“You can step down, but be careful.”
She held on to his shoulders as she stood and swung off. He stepped off and locked up the bike.
“So where are we?” Becca looked around. She liked how the dense trees secluded them from the rest of the world.
Nikolai unstrapped his pack from the cycle. “Well, if the guy from the bar, who drove me back last night, is correct, we’re at a little known part of Crystal Lake. Apparently, this is where the locals come when they want to skinny-dip and have sex.”
Becca froze. Oh crap. “Uh, what?”
He laughed. “I’m kidding. Relax, you’re an easy mark.”
She let out her breath. She should have known he was messing with her, but part of her found the idea very sexy.
He slung the pack over his shoulder, kissed her on the cheek, and guided them through a narrow path in the woods.
“How was I supposed to know you’re kidding? Think about it. I’m an American girl in a foreign country, who took off with a guy I’ve known for barely two minutes. For all I know, you’ve kidnapped me and are going to sell me into slavery.”
Nikolai raised an eyebrow. “You watch too much television. I’ve seen that movie. Don’t worry. If I were going to sell you into slavery, I would have done it that first day when you got lost in Vienna.”
“I wasn’t lost. I was just a little turned around.” She tripped on a tree root.
Nikolai caught her by the arm and held her steady. “Of course you were.” He turned his head but she caught his smirk. “And do you know how to get back to Regensburg and the Bolero?”
She nibbled on her lip. Of course, she had no idea.
“That’s what I thought. Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you.” He gave her a quick squeeze.
The shaded trail opened up to a wide sandy beach. The sun shone down on a crystal-blue lake; its waves lapped at the shoreline. A large outcropping of rocks lined each side, creating a secluded alcove.
“This is beautiful.” She ran onto the sand. “I’ve been on the river for days, but never been able to actually touch the water.” She kicked off her sandals, ran to the edge, and stepped into the clear lake.
“How’s the water?” Nikolai asked, setting his pack near her sandals. He toed off his shoes and joined her.
“It’s cool, but nice,” she said, as he stepped in.
A light breeze made the warm day comfortable. They waded out until the water was knee-high. The waves had created ridges on the sandy lake bottom.
Nikolai faced her and brushed a lock of hair from her face.
“How are you feeling?” He grasped her hand, lifting her arm to inspect her injured elbow. “You took a really bad fall.”
“Well, my hip and elbow are pretty sore, but otherwise, I’m fine. Other than the tread marks and the bike grease on my legs.”
“We’ll get that washed off.” He lifted her hand to his lips, sending butterflies flitting in her stomach.
She sighed. “I’ve never been better.”
“Me either.” He leaned down and kissed her, and then pulled away. “Hungry? Want something to eat?”
“Um, sure.” She’d rather stand in the lake and make out all day, but food was good, too.
“I hope you like what I brought.”
“I can’t believe you thought to bring food. When did you have time?”
They swished their way to shore; the water felt like silk against her legs.
“I didn’t have much. I talked a guy at a local pub into giving me a ride back to my motorbike last night. I slept next to it, under a tree.”
She bet not too many people would believe the Prince of Mondovia slept outside like a homeless person. “You should have stayed on board ship with me.”
“And sleep where?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Up on deck. Under the stars,” she offered.
“Well, I slept under the stars, all right. Some bleating sheep woke me at dawn. I rode to Regensburg right away so I’d know where the dock was when you arrived. Then I found some breakfast and some markets.”
“You barely slept.”
“I don’t mind. How about we take our lunch up onto that flat rock so sand stays out of everything. I don’t have a towel or a blanket.”
“Okay.” They climbed over a few boulders and reached a large flat rock that had been warmed by the hot summer sun. She sat and peeked over the edge down to the shimmering water.
“I can’t get over how gorgeous this place is. This is what we should be seeing on our tours, not more old cities with stories about people who have been dead for centuries.”
Nikolai laughed and unpacked his bag. “We have bread, some cheese, strawberries, a couple of bottles of water, and a Diet Pepsi.”
“Where did you get that?” She snatched the soda bottle and held it like a treasure.
“At the store, why?”
“Do you know how hard it is to find a Diet Pepsi in Europe?” She popped it open and took a long drink.
“Yes, actually, I do. I had to hit four different places before I found it.”
“How did you know I like it?”
He unwrapped the bread, smoothing the paper to serve as a sort of tablecloth. “I heard you mention it in Budapest.”
“Thank you.” Could this guy get any more perfect?
“You’re welcome.” Nikolai set out the strawberries and unwrapped the cheeses.
“You have no idea how nice you are, do you?”
“I’m not nearly as nice as you think. Trust me.”
She didn’t know why he thought that, but she didn’t believe he could be anything but kind. “This looks great.”
“It’s not much, but I thought it would do the trick. I’ve got a knife somewhere.” He fished around in his backpack and pulled out a small knife.
“What all have you got in there?”
“Not much, actually. A change of clothes, a toothbrush, and a rain jacket.”
“That’s all you brought? How long were you planning to be gone?”
He tried to slice the bread, but squished it.
“Here, let me do it.” She took the knife from his hands and deftly cut into the fresh, crusty bread.
Nikolai leaned back on his hands. “I wasn’t thinking very far ahead. Things kind of came to a head and I decided to take a stand. Let’s just say my people aren’t very happy with me right now.”
“Oh? And who are your people? You mean the citizens of Mondovia?”
He chuckled. “No. I don’t think the general public cares all that much. I mean my parents, their staff and advisors, my personal secretary, the security detail.”
“You have a secretary?” She pictured a sexy young woman in a tight skirt.
“Yes, but not the kind you’re thinking of. Dmitri handles all my personal affairs, schedule, and appearances. I’m afraid I’ve put him in a bad position. My parents expected him to stop me or at least tell my security team where I was going.”
“Oh.” Becca laid out the bread and then went to work slicing the cheese. Her mouth watered at the savory aroma. She tried to get her head around the idea of a team of people surrounding Nikolai’s every move. “Are they looking for you now?”
“I’ve kind of created a mess. I didn’t intend to. I just needed to escape the insanity for a while. I can’t live my life the way they want me to. They are so wrapped up in hundred-year-old traditions that they can’t see the present.”
He popped a strawberry into his mouth. “I called my little sister, Alexi, the other day. Poor kid. She had wanted me to bring her with me.”
“How old is she?” Becca knew what it was like to idolize a big brother. Dylan, while often bossy and difficult, was always there when she needed him.
“Fifteen. She asked me to check in while I was gone. Of course, the second she answered her phone, they traced the call to Melk. I didn’t realize a cell phone could be traced like that.”
“Come on, you’re Jason Bourne, you should know that
.” She placed a slice of cheese on the bread and took a bite. Combined with the beautiful lake setting and great company, the food tasted like paradise.
“Alexi said that everyone’s having a fit about all my missed appearances, not to mention the security breach. Which is ridiculous. It’s not exactly like there’s someone out there trying to shoot me.”
“Are you sure?” She looked around at their secluded location. A sharpshooter could easily hide in the thick foliage. Were these the kinds of things he really had to worry about?
“Relax. I’m sure. I’m more likely to be shot by a long-lens camera than a gun-toting madman. And that was part of my holdup in Melk. Someone spotted me there and tipped off the press. Between my impounded motorbike and the paparazzi, I had trouble getting out. So you can blame them that I missed our rendezvous in Passau.”
“I may have to write them a strongly worded letter.” She handed Nikolai a slice of bread with cheese.
“Thanks. I didn’t think I’d have much press trouble. I just wanted to send my parents the message that I’m not going to be the perfect, obedient son anymore doing everything they expect. I’m not going to be another generation that soaks our people of tax dollars so I can live a pampered life of decadence disguised under the purpose of community service. It’s a travesty.”
“So you’re going to change history?”
He picked at his piece of bread. “I don’t know. I talk big, but I don’t know what I can possibly do to make them change. I have a few ideas on ways to give back to the people and lessen their tax burden, but my father never listens to me. My parents are stuck in the Dark Ages. All I know is that the longer I’m away, the more I don’t want to go back.”
“Are you saying that you don’t want to be king?”
He paused thoughtfully. “I don’t know.”
They snacked on the small feast Nikolai provided. The flavors of the juicy strawberries popped in her mouth while the creamy cheese seemed to melt on her tongue. “I think this is the best food I’ve tasted the whole trip.”
“Sure hits the spot,” he said.
The hot sun burned down; Becca ran her hand over her leg, marred by a long scrape from the bike accident. “The lake is so clear I can see all the way to the bottom. I’d like to wash some of this road burn off. I wish I wore my swimsuit.”
“You could . . . you know,” he said suggestively, looking at her shirt.
“I am not skinny-dipping, so you can wipe that idea from your mind right now.”
“Look who’s jumping to conclusions. I wasn’t suggesting you skinny-dip.” He delivered a sly grin. “What I was about to say is that you could swim in your underwear.”
“Oh, but—”
“Ut.” He held up a finger. “Let me finish. Your underwear probably covers you more than your bathing suit anyway.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but then changed her mind. She knew he was secretly laughing at her.
“What? It’s a great idea.” He smiled devilishly.
“So, you’re saying you’d strip down to your undies, right here, in broad daylight.”
Nikolai stood and reached between his shoulders, pulled his T-shirt over his head, and dropped it at her feet. “You Americans are so uptight about your bodies.”
Becca stared at his strong arms, lean physique, and flat stomach. He began to unbutton his shorts.
Her jaw opened. She wanted to tell him to stop, but even more, she wanted to see if he’d actually drop trou in front of her.
He did.
15
“I guess that answers the question of boxers or briefs,” she said in disbelief as Nikolai stood before her in nothing but his navy blue underwear. They looked a bit like bike shorts.
“So, you uptight American commoner, are you going to join me or stay on this rock and bake like a turtle in the sun?”
“Well, them there sounds like fighting words where I come from.” She exaggerated a hillbilly twang and tried not to look in the region of his skin-hugging underwear.
He laughed.
“You think this American hick hasn’t got the guts to show off her lily-white skin?”
“No, actually, I don’t.” He crossed his arms.
Becca slowly rose to her feet, focusing on Nikolai, whose eyes widened just a little bit at her movement. Was it shock or excitement that she might take his challenge?
She tried to remember which bra and panties she’d put on this morning. Please don’t let it be a thong.
Keeping her eyes glued to his, she undid the button on her shorts, lowered the zipper, and edged them off her hips until they dropped to her feet. She stepped out of them without breaking eye contact.
“You know, a gentleman would look the other way when a lady disrobes,” she said.
He smirked. “Who says I’m a gentleman?”
Aw hell. No words would come and she couldn’t back down.
She lifted the edge of her tank top and whipped it off fast.
Nikolai broke eye contact and stared at her lavender bra and pink leopard-print panties.
Becca felt her blush deepen, so in a final act of false bravado she stepped casually past him and jumped off the rock, saving her scream of terror until she was underwater.
“Oh my God, oh my God, that’s cold,” she yelled the instant she surfaced. “Well, are you coming in or not?”
Without a moment’s hesitation he grinned and cannonballed off the rock, splash-landing a couple of feet away.
“Szent szar, ez a hideg! You weren’t kidding.” He swam over. “I guess you aren’t an uptight American after all.”
She splashed him, trying to pretend that swimming in her underwear was normal and not an exciting new sensation. “What did you just say?”
He bobbed in the water and grinned. “Holy shit, this is cold.”
Becca laughed. “What language was that before?”
“Hungarian.”
Nikolai swam closer and put his hands around her waist. She felt exposed and naughty in her underwear and bra, yet her bikini actually would have been more revealing.
“How many languages do you speak?” she asked, floating beside him.
“A lot.” Water dripped from his eyelashes, and his smile gleamed in the sunlight. He was so good-looking, but of course, he was a prince. It was hard not to feel like a total toad next to him.
“How many?”
“Five.”
“Five! Sheesh, now I really do feel like a stupid American.”
“Excuse me, that’s uptight American commoner.” He sent a small splash in her direction.
“Sorry, I forgot. I don’t know how you learned all those. I barely passed high school Spanish.”
“You don’t learn languages in grade school?”
“I think we had a three-week unit on Spanish and French in the fifth grade.”
He shook his head. “Now that is the problem with America. They were so busy trying to be a unified country, apart from the rest of the world, that they lost all the languages and traditions from their countries of origin.”
“I don’t know about that, but I do know that I could never learn so many languages. What all do you speak?”
“Slovak, German, Russian, Hungarian, and French.”
“You left out English.”
“I guess that makes six then.”
“You don’t speak Spanish?”
“Not fluently.”
“Oh, of course not. I think I’ll just float away now, back to my homeland of ignorant commoners.”
“Oh, no you don’t. You’re staying right here.” He pulled her into his arms while still treading water. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”
“Okay, Prince Charming, stop with the pickup lines,” she said even though his words sent her insides tingling.
“Can’t a guy tell a girl he thinks she’s beautiful?”
“Not when it’s a line of bull. You just don’t want me to feel bad because next to you I’m pretty uneducated.
I couldn’t even manage learning one language other than English.”
“Hey. I don’t give a shit about that. Really. Speaking a bunch of languages doesn’t make someone a better person. It just means it was crammed down their throat from the time they could speak. It’s not every day I meet a girl like you. Someone grounded, who knows what’s important to her. You speak your mind. You stand up for what you believe in. That’s a lot more noble than what I do.”
“This said from a guy swimming in his underwear.”
He spit water at her.
Becca dunked him and they splashed each other. They climbed out and decided to try dives into the clear, deep water. Becca went first. She popped up after her dive. “Oh my God!”
“What?” He leaned forward from the rock ledge, his hands on his knees.
She didn’t want to tell him what had happened, but she couldn’t exactly get out of the water this way either. “My bottoms came off when I dove in.”
Nikolai covered his mouth with his hand.
“It’s not funny! What am I going to do?” She wanted to curl up in a shell and hide.
“I’ll have to go on a diving expedition,” he said with more enthusiasm than she liked.
“Stop looking so happy.” She wanted to smack the grin off his face, but was too busy praying the water wasn’t so clear that he could see her bare bottom.
Nikolai entered the water like an award-winning diver. If a person could die of embarrassment, she’d be floating facedown. He popped up, sucked in some air, and went back to look some more for her leopard-print panties. She thought about trying to swim for the shore and run for cover before he came up again. Instead, she tried to cover herself while treading water.
“Got ’em!” he yelled as he sprang up, his hand held high like a synchronized swimmer, the tiny scrap of fabric in his clutches.
Relieved, she still wanted to hide. “Please, just hand them over.”
Triton the sea god swam over with his coveted prize. “What do I get for saving your panties?”
Becca tried not to laugh. “Please.” It seemed the safest response.
“You can do better than that,” he teased, his eyes sparkling with mischief.
“What did you have in mind?” she asked, afraid of what he might say.
Royally Lost Page 10
