Chapter Eleven

Some men used wealth to get the girl. Lavished them with jewelry or expensive concert tickets. Others used fame, promising the chance to rub shoulders with the high and mighty.

Not Elias. He knew none of that would impress Kelsey. More importantly, he knew what would get her.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“I thought you said we were going on a date.” She spun on her heel in a half circle, taking in the long hallway hung with oversize portraits of eighteenth-century Villanis. And, of course, the ubiquitous footmen at each end. “Walking through the palace is not a date.”

He snickered. “There is literally an entire country of women—not all of them single, even—who would disagree with you. Nevertheless, we are most certainly going on a date.”

Francis, the footman with the unenviable job of dressing in eighteenth-century garb every day, raised his spear and winked at Elias. Luckily, he had no idea who Kelsey really was. And dressed down in jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt, she wasn’t even recognizable as the VIP staying down the hall from Princess Genevieve. So his next move felt safe.

Well, still quite risky—but Kelsey was worth a calculated risk or two. Or ten. Which this was. Nothing had changed about her status or his. Being together was an impossibility. For sure, in two weeks once she was officially recognized as the princess.

So Elias would steal these moments with her now, as many as he could. Because Kelsey was sunshine and fun and warmth…exactly what he’d need in his memory to get through all the gray days ahead when he wouldn’t be allowed to touch her again. That was the bargain he’d made with himself. Knowing there’d be an unmistakable, inescapable end—all too soon—to what they shared made it less wrong to be with her now. Because their time together would be so short, it wouldn’t matter.

Except Kelsey was starting to matter quite a bit to him.

Elias pulled on the heavy gold edge of a frame—Queen Anna, circa 1784, powdered wig and all—and it swung open.

“Ohhhhh, the secret tunnel.” Kelsey wrinkled her nose. “To the gym? You didn’t tell me to dress for a workout. I look all wrong.”

The woman couldn’t be more wrong. And he gave her an exaggerated, playful leer of appreciation to prove it. “You look very, very right.”

What she looked was a million times more herself. Like the woman he’d first met in Manhattan who had bowled him over. The jeans clung to her beautifully tight ass in a way that had his fingers itching to squeeze. Just like the border of lace at the top of her white shirt gave him the urge to push it down to reveal more of her creamy breasts.

God, he wanted his hands on her. “Does it feel good to be back in your own clothes?”

“So good.” She shook her head as he led her inside a low-ceilinged tunnel. “I feel like I’m playing dress up every day in those skirt and sweater sets.”

“You dress up beautifully. I like both versions of you. Almost as much as I like the spandex workout version of you.” He clasped her hand to hurry her along. Elias had timed their trip down the corridor for right after the day and evening shifts swapped out. Punctuality was imperative at the palace, so everyone would be at their posts and not skulking about back here.

Hopefully.

Kelsey elbowed him in the ribs. “No way. My running clothes can’t be your favorite. Access is too difficult. Much like lunging or squatting is too difficult in these skinny jeans.”

Elias swallowed. Hard. But it didn’t erase the mental image of her naked, on the bed, lunging over him… That’s when Kelsey pressed back with the tips of her fingers, and he realized he was white-knuckling her poor, delicate hand. He brought it swiftly to his lips to drop an open-mouthed kiss on her soft skin.

“Don’t worry. This isn’t the secret passageway to the gym. These are the staff corridors. I’m taking you to my place and cooking you dinner. A one hundred percent normal, non-princess-perk date.”

“You live here? In the palace?”

“I do.” One side of his mouth pulled down into a grimace. “Just don’t expect anything as opulent as your suite.”

“Again, for the record, that is so not me. It might as well be a hotel penthouse. I prefer things simple. With access to outlets for my devices without walking more than six steps.”

“While I can offer you that, how about we unplug for the night?”

Kelsey tugged free of his grasp. Slamming a hand onto the middle of his dark-gray polo shirt, she made a valiant attempt to both push him against the wall and look fierce doing so. She failed at both, but he played along.

“Hold it right there. Are you trying to take my phone away again for yet more nefarious reasons?”

“If by nefarious you mean kissing you, then yes.” In a twist on a karate move, he lunged to one knee and bent her backward over it, kissing the exposed line of her throat until she squealed and laughed. So much for semi-stealth mode. Elias quickly set her back on her feet and hurried them past the final turn. “I’m off schedule for tonight. Blocked out completely. Unless the palace is invaded by alien drones, there won’t be any interruptions. Just you and me. A real, normal, Friday-night date,” he said.

“It sounds perfect. And I’ll turn off my phone”—her smile turned impish, and she pulled her phone out of her back pocket—“as soon as we take a selfie.”

“No. Absolutely not. Not out here.” They’d tempted fate enough after pausing to kiss.

She stopped and held out both arms, upraised, like a candelabra. “Isn’t this whole, vast structure technically my house? Since when can’t a woman snap a photo in her own home?”

“You’re claiming ownership of Alcarsa Palace?” Elias couldn’t help but throw back his head and laugh. Kelsey continually both surprised and delighted him. “Did you just try—feebly, I might add—to pull princess rank on me? That thing you can’t abide and haven’t even decided yet to accept?”

“I’m trying it on for size. How does being imperious look on me?”

He dug out his key. Then he bent his knees and hoisted her over his shoulder. “Take your damned selfie and find out.”

Kelsey laughed and squirmed and, from the snick he heard, took the upside down selfie draped over his back as he carried her past three more doors until they arrived at his. Once safely inside, he slid her—slowly—down the front of his body until she stood. “Welcome.”

“Your show of strength is, mmm, immensely sexy.” This time she was the one stringing a line of kisses down his neck. She had to stand on tiptoe to do it, which canted her whole body forward against his.

Damn it. Elias heaved in a deep breath. “I’m cooking you dinner. Put your appreciation of my muscles on hold until after I’ve provided you with the aforementioned date.”

“Maybe you do things differently in Moncriano. But in America?” Kelsey very deliberately pushed her open hand down his back to cup his ass. “Dates can be all about sex. Start to finish. Soup to nuts.”

Maybe things were different in America. Because he had no idea he was expected to make soup. Or provide nuts. “I didn’t prepare a soup course. Just some sautéed calamari and cheese for an appetizer.”

Kelsey immediately let go, falling back several steps. Apparently she needed the extra room to bend over, hugging her stomach, and laugh hysterically.

“If you want soup, I can call down to the kitchens for it…”

“Elias, omigosh, no. I’m laughing because it’s just a saying. Soup to nuts means…well, the whole enchilada. Which, now that I think of it, probably doesn’t translate, either. It means ‘everything included’. No actual need on my behalf for soup.”

“That’s a relief.”

“I can’t believe you’re cooking calamari. That sounds so exotic. I’m extremely impressed.”

“We’re a nation on the edge of an ocean. Seafood is not exotic here. But I’ll take the easy win.” He headed toward the kitchen. When he didn’t hear footsteps following, he turned back. Kelsey was still in the entryway. Her eyes were wide with shock.

That didn’t bode well. Not after he’d bribed his friend Luisa the chambermaid into doing a…“soup to nuts” cleaning of the apartment. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Your place looks perfect. Amazing. Amazingly normal.” She did a big sweep of the living room, trailing her fingers along the edge of the green chest beneath his plasma screen television. Crossed the moss and white maze-patterned rug to toy with a branch on his ficus tree. Kelsey ended by leaning back on his grey sofa, looking comfortable and at home.

“What did you expect?”

“Something all gold and delicate and antiqued like the rest of the palace.” She pursed her lips, considering. “Or a medieval stone chamber.”

“Well, you haven’t seen the bedroom yet,” he quipped.

“Very funny.”

Elias sank onto the matching grey club chair. It was odd, needing to lay out how not special he was. Especially when so many people looked right past him, as though he were nothing more than an ambulatory suit of armor next to Prince Christian.

“I work in a fancy place. My best friend is about as fancy as they come. But I’m not. I started as a sailor. Now I keep other people’s treasures safe. My life’s simple, at the core.”

“Hardly. You’ve got focus and honor and a shocking depth of responsibility. There’s nothing simple about juggling all of that. Plus, you’re keeping a tree alive.” She pointed at the robust ficus that almost filled his window.

“Not even close. I only won that from the palace’s head gardener a few weeks ago. Odds are that I’ll kill it due to shocking neglect before the month is up.”

“Won it? Did he not bring enough cash to a poker game?”

It occurred to Elias that perhaps he’d oversold the simplicity of his life. To an American, at any rate. “I, ah, bested him in an archery competition.”

“Seriously?”

“Quite. Not only did I hit all my targets, but Ilian accidentally killed an owl.”

Kelsey lifted one eyebrow. “Sure, totally normal, because it’s all fun and games until a forest creature fatality.”

Funny. That was the same joke he’d made as he helped the man dig a tiny grave. Ilian insisted he was completing the circle of life by gifting Elias with a tree to keep alive.

It’d be very easy to keep sitting here, chatting and admiring how right Kelsey looked in his living room. But also very selfish. Elias was determined to give her the trappings of a normal date. Food. Wine. Music.

Rising, he punched on his speaker, and sultry French jazz filled the room. “I should start cooking. The chicken paprika and cheese dumplings have been simmering all afternoon, but the calamari have to be done fresh.”

Kelsey scrambled after him, snatching his arm. “Thank you.” Her tone was solemn and intense. Oddly so. As though he’d thrown himself in front of her to stop a bullet, instead of throwing chicken into a pot.

Elias cocked his head. “You haven’t tasted my cooking yet. I’d hold off on any expressions of gratitude.”

“Trust me, I’m plenty grateful for just the attempt.” Those big, violet eyes were overflowing with her appreciation and care.

Since she wouldn’t allow him to lighten the mood, he’d answer in kind. “You’ve made it very clear this isn’t a life you’d choose. Definitely one you’d never dreamed of. But despite the formalities being stuffed down your throat, I can assure you, it isn’t always like that. You can still be you, Kelsey.”

“People seem pretty set on the whole title/bowing thing.”

“Your inner circle of friends and family won’t be that way when you’re in private. I see all of this from one step behind Christian. I can assure you he manages plenty of normal activities. Ordinary nights.”

“Christian—but not Genevieve?” One corner of her mouth ticked up, as if already well aware of the answer.

“Normal’s not really what she’s looking for out of life. She rather enjoys the princess perks.” Elias gathered her into his arms. “Let me prove to you that you can be a princess and still have a somewhat normal life. Starting with a home-cooked, traditional Moncriano meal.”

“Starting by turning this into casual night. Lose the fancy duds.” Kelsey slid her arms underneath the sides of his sport coat and up, as if to ease it off his shoulders.

But then she visibly jolted. Her right hand froze, up against the holster to his gun. Because even though it was his night off, he’d never consider walking anywhere on palace grounds unarmed.

“Nothing about this is normal,” she murmured. And her long lashes fluttered closed over despondent eyes, shutting him out.

…

This was yet another in a string of firsts over the last eight days. There weren’t supposed to be any firsts left with sex. There was a finite number of positions, only so many parts to go so many places. While lovely, nothing about dating or sex should surprise her anymore.

But trying to hug a man and running into his gun? Definite first.

Not to mention a definite mood killer. For as hard as Elias was trying to give her normal, the gun reminded her how different, upside down, everything was in her life.

“Damn it, Kelsey, don’t do that. Don’t close down on me.” He grabbed her chin and tilted it up. She looked into blue eyes sparking with…anger? Frustration?

“We were kidding ourselves, Elias, pretending for one night that nothing’s changed doesn’t make it real. Just like pretending we can be together doesn’t make it real.”

His hands slipped down to cup her shoulders. As if he was worried she was about to run out the door. “Maybe I went about this all wrong. I’m sorry for trying to make you feel like you were Kelsey Wishner again, excited Manhattanite. I simply wanted to put a smile on your face.”

“I smile every time I think of you. You’re outrageously handsome, you know. And when I talk, you make me feel like there’s nothing else you’d rather be doing, nowhere else you’d rather be. You make me feel like I matter. Plain old Kelsey Wishner.”

“Extraordinary Kelsey Wishner,” he corrected softly. He looked over her shoulder and cursed. “Stay here.” Then he disappeared through an arched doorway into the…kitchen? She only glimpsed the curve of a small, round wooden table, set with wineglasses and a fat candle in the middle. But there were heady smells coming from the room, a sort of rich tomato sauce with spices she couldn’t identify.

When Elias came back, his jacket and holster were gone. “I’ve turned it all off. Dinner’s on hold. Indefinitely.”

Oh no. She’d screwed everything up by freaking out about his gun. “You’re going to take me back to my suite now?”

“What? Of course not. Kelsey, what your life has spun into is a new normal, for sure. But one with a few perks that I promise are worth it.”

Not getting dinner sure didn’t come off as a perk. “Such as?”

“Sex with me.” His cocky grin and you want a piece of this pose with one leg outstretched in front and both arms up was pure, absurd male ego on parade. Apparently, Elias knew it, too, because he only held the pose for a few seconds before laughing. “I’m taking a page from the American dating handbook. We’re skipping straight to the sex, because that’s the one thing I know will get your mind to stop spinning about all the changes in your life.”

She could get on board with that. “Consider it my gift to your country.”

Elias gripped her upper arms tightly, and his voice was so deep it rumbled. “You’re a gift to my country, all right. But the only thing that matters right now is what a gift you are to me. Let me show you.”

Before Kelsey could pick up her dropped jaw and reply, Elias moved in. He shuffled her backward a few steps until she was pressed between him and the wall. Pressed tight enough to feel the steel wall of his pecs against her already hard nipples, massive thighs caging in her legs, and the gratifyingly hard and long bulge against her belly.

Oh, and while they took those few steps, his mouth devoured hers. Heat and speed, yes, but mixed with a thoroughness that left her lips a little bruised and a lot electrified. There was no doubting the depth of his desire.

There was no denying the depth of hers.

Kelsey gave back as good as she got. Her fingers raked across the top of his skull, delighting in the soft brush of his super-short hair. Her tongue danced and tasted and licked.

It wasn’t nearly enough.

She wanted her bodyguard to stop guarding her body, and start using it.

Boosting off the floor, she wrapped her legs around his lean hips. It shifted the solid length of his penis to notch right between her legs. Kelsey moaned. Elias swallowed the sound, then broke free.

“Christ, you can’t move. Not at all. This can’t be over in two minutes against a wall.”

“Why? Because I’m a princess? Because it wouldn’t be proper?”

Because Kelsey liked the sound of that. Very much.

“Because you deserve better,” he said. And it was the sweetest thing she’d ever heard. The man had a raging hard-on, but wanted to slow down on her behalf. The way he cared for her, cared about her, grounded her in the moment, in him, more than even the fiery kisses.

“Save better for later,” she ordered. “I don’t want to wait. I’m so turned on I could eye-fuck you to orgasm.”

His hips bucked once. Hard. “Holy—that’s worse than moving, my treasure. No dirty talk, either.” Yet his lips kept trailing across the side of her face, her neck, down the vee of her shirt…

Oh, this was fun. And her heart almost exploded from his touching endearment. “You know how you can make me stop? By filling me up with your cock until I literally can’t form words.”

“How do you do it? Make me discard common sense. First, you talk me into putting off dinner. Now this.”

“Now what?”

“This,” Elias repeated. He unzipped his pants. Kelsey put her feet back on the ground, happy to help. Then he cursed again, fumbling to undo the buttons at her waist. “Jeans. Even harder to get into than spandex. Turn around.”

Two quick yanks got her jeans to just below her ass. She heard the metallic rip of a foil packet. Whew. Good to know birth control was as standard an expectation over here as in America. And then the thick head of his penis was right against her.

His warm breath stirred the fine hairs in front of her ear. “Are you sure, Kelsey?”

“Sure that I want you? Yes. Sure enough to almost make it a pseudo-royal command.”

“Your wish is my pleasure to fulfill.” After that sexily formal turn of phrase, Elias sank into her in one smooth stroke.

If she could do a Facebook post about this moment? It’d be that exploding fireworks background behind the single line #worththewait.

“Do it again,” she…ordered? Urged? Begged?

“Of course, Your Highness.”

Okay. This one time, she’d acknowledge that hearing Elias use her title, in a deep voice pushed through gravel, well, it worked. Kelsey scrabbled, clawed at the wall. Thrust her ass at him as best she could with her knees locked by her jeans.

“Trust me?” he asked, pumping in and out in a steady rhythm.

“I really, truly do.”

“Then relax.”

She was wound tighter than a violin string. But in this one, particular case, she’d obey. Consciously, she willed her shoulders down, her arms to her sides, and her knees lax.

Sure enough, Elias had her. One arm clamped across her waist tighter than a restraint bar on a roller coaster. And the other? Oh, he had that hand angled down from her hip, so that the tips of his fingers tapped at her clit. And without her straining for it anymore, her orgasm just washed over her. No warning. No time to do anything but try to scream his name…and get stuck at “Eliiiiiiiiii—”

Three more fast snaps of his hips brought him to the same point. Elias groaned into her ear, a guttural, primal sound that positively thrilled her.

As Kelsey still shuddered a little, he brought his arm up to her chest. Shuffled backward six steps, still holding all of her weight, her feet not even touching the floor. He leaned on what she guessed to be the arm of the couch. From this angle, it was simple for Kelsey to slide off and pull her pants back on.

Or so she thought.

Elias’s hand shot out to stop the upward tug of her clothing. “I think not.”

There wasn’t exactly cuddly afterglow after up-against-the-wall sex. And she’d already derailed his big plans for the date enough. “I thought you wanted us to do dinner?”

“Exactly. That was only the appetizer.” With a wolfish grin, he spun her sideways into a fairy-tale hold, her knees draped over one arm. Although those fairy-tale princesses were never depicted half undressed with their bare asses hanging out. “I’m going to feast on you for the main course.”

He carried her down a short hallway to his bedroom. Her heart triple-time fluttered the entire way. Elias set her gently on the bed. He tugged on a chain that turned on the overhead chandelier. Oh, nothing grandiose like the rest of the palace. It was rustic, wooden, and curved and looked like it came straight from Gaston’s tavern scene in Beauty and the Beast. Kelsey had time to stare at it while Elias disposed of the condom and stripped off his clothes.

More importantly, she stared at him as he bent over to riffle through a nightstand drawer to pull out another three condoms and place them strategically on the pillow. Naked, the man was stunning. All hard planes and bulging muscles. His legs and arms were covered in a light mat of hair a few shades darker than the near-stubble on top of his head. It in no way covered the definition in his calves, the thick thighs, and arms that she already knew possessed remarkable strength. If she saw Elias on a beach, he’d be gasp-worthy.

Alone, full of anticipation of the whole night ahead of them, the sight of his utter manliness made her toes curl.

A dark strip of hair ran down his rippling abs to a penis that appeared to have rebounded in astonishingly record time. Kelsey sat up to trace the line with her nails. But she only made it halfway before she remembered the jeans locking her knees and sort of fell over sideways.

“Crap. I swear I’ve got sexier moves than this,” she said, wriggling them down her legs.

“Stop.” Elias lifted her hands and kissed the backs of them. “You’re a present, my treasure. Let me unwrap you.”

So. Romantic.

So. Swoon-inducingly. Romantic. The man actually treated her as if she was a treasure, worth untold value. Elias made her feel so special, so…seen and understood and valued.

“I’m all yours,” she said simply, dropping her hands to the forest-green comforter.

He slipped off her shoes and socks…and then kissed along the tender and sensitive arch of her foot.

He slipped off her jeans and panties…and then kissed up her calves, stopping to do something swirly and special behind both knees.

Then Elias straddled her, and that eyegasm almost happened for real. He was just so big up close. Big and brawny and with an overwhelming sensuality in the way he touched and kissed and stroked. Like every part of her and every part of him had been declared an official erogenous zone. Like being naked with her was wholly comfortable and second nature.

Like he thought this night was every bit as sublime as Kelsey did.

“Feeling good?” he asked, pulling her shirt over her head.

“That’s an understatement.” Kelsey rubbed her palms in circles over his pecs. “I’d like to be feeling more of you.”

Lips in the crook of her elbow, he said, “How about we make that the theme of round three?”

Oh, a very acceptable compromise. From beneath half-lowered lashes, she asked coyly, “Will that be tonight?”

“Definitely. Or possibly round four, as I’ve still to taste you properly.” Elias tossed her bra into the corner. He paused to stare with raw longing at her exposed breasts. Her nipples puckered just from the heat of his gaze. “I don’t believe your uncomfortable heels will be the reason you can’t walk straight tomorrow.”

Stroking and circling and caressing, the man made love to her breasts. Up and up and up higher, he whipped her into a frenzy of need. Kelsey’s head whipped back and forth on the pillow, and the sounds coming out of her mouth were very much un-princess-like. When he paused to roll on a condom, she stopped him.

“You’ve got to let me do this. I’ve got to touch you.”

With a nod—one of those nods he gave all the time that she’d never see the same way again—Elias presented himself, hands flat on his thighs. Kelsey hitched herself up to a sitting position. At the first, tentative stroke of her index finger down his velvety length, he gulped in a breath. When she did it a second time, he twitched forward, seeking more of her touch.

After that, she couldn’t linger, as much as she wanted to learn the path of every vein. Because neither of them were going to last much longer. All Kelsey would allow herself was a soft, sucking kiss on his very tip, savoring the salty tinge to his skin. Then she rolled on the condom.

The moment the rubber snapped against his root, Elias sprang into action. He shifted his knees to the insides of her thighs, and then pulled her legs up and over them, which lifted her ass and positioned her exactly at that long, glorious penis. Blue eyes piercing her with their intensity, he entered her. Slowly. Then pulled almost all the way out, just as excruciatingly slowly. The lack of speed focused Kelsey on all of her already inflamed nerves. It ratcheted up her pleasure to a level she hadn’t even expected.

He kept going, oh-so-slowly, eyes never leaving hers. His arms were columns of steel as she restlessly stroked her hands up and down them.

“Elias?”

“Yes, my treasure?”

“Us…against the wall…that was fantastic.”

“Agreed.”

“This? What’s happening right now? There are literally no words—at least not in my language—that would be enough to describe it.”

Laughing, which rippled those amazing belly muscles and brightened his whole face, he said, “Who needs words?”

In another display of strength that shocked her, Elias gathered her into his arms so that she was mostly sitting up, only canted away from his body a bit. Then he took her mouth in a hungry, possessive kiss. It matched the driving way he all of a sudden picked up speed and pistoned into her.

Kelsey clung to him, absorbing his heat, his desire, his urgency. Her approaching orgasm spiraled ever closer. It was entirely in Elias’s control. She was merely a passenger on this ride. And wasn’t that incredibly freeing? To not worry about performing and just let herself be caught up in the vortex of pleasure? This was his gift to her. One that she hadn’t even known she’d needed.

She scored her nails down the taut muscles of his back, relishing the growl it drew from him. He tipped forward just a bit, holding her at what felt like an impossible angle. But that angle also shifted him deeper. Ground him harder against her clit. And shattered her into sheer satisfaction.

At exactly the same moment, Elias’s kiss turned into a long, deep moan that she swallowed as he shuddered to completion.

Simultaneous orgasms? She really was living a fairy tale.

Gently, stroking her everywhere, Elias eased both of them back onto the sheets. “I like your American way of dating.”

Uh-oh. That wasn’t a precedent she necessarily wanted to set. “Well, we don’t always skip straight to the sex.”

“Duly noted.” He propped himself up on one elbow. “Let me try it my way next. I’ll cook you dinner, and we won’t have sex again until you’re properly fueled. One caveat, though.”

She’d pretty much agree to anything he suggested at this point. “What’s that?”

“There’s a strict dress code. You’re required to only wear my shirt. Unbuttoned, of course.”

“Of course. As long as you only wear an apron.”

“I don’t own an apron.”

Even better. “Then I guess you don’t get to wear anything.”

“I’ll have your eyes on me the whole time. That’s more than enough.”

Oh, wow. Kelsey adored this man.