let them see me sweat.”
“That’s pretty young for that kind of instruction. What was the occasion?” he asked.
Another move due to her parents’ inability to keep jobs and pay bills. Another new school when she’d wondered how long they would stay in this place. How long until people found out her father drank away most of his paycheck? “One of those times in elementary school when the kids teased or bullied. It happens to most kids at one time or another.”
He looked at her for a long moment and frowned. “I don’t like the idea of that.”
“What?” she asked, his intent gaze making her stomach slip and slide.
“The idea of someone bullying you.”
Something in the way he looked at her made her feel as if she were taking a free fall with no net. She tried to shake it off, but wasn’t completely successful. She wasn’t accustomed to someone being protective of her. “It didn’t happen often,” she drawled.
He chuckled. “I bet it didn’t,” he said and chucked her chin with his index finger. “Do you see him often? Your brother?”
His question slid under her radar, right through her ribs. She rarely mentioned her brother because his absence from her life was still painful to her. “Eli left a long time ago. He had to go. It was the only way.” She took a quick breath and shook her head, hating the fact that Stefan had found her vulnerable spot. “Can we talk about something else?”
He paused a half beat, then nodded. “Of course. We’re here to celebrate,” he said with his most charming smile and clicked his glass against hers again.
She took a quick sip but spilled the champagne on the front of her shirt as she pulled the glass away. Frustration prickled through her. “This is why I don’t drink very often,” she muttered, futilely pulling at her shirt.
“I can see where it would be distracting during a date,” Stefan said.
Glancing up, she saw his gaze fixed on her breasts. She looked down and was mortified by the outline of her nipples against the shirt. “Oh, great. This is embarrassing,” she said and crossed her arms over her breasts. “See why I’m not big on formal parties? Even a private celebration in the seclusion of a faraway courtyard is not safe.”
Stefan took her glass and tossed it onto the soft bed of grass along with his, then took her chin in his fingers. “Trust me, Eve. If a man chooses to be with you in a courtyard, he’s not thinking of safety,” he said and lowered his mouth to hers.
Her heart stuttered in her chest. In another lifetime, she wondered if she could have turned him away. She’d turned so many others away. But she sensed that Stefan was strong enough. Man enough. She paused a heartbeat, then opened her mouth, opened herself to him.
Something between them clicked and snapped at the same time. If she believed in that kind of thing, she would have said it was electrical. But Eve didn’t believe. At least, she never had before.
He deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue past her lips, tasting and testing her. She slid her hands upward to his strong shoulders, wanting to absorb his strength and power into her. The kiss turned deeply passionate, almost carnal, making her cling to him.
He murmured something delicious against her lips, and suddenly she felt the night air against her back as he unbuttoned the bottom of her shirt. His hand on the bare skin of her waist stopped her breath. Seconds later, one of his hands slid upward to her breast, and she pushed against it, resenting the barriers of her shirt and bra. She wanted to feel his skin.
Part of her was shocked at the force of her desire, but another part of her knew she’d been waiting for this—for him—for years. She felt as if she were riding a tsunami of sensation and refused to fight it. She tugged at his shirt, he pulled at hers, and buttons flung loose. Seconds later, he unfastened her bra and her breasts sprang free. He immediately covered one of her breasts with his hand.
Her nipple was hard and sensitized to his touch. He swore under his breath as he toyed with her nipple at the same time as he French-kissed her. She drank in the spicy, masculine scent of him and felt as if the world was turning sideways.
Stefan clasped his hand beneath her hips and lifted her upward. At the same time, he lowered his head to take her nipple into his mouth, she felt his hardness pressed against her.
Dizzy with want, she slumped against him.
Stefan groaned, lifting his head and pulling her tightly against him. “We need to be together,” he whispered. “I want you in my bed.”
A shiver of the need he expressed raced through her. “How? Where?”
He gave a rough sound of frustration. “If it were up to me, it would be here and now. But I want privacy for the both of us.”
She sighed and tried to gather her wits. Was this what she really wanted? Was he what he really wanted? Eve was only certain of one thing. She couldn’t miss him. Stefan affected her in a way no man ever had, and she craved the ultimate closeness with him. She wanted him so much it scared her, but she wasn’t going to let her fear keep her from him.
“Then when?” she finally asked and met his gaze.
His dark eyes met hers, and she saw the strained passion there. The strength of it reassured her rather than frightened her. “You make it difficult for me not to take you now, chérie. Tomorrow night,” he said. “I’ll make arrangements for you to come to my suite. I’ll work it out tomorrow.”
A ripple of anticipation and nerves raced through her. “It may not be wise—”
He covered her lips with his fingers. “It’s beyond choice. We both feel it.”
She nodded, savoring the heat of his body. “Okay,” she said, then whispered, “But this is totally against all my rules.”
He chuckled and lifted her hand to his lips. “Mine, too, Eve. Mine, too. Now, before I give into my darker urges, I’d better walk you back to your quarters.”
“What about the champagne and the glasses?” she asked.
“Don’t worry. I’ll send a member of my security to collect them,” he said and took her hand. “Let’s go.”
The next morning, she awakened a little later than usual. Stefan had insisted she take a day of vacation. So she slept until 9:00 a.m. This was the first morning she’d woken up not feeling like she was going to hyperventilate. Not that she would admit that to a soul.
Stretching her arms, she yawned, then smiled, pleased that the parade had gone off without a hitch. She’d passed her first test. Thank goodness. A sliver of anxiety rippled through her at the thought of Stefan’s plans for tonight. Had she lost her mind? He was not only her boss, he was a prince.
He was also a man, she told herself. A man she wanted and who wanted her. Taking a deep breath, she slid out of her bed and stepped onto the carpet. Her toes appreciated the soft cushion for her first steps of the day. She realized she’d hit the ground running so much she hadn’t noticed the small comfort.
Stretching again, she walked to the tiny kitchenette and started her coffee. She peeked inside her mostly bare refrigerator and pulled
