by Lia Lee
"Well, I love chocolate, especially the sea-salt stuff, because it makes the chocolate taste even sweeter. And I'm a sucker for documentaries, especially ones that talk about alien conspiracies."
Philip snorted, coming a little closer to her. There was always a kind of magnetism between them, but right now, it was so intense that she could almost feel it.
"Not very impressive, Marnie. Come on, another one."
"Ridiculously sugary coffee drinks. Jelly beans. Those premade lunch meals that are supposed to be for kids but that I stash in my bag for a quick pick-me-up when I'm on the go."
There was less than a foot of space separating them now. Marnie knew intimately that if she pushed him away, that Philip would back away. She knew that he wouldn't come any closer unless she wanted him to.
There were so many reasons not to let him get closer. There were so many reasons to be wary of the man who had left six years ago and now appeared again, as handsome as ever and twice as charming.
"What else?" he asked, his voice low and soft.
Marnie swallowed. "Summer nights on the beach. Lollipops. Princes who should know better."
"Well, I can help you with one of those …"
Before she could respond, his mouth came down on hers, his hands landing on the counter behind her so his arms bracketed her, boxing her in. For a moment, she simply relished the feel of his mouth, how hot and warm his lips were, and how long it had been since she had felt the kind of passion that was licking up at her body. It had been so long, and Philip had always felt so very, very good.
When she wrapped her arms around his body, drawing him even closer, he pulled back with a grin. "What do you want, beautiful girl?" he whispered. "Tell me what you want, and let me give it to you."
She pulled in her breath, trembling on the precipice. She knew that if she was thinking clearly, if she was being as careful as she had always sworn she would be, she would have taken the kiss and pulled away. One kiss, that was an acceptable lapse, a guilty pleasure. More than that … more than that would be courting disaster.
She started to tell him that that was enough, that they couldn't do this, but then he reached up to tuck a strand of dark hair behind her ear. The gentle touch of his fingers along the sensitive skin of her ear made her shiver, and then, she simply couldn't stand to be apart from him.
"You," she said, her voice deep and husky. "You. You're what I want …"
Philip's laugh was soft and deep, but there was nothing mocking about it. Instead, there was relief there and a need and a hunger that was just as deep and lasting as hers.
"Beautiful Marnie," he sighed, pulling her into a deep embrace.
This time, he let her feel the raw need he had for her, the way he shook slightly as he kissed her. It had been so long that she felt nearly drunk on him, as if she couldn't get enough of how his skin felt. When he pushed her shirt up to reveal her belly and her breasts, she hesitated for a moment. Her body had changed since he had touched her last like this, and from what the gossip magazines said, he was a man well used to supermodels and actresses. How would a single mother's body compare?
She needn't have worried. He touched her with the same reverence and passion that she remembered from six years ago, and just as before, the fire that always lay banked between them roared to life.
She couldn't get enough of her mouth on his, or of the way his skilled hand slid along her skin, setting it on fire. He was and wasn't the boy she remembered. There was something more certain about him now, something far more assured.
He only stopped kissing her when their mouths were red and slightly raw, pulling back with a grin. "I'm going to make you feel so damned good, Marnie …"
Before she could reply to that, he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up on the counter. Now she was looking down at him, and she had never believed that you could drown in someone else's eyes before, but looking into his black gaze, she did believe it now.
He bunched her skirt up around her waist, giving himself all the space he needed to touch her soft bare thighs. For a moment, he simply caressed her legs, making her squirm with need and with desire. He stepped between her legs, making her spread them a little wider as his fingers found her softest flesh. For a few moments, he simply stroked her through the flimsy layer of her panties. The sensation, muffled by cloth, only made her need more. When he pressed the thin layer of fabric aside to touch her flesh directly, she whimpered with need, clinging to his shoulders.
"Say you want me," he whispered huskily. "Tell me that you want this as much as I do."
"I do," she groaned. "I've wanted you … wanted you so much, every night …"
He shivered at her words, but his fingers pressed against her flesh, bold and true to the rhythm set by their bodies. Instinctively, she found her legs locked around his waist, pulling him closer. She thought she would die if she couldn't get closer to him.
Marnie could feel her body tense as the pleasure started to grow more and more intense. It was as if they had spent no time apart at all, and that they had always known each other's bodies so well. Philip was relentless, forcing the heat in her higher and higher until she thought that she was going to burst into flames. Instead, the pleasure raced through her more and more intense until it exploded through her body.
At the last moment, she remembered that Victoria was sleeping just a few thin walls away. She buried her face in Philip's shoulder, muffling her cries in his shirt. Somehow, her orgasm was even more intense when she had to stay quiet. She clung to Philip with all the strength in her limbs, and when she finally pulled back, she grinned at him.
"I must look a real mess," she murmured, her voice as horse as it would be if she had been shouting.
He brushed her hair back out of her face, smiling at her. "No," he said. "You're beautiful. You always are."
"And for a line as sweet as that one, you should be rewarded," she purred.
Philip's breath caught as her hand slid down between them, cupping his cock gently through his trousers. He let out his breath with a soft laugh.
"Hmm, I was, ah, content to leave things as they are, but … but I'll admit that I've been thinking about you doing just that for a while now …"
With a sly grin, Marnie hopped off the counter, letting her clothes fall back into order.
"Come to bed, Philip," she said softly.
His gaze sharpened as she led him to her bedroom, closing and locking the door securely after her. She reached for her clothes, but Philip stopped her.
"Here, let me …"
She stood still, biting her lip slightly as he pulled her clothes away. She remembered when they were together that they could never wait to get their clothing off. There was something kind here that she hadn't even realized was missing when they were young, something that shone like a diamond.
When she stood naked in front of him, he leaned in and kissed her deeply.
"You are so lovely …"
There was a shining regard there that was hard for her to look at. Instead, she looked away and tugged at his clothing.
"Take these off. I think you've had them on for far too long …"
He stripped, more economically and quickly than he had removed her clothing, but she was still entranced. The body he revealed was athletic perfection, lean and muscled with a thoroughbred grace. Just as she had matured, so had he, and she wasn't sure she had ever seen a man who was so attractive.
"Come here," she whispered, her voice aching with desire, and they fell together onto the bed.
When she was in his arms, it felt like no time at all had passed. She remembered how to kiss him, how to hold him, how to touch him, and his groans told her that she had remembered right.
"Condoms on the nightstand," she said, breathing harder.
When he reached for them, he shot her an amused look at the brand new, unopened box. "Did you have expectations for tonight?" he teased, and she laughed at him.
"A gentleman might not want to pre
sume, but a lady should always act in her own best interests," she said loftily.
Soon enough, Marnie rolled over on her back, pulling him on top of her. The weight of his body felt like heaven on her, and when she felt the blunt tip of his cock at her entrance, she whimpered with need.
He eased into her slowly with a series of slow thrusts, each one entering her a little deeper. She thought that he was going to drive her crazy with desire.
"Please, please, give me more than that," she whispered. "I need you, please …"
Philip's voice was harsh with desire, roughened by effort. "I don't want to hurt you," he said. "That's the last thing I want …"
"You won't hurt me," she said with utter certainty. "You can't. You won't. I know you."
It was as if her words had freed him. He sunk into her to the hilt before pulling halfway back and thrusting into her again. She whimpered with need, throwing her legs around his to try to bring him closer to her.
He set a hard and punishing rhythm, one that sang to her. It called to the primal part of her that she had so long forgotten, the woman she had been who had once been content to make love all day and sleep it off afterward.
When Philip's rhythm grew more erratic and even more forceful, she knew he was close. She tightened her legs around his waist, needing to be as close to him as she could. When he finally shuddered to a stop, his face buried in her neck and his powerful body shivering with his release, Marnie could have cried at how good it felt.
"Perfect, you're perfect," he whispered in her ear, and in that moment, she felt as perfect as he said she was.
She never wanted the moment to end, but finally, he had to pull away. She watched through pleasure-filled eyes as he rose up, slipping into his boxers to make his way to the bathroom. When he returned, he discarded them again, slipping into bed with her before looking suddenly concerned.
"What is it?" Marnie asked, alarmed. Had he decided that he regretted what they had done? Had he simply found her unappealing and only now noticed?
"Nothing, I hope," he said. "Marnie, is it going to be a problem for me to sleep here? I'll be honest, I want nothing more than to stay. We can get up whenever we like, grab some breakfast, maybe walk down to the park again … but would it be strange for Victoria to see me?"
Marnie bit her lip. A part of her could have cursed the idea of needing to kick her lover out of bed, but the greater part, the part of her that was Victoria's mommy and always would be, wondered at whether her daughter should find Philip there when she woke. She bit her lip, but finally she made her decision.
"I think you should stay," she said firmly. "Victoria knows how important you are to me, and she's already had a sleepover at a friend's house. She knows that sleepovers are reserved for friends that you care about very, very much."
"Oh, am I a friend that you care about very, very much?" Philip teased, and she hit him lightly with a pillow.
"You know you are."
The question hung between them. Her words, while true, could not paint the entire picture. There was something between them that could not be defined as friendship alone, but Marnie still remembered what it had been like to discover who he really was. He had told her years ago that there was nothing in the future for a nameless little American and the Prince of Navarra, and she knew that nothing had changed.
She turned off the light, and they settled in the dark, his arm draped over her hip, and her head snuggled under his jaw.
Sooner than Marnie would have thought possible she had drifted off to sleep, and when she dreamed, she dreamed of a large house that she had never been in before, and Philip and Victoria there to make her happy.
***
Long after Marnie fell asleep, Philip found that he lay awake. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He had just had overwhelmingly passionate sex with the mother of his child, the woman that fascinated him and compelled him like no other. Now she slept in his arms as if the past six years were nothing more than a dark dream without her.
Still …
She had called him a friend, one that she cared about very much, but still just a friend. He wondered what would happen to that friend when she got busy. When she wanted go out, when she met someone who could be more than a friend to her.
He flinched at the thought. Philip knew that Marnie was a passionate, beautiful woman, one who drew the eye no matter where she was and who had always made a room more lively simply by walking into it.
If he was honest with himself, he was also part of the problem. His situation had not changed since they broke up. He was still the Prince of Navarra. He couldn't offer her the marriage she deserved, not even with Victoria in the picture.
Philip had always been a man of action. When he saw something that he wanted, he took it, but in this case, what he wanted wasn't there for the taking.
Almost as if in response to his distracted thoughts, his phone chimed. When he glanced at it, he realized it was his mother. To his surprise, there was a picture attached to her message. He squinted to see it in the dark, but when he opened it up, his eyes widened.
Someone had apparently recognized him at the zoo. The picture showed him and Marnie and Victoria, all wearing the clothes that they had worn today. Marnie had her hand threaded through his arm while Victoria had hopped up on his back to get a better view of the sloths. Just seeing the picture made him smile, but then he remembered what it represented.
What are you doing? Who is this woman and her child? The journalist who sent us this picture wanted to give us first crack at it before he sold it to the tabloids. If he has caught you, someone else will as well. Philip, this is no laughing matter. What have you done?
As frustrating and infuriating as his parents sometimes were, in this matter, his mother was correct. She was right, that it would only be a matter of time before someone broke the news, and then Marnie and Victoria's lives would be put under a microscope. If they didn't have the protection that he did, they would be simply overwhelmed. He thought of Marnie shouting down a paparazzo, which gave him a quick smile, but he thought of Victoria, quiet Victoria, who might never have another quiet walk to school.
The plan came together quickly. He was a man of means, and right now, he was willing to let his money work for him. He went out into the living room, making a few calls, soothing a few egos, and taking care of things the best way he knew how.
When he climbed into bed forty minutes later, Marnie murmured a soft question about where he had been.
"Making plans," he murmured, dropping a kiss on her head. "Go back to sleep, there's going to be a surprise for you in the morning, one that I think you will adore."
Marnie, who had never really been awake in the first place, murmured something that sounded like assent, turning over to go back to sleep.
Philip knew that he had done all he could, but still sleep eluded him. He would do anything he could to keep Marnie and Victoria by his side. They were a family. They were his family. He finally drifted off to sleep sometime around dawn, his thoughts full of impossible dreams.
CHAPTER FIVE
Marnie was surprised to find her bed empty and voices coming from the kitchen. Curious and perhaps a little alarmed, she slipped on her nightgown and padded down the hall to find out what was going on.
Philip was cooking at the stove, and Marnie took a moment to think about how handsome he looked wearing only his jeans from the day before and a T-shirt. His hair was adorably rumpled, and she resisted the urge to make it worse by running her fingers through it.
Victoria sat with her feet tangled in the rungs of a kitchen chair, watching Philip expectantly.
"Now, my own mother would never let me have this all that often. She said it was too rich for little boys. I'm not certain why a poached egg would be so much richer than a scrambled one, but it really only made the egg seem like more of a treat."
He turned back around, and Marnie watched unheeded from the hallway as he propped an egg on one of Victoria's tea set c
ups.
"How do I eat it?" Victoria asked dubiously, and Philip pulled a knife from the dish drainer.
With one smooth move, he removed the top of the egg, leaving the rest for her to eat with a small spoon. Victoria took a tiny bite, and as Marnie watched, she smiled.
"Thank you, Philip," she said, and Philip beamed as if someone had handed him the keys to a brand new sports car.
"Think you can make up a few more of those for me?" Marnie asked, coming into the kitchen. Philip smiled at her as well.
"I think I can do that. Sit down, and I'll take care of it."
Still sleepy and slightly deliciously sore from the night that they had spent together, Marnie sat down at her humble little kitchen table and watched as the Prince of Navarra poached two perfect eggs in their shells for her. He came to sit down with two eggs of his own, as well as apple slices that he set on each of their plates.
"How come Philip's still here?" asked Victoria.
"We had a sleepover, like the one you had with Shelley, remember?" supplied Marnie. She had found it was best in general to simply answer the questions that were asked rather than trying to add more information that might merely confuse the issue.
An older child might have demanded more information, but Victoria looked content with that explanation.
"Are you staying longer today, Philip?" she asked practically. "When I was at Shelley's house, we got up early to do pictures, but we couldn't finish because I had go to home so soon."
"Actually, that's a very good question," Philip said, turning to Marnie. "Do you two have any plans for today?"
Marnie blinked. "Not really. Nothing that can't be put off. I was thinking about taking us to the library, but our books aren't due for a bit. Otherwise, we were just going to do some chores and have a lazy day …"
Philip nodded. "Then do you mind if I take over for the day? I … may have made some plans."
Marnie wondered if she should be more nervous or irritated about that idea. She had always prided herself on being extremely independent, very much her own woman and dedicated to the idea of making sure that no one told her what to do. However, when Philip said that he had some other ideas, she was more than happy to let him take over.
