He only laughed, a husky sound that made her body tighten even further as he grabbed her hands and pinned them over her head. He clasped her wrists in one hand while the other moved down over her body, his thumb teasing that sensitive nub and…!

  “Rian!” she screamed as her body exploded, the throbbing pleasure overwhelming her. She clung to him as he released her hands, pounding faster and faster into her heat until he groaned, collapsing on top of her. After a moment, he rolled to his side, bringing her with him so that she was draped over his chest. Amilee couldn’t move, too shocked by what had just occurred.

  Chapter 9

  Amilee woke the following morning before her alarm. Or was it after? The sun was shining but she had no idea what time it was. One thing she was positive about though; her body was sore in places she hadn’t known even existed. Stretching her legs, muscle by muscle, just to make sure everything was in working order, she slowly sat up so that she was sitting on the edge of her bed. And yes, she was almost painfully tender “down there”. Finding her glasses, she slipped them on and looked around, trying to figure out what, and why, last night had happened.

  Glancing at her phone, which she hadn’t remembered putting on the bedside table last night, she noticed that it was, thankfully, still relatively early. She had plenty of time to take a long, hot shower.

  Groaning, she got slowly out of bed and made her way to the shower. Shoving her glasses higher up on her nose, Amilee noticed her room was a mess and she had no idea how the pillows had ended up in her closet. She also noticed that her clothes had been picked up and draped over the chair in the corner of her room. Rian’s clothes were gone and Amilee vaguely remembered Rian waking her up earlier this morning, or last night? To kiss her goodbye. He’d said something about meeting with her tonight, but that was all she could remember. Maybe more of it would come back after a shower and coffee. Lots of coffee!

  “No more sex!” she whispered as she stepped under the hot spray. Gently, she soaped herself, feeling every ache and stretch of overworked muscles. As her fingers rubbed the soap against her body, she shivered, remembering how Rian had touched her in the same places, how his mouth had tasted her and he’d encouraged her to taste him and…!

  “Stop it!” she ordered to the bathroom. Rinsing off, she stepped out of the shower to dry off, but the normally soft towel was too rough on certain areas of her body. Looking down at her thighs, she realized that there were several red patches. “What in the world?!”

  That’s when Amilee remembered what Rian had been doing down there and…and what must have happened! His jaw, his mouth, and…and the tender skin of her inner thighs!

  “I’m going to kill him!” she muttered, selecting a pair of slacks for work today, needing a bit of protection from her thighs from chaffing. “I need coffee!”

  An hour later, she walked into her office, smiling to Rebecca, the receptionist, who gave her an odd look. Amilee self-consciously smoothed down her hair and nudged her glasses higher up on her nose with her finger, wondering if last night’s sexual marathon showed. Her lips were a bit swollen, but that was about it. She didn’t have any red patches on her face, although that was a miracle, considering how much they’d kissed last night. How could the skin of her thighs be so badly abraded while her face was fine?

  “Good morning, Rebecca,” she called out, forcing a smile since her lips were chapped. Another lovely memento from last night, she thought as she grabbed the client files for her morning sessions and made her way down the long hallway towards her office.

  As soon as she turned the corner though, she saw the guards. “Oh no,” she muttered, pausing but her approach caught the attention of both guards who turned, watching her with their usual bland expressions. A blush stole up her cheeks as she realized that these men, or some other men on their team, had stayed up all night guarding Rian while he was inside her apartment doing…things…to her! Even worse, every guard on Rian’s team knew that he had spent the night in her apartment. In her bed! They all knew…everything! Well, not everything. But they would figure it out!

  With her head held high, she forced her feet down the hallway. But instead of stepping into her office, where she knew Rian awaited her, she bowed her head, took a deep breath, then looked at the guards. “I apologize for keeping His Highness out so late last night. It won’t happen again.”

  The men, obviously unused to someone apologizing to them, stared at her for a long moment, turned to look at each other as if silently saying, “Huh?!” then looked back down at her without responding.

  Her office door opened and Rian stood there, tall, dark, and intimidating in a charcoal suit and red tie.

  “You’re late,” he announced, taking her hand and pulling her into her office.

  “I am?” she asked, glancing at the clock on the wall. “I’m not late,” she argued. “I’m actually an hour early. I always get in early to review my client files before their appointments.”

  That’s when the scent of bacon hit her and she looked around. “What’s all this?”

  “Breakfast,” he told her, handing her a cup of coffee as he led her to the sofa. “You need a different sofa. This one is miserable.”

  “So I’ve heard,” she mumbled, sitting down on it and… “Wow, this is really awful!” she agreed, trying to find a soft spot on the stupid couch. But it was a solid sofa and there wasn’t any place where it wasn’t stiff.

  “You need breakfast,” he announced, uncovering and handing her a plate. “You didn’t have dinner last night so I know that you’re hungry.”

  She didn’t mention that she’d skipped lunch yesterday as well, mostly because he’d ask her why and Amilee wasn’t willing to admit visiting her friends and the topic of their conversation. That would be too…well, the word “private” popped into her mind, but considering everything that they’d done last night, she wasn’t sure that anything could be more private than that.

  So instead, she lifted her fork and forced herself to smile. “Thank you. This is lovely.”

  He picked up the other plate and started eating. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t with you this morning when you woke up. Are you okay?”

  Amilee’s fork froze midway to her mouth. “Um…” she could feel her cheeks burning. “I’m fine,” she finally managed. “Everything is fine. I’m fine.”

  He laughed softly. “You are sore, aren’t you?”

  That silly blush intensified. “I’m fine. Nothing that a hot shower couldn’t fix.”

  A dark eyebrow lifted challengingly and Amilee guessed that he wanted more information. “And your thighs?”

  She’d just looked down at her plate but his words had her head snapping right back up. “My thighs? What’s wrong with my thighs?”

  He smiled slightly, his eyes heating up as he looked at her lap. “I shaved before I came to pick you up, but I’m guessing that, as the night wore on and our…activities…didn’t abate, that the skin on your inner thighs might be–”

  “I’m fine!” she yelped, horrified that he was thinking about her thighs, inner or otherwise. “My skin is perfectly fine!”

  He laughed softly, his gaze moving to her neck. “I see that, in my zealousness last night, I left a mark.”

  Amilee’s fork clattered to the plate and her hand flew to her neck. “Oh god!” she gasped, eyes wide as she remembered Rebecca’s expression earlier. “Where?”

  He touched her neck, his finger sliding against the base right where her pulse throbbed. “Right here. You’re very sensitive along your neck and collarbone. I’m sorry for marking you, but in my defense, every time I touched you there, you moaned and wiggled. It was rather intoxicating.”

  “Oh no!” she groaned, closing her eyes as she tried to shift her blouse to cover the spot. “I think I have some makeup in my purse.” Standing up, she realized that her legs were more than a little shaky. Grabbing her purse, she tried to ignore the throbbing need building up inside of her, and the desire to curl up on his lap and beg him to do those naughty, delicious things to her all over again.

  “You’re so beautiful when you’re embarrassed, Amilee,” he told her with a chuckle, leaning back against the hard cushions of the sofa as he took a bite of the eggs, sausage, and crispy fried potatoes that he’d brought them for breakfast.

  “I’m not sure that’s something I’m striving for, Your Highness,” she grumbled, pulling a compact out and dabbing a bit of powder over the offending bruise. It didn’t help much and she groaned, snapping the compact closed. “I have a scarf around here somewhere.” She walked around her desk, rummaging through the drawers.

  “I’ll have my assistant procure a scarf for you,” he offered, typing away on his phone. “It will be here before your first appointment.”

  He stood up and walked over to her, stopping her with just a touch. “It is not my intention for our intimate time together to become public knowledge. Our lovemaking will be private.”

  She was too stunned by his touch to respond immediately, but as soon as she stepped back, Amilee shook her head. “We won’t have any more intimate times together,” she told him firmly. “And last night wasn’t making love, it was just sex, Your Highness. Good sex but–”

  He snorted and moved closer, wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her against him. “You don’t have enough experience to properly judge, so I will excuse your incorrect description of last night as merely ‘good’. In reality, it was amazing. And don’t even try to deny that you feel the same way about it. I felt your body tremble with every release last night. I tasted your climax on my tongue and knew the intimate joy of having your body clench around my shaft as you screamed your pleasure.”

  “Stop it!” she whispered fervently, worried her cheeks would actually catch fire. “It wasn’t–”

  His eyes darkened with her denial. “Don’t you dare try and belittle what occurred between us last night, Amilee. It was wonderful and it will happen again. Many times, in fact. I am looking forward to married life so that we can properly enjoy the physical intimacies of our relationship.”

  “I don’t…!”

  Whatever she’d been about to say was forgotten as he kissed her senseless. By the time he straightened, she was clinging to him, practically unable to stand.

  “Your….”

  He kissed her again and Amilee sighed with longing, unable to deny him when he kissed her.

  When he straightened again, she glared up at him, pushing out of his arms. “Are you going to kiss me every time I do or say something you don’t agree with?”

  “Yes. It’s very effective,” he admitted, moving back to the sofa and picking up his plate. “Please, let’s eat breakfast and you can tell me about your day. I know that you’re hungry.”

  Amilee was, but not necessarily for food. But because she wasn’t willing to admit it, she picked up her plate, although she sat on the chair instead of the couch. The small coffee table wasn’t much of a defense, but it was better than nothing, she rationalized.

  “This is wonderful,” she said, needing to break the silence between them. She nibbled on the eggs, and realized how hungry she truly was. “Oh, this is absolutely fantastic!”

  “What kinds of patients will you see today?”

  Amilee shook her head. “I can’t discuss my patients, Your…” she stopped when he shot her a warning look. She wouldn’t say his name, but she continued with what she’d been about to say. “Since I can’t talk about my patients, why don’t you tell me what you’re doing today? What kinds of meetings are you attending?”

  “I’m meeting with several business leaders who are interested in investing in Abidnae, but I’m not sure if they are the right kind of people to move into the country. I don’t want them taking advantage of our people, so I might put some obstacles in their way in an effort to convince them to choose another country.”

  “How could they abuse our people?” she asked, stabbing a big, crispy potato chunk.

  “Two of them want to build resorts on an ocean front property. Those jobs are low paying and the businesses rape the environment. Most of them don’t promote the employees who come from the local population, even if they have the experience and education for the higher paying jobs. And they put too many chemicals into the environment to make their invasive landscaping thrive. That’s not the type of investments that we want.”

  “So, how will you stop them?”

  He shrugged. “I could simply deny them access to the land. But the best way is to make the property taxes too high and require a living wage for the workers. The problem is that some areas of Abidnae are so desperate for work that they’d take even the low paying jobs. Until they get used to that level of lifestyle. Then they’ll want more, but there won’t be ‘more’ after some types of industries take over a region. The resort executives and non-citizens have curtailed the local officials from enforcing the local laws. It’s a vicious cycle I’d like to avoid.”

  “That’s horrible!” she gasped. “I didn’t know that the resorts were such a bad investment.”

  “Some aren’t. I don’t know enough about these particular companies to make that determination. That’s why I’m sitting down with them to listen to their proposals.”

  “That’s very good of you,” she said with a smile, genuine admiration showing in her eyes.

  Rian watched Amilee, wondering if she knew how beautiful she was. She was always lovely, her dark eyes and lush, raven hair ensured that. But today, she appeared more relaxed.

  Perhaps it was simply that he knew her body now. He knew what she felt like in his arms, pressed against his body. He knew what she felt like when she shivered with a climax. He knew that she opened her mouth during every beautiful release. Last night had been a heady experience. Even knowing that she’d been a virgin until last night made his body ache with the need to be with her again.

  He finished off his breakfast, relieved to see that she’d eaten more than half of hers as well. “How many clients do you have today?” he asked, wiping his hands with a napkin.

  She glanced over at the stack of files on her desk. “I think I have four this morning and five this afternoon. Only one tonight though, which is good.”

  “What time do you finish?”

  She eyed him warily and he wanted to laugh. Did she really think that could discourage him? Not a chance! Even before he knew what a sensuous beauty she was, he’d wanted her. Now that he knew of her delights, he was even more enamored. He wanted the wedding accomplished immediately. Even now, he was planning a long honeymoon. Two weeks of nothing but teaching Amilee the joys of lovemaking. Mentally, he made a list of all of the positions he was going to teach her once they were alone. Tonight, for instance…he could…!

  She stood up, shoving her glasses higher up on her nose in that nervous habit of hers before taking their plates over to the wicker basket that his housekeeper had packed for their breakfast. “I really need to get to work. I like to review my client notes before they come in. So I’m sorry, but you have to go.”

  She turned, her hands folded primly in front of her and he swallowed a laugh. Instead, he pulled her into his arms. “Until tonight,” he promised, kissing her until he felt her melt in his arms. Damn, he loved kissing the stiffness out of her!

  Pulling back, he almost groaned at the tightness in his body. “Do you want to go out for dinner? Or should I pick you up and take you back…?”

  “Out,” she interrupted. He almost laughed, knowing that her preference for being in a public restaurant was merely to stop him from kissing her. Little did she know, a public place couldn’t stop the inevitable.

  “I’ll pick you up after work then,” he said, kissing her forehead as he left the office. At the doorway, he pointed to the basket. “Someone will come by to collect that.” And he walked out, clenching his fists to stop himself from reaching for her again.

  Amilee eyed the basket, wondering how a man as arrogant and domineering as Rian could also be so sweet and sensitive. The dichotomy was…confusing, to say the least.

  Fortunately, Amilee didn’t have time to waste. She had clients who needed her help and she wasn’t going to sit around trying to figure that man out. She had much better things to do!

  Over the next several hours, she listened to her clients and talked them through their issues. Each one was struggling with addiction, grief, or problems in their life that they couldn’t handle on their own. Amilee guided them through their issues, feeling their pain as well as their hope as they walked out the door.

  By lunchtime, she was a bit behind in her schedule, so she’d decided to skip lunch to review her afternoon client files and get caught up. She hated having her clients wait for her. They already felt invisible or helpless. She didn’t want to add to the sense of being a burden.

  She closed her office door and pulled the stack of files for her afternoon clients, intending to review her notes so that she was fully prepared for her afternoon sessions.

  Unfortunately, her plan was not to be. A knock on the door warned her that her efforts would be dismantled. If it was Rian, she was going to tell him to go away. She answered the door warily. If it were one of her co-workers, she’d tell them to leave her alone. Nicely, she reminded herself as fatigue slowed her steps. Last night had been relaxing in some ways, but it hadn’t been very good for her sleep cycles.

  But when she opened the door, it wasn’t Rian’s formidable frame standing in the hallway. It was actually the last person she would have expected.

  “Inis!” she gasped, stepping forward to embrace the frail, elderly woman. “Goodness, it’s wonderful to see you!”

  The woman smiled when Amilee pulled back, her dark eyes twinkling with humor and affection. “Am I interrupting your lunch break?” she asked.

  Amilee quickly shook her head. “Not at all. Please come in!” she lied. “What brings you all the way out here? I thought you rarely left the palace in Abidnae.”

  “That’s true,” she said with wry humor. “But my grandson called me last night to tell me that he was getting married soon. I flew out here right after that call to find out if it was true.” She sat down heavily on the sofa, cringing. “Goodness, this sofa is awful.”