8. Alejandro
ALEJANDRO
GAbrIEL VALEMONT HAD to go.
If I had the authority to kick him out of the palace, I would’ve done so directly after he tripped me in the vat of grapes earlier.
Unfortunately for me, the king and queen were still the rulers of Solterra, and my parents would sooner renounce me than risk the ire of Valoria. Even though their king had insulted me.
I grunted and swiped my foil through the air, wishing it were that easy to send a certain someone’s head rolling. Though at this point, it was anyone’s guess which of the Valemont twins irked me more.
I didn’t make it a habit to be in the fencing salle alone at ten o’clock at night, but as irritated as I was right now, it was fuck or fight—and there wasn’t anyone in the vicinity I wanted in my bed.
My traitorous cock disagreed with that, but I wasn’t about to entertain the notion of pounding Gabriel into the mattress. Strangle him, more like.
I lunged forward, thrusting the foil through the air.
Would I mind taking out my frustration on a hot, willing body? Absolutely not. Under different circumstances, would I be attracted to Gabriel? Possibly, but I wasn’t about to admit it.
It was dangerous to be alone with my thoughts and only the sound of my feet, the swipe of my blade. I hadn’t bothered with the lights, letting the moonlight shine in through the large windows, and I’d left the door open to catch the breeze blowing off the water.
I could still see the triumphant look on Gabriel’s face as he sat drenched in the barrel, covered in juice, and it had my grip tightening on the hilt. I drove forward with another lunge, sharper this time.
“Careful,” a smirking voice said from the doorway. “The air might surrender.”
I went still and closed my eyes.
Of course he’d found me. He couldn’t possibly be anywhere else on the vast palace grounds but in the one spot I found sanctuary.
I turned slowly, blade still in hand.
Gabriel leaned against the open door in dark jeans and a blue button-up left undone at the neck, sleeves pushed up to his elbows. No jacket, no tie, all that formality thrown right out the window. He didn’t look attractive at all. Not even a little bit.
Really.
“Are you lost?” I snapped.
“Occasionally. But not this time.”
“This is a private salle.”
“And yet the door was open.”
“That wasn’t an invitation.”
“You really must stop leaving challenges lying around. Someone less considerate might ignore them.”
The smart thing to do was to ignore him, but it was difficult when insults stayed ready on the tip of my tongue.
Don’t do it…don’t engage. That’s what he wants.
Gabriel pushed off the door and walked inside, clearly not understanding or caring about boundaries. “This works better when you have a partner. No one likes to play alone.”
“I do.”
Gabriel ran his eyes over me. “I’d like to see that.”
The heat that ran through me then wasn’t real, wasn’t a reaction to his words, because there was nothing behind them, and even if there were…
No.
I narrowed my gaze, my fingers on the hilt, itching to teach the instigator a lesson.
“You fence?” I said.
“I’ve held a sword.” He said it casually, but the way his eyes brightened told me he at least had more experience with this than polo.
Good. I could take out my frustration with him this way instead of imagining him naked on my mattress.
Shaking the image out of my head, I crossed over to the practice foils, grabbed one, and then tossed it to him. Gabriel caught it easily and started toward me.
“Friendly exercise?” he said, cocking a brow.
“No promises.”
That should’ve alarmed him, but Gabriel’s smile only grew. “Look at you, tempting me with a good time.”
“You want a mask?” I supposed I should offer him some sort of protection.
“I think I’ll be all right. You’re not aiming for my face, are you?”
I thought back to my fantasy of sending his head rolling and smirked. “Not today.”
“Then I think we can forgo the body armor for our ‘friendly exercise.’”
Before he could get a chance to ready himself, I advanced on him, but he immediately stepped back.
“So much for friendly. Trying to catch me off guard, Your Highness?”
“Just making sure you’re paying attention.”
“Sure you were. En garde.”
We moved into position, and before I could offer up a proper salute this time, Gabriel advanced, causing me to retreat.
One step.
Two step.
Three—
Had we been wearing our gear, he would’ve made a direct touch—and fuck him for that.
“Huh.” Gabriel straightened and cocked his head.
“What?”
“With such a beautiful salle, I thought you’d be better at this.”
I flicked my blade against his. “Lucky move.”
Gabriel lunged, and I parried with ease before delivering a riposte, forcing him to twist away.
“Not luck. Experience.”
Yes, I was starting to see that. It seemed Gabriel Valemont was a lot more skilled at holding a sword than he’d let on.
My eyes drifted to the dark jeans he wore and the way they cradled his cock, now thinking of the way he might hold something altogether different.
Fuck.
“So you lied. You’re quite adept at fencing.”
“I didn’t lie,” he said as he disengaged my blade and expertly tapped my shoulder. “I told you I knew how to hold a sword. It’s not my fault you underestimated me.”
I glanced at my shoulder then back to the smug look on his perfect fucking face, and my annoyance hit an all-time high.
He thought he was so smart. So handsome. So fucking skilled, besting me twice now. Getting the upper hand. But not this time. This time I would come out on top.
I attacked without warning, advancing fast and hard. Gabriel retreated as I drove him back, but when I fleched, his blade was right there to meet mine.
The sound of steel echoed throughout the salle as our swords clashed and he held his firm and began to circle me. I moved with him, the rules of the game forgotten, as his jaw flexed and he began to stalk forward, forcing my feet back.
It wasn’t until my back collided with the wall and Gabriel forced our crossed swords up against my chest that I realized just how strong the motherfucker was.
“You done?” he spat as his eyes flashed fire, and my cock immediately hardened at the vicious edge to his tone.
“Just getting started.” I pushed back, trying to shove him away, but damn he was solid.
“You are a spicy one. Guess it’s a good thing you taught me how to handle the hot ones early.”
I scoffed. “Chulo de mierda.”
Gabriel licked his lips, and my dick ignored every single order I was giving it to STOP. BEING. INTERESTED.
“Now, I know you’re hoping that scowl and those words will send me running.” He leaned his body weight forward, and his face came perilously close to mine. “But wanna know a secret?”
No. I was positive I didn’t.
“It just makes me want to get closer to you.” Gabriel’s eyes trailed down to my tight lips. “Makes me want to…pet you a little. Spicy kitten.”
My entire body tensed. Spicy kitten? The fuck?
“I told you.” Gabriel’s voice dropped. “I like a challenge.”
“And I don’t like anything about you.”
He raised a brow, shifted slightly to the left, and slipped his foot between mine. His thigh brushed up against my steely hard-on.
“Liar. I think you like a whole lot of things about me, especially my…sword skills.”
I jutted my chin up, not about to be intimidated by this charming playboy and his overinflated ego. “Don’t flatter yourself. My body isn’t reacting to your closeness, but the excitement of possibly beheading you.”
A raspy chuckle rumbled out of his throat. “To do that, you’d have to actually beat me first.”
He slowly raised his leg between mine, and before I could help it, a low moan escaped. The outside of his thigh grazed the inside of mine, and when his knee nudged up against my balls, I shoved my arms forward.
The clanging of our swords broke the intense silence, and when Gabriel took a step back, I immediately felt the loss of him.
“You’re getting a little too close there, Your Highness.”
Gabriel dragged his eyes down over me before slowly bowing. “My apologies. I was under the assumption this was a friendly exercise.”
“Not that friendly.”
“My mistake,” he said, dragging his fingers through his hair. My eyes lowered to where his cock was outlined behind the tight denim. He was as hard as I was.
I turned away from him and walked back to the rack that held my sword, and when I placed it in its proper locale I heard the door to the salle shut.
I whipped my head around to see Gabriel’s foil resting on one of the workout benches, but no Gabriel.
For the first time since he’d stepped inside my inner sanctuary tonight, I felt myself relax.
The room was as silent and empty as if he’d never been here—something I’d almost be able to convince myself of if it wasn’t for my tightly wound body, and the blood thrumming through my veins.
All signs that I hadn’t just imagined what had happened with Prince Gabriel Valemont.
My sworn enemy. The man who’d just made my body come alive with a threat.
A threat and promise of a good time.
And that was the most dangerous thing of all.