To Kiss a King

by Maureen Child

  “Glad I could help,” Garrett said tightly. “Next time slow down. And give that kid a life vest when you’re on a damn boat.”

  “Right. Right.” The man swiped one hand across his face, looked up at his family and Alex saw him pale at the realization of what might have happened.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I will. I swear it.”

  “Thank you,” the woman said, lifting her head long enough to look first at Garrett and then at Alex. “Thank you so much. I don’t know what else to say—”

  She broke off, her gaze narrowing as she stared at Alex, a question in her eyes. “Aren’t you…”

  A knot of panic exploded in Alex’s stomach. Would this woman recognize her? Say something?

  “You’d better get him to a doctor,” Garrett blurted. “Have him checked out.”

  “Yes,” the woman said, tearing her gaze away from Alex long enough to nod, then stare down at her son again. “Good idea. Mike?”

  “Coming,” the man said, pushing himself out of the water and onto the boat. “Thanks again. It’s not enough but it’s all I can say.”

  Relieved that not only the boy was safe, but her secret as well, Alex watched Garrett swim toward her. She paid no attention when the speedboat owners fired up their powerful engine and took off—at a slower pace than they had been going previously. She was just glad to see them gone. Of course she was happy the child had survived. Happy that Garrett had been able to save him. But she was also grateful that her identity was still a secret. What were the odds, she wondered, of being in the middle of an ocean with a child near drowning and that boy’s mother recognizing her?

  She shoved those thoughts away as Garrett braced his hands on the edge of the boat and hoisted himself inside. Then he just sat there, holding his head in his hands. Alex sat down beside him, uncaring about the water sluicing off his clothes, soaking into hers.

  Alex wrapped her arms around him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

  “You were wonderful,” she said softly.

  “I was lucky,” he corrected, lifting his head to look at her. “Saw a flash of the kid’s white T-shirt and made a blind grab for him.”

  “You saved him,” Alex said, cupping his cheek in her palm. “You were wonderful, Garrett.”

  A slow smile curved his mouth. “If you say so.”

  She smiled too. “I do.”

  “I learned a long time ago—never argue with a beautiful woman.” He caught her hand in his, squeezed it briefly then leaned in to give her a fast kiss. “But, I think our boating trip is over.”

  Her heart tumbled in her chest. She didn’t want the day to end. It had been filled with emotional ups and downs and moments of sheer terror. A boy’s life had been saved and her own life had taken a wild turn in a direction she hadn’t expected.

  Alex looked at Garrett and couldn’t even imagine not being with him. She’d known him only two days and he had touched her more deeply than anyone she had ever known. He was strong and capable and funny. He kissed her and her body exploded with need. He caressed her and the world fell away. She had never felt more alive than she did when she was with Garrett.

  So no, she didn’t want this day to end because every day that passed put her one day closer to leaving—and never seeing him again.

  “Hey,” he asked, brow furrowing, “what is it? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she said. “It’s nothing. I just…didn’t want today to be over, I suppose.”

  He brushed a kiss across her mouth and eased back. “Day’s not over, Alex. Just the boat ride.”

  “Really?”

  “Really. Dress codes in five-star restaurants are a lot looser in California than anywhere else, but…” He slapped one hand against his jeans and looked ruefully at his sodden boots. “I think they’ll draw the line at soaking wet. I need to change clothes before I take you to dinner.”

  What he was saying made sense, but the look in his eyes told a different story. It was as if in saving the child, he’d closed a part of himself off from her, and Alex wanted to know why. He was pulling back, even sitting here beside him. She could feel a wall going up between them and wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  So for now, she let it go and gave him the answer she knew he was expecting.

  “In that case,” she told him, “we’d better get going.”

  Seven

  The King Security company building was quiet. Halls were dark, phones silent and Garrett appreciated the peace. The light on his desk shone like a beam of sunlight in the darkness as he added his signature to a stack of papers Griffin had already signed in his absence.

  The puddle of light from his desk lamp was bright and golden and threw the rest of the room into deep shadow. But Garrett didn’t need light to find his way around. This place had pretty much been his life for the past ten years. He and Griffin had adjoining offices with a shared bathroom complete with shower separating them. There were plenty of times they had to leave fast for a job and having a shower and a change of clothes around came in damn handy.

  There were bookcases on two of the walls and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the ocean on another. Family photographs and paintings hung on the remaining wall, and plush leather furniture completed the room. There was a fireplace, wet bar and a long couch comfortable enough to have served as Garrett’s bed more than once.

  This was the company he and Griffin had built with a lot of hard work, tenacity and the strength of their reputation. He was proud of it and until recently, hadn’t so much as taken a day off. Garrett King lived and breathed the job. At least he had, until Alex came into his life.

  And just like that, she was at the forefront of his thoughts again.

  Instantly, his mind turned back to the afternoon on Decker’s boat. His body reached for the sense memory of Alex trembling against him, but his brain went somewhere else. To the child falling into the water and nearly drowning. To Garrett’s split-second decision to leave Alex alone and unprotected while he saved the child.

  He couldn’t have done it differently and he knew that, but still the decision haunted him. She had been alone. What if it had all been a setup? Some cleverly disguised assassination or kidnapping attempt on a crown princess? Sure, chances were slim, but they were there. The boy could have been a champion swimmer, doing exactly what he had been paid to do.

  Absurd? he asked himself. Maybe. Paranoid? Absolutely. But stranger things had happened, and he’d been around to see a lot of them. Gritting his teeth, Garrett silently fumed at his complete lack of professionalism. He’d saved the boy but risked Alex and that was not acceptable.

  He could still feel the slide of her skin beneath his fingers. Hear her whispered cries and the catch in her breath as her climax took her. His body went hard and tight as stone and he told himself the pain was only what he deserved.

  Never should have let any of it happen, he told himself. Hell, he knew better. Years ago, he’d learned the hard way that putting your own wants before the job was a dangerous practice that could end up costing lives.

  Garrett threw the pen and swiped one arm across his desk, sending the stack of papers flying like a swarm of paper airplanes. Releasing his temper hadn’t helped, though, and he pushed back from his desk, swiping one hand across his face. His eyeballs felt like sand-crusted rocks. He couldn’t sleep for dreams of Alex.

  That was why he was here, in the middle of the night. He had hoped that focusing his mind on work would keep thoughts of Alex at bay. So far he’d been there for two hours and it wasn’t working.

  Instead his brain insisted on replaying that scene in the boat over and over again. Those few, stolen, amazing moments that even now, he couldn’t really regret. How the hell could he?

  He had tried to tell himself that Alex was no different than any other celebrity or royal needing protection. That being with her didn’t really mean a damn thing. But then she would laugh and his calm reason flew out the window.

  The woman had a hell o
f a laugh.

  It was just part of what he’d noticed about Alex at Disneyland. What set her apart from every other female Garrett had ever known.

  She threw herself into life—she held nothing back. Even there in his arms, she had been open and vulnerable, offering him everything. It was damn sexy to watch, and every minute with her was a kind of enjoyable misery. His body was so tight and hard, he could hardly walk. He felt like a damn teenager again. No woman had ever affected him like this. Which was a big problem. She wasn’t his. Not even temporarily.

  She was a damn princess, and he was lying to her every minute he was around her. She thought she was free and on her own, and he was being paid by her father to look out for her.

  How much deeper was this hole he was in going to get?

  Shaking his head, Garrett bent to scoop up the fallen papers and shuffle them back into some kind of order. Griffin had been right when he had ragged on Garrett for being practically monklike for months. Garrett had long ago burned out on women who were more interested in what being seen with a King could do for them than they were in him. And frankly, the women he knew were all the damn same. They all talked about the same things, thought the same way and, in general, bored the hell out of him.

  Not Alex.

  Nothing about her was ordinary. Or boring.

  He never should have called the king. Never should have agreed to this bodyguard gig. Hell, he never should have gone to Disneyland.

  Yeah, he told himself wryly. It was all Jackson’s fault. If he’d never gone with his cousin and his family, if he’d never met Alex at all…he didn’t like the thought of that, either.

  “Son of a bitch.” He tossed the papers to his desktop and glared at them hard enough to start a fire.

  “Problem?”

  Garrett snapped a look at the open doorway where his twin stood, one shoulder braced against the doorjamb. The shadows were so thick, he couldn’t see Griffin’s face, but the voice was unmistakable.

  “What’re you doing here in the middle of the night?” Garrett leaned back in his black leather chair and folded his hands atop his flat abdomen.

  “Funny,” Griffin said, pushing away from the doorway to wander into his brother’s office, “I was going to ask you the same thing.” He dropped into one of the visitor’s chairs opposite Garrett. “Was headed home from Amber’s place and imagine my surprise when I spotted a single light on in the office. I figured it was either you or a really stupid burglar.”

  Garrett looked at his twin. His tuxedo was wrinkled, the collar of his shirt opened halfway down his chest and the undone bow tie was hanging down on both sides of his neck. Apparently at least one of them had had a good night.

  “How is Amber?”

  Griffin snorted and shoved one hand through his hair. “Still talking about getting that modeling job in Paris. I heard all about her packing tips, what she’ll be wearing in the runway show and what kind of exfoliant will leave her skin—and I quote here—‘shimmery.’”

  He had to laugh. Shaking his head, he studied his brother and asked, “Why do you insist on dating women who don’t have two active brain cells?”

  “There are…compensations,” Griffin said with a grin. “Besides, you date women who can walk and talk at the same time and you don’t look happy.”

  “Yeah, well.” What the hell could he say? He wasn’t happy. Things with Alex were more complicated than ever.

  He was tangled up in knots of hunger and frustration. Torn by his sense of duty and responsibility. For two days, he’d fought his every urge and instinct. All he wanted to do was get Alex naked and have her to himself for a few hours. Or weeks.

  Instead, he’d made damn sure that the scene in the boat or anything remotely like it, hadn’t happened again. For those few moments with Alex, Garrett had allowed himself to forget who and what she was. To put aside the reality of the situation. He’d indulged himself—putting her in a potentially dangerous situation—and now he was paying for it.

  Every cell in his body was aching for her. He closed his eyes to sleep and he saw her. He caught her scent in his car, on his clothes. He was being haunted, damn it, and there didn’t seem to be a thing he could do about it.

  Disgusted, he said, “I’m happy.”

  “Yeah, I’m convinced.” Griffin scowled at him.

  He was really not in the mood to listen to his twin. He didn’t want to hear about how he should let go of the past. Stop blaming himself for what had happened so long ago. He didn’t want to talk. Period.

  “Go away,” he said, snatching up his pen again and refocusing on the papers in an attempt to get Griffin moving. Of course, it didn’t work.

  “Princess giving you problems?”

  Garrett’s gaze snapped to his twin’s.

  “Whoa. Quite the reaction.” Griffin’s eyebrows lifted. “So she’s getting to you, huh?”

  He dropped the pen, scraped both hands across his face and then shoved them through his hair. When that didn’t ease his tension, he pushed out of his chair and stalked to the window overlooking the ocean. The moon was out, shining down on the water, making its surface look diamond studded. It was a scene that had soothed him many times over the years. Now, all it did was remind him of Alex. Of being on that boat in the sunshine. Of holding her while she—

  “She’s not getting to me. Everything’s fine. Leave it alone, Griff.”

  “I don’t think so.” His twin stood up and walked to join him at the window. “What’s going on, Garrett?”

  “Nothing. Absolutely nothing. That’s the problem.”

  Griffin studied him for a long minute or two and even in the shadowy light, Garrett saw amusement flicker in his twin’s eyes. “You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Right. Everything’s great with you. That’s why you’re here. In the middle of the night, sitting alone in the dark.”

  “My desk light’s on.”

  “Not the point.”

  “What is the point, Griffin?”

  His twin gave him a half smile. “The point is, the mighty Garrett King is falling for a princess.”

  “You’re out of your mind.”

  “Sure I am.”

  “She’s a job. Her father hired us, remember?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “She’s a princess. And God knows I’m no prince.”

  “Rich as one,” Griffin pointed out helpfully.

  “It’s not enough and you know it.” He shook his head. “Royalty hangs with royalty. Period.”

  “Not lately.” When Garrett glared at him, Griffin shrugged. “I’m just sayin’…

  He shifted his gaze away from his twin and stared unseeing at the ocean. Alex’s face swam into his mind and as much as he tried to ignore it, she wouldn’t go away. He was getting in too deep here and he knew it. But damned if he could see a way out.

  “She’s a job,” he repeated, and which of them he was trying harder to convince, Garrett wasn’t sure.

  “Sure she is.” Griffin slapped him on the shoulder. “Look, making yourself nuts over this just isn’t worth it, Garrett. Why not just tell her the truth? Tell her who you are, that you’re working for her father.”

  He’d thought about it. But confessing all wouldn’t solve anything. He’d still want her. And he still wouldn’t be able to have her. And as a bonus, she’d be hurt.

  “Can’t do that.”

  “Fine, then let me take over,” Griffin said.

  Garrett just stared at him. “What?”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time we twin-switched somebody.”

  “You can’t be serious,” Garrett said with a snort of laughter.

  “Why not? If she’s just a job, I’ll show up as you, spend some time with her…”

  “Stay the hell away from her, Griffin.”

  His twin grinned. “So I’m right. She does mean something to you.”

  Blowing out a breath, Garrett
frowned and turned his face back to the window. His own reflection stared back at him.

  “Yeah, guess she does,” he murmured, talking to his brother but somehow hoping to reassure the man in the glass as well. “Damned if I know what, though. But in another week or so she’ll be gone. Problem solved.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know it.” All he had to do was find a way to keep his hands off her. Then she’d be back behind palace doors and his life would go back to normal. If the man in the glass didn’t look reassured at all, Garrett ignored it.