath.
The other man shrugged. “You’re the one who wants to get laid, not me.”
Alexandre drew in a sharp breath, knowing it was true but resenting hearing Ash talk about Anastazia in that way. “You’re such an asshole.”
“Takes one to know one,” Ash taunted.
“Will you stand the fuck up!”
“I don’t think ruling princes are allowed to use that sort of language.”
“This ruling prince has known you for too many years to care. Now stand the fuck up!”
“Remember, this was your idea, not mine.” Ash finally rose slowly to his feet.
Yes, it was, and Ash had made no secret of his displeasure when Alexandre told him he had invited the two women to join them for dinner this evening. No doubt Ash’s plans for the evening had involved going on to some nightclub after dinner, where the two men would take their pick of the women there.
Alexandre forgot all about his friend’s bloody-mindedness as Anastazia reached the table. She looked beautiful in a clinging black gown that finished several inches above her knees, left her shoulders bare, and revealed the soft swell of her breasts. Her long black hair flowed like silk over those bared shoulders as she smiled at him, her eyes that cool turquoise blue of a mountain lake, a red gloss emphasizing the fullness of her lips.
“We’ve met before, I believe, Miss Carmichael.” Ash’s voice was a low rumble once the maître d’ had seated the women between the two men at the round table, the man having lingered only long enough to fill the ladies’ champagne glasses before leaving.
“I remember,” she acknowledged noncommittally. “Lissa, this is Prince Alexandre and his associate Asher Knight. My best friend and flatmate, Lissa Forsythe.”
Alexandre was barely aware of acknowledging the redhead as he and Ash resumed their seats, his attention completely focused on Anastazia.
“And what do you do, Mr. Knight?” Lissa prompted to break the tense silence that had fallen over the table.
“This and that,” he answered dismissively. “You?”
Alexandre was going to kill Ash if he didn’t stop behaving like a complete dick.
“I’m a travel agent,” Lissa answered stiffly.
Resisting Alexandre (Knight Security 0.5) Page 4
