CHAPTER 18
“You don’t play fair,” Eve said as she walked into Luis’s arms late that night.
“Not if I can help it,” he said, tilting her chin up and claiming her mouth in a long kiss that left her panting. “But what are you referring to?”
“This afternoon,” Eve said, running her hands over his back, loving the feel of his muscles under the fine cotton of his dress shirt. He hadn’t returned to the house until well after dinner, stripping off his jacket and tie before sitting down with a glass of Scotch to relax with Eve and Grace, while Raul had stayed back at the palace.
He looked surprised. “It was only a horseback ride.”
“Oh, please. What about the dragons conveniently hanging around?”
He led her to the sofa where he sat and pulled her down onto his lap with a hint of a smile. “I might have sent some scouts out to see if the recent reports about a pair of large dragons were true. Perhaps those scouts located the lizards just before we started off on our ride.”
“Ha! I knew it!”
“What is wrong with wanting to give you and my daughter the pleasure of seeing Caleva’s most famous natives in the wild?” He nuzzled the side of her neck, nipping her earlobe as his hand traveled over her hip and down her thigh, making it hard to hold on to her thoughts.
“It’s not the intention,” Eve said. “It’s the way you carry it out. Just a word from you, and it gets done. Flawlessly.”
He lifted his head to look into her eyes. “The people who work for the crown take great pride in doing their jobs well. Not for me personally, but for the ruler of Caleva. When Raul becomes king, many of them will serve him with the same commitment to excellence.”
A pang shot through her at the thought of what would happen to make Raul the king. This powerful, vital, brilliant man holding her in his arms would be gone from the world. She couldn’t bear imagining it.
“You don’t understand what different worlds we come from,” Eve said.
“You are the chief veterinary technician at the school’s clinic. You have people who support you—other vet technicians, the X-ray and MRI techs, the cleaning staff, the administrative staff. Their work frees you to do your job well,” Luis said. “That is all my staff does.”
“Right.” She put all of her disbelief into the word.
“None of that matters at this moment.” He began to unbutton her blouse, stopping to trace the lace along the edge of her bra so that her nipples tightened with anticipation. “Here and now, we are just a man and the woman whose exquisite breasts he wants to kiss.”
“I’m on board with that plan.” The brush of his fingertips against her skin was a delicious tickle.
He pushed out the last button and eased her blouse off her shoulders before he let his thumbs drift over her collarbone. With his index finger, he touched the lily pendant she had fastened on after her shower. “You are wearing my gift.” He leaned in to kiss her neck just above it. “I like the idea of it being the only thing you’ll be wearing soon.” With that, he flicked open the catch of her bra so the lace fell away from her breasts. “Tan preciosos,” he rasped.
He lowered his head to kiss all around one nipple, making her squirm on his lap. When he took the nipple in his mouth, surrounding it with warmth and teasing it with his tongue, arousal scorched through her. His erection was hard under her thighs, and suddenly the ache between her legs needed to be filled.
“Wait!” she said, wriggling off his lap to stand and unfasten her trousers. He watched from under heavy eyelids as she shimmied out of them and then slid her panties off as well. “I need you inside me.”
“Mi querida,” he murmured as he unbuckled his belt and opened his trousers, releasing his cock. He reached into his pocket to pull out a condom.
She put her hand over his before he could tear open the packet. “I can’t have children, so you don’t need that. I swear.”
He hesitated a split second, his gaze roaming over her face before he gave an almost imperceptible nod and tossed the condom onto the couch.
She put one knee on the cushion beside his thigh, wincing as she tried to bring the other knee to the other side. The aching muscles of her inner thighs reminded her that she had been horseback riding for the first time in years.
“Are you all right?” Luis asked, wrapping his hands around her waist to steady her.
“A little sore from the horse, but that won’t stop me.” His strong grasp gave her the support to straddle him so that the tip of his cock brushed her clit. “Ah, Luis!” she gasped out as electric delight streaked through her.
She stared down into the searing blue of his eyes as she slowly slid downward to impale herself on his erection, moaning with pleasure at the sense of stretching and being filled.
“Now kiss my breasts,” she commanded.
“Con placer. With pleasure.” He sucked one nipple into his mouth and palmed the other, making her grab his shoulders to hold herself still through the storm of sensation rocking her body as he sucked and stroked and licked. His mouth and his hands on her skin and his cock deep within her sent waves of bliss all the way to her toes. She wanted to stay like this forever, but desire was coiling tighter and tighter in her belly.
When he tilted his hips so he pressed against her clit, she couldn’t stay still any longer. Bracing her hands on his shoulders, she pushed upward, then came down, driving him deeper inside her.
His hands went back to her waist, helping her rise and fall as he matched her tempo, only in opposition so he thrust up as she sank down. “Yes, oh, please, yes!” she cried out as the delicious friction grew hotter and hotter.
“I cannot hold back for long,” he said, his voice tight with effort.
“Don’t try!” she said as he drove up hard. “Come with me!”
With that, he threw his head back and let loose, pumping into her with a shout of release. That sent her over the edge and into a paroxysm of contracting muscles and dissolving tension as she called out his name over and over with each exquisite convulsion.
Then they both collapsed downward, panting and hearts pounding.
“Ay, Eve, you are increíble.” He skimmed one hand up and down her back as she lay bonelessly over him, her head on his shoulder.
“If that means mind-blowing, I agree.” She snuggled in closer. “I’ve wanted to do that ever since I saw you looking like a conquistador on Chispa’s back.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Riding behind you on the trail, all I could think about was curling my hands around that gorgeous culo of yours.” He illustrated by giving her buttock a squeeze.
“Great minds think alike,” she said, exhaling a long sigh of satisfaction.
“Dirty minds, certainly.” He shifted so that his spent cock slid out of her.
She felt the stickiness between her legs and hoped it wasn’t all over his expensive suit trousers. Lifting her head, she looked around for a box of tissues. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and offered it to her.
Taking the neatly ironed and folded square of fine cotton, she noticed embroidery on it. “I can’t use this. It’s monogrammed. With a crown!” And a stranger would be laundering it. “Don’t you have tissues?”
“Those would require standing up, and I don’t want to move. Nor do I want you to move.” He banded his arms around her. “Consider it a self-interested gift.”
She gave in and gently cleaned between her legs, trying also to blot the fabric of his trousers with little success. He took the crumpled handkerchief from her and tossed it on a nearby table.
“As much as I enjoy this position, my thigh muscles are complaining now that I’m not distracted by other things,” Eve said, trying to shift within his embrace.
He immediately moved his hands to lift her off of his lap and onto the cushion beside him. “Here or the bed?” he asked.
“I like variety, so here. But you have too many clothes on,” Eve said, beginning to unbutton his shirt and kissing his newly bared skin as she undid each one. She inhaled his scent of sky and water, sexually satisfied male, and a hint of starch from the shirt. “You smell so good. I want to bottle it. Eau de Luis.”
He took her face between his hands to tilt it up. She expected a smile, but he looked strangely intent. “Not Eau du Roi?”
“It’s your scent, not some generic king’s,” Eve said.
He leaned in to kiss her in a way that was passionate but gentle. “Eve, you are very special.”
“Because I like the way you smell?”
He just shook his head before he released her and smiled. “Please don’t let me keep you from your task.”
She laughed and finished the unbuttoning, running her hands over the swells and valleys of his chest and abs, his muscles reacting as she touched them.
“The world’s best massage,” he said with a groan of pleasure, his head resting on the back of the sofa. “I confess to being a little achy myself from riding.”
She trailed her fingers over his ribs, making him jump and grab her wrists. “You are ticklish. I wondered.”
“Are you?” he asked, cuffing her wrists together with one hand.
“Nope. Not at all,” she lied.
“I need to test that answer.” He feathered his fingertips along her side, making her squirm and press her lips together to avoid giggling. He kissed the side of her neck before he freed her. “You are a terrible liar.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
Again, the teasing look vanished. “Quite the opposite. A bad liar is to be treasured.” He stood and stripped off the rest of his clothes, making her forget his strange mood swings. Before he rejoined her on the couch, he strode across the room to grab a moss-green blanket from the back of a chair, affording her a mouthwatering view of the muscles flexing in his tight butt and long legs as he moved.
“Could you just walk around the room a few more times?” she requested as he started toward her.
He looked puzzled until she licked her lips in a very suggestive way. Then he laughed, a full-throated rumble. “Are you ogling me again?”
“One hundred percent.”
He stalked back to her with a predatory stride, the blanket held at his side so she had an unimpeded view of his magnificent body.
“Now I want to ogle you, only I will do it with my skin and my hands,” he said, tumbling her onto her back on the cushions as he came down beside her, the length of his body pressed against hers. With a flick of his arm, the blanket unfolded in the air and settled over them like a cloud.
“You’re right. Touching is better,” she said, snuggling closer to feel the stretch of warm skin over hard muscle.
Luis savored the soft curves pressed against him and the ruffle of Eve’s breath over his chest as she lay with her head pillowed on his arm. The sofa wasn’t as comfortable as the bed—his surprisingly sore muscles reminded him of that—but it had the advantage of forcing them into close proximity.
He savored even more the fact that when they made love, Eve responded to him as a man, not a king. He had been with enough women to know when the crown was in bed with them. But Eve wanted to bottle his scent, not a king’s. His position was a problem for her rather than a turn-on. Weirdly, he loved that.
He let his eyelids drift closed but not to sleep. He wanted to bask in Eve’s feminine presence in his arms, in the physical ease that followed an explosive orgasm, and in the pleasure of having his two children with him as they had watched the dragons. It had been a good day…and it wasn’t over yet.
“Grace figured out that something is going on between us,” Eve said without moving.
“She knows we’re sleeping together?” he asked, feeling his mellow mood slip. “Is she upset about it?”
“We didn’t discuss the details. She didn’t want to.” Eve’s voice held an undercurrent of parental amusement. “It doesn’t seem to be a problem for her at the moment.”
He had the sense that Eve wasn’t telling him the whole story. “Is it a problem for you?”
She sighed. “Maybe a little. I don’t want to complicate her decision about being a princess with our…stuff.” She shifted in his embrace. “Does Raul know?”
He considered how different their relationships with their children were. “We do not discuss each other’s intimate relationships.”
But maybe he should discuss more personal things with his son. He had when Raul was younger, but now that they worked together, their dynamic had shifted. Subtly and gradually, so Luis hadn’t noticed it until now. He took tremendous pride in his son’s accomplishments, but he had slipped into treating Raul almost as a colleague. Because so many of their interactions were about governmental affairs, Raul deferred to Luis as the king. Only at family dinners when Gabriel was present did the two young men revert to their occasional respectful tweaking of Luis, a teasing he treasured.
He needed to make his conversations with his son more personal.
“He seems like a very perceptive young man,” Eve said. “If Grace suspects, I imagine he does too. Do you think it would bother him?”
“Why should it?” Raul had seen him involved with other women and never seemed concerned, but Luis wasn’t going to say that to Eve.
“Oh, because children can be uncomfortable about their parents having sex. Especially because they probably think we’re too old to be interested.” Eve sounded amused again. Then she braced her hands on his chest and pushed him far enough away that she could look into his face. “How does Raul feel about having a half sibling appear out of nowhere? He’s so smooth and charming all the time that I can’t gauge his real reaction.”
Luis was tempted to press his lips to her beautiful mouth to stop the flow of contentment-destroying words. That would be far more pleasurable than delving into family dynamics when all he wanted was to enjoy the feel of her silky bare skin against his.
He sighed. At least he could twine the satin of her hair around his fingers while they talked.
“Since his cousin Gabriel started traveling so much to book artists for DragonFest, I think Raul has been lonely.” Luis chose his words carefully. “Having a peer to talk with has been good for him. He feels comfortable sharing the life of a royal with her since he trusts her not to go to the media with any revelations.” He considered some of his recent thoughts about his son. “I hope knowing Grace may even encourage him to loosen up a bit and spend less time working. I worry that he doesn’t have enough fun for someone of his age.”
“Grace works too hard as well, so she may not be the best influence on that front,” Eve said.
He decided not to mention that he hoped Grace would share some of Raul’s tasks as a royal. She would be an excellent representative for the new generation of the crown…but that was for after she graduated from vet school.
“She has a more normal life than Raul,” Luis said. “I hope it will open his eyes to new possibilities.”
“Huh, I never thought of it from that perspective,” Eve said. “I’ve focused on the opening up of Grace’s life.”
“I am glad to hear you find it a positive.” Luis brushed his lips against her forehead.
“Mostly.” Eve sighed. “But back to Raul. For the first time, he’s going to have to share his father with another child. That could create tension, even resentment.”
“It will change the dynamic, and I don’t consider that a minor matter.” He had made an extra effort to show his love for Raul ever since Grace’s relationship had been confirmed. “To a certain extent, he has always shared me with my nephew, Gabriel, whom I consider a son. I believe Raul is secure in my feelings for him.”
“It’s not the same, though. Gabriel is not your child by blood.”
“Love has no limits,” Luis said. “I can love Grace without loving Raul any less.”
“Just be very sensitive to your son right now,” Eve said, cupping Luis’s cheek. “He may feel neglected with all the attention you’re lavishing on Grace.”
“You are right, and I will take your advice.” It touched him that she was as concerned for his child as she was for her own. “There is one more reason I think Raul is glad of Grace’s presence.”
“What’s that?”
“He wants me to be happy. He understands that Grace has been a gift to me at this stage of my life.”
“You raised a good man,” she said, her voice holding a slight quaver. “But that doesn’t surprise me.”
Her words sent a wave of pride and gratitude surging through him. To have Eve give him credit for that moved him deeply.
“I often think that Raul did more to raise himself than I did,” Luis confessed. “My life is filled with so many obligations that I have never been able to spend as much time with him as I wished.”
“I’ve watched you two together,” she said, stroking his shoulder in comfort. “You have a strong connection. Raul adores you.”
“I do not question his devotion. I question my part in it.” And whether Raul had embraced the family business so passionately as a way to spend more time with his father.
“You inspire devotion.” Her smile held a hint of sadness. “It’s why you’re such a great king.”
He grimaced inwardly. It was better when they were speaking as two parents and his position as king didn’t play into it.
“Let me go back to being a man who wants to make love to the beautiful woman in his arms, but in a bed this time.” He stroked his hand down her hip before sinking his fingers into the lush curve of her buttock. He pulled her against his chest again to kiss her with lascivious intent.
When she moaned into his mouth and tilted her pelvis against his hardening cock, he stood and scooped her up in his arms, leaving the crown behind.