Casey
I turned in surprise when I heard my name. It sounded familiar, not like the paparazzi or a fan, and I nearly jumped when Sandor put himself between me and whomever it was. I’d almost forgotten he wasn’t just Erik’s good friend and cousin, but also his bodyguard.
I peeked around his shoulder and let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
“It’s okay,” I said softly. “It’s a friend.” I stepped around him and held out my arms. “Liz! What are you doing here?”
“I live here,” she responded with a grin. “Daddy’s building a new hotel, and I’m overseeing the process.”
“Really? I thought…” Liz was Nick’s aunt, though she was only a few years older than we were. As far as I knew, she was an analyst for the CIA, and though it wasn’t common knowledge, she hadn’t had any part of the Kingsley family’s hotel empire in all the years I’d known her.
“Hello. I’m Erik.” Erik held out his hand to her.
“Elizabeth Kingsley.” She paused, inclining her head. “Your Highness.”
“Please. Call me Erik.”
“Then you can call me Liz.”
“Gladly.”
Seeing him smile at Liz made something sour burn in my gut, and for the first time in my life, I was jealous. It was the oddest sensation, and I had to paste a smile on my face as I turned back to her.
“How long are you in town?” she was asking.
“I’m not sure,” I said, glancing at Erik. “We’re playing it by ear.”
“Well, if you have time, stop by the hotel.” She handed me a card. “I’d love to show you around. It’s not ready to open, but we’re really proud of the renovations so far.”
“We will. Are you there tomorrow?”
“Every day.”
“I’ll see you then.”
“If you come around lunchtime, I can order something in, and we can catch up.”
“I’ll call you in the morning,” I promised.
We hugged again, and she disappeared into the crowds.
“That’s Nick’s aunt,” I explained to Erik. “She’s his father’s younger sister. Nick’s grandfather got remarried in his fifties and had another baby around the same time Nick’s father and uncle were having children.”
“She looks familiar,” Erik said, frowning. “I can’t place where I’ve seen her.”
“You never met her on one of your visits to Vegas? She grew up on Long Island, but she would come around for holidays and sometimes over the summer. You probably crossed paths at one of the many family events we always attended.”
He nodded. “Probably.”
He had a funny look on his face, but I wasn’t sure what the big deal was. Growing up, my parents, Erik’s parents, and the Kingsleys had been like one big extended family. They’d shared holidays, vacations, and even parenting sometimes. Liz and Nick had grown up more like siblings or cousins since they were so close in age and she’d just been another one of the many kids we all hung out with. Nick’s family owned the Kingsley Hotel empire, the largest of which was on the Las Vegas Strip. The Charleston Hotel had been around for twenty years, and Nick, the other kids and I had grown up playing hide-and-seek in its hallways, celebrating every major birthday and family event in its ballrooms, and enjoying holidays and concerts there like it was a second home.
Erik had been with us on some of those occasions, though not as often as Liz since she’d grown up in New York while he’d gone to school in Europe and only visited once in a while. It was inevitable that they’d met at some point.
“Where are we headed?” Aziz called out as we piled into the SUV Erik had rented.
“Lunch,” Erik called back.
“So had you ever met Liz before?” I asked him.
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. She looks familiar but I can’t place it.”
“She was around in the summers while we were all growing up, but then she went to Yale and got recruited by the CIA.”
“The CIA?” He looked startled. “Really?”
“She was an analyst or something in D.C. so I don’t know when that changed. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.”
“Interesting.” He didn’t seem overly concerned and conversation moved on to other things.
We spent a wonderful day shopping and taking in some of the panoramic views. I’d never been here before, though I’d toured all over the world, so it was exciting to see a place I’d only read about in the past. Erik had apparently spent a lot of time here, though, because he was the perfect tour guide, pointing out landmarks and things we might like to do on another day. By the time he left me in front of my hotel suite, we’d made plans for the week, and I wondered about the wisdom of my impulsive no-sex mandate. Was I playing with fire by playing hard to get after the fact? We’d already slept together, after all.
The problem was that each time he touched me I pretty much lost my mind. He was intoxicatingly handsome, polite, richer than anyone I’d ever known—including the Kingsleys—and probably just as sweet as anyone I’d known as well. I kept trying to find fault in him and I couldn’t, which was terrifying. The unprotected sex we’d had weighed heavily on me because I was nowhere near ready to have a baby, but it was like we’d both been under some kind of spell. I hadn’t slept with a large number of men, but I’d had a metric shit-ton of sex. Mostly with Nick, of course, but not entirely, and I’d never, ever been careless, not even once. Erik swore that he hadn’t, either, which meant something spectacular had gone on the first time we were together.
Impulsively, I grabbed the room phone and dialed his suite number. Sandor answered and I asked for Erik, feeling equal parts silly and excited.
“Hello, love. Is everything okay?” he asked when he got on the line.
“It’s fine, but I was a little lonely and thought we could talk on the phone.”
“On the phone?” The tone of his voice told me just how confused he was.
“Have you never dated?” I asked slowly. “Had a girlfriend whose voice you desperately wanted to hear but couldn’t be with at that moment? Weren’t you ever a teenager?”
He chuckled. “I was absolutely a teenager, but no, there’s never been anyone whose voice I needed to hear so badly I wanted to spend any time on the phone with them.”
“Not even now?” I asked softly.
“Perhaps now, yes. Can I call you back in five minutes? I have to use the bathroom and want to change into something comfortable.”
“Deal.”
I giggled to myself as I pulled off the pretty sundress he’d bought me and dug out the oversized Led Zeppelin shirt I usually slept in. I put my hair in a ponytail, washed off my makeup, brushed my teeth, and had just crawled into bed when my cell phone rang.
“This is more private than the hotel phone,” he explained when I answered.
“So it is.”
“Well, then…what do you want to talk about?”
“I just want to listen to your voice and ask you questions.”
“Okay. You start.”
“What’s your favorite food?”
“Italian,” he responded instantly. “You?”
“Mexican.” I paused. “Do you prefer vodka, rum, or tequila?”
“Scotch.” He laughed. “I’ll drink tequila on occasion, but I’m not a big fan of vodka or rum. What about you?”
“I prefer bourbon, or a whiskey like Jack Daniel’s. I’ll drink tequila, but it tends to get me into too much trouble.”
“I’m familiar with that,” he said.
“Do you gamble?”
“Almost never.”
“Smoke?”
“The occasional cigar.”
“What’s your favorite sexual position?”
He laughed. “All of them.”
“Come on, we all have favorites.”
“You first.”
“I love being on top so I can look into a man’s eyes when he’s inside of me.”
I heard the catch of his breath and smiled to myself.
“I’m not alone,” he murmured. “So, you’re going to have to guess.”
“Sixty-nine?”
“Nope.”
“Doggy style?”
“Nope.”
“Getting a blow job?”
“That’s an act, not a position.” His voice dropped even lower.
“Hmmm.” I thought about it for a minute. “Missionary?”
“It depends on who I’m with.”
“With me?”
“Definitely.”
“Why?”
“For the same reason you like your favorite.”
I paused. “So you can look in my eyes?”
“And watch the look on your face at the end.”
Holy hell, this guy was a dream come true. “I made a big mistake, didn’t I?”
“In what?”
“My no-sex rule.”
“Probably.”
“We can amend the rules.”
“We can, but we won’t. Not for a week, anyway.”
“Why a week?”
“Because that’s the deal we made, and I’m nothing if not a man of my word.”
I met Liz for lunch by myself the next day. Erik made excuses, saying he had phone calls to make, and if I was honest with myself, I was happy he didn’t come because something about the two of them made me feel weird. Yesterday’s jealousy had passed but it had now been replaced by discomfiture, as if they had a secret. I planned to find out what it was, too, because Liz and I had essentially grown up together and it wasn’t like her to be secretive about a man.
“Hi.” She looked up when I arrived, and I looked around the entrance to the hotel in awe.
“This is stunning.”
“And it’s not even finished.”
“I’d love a tour.”
“Of course.”
Liz showed me around, pointing out where the casinos, restaurants, shops, and lobby were all going to be. It was expansive, with marble floors and crystal chandeliers. The rooms weren’t fully decorated yet, but the flooring, lights, and carpets were in and the effect was stunning. I ran my hand along a carved statue, marveling in the smooth, expensive feel to not just the statue, but every inch of the building. I enjoyed luxury, but this felt over-the-top, more like a palace than a hotel. Which was ironic, considering whom I was dating.
“You’re going to run this place?” I asked her once we got to what was temporarily serving as her office.
“We’ll see what happens.”
I cocked my head. “Does this mean you’re not with the agency anymore?”
Her eyes met mine. “Noooo…” She drew out the word, which confused me even more.
“You’re definitely not an analyst in D.C. anymore though.”
“Definitely not.”
“You can’t tell me about it?”
“I can’t.” She seemed genuinely regretful. “I’m sorry, Casey. I honestly can’t.”
“Can you tell me how you know Erik?”
She smiled sadly. “I can’t tell you that either.”
“Liz, I’m falling in love with him, and I need to know what there is between you.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, no, nothing like that. I…” She glanced around, assuring herself we were alone. “In my capacity as an operative there have been occasions where I’ve mingled with the royal family. Under another name, usually a disguise. He most likely realizes he’s met me as someone else but isn’t sure who or when. If he’s smart, he’s using his time today to find out.”
I sighed. “So, there’s nothing romantic or sexual between you?”
“No. I swear. We’ve never had any personal interaction; it’s all been me posing as someone else while watching members of the family or something to that affect.”
“Is he a good guy?” I blurted out. “I mean, is he really as wonderful as he seems?”
“I’m not friends with him, so I can’t really answer that, but I can tell you he’s never been involved in anything nefarious and seems to genuinely care about the people of Limaj. He doesn’t have any power, per se, but his heart is always in the right place based on the public things he says and does.”
“That’s my feeling too,” I admitted. “I wish it didn’t scare me so much.”
“Love can be scary.” Her voice was sympathetic, almost sad.
“Tell me about it.”
“Are you hungry?”
“I could eat.”
“Then you can tell me all about it over lunch.” She reached for the phone and I smiled. I suddenly felt a thousand pounds lighter.