Chapter 10 Theo
THEO
SINCE TODAY’S ROYAL event was strictly a friends-and-family, no-photographers-allowed fête champêtre, I was able to indulge without incurring anyone’s wrath for not being a perfect prince for show.
Not that I gave a damn. But it was easier to drink limitless amounts of champagne and hit the dance floor as many times as I liked without photographic evidence hitting the front pages the next day.
A group of Katerina’s bridesmaids gathered at the bar beside me, rehydrating after I’d led them all in a round of who-can-drop-it-lower to KC and the Sunshine Band’s “Get Down Tonight.”
And the answer to that was me. No contest.
“It was such a beautiful wedding,” Katerina’s maid of honor, Dani, said, hugging her glass to her chest. “Like a fairytale. Didn’t you think so, Theo?”
“Oh yes,” I said, sarcasm dripping into my almost-empty flute as I finished it off. “Glorious.”
“It’ll be the same when you decide to get married,” the brunette beside her added. “The whole country will go all out. I bet it’ll be even bigger than this one.”
That was not where my head was, but I decided to go along with it anyway. “You think so?”
“Definitely. Jean’s great, but he’s a little more…” She bit her lip and looked at her friends for help.
“Stick-up-his-ass?” I offered.
Her brows shot up in surprise. “Uh, no. More—”
“Mind-numbingly boring?”
They all laughed in a tentative way, like they weren’t sure if they should be mocking their friend’s choice in partner, especially since he’d soon be the head of state.
“More…serious, is all,” Dani said.
“But speaking of serious,” a woman who’d kept quiet until now piped up, eyes glittering, “are you seeing anyone?”
“And give the masses a reason to stop lusting after me?” I teased, and lifted my glass to the bartender for a refill.
“Is that what you think people are doing?” a male voice said behind me, one so familiar that even if I didn’t know it instantly, the looks of shock and awe on the girls’ faces would’ve tipped me off.
Shep lifted a flute of champagne off a passing waiter’s tray and moved in beside me, and instantly my entire body warmed.
I hadn’t been expecting him today, and I was tipsy enough to admit he looked really, really good, so debonair in a navy suit so perfectly tailored to him that it molded to his body like a second skin.
Where I preferred a more “undone” look for myself, everything about Shep was classic and buttoned up, but that didn’t diminish his appeal.
No, his mouth did that. Especially when he greeted the ladies and then gave me a sardonic smile before saying, “Was that last move on the dance floor part of what has everyone lusting after you, or were you doing that to keep them from swarming you?”
The girls chuckled freely at that, but I could only wonder what the hell Shep was doing here.
Even though he’d been invited, his response to me had been “hell fucking no” to all activities other than the wedding he’d been required to attend, so his presence here told me he had reasons, and none of them were good.
Merde.
I ignored his attempt at an insult and winked. “Shep here is just jealous his hips don’t move that way. He’s like a ninety-year-old with arthritis, poor guy.” I patted his cheek, and he caught my wrist before quickly dropping it.
He gave the girls a polite smile. “Ladies, do you mind if I take Theo off your hands for a moment?”
“Not at all,” Dani said, waggling her brows. “Have at him.”
The double meaning of her words went over Shep’s head—or he simply chose to ignore it. As we headed off to a secluded spot by the trees, I grabbed Shep’s glass of champagne for myself.
Double-fisting it. I was classy as hell. But he wasn’t here for anything good, so alcohol was required.
Sure enough, as he turned toward me, his default all-too-serious expression was back on that handsome face. It was a shame someone so attractive and scowling had such full, perfect lips.
Even more of a shame I was noticing them now.
“Nope,” I said, shaking my head before he could say a word. “We’re not doing this today.”
“This?”
“Yes, whatever this is that you came here to lecture me on, I’m not here for it. Not right now, not today—not doing it.”
Shep cocked his head. “And you think that’s your decision because…?”
“Because right now, here, I am your superior.” Oh yes, I like the sound of that. “Here I am the Prince of Monaco, and you are my guest. Therefore, you have to do what I want.”
“First off, I’m your brother’s guest, and second”—Shep took a step forward, backing me up against the tree—“I am always your superior.”
Putain. I liked the sound of that even better.
“You agreed to that when you took your oath at Libertine,” he added.
I brought my glass to my lips and took a sip. “Careful, you get much closer and Dani and her friends will think you’re going to have at me after all.”
As if he just realized how intimate our stance was, Shep took a step back. It seemed he couldn’t help but get closer to me these days.
That was a new development, but not a wholly unexpected one, considering he’d had a taste of me now. I was rather irresistible.
“No fear of that happening.”
“No? So you just keep showing up for the festivities, then?” I pursed my lips. “That doesn’t seem like you. The serious Shepard Winchester the third. Methinks you are showing up to see moi.”
“Because you’re keeping secrets.”
I grinned over the rim of my glass. “Lucky for you that I know how, right? Wouldn’t want anyone to find out Jean and Katerina weren’t the only two joined in the church that day.”
“Jesus Christ—”
“Yes, he was there too.”
“You need to stop drinking.” Shep went to reach for my second glass, but I pulled it out of his reach.
“Au contraire. You need to start drinking more. Come on, Shep. Loosen up a little.”
His jaw bunched. “I don’t have time to loosen up. I need to—”
“Do what you’re told, I know.” I pushed off the tree and sidled a little closer to him. “But remember how much fun you had when you did what you wanted instead?”
Shep licked along his lower lip, and I wasn’t sure if it was the alcohol, the festivities, or the man himself, but my dick immediately took notice.
When did he get so fucking hot?
“And you think I want to do you?”
“Ouais, je crois tu as envie de me baiser.” I didn’t mean to say it in French, but when my brain left the building and lust took over, I couldn’t seem to help myself. And something about the way Shep’s eyes darkened at my words had every single nerve ending firing.
“What’d you just say?” His voice was gravel rough and made my balls tingle.
“Why? Did it turn you on?” When he didn’t deny it, I knew I was right, and I had just enough alcohol buzzing through my system to make me stupid. “Est-ce que ca t'a fait bander?”
His eyes flared with definite interest. I glanced down his body, and he was as hard as I now was.
“I see it did.” I tossed my empty glass to the grass and put my hand on his lapel, angling my body so no one could see. “Take me inside.”
“Are you crazy?”
“No, but I’m as hard as you are and really want to fuck.”
“Theo…” Shep glanced over my shoulder to where the picnic-goers were blissfully unaware of the sexual tensions crackling between the two of us.
“What? You’re hard too. I can see it.” I moved even closer to him and slid my hand down to cover the erection straining his zipper. “And I can feel it.”
Shep sucked in a breath, but again didn’t deny it or shove my hand away.
“Take me inside.”
“No fucking way.”
“Scared?”
He grunted as I squeezed. “Smart. Once is a mistake. Twice is a habit.”
“Well, you did accuse me of having bad habits. Want to become my next one?”
Shep finally reached down and took hold of my wrist. “Cut it out.”
“Mais je ne veux pas.”
He shoved my hand away from him, and I decided to see if I could lure him inside. I mean, he was here to watch over me. Where I went he would follow, right?
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve had about enough socializing for today,” I said. “I think I might retire for the afternoon.”
“You’re just going to leave?”
“Oui. I put in an appearance, smiled, and shook hands with those I needed to, and if you aren’t going to take me inside and relieve me of the ache you caused, I might go and find someone else to do the job for me. Maybe at one of the clubs in town.”
I turned and headed toward the palace, leaving Shep to gnaw on that little morsel. Not two seconds after I was inside, I heard Shep’s familiar march of disapproval behind me.
“Theo,” he called out, and I ignored him. “Theo. We are not done talking.”
I rolled my eyes but kept going. Talking was the last thing I was interested in doing with Shep.
When his hand clamped around my wrist and he pulled me into one of the many alcoves in the main hall, I cursed and rounded on him.
“What? Did you change your mind? Want a second go around after all?”
“I want to talk to you about why you took your tracker out before traveling to another country.”
I contemplated that for a moment. “Did you tell King you were sorry for not noticing earlier?”
“What?”
“About my taking my tracker out. I mean, you probably should’ve noticed when you were fucking my brains out, or maybe when I was naked in my room and you barged in. But it’s nice to know you’re not perfect, and get just as distracted by a tight ass and big dick as I do.”
Shep growled and stormed forward until I had no choice but to back up into the shadows of the alcove.
“Your mouth is going to get you in trouble one of these days,” he said as he loomed over me.
“Pourquoi est-ce que tu ne fourres pas ta queue dans ma bouche pour me faire taire.”
“Stop. Speaking. French.”
I chuckled, his irritation turning me on even more. “Make me.”
And what do you know—he did.