by Leslie North
“I will walk you out,” Rene said as she left with him.
*****
Fifteen minutes later and Tanya was had unpacked and was ready to explore. She walked out of her quarters and down the hallway looking at all the paintings. She assumed that most of the portraits were family members. She turned when she heard someone coming up the stairs breathing heavily. Since Joshua had been dressed for work, she assumed that she was looking at his brother as she watched a mirror image of him come bounding up the stairs wearing a sweaty t-shirt that clung to his muscular chest. He raised his eyebrows when he saw her.
“Hello,” he said to her.
“Hi, I'm Tanya,” she said.
“James,” he answered and allowed his gaze to wash over her from head to toe. Tanya was wearing a white vest top and light-coloured denim jeans. His gaze instantly made her feel uncomfortable as it lingered too long on her chest.
“I'm up here,” she said to him and pointed at her face. He looked at her and gave her half a smile.
“So, how long are you visiting?”
“I have a month off from work,” she replied. James let out a small grunt and Tanya saw his jaw twitch. “I am going to head back to my room, Rene might be looking for me,” she said, as she took a couple steps back.
“Which room are you staying in?”
“The one over there,” she pointed.
“Ah, across from mine? Lucky you,” Tanya narrowed her gaze as she stared at his chest. His t-shirt was just too tight as she found herself fantasizing about what he might feel like. Taking a small breath, she could detect his cologne intermingled with his sweat and she liked the smell.
Waving his hand and pointing to his face, “Hey, I’m up here,” he told her mockingly, as Tanya blushed.
“What size is that top? Extra small?” she teased as James raised his eyebrows.
“Actually, all my clothes are tailored specifically for me. Anything off the rack doesn't fit me,” he answered. Tanya let out a small laugh and turned on her heel as James walked with her back to her rooms.
“Here I am,” she said to him when they reached her doorway. She was hoping that he was not going to come in with her.
“I have never had a mixed-race American here before,” he said. There was a mischievous glint playing on his eyes. Tanya whipped her head in his direction.
“Had?” she stared at him as her hands clenched into fists.
James noticed the frown on her face, wow she’s feisty. “As in, stay here,” he corrected. “If you need anything, I am across the hall,” he said and walked off.
Tanya sighed with relief and walked back inside her room. She did not expect James to be that way. When Rene spoke about him, she made him sound like this super nice guy and very close to his brother. Five minutes with him and Tanya could see that he was conceited; which was to be expected since he was a prince. She did not know what to make of him yet.
Chapter 3
James smiled to himself as he walked into his room. Tanya was definitely different from the females he was used to. Women fell for him instantly. After all, he was a prince and getting his attention was a great honour; however, Tanya seemed unimpressed by his status and looked at him as if he was a mere man. His flirtatious behaviour did nothing for her it seemed. She even had the audacity to joke about his t-shirt. James was interested in finding out how long she was going to resist his charm.
He walked into his quarters and sat down at his desk. Flipping open his laptop, he decided to catch up on work instead of going into the office. Suddenly his phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, -Amber- he read, as he frowned. Who? He decided to ignore the call and put his phone back down. The phone rang again and he looked at it, this time it was from Dania. He did not pick up her call either.
Women threw themselves at him on a daily basis. Because of that, he had two phones; one for business and family, and the other for his female companions. There were days that his phone didn’t seem to stop buzzing with all the calls, text messages and photos. Thoughts of Tanya resurfaced in his mind, as he ran his hand through his hair. At that moment, she was far more interesting than any of these women blowing up his phone.
A new habibti has shown up on my radar- James typed on his phone and sent the message to his cousin, Hussain. The two of them had always been close since their teenage years and, besides Joshua, James trusted him the most. A few moments later, the phone rang. James looked at the screen and it was Hussain calling.
“Hello,” James answered the phone.
“Prince James,” Hussain answered.
“What did I do?”
“I have not said anything yet!”
“The way you called my name. I can hear it in your tone.”
Hussain laughed. “Who is this habibti?” he asked.
“Tanya,” James said her name slowly.
“And who is Tanya?” Hussain asked just as slowly.
“She is Rene's friend from the States.”
“Right, and she is staying at the palace?”
“Yes. In fact, she is across from my room,” James grinned. The thought of her being across from him was like an invitation to go and see her. She was within arm’s reach.
“That sounds like trouble,” Hussain laughed.
“I have not done anything...yet.”
“Don't do it, James.”
“She makes me want to go after her even more, by resisting me,” James said as he remembered her taking shots at him about his clothing. She was feisty and attractive, great combination. He always liked a little bit of a challenge.
“A woman that resists your irresistible charms?” Hussain asked with genuine surprise.
“She was quite feisty. She even had the audacity to ridicule my clothes,” James replied. Hussain laughed.
“What was wrong with what you were wearing?”
“Apparently, my t-shirt was too tight.”
“Was it?” Hussain burst into laughter.
“It was perfectly fine.”
“Okay, your highness, if you say so. There is no point in me cautioning you to stay out of trouble because that seems to be where you are headed,” Hussain said as he laughed. James let out a small grunt as he set his phone down. He definitely could not promise Hussain because he knew himself. Standing up, he pulled his shirt over his head and headed into the shower.
*****
As Tanya joined the others for dinner, she was dismayed to be seated across from James. It was the perfect seat for him because then, he could really look at her and take her in. She looked up and their gazes met.
“This is Tanya,” Rene said to James and gestured towards her.
“We've met,” Tanya said with a hint of displeasure in her voice.
“Oh, have you?”
“Yes, we have,” James said with a smile.
“Oh, okay,” Rene said as Tanya flashed her a smile. “She will be staying with us,” Rene added unsure what else to say as she looked at the two of them. Something clearly happened, but she didn’t know what. Tanya shook her head and picked up her cutlery.
“Good,” said James. “Welcome to the palace,” and soon to my bed- he thought to himself. The way she looked at him only fuelled his intrigue. She was clearly not impressed by him and he was going to change that. No woman could resist him, it was impossible.
“How was the office?” Tanya asked Joshua.
“It was fine,” he replied.
“He only went in for an hour today,” Rene stated as she looked at Tanya and grinned. “He doesn't work as much now.”
“That's good to know,” Tanya replied as she smiled at her friend. She knew how lonely it was for Rene when she first got here. Joshua responded with a grunt before taking a sip of his wine.
“Oh sure, my brother can take more time to spend with you since he delegated much of his workload to me,” James joked.
“You cannot handle it?” asked Tanya.
“I can handle many things,” replied James with an int
ense gaze. He could handle her and her feisty attitude.
“Good for you.” Tanya gave him a wry smile. James caught the sarcasm in her voice as he looked at her wondering if she caught his meaning. Suddenly a brown and white stray cat jumped over the low stone wall and slowly approached them.
“This cat!” Rene cried out with her hand on her heart. Joshua started laughing at her.
“Will you jump every time you see it?” he asked.
“I don't understand why there is a stray cat in the palace,” Rene said with a frown. James took some food off his plate and held his hand out to the cat.
“Oh, you are feeding cats now?” Joshua asked. Rene quickly took a picture of him and the cat with her phone.
“What is wrong with that?” James asked. He crossed his eyes and looked at Rene. “Hey, did you just photograph me?” he asked her. She laughed and put the phone at the edge of the table where he could not reach it.
“I had to,” she said.
“It is a peculiar sight,” Joshua added as James shrugged his shoulders and scratched the cat behind the ears before turning his attention to Tanya.
“Do you like cats?” he asked her.
“Not really.”
“Why not?”
“I prefer dogs to cats.”
“Cats are evil,” Rene said.
“And sly,” Tanya added.
“Cats are elegant animals. Even their walk has poise,” James replied as he continued to pet the cat. Joshua, Rene and Tanya all looked at him oddly. Tanya laughed first before the other two joined her. “What?” asked James.
“That is strange,” Rene said.
“My brother gets that way sometimes.”
“Whatever,” James replied as he smiled and shook his head. When the cat had enough, he strolled off and James resumed eating.
As they all ate their dinner, James took every opportunity to study Tanya' s face. She had gorgeous, dark honey-coloured skin that was sprayed with freckles. She had full tempting lips that made him wonder if they tasted as good as they looked. Big hazel eyes and curly, light-brown hair that she had tucked into a messy bun.
She wasn’t much taller than Rene, but she had a curvy, hourglass figure that begged to be touched. Her voice was low and sultry unlike many of the women he dated, who tended to have higher-pitched voices, which would quickly grate on his ears. Whenever she made eye contact with him, she quickly looked away. James could tell that his gaze made her uncomfortable and he was enjoying her discomfort because that meant that she was at least a little interested in him.
Chapter 4
The next day, Tanya wanted to take a shower but had no idea how to work the damn thing. There were all these buttons that she could not understand. She wandered out of her room in hopes of running into Rene, but then she remembered that she had spent the night in Joshua's bed.
She stood in the doorway and folded her arms over her chest as she saw James walking from Joshua's quarters. He was wearing shorts and a tight tank top that looked sexier on him than the shirt he had on yesterday.
“Hey!” she called to him. He stopped walking and his face lit up when he saw her. He walked towards her and stopped right in front of her. Leaning against the door frame, he looked down at her.
“Hey, freckles,” he said to her. Tanya frowned at him. So he had already given her a nickname.
“Freckles,” she repeated as he smiled at her.
“How are you this morning?” he asked.
“Can you show me how the shower works?” she asked him. He raised his eyebrow.
“Are you inviting me to shower with you?” he asked with a mischievous look on his face. Tanya blushed and shook her head.
“No, I am not!” She turned on her heel, “Follow me,” she said as she walked towards her bedroom. James laughed as he followed her.
“You need to relax,” he said to her.
“What?”
“You are too uptight.”
Tanya did not respond to him. She understood what his motive was with all the flirting. He was rich and a prince. They always did what they wanted with women and she most definitely did not want to be another notch on his headboard.
At this moment, she just needed to shower and did not know how to make it work. When James popped up, he seemed like the easiest solution, but she was regretting asking him for help since he could not seem to stop flirting.
She had to admit though, when he asked her if she was asking him to shower with her, she did take a moment to picture him naked and wet. Granted, the way he wore his clothes left little to the imagination, but wet, he would look better than most of those male models on the calendars.
“Here,” Tanya said as she stopped at the entrance to the shower. James was just about to walk in when she pressed her hands against his chest to stop him from entering the shower.
“What?” he asked and looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.
“Do not enter the shower with your shoes on,” she told him. She was suddenly feeling nervous. She did not mean to touch him, but when she did; her hand seemed to sizzle against his chest, which was rock hard. Part of her wanted to rip his shirt off so she could touch his skin. She had always had a thing for muscular men and merely touching him was already doing strange things to her insides.
“Oh, come on,” he replied.
“No, James, take your shoes off.”
“James, huh,” a smirk appeared on his face. “So, we are on a first name basis now?” Tanya was confused as to what he was talking about.
“What else would I call you?” she asked him.
“Your highness or prince James or-” Before he could finish his sentence, Tanya cut him off.
“Or, get your butt in the shower and show me what all these buttons do,” she stated in exasperation. James laughed as he kicked off his shoes and walked into the shower.
“So, you are feisty AND bossy,” he said as he walked in. Tanya shook her head as she followed him. She loved taking showers and this particular one looked amazing. It was big enough to fit seven people and there were spray jets at different heights along the walls and Tanya could not wait to see what it felt like as the water hit her.
The shower enclosure was covered in over-sized tiles of Carrara marble and the floor was laid in small, flat river stones that massaged her feet as she stepped on them. But there was a small black keypad set into the wall with more buttons and settings than on her phone. She had tried randomly pushing buttons, but quickly grew frustrated when nothing happened.
“Feisty and bossy?” Tanya asked him.
“It's a good thing,” he said with a grin on his face.
“I just want to shower,” Tanya cried out. “Why are they all different? Shouldn't they be universal?” she growled. James laughed.
“It's not hard to work. I can't believe you could not figure it out,” he teased. Tanya pushed him playfully.
“Just make it work, James.”
“Yes, ma'am,” he answered, trying hard not to grin.
James started pressing different buttons, as he set her up as a user. As he walked her through the different settings, he showed her how to turn the spray jets on and off and the temperature settings.
“So you just need to press-” James said and before he finished his sentence, Tanya pressed the button and the shower kicked into action.
“Oh no!” Tanya cried out, as the two of them were instantly drenched. James’ white tank top clung to his muscular torso, revealing the beauty that lay beneath. Tanya’s loose t-shirt now clung enticingly to her breasts, as James stared at them. Tanya caught sight of a small twitch in his jaw and quickly turned to leave the shower but James caught her arm.
“What are you doing?” she asked him as she tried to pull free. “We are soaked.” She could not shake him off as he pulled her towards him. Staring at his lips, she suddenly wondered what they tasted like as she found herself leaning against the wall unsure if her legs would hold her up.
He leaned ag
ainst her, as her already hardened nipples became painful as they pressed against his chest. He placed his arms on either side of her head as he looked down at her. She became acutely aware of him. He gave her a slow smile as he watched her body flush with desire.
Tanya had to force herself to remain standing when the only thing she could think about was the feel of his body against hers. It felt so good and so right as he instantly ignited the desire buried in her.
