The Royal's American Love (6 page)

Marianna was not a woman who climaxed quickly, but much to
her surprised,  the pleasure welled up faster than she would have thought
possible. When she might have shied away from sensations that were so very
strong, he held her in place effortlessly. He seemed to want her to feel this
pleasure, and she was helpless in the face of his desires and his power.

She felt every part of her body straining up to meet his,
wanting more and more. He could sense her desperation, and his fingers moved
more quickly, making her cry out in shock and amazement at her body’s reaction
to his ministrations. She needed him, she had never needed someone more. He
leaned down to kiss her, pressing his tongue between her lips and making her
moan.

That was what she had needed. Something about the alchemy
between his fingers and his mouth broke her utterly. The pleasure crashed down
on her like lightning, and she went up in flames. The heat flashed over her,
and the sensations made her feel as if she had been opened to something new and
strange.

Her legs tightened hard around his hand, and she buried her
face in his chest, hanging on to him for dear life. She shook hard, and was cried
out. She knew he was the only safe place in a world on fire.

“Please, please, please,” she was whispering. She pulled
him to her, riding out the waves of pleasure until they were only small
wavelets lapping upon the shores of her body.

“That’s my beautiful girl. That’s my sweetheart,” he
murmured, stroking her hair. “Look at how lovely you are. Look at how perfect
my sweet Marianna is…”

The words were a balm to her spirit, soothing her after the
tumult of their passion. When she got her breath back, she looked up at him, her
eyes wide.

“I want you,” she said simply. She didn’t have the words to
say she needed him to experience just what she had. She didn’t have the
capability to tell him that she wanted him with her for the most passionate
interlude of her life. Despite the fact she could not say those things, he
understood, and he knelt between her legs.

For a long moment, he simply looked at her. Marianna knew
she was a sodden mess on the bed in front of him, splayed out in her pleasure
and completely unable to resist anything more he wanted to do to her. She
glanced down at his erection, and she knew, even exhausted, she wanted him. She
needed him with her, and silently she reached up to him, entreating.

He reached over and pulled a condom from the drawer of the nightstand.
She took it away from him, tearing the foil open and retrieving the latex
inside. Marianna bit her lip as she smoothed the sheath down his cock. She
loved the way his steel-hard flesh felt under her hands, and the deep groan she
pulled out of him made her shiver. He was patient as she rolled it down his
cock, but the moment the condom was on him securely, he pinned her to the bed,
kissing her with wild abandon.

“You liked teasing me just then,” he growled, his eyes mere
inches from hers.

“So what if I do?” she asked, and she was rewarded with a
slight, pleasurable tweak of her nipple.

“Well, then, you are going to get what you deserve.”

He took a firm grasp on her panties, and with a single
strong pull, tore them straight from her body, leaving her bare before him. Her
moan was pure passion, and before she could move he was on top of her, entering
her body with a single, strong thrust.

If she were thinking, she’d have been worried about being
too sore right after her climax. It had been a while for her, and she might
have been concerned about pain. However, her night with Nikolos was something new
and exciting, and instead, all she felt was pleasure. When he sank into her,
she felt complete, as if she were made for this, as if he was made for her.

“You feel like perfect heaven,” he growled in her ear,
nipping at the lobe.

Marianna would have replied, but then he started to move. His
motions were slow and smooth at first, but then she hooked her legs over his,
wordlessly pulling him toward her as much as she could.

“I need you,” she whispered. “I need you so much.”

She didn’t know whether it was her words or her motions
that broke through his resolve. Suddenly he thrust into her hard, nearlyg
pushing her into the headboard. She braced herself and thrust back up at him,
needing more and more with every moment that went by. She felt filled, she felt
owned, she felt like a perfect heaven.

The trembling caught her by surprise, but by the time she
recognized it for what it was, it was far too late. The pleasure cascaded
through her body, sending her higher and higher just as it had the time before.
She tensed, and she knew he felt it. She was shaking, trembling. She felt as if
her entire being burst into a million tiny pieces as she climaxed again. Pleasure
and sensation poured through her body.

He followed just a moment after, every muscle on his frame
going rigid as he shuddered with his own release. She clung to him, because in
that moment, she was not sure she had ever needed another person more. He was
with her, he was present, and he was so, so important to her.

She buried her face in his chest, breathing in the healthy
male scent of him. Hazily, Marianna thought she wanted nothing more than to
have that moment stretch on forever. It had to end, however, and finally, he
rolled away. She murmured a protest, but let him go.

When he was in the bathroom, washing up and disposing of
the condom, she sat up in bed. The pleasure still echoed through her body, but
now a chilling thought speared through her mind.

What have I done?

The man she was meant to be writing about was in the
bathroom, likely washing off the traces of their tryst. Whether she wanted to
or not, she was involved with him now, and even if it never happened again,
this night had tainted her objectivity beyond repair.

She shivered, hugging herself. There were words for
journalists who got too close to their clients, and they weren’t kind. Marianna
climbed out of bed, picking her clothes up from where they had fallen in a
heap. She winced when she got to her panties, which were a lost cause, but the
rest were decent enough to get her home.

Did I really think I could have this night without my
work suffering?
However, she knew what the truth was. She knew that she
hadn’t been thinking at all. She had only been feeling, feeling all of the
amazing sensations that were rushing through her. But it was over now, and she
was left with a cold feeling that seemed to go right through her.

She was doing up her bra when there was the sound of
movement behind her.

“What are you doing?” Nikolos asked mildly.

When she turned to look at him, her heart ached. He was
naked in the doorway to the bathroom, leaning one shoulder against the door
frame with a kind of casual charm. She knew he was a handsome man, but sexually
satisfied, he had a glow around him that made him completely gorgeous.

“I think I need to get back to my hotel,” she said, and he
raised his eyebrow.

“Can I ask why?”

She took a deep breath.

“Because this never should have happened. Because
everything I wanted to do is compromised now, and I don’t even know if I can
get it back. Because I am afraid that I have made an utterly enormous mistake
and…”

She stuttered to a halt because saying those things was
bringing a lump the size of a dolmades to her throat. There was nothing that
could excuse what she had done, and the more she thought about it, the closer
to tears she became.

Nikolos cocked his head in confusion at her words, but he
knew what to do. He crossed the room, and with a gentle murmur of comfort, he
took her in his arms.

“You do not have this job because of how beautiful you
are,” he said. “You have this job because it was decided that you are the best
at what you do. If Philip has faith in you, then so do I. I do not believe that
you will write anything that will embarrass or shame me any more than I
deserve, no matter what we have done here together.”

“Do you really believe that?” she asked anxiously. She
couldn’t stop herself from hanging on to him, even as she knew it was not good
for her.

“I do,” Nikolos responded firmly. “I assume that you are
not writing erotica, so this little encounter won’t make it into the article. But
so far? I think you have seen me more clearly than anyone else in the world
has, even the people who have known me far longer. I would hate to lose that
simply because we shared a little pleasure.”

“A little pleasure…” she echoed dubiously. Was that all it
was?

“A lot of pleasure,” he amended with a grin. “But truly. I
do not see anything here to be upset about. You are not trying to coerce me
into showing you a side of myself that I don’t want you to see. I am not trying
to seduce you into portraying me in a better light. After that, what else
matters?”

“Nothing,” she said, and he grinned.

“Exactly right. If you want to leave, I will not stop you.
I will be saddened and disappointed, but I know that we could continue as if
nothing had happened. Alternately…”

“Alternately?”

“Alternately, you could stay. We could enjoy each other
further, and we could sleep together. I think I would greatly enjoy sleeping
with you. In the morning, I suggest we take the day off. Surely even
journalists and ghostwriters take the day off?”

“I have been known to indulge on occasion,” she said with a
small smile.

She was shocked by how much better she felt. There was
still a lingering doubt in her mind, but it was easy enough to banish,
especially when she found herself being taken back to bed by the man she had
wanted ever since she’d laid eyes on him.

As he started to kiss her again, she felt that now-familiar
surge of pleasure pulse through her. There was something wonderfully intimate
about what they were doing, beyond the physical. Even though she had only known
Nikolos for a short time, there was something in her that recognized him,
something that felt him and called him home.

“You promise that you do not think less of me for this?”
she said.

He pulled back for a moment to study her. She knew very
well how she looked, flushed with pleasure, her auburn hair tangled and a
longing look in her eyes.

“You are a gorgeous, intelligent woman who has captured my
gaze and my interest since the moment I saw you. The more time I spend with
you, the more time I want to spend with you. At the end of the day, this is
what I have wanted, and I am incredibly pleased that you are here. I am also
humbled that such a clever and worldly woman wants to spend her time with me. I
would never think less of you for giving in to the pleasure that we can share
together.

“Perfect answer,” she said with a smile, and she pulled him
to her.

It wasn’t just a perfect answer, she thought. He was
perfect, and when they were together, what they had was everything she had ever
wanted.

Chapter Five

Nikolos moved from sleeping to wakefulness quickly when his
phone chimed. For a moment, he had a brief feeling of deja vu, but then when he
looked down to see Marianna curled against him, he realized he had never been in
this emotional place before.

The feelings he had for this woman were profound. She made
him a better man, he realized, and in many ways, he liked it. The idea that he
wanted to change for her was disturbing in some ways, but at the end of it, he
knew he was drawn to her for that very reason.

He looked at the text with a frown. It was Philip, and
there was a matter at the palace that required his attention. He supposed it
was fair. He had been putting off this particular issue for some time. Of
course, now he had put it off for so long he had to leave his warm bed and
Marianna to come in first thing on a Saturday morning.

Nikolos wondered if he could put it off even longer, but he
realized that likely wasn’t an option. The last thing he wanted was for Philip
to show up at his penthouse the way he had a few times in the past. While it
might be amusing to imagine his mother’s assistant confronted with his
ghostwriter still in bed, it wasn’t really something he would allow to happen.

Be there in forty minutes,
he texted back, and
sighed.

He slipped out of bed and ran through the shower quickly.
When he came back to the bedroom, it was even harder to pull himself away from
Marianna. She had shoved off the covers while she slept, and now she was
sprawled on her back. She was uncovered to the waist, and her glorious,
flame-colored hair spread out over her pillow.

It took all the willpower he had not to climb back into bed
with her. He comforted himself with the fact that as soon as he was done, he
would be able to come back and spend the entire weekend with her. That thought
alone put a spring in his step.

He wrote her a note and placed it on her phone. Then, with
a gentle kiss to the top of her head, he made his way to the door.

This could be the start of something
,
he
thought with a grin. What, he couldn’t say, but he knew that he hadn’t been
this happy in a very long time.

* * *

Marianna awoke with a feeling that something was wrong. She
realized the bed was empty. Nikolos was gone. She looked around, briefly alarmed,
but then she saw the note on her phone.

Good morning, beautiful!

I’m sorry I was not here when you woke up. I was
unexpectedly called to the palace to deal with a matter that I have been
putting off for too long. Don’t worry, it’s nothing interesting or I would have
woken you up. As it is, I should be back some time in the midafternoon. You are
of course free to go wherever you like, but I would dearly love to find you
waiting for me when I get back.

In the meantime, feel free to order room service from
the restaurant below, to investigate the shops in the neighborhood, and to
snoop as you like. I figure this is a grand opportunity for my ghostwriter to
dig up the real dirt.

Do as you please, and I cannot wait to see you again!

— Nikolos

She smiled at his brash, bold scrawl, as she tucked the
note securely into her purse. It was a glimpse at a more playful version of
him. Though she certainly would not be putting their encounter into her
article, she realized their night together had brought her to a much better
understanding of who he was as a man. Underneath the careless playboy facade,
there was something deep and enduring. There was something that responded to
kindness and patience, that she suspected could love fiercely.

I want him
,
she thought before she could stop
herself. She realized that it was true. There was something that drew her to
him, and now she knew that it was more than his looks or his money. It was the
essence of the man she was growing to know.

She pushed the thoughts away, because she was, after all,
still lying naked in his bed.

Instead, Marianna made her way to his bathroom, which she
had only seen in passing. It was a marvel of marble and gold, and when she
slipped into the shower, she found that the entire ceiling above her dropped  rained
down upon her. It was like showering in a gentle thunderstorm, and it took a
great deal of willpower not to sink into the tub itself, where she could see
jets that would turn the tub into a whirlpool. Perhaps Nikolos would be
interested in showing the whirlpool to her later…

She got out of the tub to find that she was ravenously
hungry. Timidly, she found the menu next to the phone, and to her dismay, there
were no prices.

Well, if worse comes to worst and I order something to
expensive, he can tell me how much it costs
,
she thought. Even as
she said it to herself, she realized he never would. The woman on the other end
of the line seemed completely unsurprised to hear a young woman’s voice; she
responded that the food would be up very quickly.

While waiting for the food, Marianna took time to wander
through the penthouse. She had seen modern design articles that discussed its
graceful lines and gorgeous monochromatic patterns, but they had never spoken
about how chilly it was. She hadn’t noticed when he was there, but there was
something lifeless about the place.

Like it’s a place where someone sleeps, but not a place
where someone lives…

The thought stuck with her. It felt like a piece of a
puzzle snapping into place. She didn’t have all of the pieces, not yet, but now
she could see the picture. She wished for her laptop, but it was across town in
her hotel room.

The doorbell at the elevator chimed, and when she found the
release button, a young woman in the black uniform of the hotel came in with a
covered dish. Marianna managed to prevent herself from saying it was just like
in the movies. As the young woman got into the elevator, she cast a curious
glance back at Marianna. With a sinking stomach, Marianna hoped the staff of
building was discreet. There was nothing she could do at this point if they
were not.

To soothe her worries, she dug into the food with a vengeance.
It was hot and delicious, but her mind was on the article she was going to
write. The manNikolos who smiled for the cameras and dutifully went to endless
charity benefits and meetings he was expected to go to was a good man. However,
so was the Nikolos who had so effortlessly charmed her in Los Angeles. They
were one and the same, and some part of her relished bringing that reality to
people who might have dismissed him before this.

She finished the food, and though she was tempted by the
shops below, she wanted to get some thoughts down on the subject before she
forgot too much. She turned her phone on only to realize that there was a new email
message for her.

It’s probably just Opal or Mei poking me to see if I’m
doing all right
,
she thought to herself. Secretly she wished it was
Nikolos, though there was no reason for him to send an email when he could
simply ring her up.

The email was titled “What You Should Know.”

The subject line alone was spooky enough to send shivers up
her spine. She did not recognize the sender, but something prevented her from
simply deleting the email. She had a journalist’s instincts still, and suddenly
she felt a tingle at the base of her neck. Something in that message was going
to change her.

Biting her lip hard, she clicked on the missive.

You do not know me,
the email began, and we are not
friends. However, we have someone in common, someone that you are disposed to
think well of. I know, much to my and my family’s pain and regret, that you
should not do so. Please. You may be our only hope for justice in this world.
Meet me at the All World Cafe at noon. It is easy to find downtown. Please.
Please.

She wanted to dismiss the email as some kind of joke. She
had followed bogus leads before, and she had wasted time and money on them.

But this doesn’t feel like a fake lead
,
she
thought, her brow furrowing.

She didn’t respond to the email. Instead she looked at the
time and frowned, biting her lip. Her dress was lovely, but it was undoubtedly
a party dress. It was hardly the thing that a discreet young woman would be
wearing to a busy cafe in the middle of a Saturday.

She dressed quickly and made her way out of the building.
The shops close to Nikolos’s building were all as fancy as she feared, but a
friendly taxi driver took her to a large department store. From the way he
glanced at her in the rearview mirror, he obviously thought she was a party
girl coming in from a hard night out.

Or he thinks I’m a prostitute
,
she thought
grimly.

The department store provided her with a becoming knit
dress in a deep forest green and a pair of Mary Jane flats. It was a good look
for her, and she stuffed her other clothes into the shopping bag instead.

Now it was just twenty minutes to her meeting, which was
right around the corner. She took a deep breath and started to walk. Somehow,
she felt as if she was going to pay the piper for the pleasure she had enjoyed
that night.

All things need to end sometime,
she found herself
thinking sadly,
I just want to keep this one a little longer...