She sucked in a breath as hurt whistled through her. He’d heard her lie and lie and lie and every one burned. She never should have thought this switch was a good idea. Yet, if she hadn’t, she never would have met Alvaro. She would never have had this moment. Suddenly the urge to lean into his light touch was unstoppable. ‘I...’
He blinked and jerked his hand away in a negating gesture and she knew he was about to step back. But she didn’t want anything to spoil this one, precious moment. She couldn’t.
‘It is real,’ she blurted, so lost in staring up at him that she lost control of her tongue, telling him things she shouldn’t. But she’d never been drawn to anyone the way she was to him. She needed him to see her—truly.
‘What?’ He stood like a hot granite statue.
‘My hair,’ she muttered helplessly, so stupidly. ‘It’s real. It’s mine.’
His eyebrows pleated. ‘But—’
‘I’m not Juno.’
His mouth opened.
‘I’m...’ She paused to swallow, horrified yet unable to halt her confession. She didn’t even want to. She wanted—needed—him to know the truth. ‘I’m not Juno Monroyale.’
‘What?’ While his eyes widened, their focus was laser-like.
‘I’m her sister.’
For an endless moment neither moved. But beyond his unnatural stillness she knew he was processing and she could feel his reaction rising. A howling heat emanated from his tense body, while loss welled in hers. She’d broken his trust, so now she braced for his fury.
But what emerged was almost a whisper. ‘You’re not Juno.’ He stared so hard he paralysed her. ‘If you’re not Juno...’
She was Jade. She was the Queen of Monrova.
Confessions were supposed to relieve, instead desolation slid deep, painfully making hidden cuts, as she watched him make the connection.
‘Then that means...’ He trailed off again, his focus still intent upon her. But as he blinked, the reaction behind his frozen countenance flared and she saw a blaze of emotion heating his whisky-amber eyes.
‘If you’re not Juno,’ he said harshly, ‘then I’m not your boss.’
He suddenly stepped forward and that desolation was swept away by a tsunami of something so much hotter. So much more that she couldn’t think to answer.
‘I’m not your boss,’ he repeated angrily, almost to himself.
And she realised that he’d just let something within himself go.
His hand hit her waist in a firm, heavy hold that made her heart thud. She couldn’t tear her gaze from his—couldn’t move, or speak. Her lips parted, yet she still couldn’t breathe as an enormous wave of want tumbled over her again, drenching her with a desire so powerful it knocked over any hesitation, any caution, any reality. All she could hear was her heated blood beating, all she wanted was the touch she’d craved for days.
Just a taste.
She still couldn’t speak as he pulled her so close her breasts were pressed against the sizzling strength of his chest, nor could she speak as he slid his other hand to cup the nape of her neck. And she still couldn’t say a thing as she leaned against his hold, arching her neck to maintain that impossibly intense contact with his gaze. And then, beneath that penetrating stare, she realised she didn’t need to speak. Nor did he. They both knew the answer was obvious and undeniable. In reality, there wasn’t even a question.
His head lowered and her breath released on a gasp just as his mouth slammed on hers, his strength making her knees buckle. His hold instantly tightened, and he hauled her fully against him. The impact of collision—chest to breast, hip to hip—destroyed her. His heat, his arousal, made hers burn hotter. She was literally caught up in his passion and his vitality and she could do nothing but be carried along the road he’d chosen. The sensuality poured from him, filling and stirring her, until she had no choice but to release her own, kissing him back as best she could beneath his onslaught, clutching his shoulders, not just to touch, but to hold—to keep. Because she needed more of this. Of him. She needed so much more. She burst with the need to race with him, to beat him, to hit some near-but-far dizzying destination. Oh, she was suddenly so, so desperate.
Somehow he spun them both and moved her back until the wall was behind her. It was literally the hard place supporting her while he—like a rock in front—crushed closer, caressing her, kissing her sensitive lips with unrestrained passion. And it was so good because he was so big, so powerful and every muscle, every movement was utterly focused on her. Initially she’d been stunned, rendered immobile, but with each sweep of his plundering tongue her response rose, drawn out of her like a release of a power she’d not known she had. And then she didn’t just open for him, she met him with a seeking, demanding slice of her own force. Every particle within her tensed and tingled, filled with energy that couldn’t be contained.
These weren’t soft, gentle, teasing kisses. These devoured. Fast and long and hot as pent-up passion exploded. It was an almost animalistic seeking to sate long aching hunger. He kissed her as if he’d been thinking of nothing else for eons and she kissed him back just like that because for her it was true. She tightened her arms around his neck, threading her fingers through his unruly thick hair and holding him to her. His fingers slid beneath her shirt, caressing her waist, lifting higher to smooth her ribcage, and she leaned into the sweep of his palm, all her skin ablaze, aching for such touch from him over every inch—inside and out. Exhilaration soared. Her toes curled and she pressed her hips forward, grinding them back against his to feel the shockingly huge reality of his arousal. Heated pleasure stormed, setting off a volley of vibrations within. Lust coiled higher still, the yearning inside widened. His hand at her breast. The scrape of his thumb across her nipple. The ache to be naked. All consumed her.
‘Alvaro...’
He smothered hot, wide kisses across her face and down her neck and his hips pressed against hers again and again, mimicking the ultimate act of passion and possession. Never had she felt such excitement, such abandonment. Never had she wanted anything as much. Never had anything so instinctive overtaken her so completely. She cried out as he savagely sucked, then nipped, her sensitive skin.
‘J—’ He broke off the guttural mutter and abruptly flung back from her, leaving her slumped back against the wall.
Shocked and suddenly cold, she put her hands palm down for balance, absorbing certainty from the solid wall as she watched him transform before her in the blink of an eye—from passionate lover to furious stranger.
His hair stood in tufts from where she’d tugged at him like some untamed creature. His chest rapidly rose and fell and there was a wild look in his eyes. But his glare solidified and scoured her insides. ‘If you’re not Juno, then you’re...’
Her lips felt puffy and oversensitive and she couldn’t bear to press them together. She licked them but it didn’t soothe their hungry ache. And she had to answer him. ‘Jade.’
His hands curled in fists and he jammed them onto his hips, his chest rising and falling as if he’d just run a life-or-death sprint. ‘Juno’s identical twin sister.’
‘Yes,’ she confessed. But his angry reaction horrified her. ‘I’m sorry you thought I was her.’ Oh, God, she realised the worst and whispered, ‘You wanted to kiss her.’
‘What? No!’ His frown deepened. ‘I’ve never wanted to kiss Juno. Never wanted to order her into my office and slam the door behind her so I could grab her and strip her—’ He broke off and cursed—a full sentence of self-berating filth.
She stared at him as something feral inside roared with primal pleasure. Every millimetre of her skin tightened again with awareness and want.
‘I’ve never wanted to do that with any of my employees,’ he said more calmly a few moments later. ‘I’ve never been unable to control my reaction to anyone before.’
‘But your reaction to
me?’ Her mouth dried because she was stupidly nervous. As if she were facing all the exams of her life in the one moment. Pass or fail were the only options. Win or lose. Have or have not. She wanted to win. She wanted to have.
Just this one moment.
But she could see him calculating and she could feel him cooling...so quickly. His emotional withdrawal wasn’t just visible, wasn’t just audible, it was palpable. And she felt it as the devastating loss it was. She wanted his heat, his body, his intimacy. For once in her life, she wanted to obliterate her isolation.
‘If you’re Jade,’ he said quietly, ‘you’re the Queen.’
Her heart dropped to the floor, but she tried to pull herself together, to answer with her old, customary politeness. ‘That’s correct.’
The change in the atmosphere was as strong as if a foehn wind had lifted and turned all the fallen leaves over, presenting the whole world in a different colour.
But it wasn’t the whole world. It was only her. She was being seen in a new light. No longer an employee. No longer a woman.
She was merely—only—a monarch.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘YOU SWITCHED PLACES,’ Alvaro said with cold clarity. ‘At the weekend.’
‘Yes,’ Jade admitted miserably, mortified by her unthinkable, inappropriate actions. All of them. ‘I’m...’
Unable to think.
Why had she said anything at all? Why had she betrayed Juno so swiftly? She’d only been here a few days and she’d let desire overrule everything. She’d never let personal wishes get in the way of professional duty before. And her duty right now was to Juno. She’d let her sister down badly. But she’d not been able to resist him any longer, and certainly not been able to lie to him any longer.
‘What are you playing at?’ He watched her from those few paces back. ‘Why?’
‘Juno needed time in Monrova.’ But without further explanation her reason sounded weak. Yet those reasons were private to Juno.
His fists tightened. ‘You lied. Not just to me, but to everyone.’
‘To protect my sister, yes. I’m sorry. It wasn’t just for fun. It mattered more than that.’
‘Not just for your sister. You wouldn’t take such a big risk if there wasn’t something in it for you too. Something that matters.’ He echoed her emphasis, but his had an edge. ‘So what is it?’
‘It’s just a few weeks,’ she muttered, glad of the steadying wall supporting her back. ‘But it’s the only chance I was ever going to get to be...a normal person.’
‘Normal?’
‘As normal as either Juno and I can get.’ And yes, she knew she sounded like the ultimate spoilt princess right now.
But he nodded, as if understanding. ‘A few weeks—in a lifetime?’
‘Yes.’
‘Yet you’re spending them working round the clock on some stupid job for me?’
‘For my sister. I don’t want her to lose this—’
‘She won’t.’
‘Thank you.’ She couldn’t bear to look at him.
‘Does she know what’s happened here at work?’
‘We’ve not been in touch since we switched. We thought it was safer not to.’
‘Safer?’ He sounded astounded. ‘It’s a shocking risk you’ve taken. I knew something was off.’ He expelled a harsh breath. ‘Why have you told me now?’
‘Why do you think?’ she mumbled. ‘I...was drawn to you.’
Such an understatement. The real risk was what she’d just done and the terrible thing was she wanted more. The sheer rush still rampaging through her.
‘Nothing more can happen between us, Jade. You’re a queen.’
His immediate rejection hurt. ‘Am I suddenly inhuman?’
‘Aren’t you supposed to be engaged to another man?’ he threw back at her. ‘Don’t you have to marry some prince?’
Shocked, she stared at him. Had he heard the rumours about King Leonardo of Severene? It was what her father had wanted and the plan had still been progressing. She’d been supposed to give King Leonardo an indication of her willingness at the Winter Ball. Instead she’d run away—seizing on Juno’s mad switch suggestion to stop herself having to make that decision just yet. She’d literally run away from it.
Ironically now Jade seized that exact prospect as a way of putting a barrier between her newfound recklessness and her duty. Because of her own weakness, she needed to put Alvaro at a distance. Now.
Yet she couldn’t lie to him completely. ‘Nothing has been settled.’
His eyebrows shot up. ‘But it’s under consideration?’
‘Several options are...’ She fudged, but he silently waited her out. ‘It’s more like a...political contract. An alliance to benefit both our countries.’
‘You’d really marry for duty?’
‘If that’s what’s required,’ she said determinedly. ‘It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened in history.’
He stepped closer and her wretched body hummed with temptation anew.
‘What’s in the fine print?’ His voice was both harsh and husky, that thread of anger strengthened. ‘Would you produce heirs?’
‘Of course,’ she said stiffly. ‘For the succession. We would have a shared heir between Severene and Monrova.’
‘And unite the two into one country? So this is an acquisition? Who’ll have the greater power—Monrova or Severene?’
Jade straightened. She would never cede power over Monrova to another nation. Not even a friendly neighbour like Severene. It would be an alliance. But Alvaro’s distaste grew more evident with every sarcastically enunciated question.
‘Does this prince of yours expect you to be a virgin queen?’ he asked. ‘Is that part of your promise too?’
‘I imagine he’d think my virginity is a hindrance, actually,’ Jade retorted, stung by Alvaro’s judgment. ‘He probably wouldn’t be at all pleased.’
‘You...what?’ Alvaro’s eyes widened. ‘He what?’
She realised he’d not expected her to answer that virginity question—let alone honestly.
‘Well, it is inconvenient,’ she said, explaining it with bald businesslike briskness to cover her embarrassment. ‘But neither of us would consider sex as anything other than a biological transaction. Fortunately, there are other ways for me to become pregnant.’
‘What?’ He actually gasped. ‘Are you talking about artificial insemination?’
She shrugged. ‘It might be a preferable option for us both.’
His jaw slack, he slowly shook his head. ‘You’re a virgin. An actual, real-life twenty-something virgin.’
‘I’m sure I’m not the only one in existence,’ she retorted testily. ‘But I’ve been very sheltered all my life.’ All but imprisoned, to be more accurate. ‘There really hasn’t been the opportunity.’
He stared at her, then glanced away, visibly processing it all. A few moments passed and she felt relieved that the subject was closed. But then he faced her again—muscles flexing as he moved, the faint sheen of sweat making his bronzed skin glow.
‘Have you ever kissed anyone else?’ It was a whisper.
One she couldn’t answer.
‘Jade?’ Alarm flashed across his face, but he stepped closer again.
She was indescribably pleased by that small shrinking of that gap between them, but there was no hiding the obvious truth.
‘Never?’ He lifted his hand and brushed her lip with his fingertip. ‘I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?’
‘No,’ she breathed. And she didn’t want him to be sorry.
‘It was a little more than a kiss.’ His frown hadn’t fully eased, but there was the smallest quirk of his lips as he softly questioned her. ‘What did you think?’
That blush burned again. ‘You know already...’
He waited
but she couldn’t say more.
‘Are you always this careful with your words? This...reticent?’ That quirk became a complete smile. ‘Not officially a risk taker, Queen Jade?’ He leaned closer. ‘Yet I think you’re exactly that.’ He brushed her lower lip with that lightest of fingertips again. ‘Is that the real reason you switched with Juno? So you could have a couple of weeks to sow all the wild oats you can?’
That smile, that touch, provoked her. ‘Would it be so awful if it was?’ she challenged, even though it had been nothing of the sort. ‘Why shouldn’t I? King Leonardo has certainly enjoyed life to the full. There shouldn’t be a reason why I can’t do the same.’
Alvaro’s frown instantly returned. ‘Are you really considering marriage to him?’
She paused.
‘You don’t see something wrong with fooling around with me here while considering that?’
She stiffened. ‘The moment I make any marriage vows, I intend to keep them.’
‘But haven’t you made a promise already? Isn’t that what an engagement is?’
‘I’m not engaged to anyone,’ she declared hotly. ‘I’ll do that at the time required. Until then, everything is my own.’
He suddenly leaned his shoulder against the wall next to her, facing her, watching her. ‘You’re using semantics. You’re twisting it to get what you want.’
‘Well, why shouldn’t I get what I want for once?’ She lifted her chin. ‘I’m prepared to do everything for my country. I’ll sacrifice my personal life to perform my duty.’ She threw her shoulders back. ‘But I’ve not yet made that promise to King Leonardo. Not him or any other man.’
‘Would it be a very convenient marriage—with you both having affairs on the side?’
‘I can’t speak for anyone else. But if I ever marry, I have every intention of maintaining my vows.’
‘You’d settle for a sexless life?’
She was burning with mortification at his relentless questioning. ‘I’ve gone without sex up until now—I’m confident I can go without it for decades.’
But something went cold inside. Only now did she realise the gravity of her future choices.
The Queen's Impossible Boss (The Christmas Princess Swap, Book 2) Page 5
