Her Secret Prince (2 page)

She knew that, too.

“I don’t want to risk us on one rash decision.”

“It’s not rash.” Heart hammering, she edged closer.

With teeth clenched, she slid one leg between him and the bench, knee skimming uncharted territory before settling on his other side. His hips pressed against the inside of her thighs, and with her skirt riding high and her feet planted on the cupboard doors, the position was brash and unashamedly provocative.

Okay,
she thought, nerve-bound into silence.
I’m about to know for sure.

Jed put the
knife down. Set his fingertips on the bench edge either side of her hips. His groin kept its distance from hers, but his steady gaze didn’t match his uneven breaths.

Quietly, deeply, he murmured, “You’re doing it again.”

She forced out a questioning sound.

“Pushing.”

Apparently Dee pushed people outside their comfort zones. Asked questions too bold, made statements too true. She’d lost friends
because of it. Irritated her teachers and confused her parents. Since the day she’d met Jed, he’d simply pushed back.

“I don’t want to ruin this.” She inhaled and the familiarity of his smell, male and comforting and arousing, confirmed there was no choice. She’d go crazy if she didn’t try. “I know this could mess us up—that I might lose the best friend I’ve ever had. But I’m trapped otherwise
and I can’t keep pretending.”

His stare was black. Pitch with desire. His grip shifted on the counter edge. “Is hooking up what you want?”

“I want all of it, Jed. A relationship, exclusivity. I’m completely gone on you.”

“I can’t promise that,” he said, a low rumble that set her trembling. His body was stiff and still. “I’ve never been in one place long enough to promise you that.”

“You told
me you’d stay.”

“And I have.” A shadow lurked across his features. “But I can’t promise.”

“Then don’t.” Boldly, and with no small accompanying panic attack, she inched forward. The vee of her thighs met a hard bulge and his ragged groan sent a shiver right to her core. “Just give me what you can.”

She’d hardly finished speaking before he was dragging her against him. His mouth met hers, lush
and hot and flatteringly insistent. Dee let him lead, his tongue breaking through her lips, tasting, twisting, all the while his hands were firm at her hips, fingers curled tight around the waistband of her skirt. No resisting her now.

Desire engulfed her, a new feeling, heady and irresistible. She pressed closer, ankles hooking and holding firm, and then it was time to explore. The sweet soft
loops of his hair. The tight rise of his butt under worn jeans. The flat plane of his stomach, hot as she abandoned restraint and pushed her hands beneath his windbreaker. And that bulge, holding steady, an unfamiliar weight that set heat radiating low in her belly.

As her palms travelled, Jed moved to take her hands, holding them between their chests. “Mouths only,” he murmured on a shaky breath.

She wrestled free. She ran her fingers down his back and along the band of his jeans. His mouth moved to her chin, kissing, slipping. “Don’t mess around, Dee.”

“I’m not messing. I’m discovering. I’ve been waiting months for you.”

She felt him smile. “How many months?”

“Oh, six, seven.”

“So it hasn’t just been me,” he said, blessed words.

“You must have known. Subtlety isn’t my strong point.”

“I’d hoped.” His smile grew. “Then really, we’ve already taken it slow.”

Now that was her kind of logic. They ended up in his bedroom, door closed, bedside lamp on. When his shirt came off, Dee weakened, and when his gaze dropped to her black and white striped top, nerves kicked up her pulse. He kissed her again, gently, and tucked her hair behind her ear. “This is good. We can just do this.”

“No.” She wanted more. It felt right. This was how it should be; her first time with someone she loved, who treated her like she mattered. So her top came next, a little awkwardly when he had trouble navigating it over her breasts and she laughed, a short burst, loving him all the more for it.

“Sorry.” His cheeks were pink. At his fumble or the sight of her bra, she wasn’t sure.

Her skirt hit
the floor at the same time a bang sounded from the living area. The front door closing and footsteps moving from the door to the kitchen.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, alarm flooding her. Her heartbeat tore as her arms locked over her half-naked chest. “Is your mom home?”

Jed was frowning, listening. He kept a hand on her waist. “She must have left work early. Another migraine.”

“Oh my God.”

Ellie knew Dee and liked her, but there was a strict “no bedroom” rule which they were flouting pretty seriously.

“Damn it, sorry, Dee.” Jed snatched up his tee and pulled it back on, mussing his inky hair. “I don’t want to hide this, but she’ll ground me. You won’t be allowed to come over. I don’t want a ban on seeing you.” He grimaced. “How do you feel about using the fire escape?”

“Oh my God,”
she said again, this time excited. “How rebellious.”

“It’s in Mum’s room.”

Ah. “Very rebellious.”

“I’ll go first and make sure the drop ladder works. Then I’ll come back and distract her while you go. Just…wait here.” And he slipped into the hall and closed the door behind him.

Dee stood by his bed, yanking her top on and wriggling her skirt over her hips. She jiggled her legs, anxious, a
little guilty, but generally ecstatic. Their friendship wasn’t over—it was becoming something more.

Then a knock came from the front door, and moments later, she heard Ellie’s demand. “What are you doing here?”

Frowning, Dee tiptoed to the bedroom door. He couldn’t have made it down the fire escape and back up in the lift that quickly.

Ellie’s voice rose. “You have no right to be here! This
is my home. How dare you follow me up here?”

Concern had Dee cracking the door open. Not Jed, then.

A man answered. “I’m sorry to startle you like this, Melissa.” A French accent beautified his words. “But we’re unconvinced that you left alone all those years ago.”

There was a long pause. “I’m Ellie now.” Jed’s mother’s words were cold.

“Ellie. You must understand that we need to confirm this.
May I come in?”

“No, you may not.” But footsteps travelled from the door to the kitchen anyway and she didn’t protest further. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Of course I left alone.”

The man spoke again. “You’ve been moving constantly since then. Almost as if you don’t want to be found.”

“I like to travel.” Her words were dismissive.

Dee inched the door open further, frowning. She’d
wondered about Jed’s past of constant moving. Ellie claimed she wanted her son to see the world, not tied to a single place his whole life. But Dee hadn’t believed her. Jed hated it. If it were all for him, Ellie would have settled years ago to make him happy.

“You’re running, Ellie. We know why.”

“I don’t know what—”

“You got pregnant. You have a child, which makes them next in line—”

“No!”
Dee jumped as Ellie shouted. “I do not. You’ve stalked me, invaded my privacy, and now you’re making wild assumptions. Get out.”

“So you are not a mother?”

She hesitated, then said, “No.”

Unease prickled Dee’s spine. Surely the only reason someone would lie about having a child would be to protect them. Was Jed in danger? Who was this man? She held her breath as he spoke again.

“You were home
all of thirty seconds before I arrived.” His tone was calm, shrewd. “I wonder whose sandwich that could be?”

Sprung,
Dee thought, wincing.

There was silence.

“I’ll leave,” the man said, “after I check the apartment.”

“Don’t you dare.” Footsteps started down the hall and Ellie shouted again. “Don’t you dare!”

Before Dee could do anything but back away from the door, it flew open. A man in
a suit burst in, expression firm as his eyes adjusted to the dim room. Ellie appeared at his shoulder, her face white and horrified. Her startled gaze ran over Dee; no doubt taking in the messy hair, swollen lips, and reaching a very obvious conclusion.

“My daughter,” she said after a moment, holding Dee’s stare. “Not that it’s any of your damned business.”

The man took a step closer. Completely
confounded, Dee turned her attention to him and watched his gaze search her features. After several seconds, he asked, “How old are you?”

A simple question that Dee imagined had a right and wrong answer. She darted a look at Jed’s mother. Ellie latched onto her gaze and mouthed
fourteen
.

“Fourteen,” Dee lied dutifully. “Who are you and why the hell are you in my bedroom?”

He gave her a long
look, narrowed eyes burying across her face. Then he discarded her and turned his back. “She looks nothing like Oscar.”

Dee asked, “Who’s Oscar?”

“For good reason,” Ellie answered him flatly. “Get. Out.”

With a final frowned glance at Dee, the man left.

Shock held her to the spot. Judging by the way Ellie sagged against the door frame, the situation would have ended differently had that man
found Jed. Was this why she stayed on-the-move? Constantly running to avoid getting caught in Oscar’s net.

Finding her voice, she asked, “Ellie, what was that—”

“Forget it, Dee.”

“What does he want with Jed?” Fear fed on her heart. “Is Oscar dangerous?”

“I think it’s time for you to leave.” The words were shaky but clipped. The color hadn’t returned to Ellie’s cheeks and she gripped the doorframe.

“But who was that guy?” She moved forward, feeling shaky herself. “Is everything okay?”

Jed’s mother ignored the questions. “Go on. You know you’re not allowed in here.”

“We were just—”

“I know what you were just doing. Out, get out now. I’m not in the mood.”

It mortified Dee that her eyes filled with tears. The night had almost been so perfect. Jed was probably wrestling with the drop down
ladder, clueless that he’d return upstairs to an empty bedroom and furious mother. Dee had to stay, explain to him what had happened. “I’d prefer to stay to make sure—”

“No, Dee, you’re to go home right now.”

“Then just to say goodbye, Ellie, he’s only popped out for—”

“I’ll tell him you had to leave. Now go, before I tell your parents what was going on in here.” The words left no room for
argument.

So with streaks on her cheeks, Dee slunk out of Jed’s bedroom, his apartment, and out of the building. Too late did she think to check the fire escape, and staring up, she saw a shadow slipping out of sight through Ellie’s window.

Upset, she drove home, music cranked up loud. Ellie would ground him on the spot. There would be no phone calls or hanging out this weekend. She’d have to
wait for school on Monday to ask whether he and Ellie were okay—whether they were on the run. There’d always been something unsettled about them, something he wasn’t telling her. Well, he’d have to tell the truth because she was involved now.

She’d take his hand and kiss him, because finally, blissfully, she could. She’d be happy on Monday, and every day after that.

But Monday came and Jed wasn’t
at school. No one picked up his home phone that evening, and she cursed Ellie for being so cruel. Tuesday morning, Dee skipped Art class to visit. When she turned up at his apartment block, she was halted by the security guard and his apologetic hand on her shoulder.

Jed and his mother had moved out on the weekend.

Flattened by the impact, Dee knelt on the lobby floor. She wanted to cry—loudly,
ungracefully—but no tears came. His sudden abandonment had snatched away her emotions, leaving her hollow. Only shock remained, lining her skin.

She should have done something. Refused to leave the apartment. Called the police, reported a stalker. She could have stopped Ellie panicking and fleeing. Unless the man had returned and seen Jed? Ice froze over her gut at the thought. If Dee had been
there, she could have prevented him from taking them away; she’d have screamed and fought and gone for the man’s soft spots.

She could have stopped it happening. Instead she’d done nothing. She was empty and alone.

And Jed was gone.

‡

D
ee sat at
the desk in front of her apartment window, lost in the words on her screen. This script had a tight deadline—one week from today—and big expectations from an interested producer. Heart-wrenching was his only stipulation. “Mangle their views on love until all they’re sure
of is uncertainty and pain,” he’d said, “and I’ll make it.”

Dee hadn’t hesitated to shake his hand.

Outside, the dull Los Angeles winter cloaked the sky and building opposite in grey. Nothing to distract her as she typed the final scene.

EXT. GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE – SUNSET

In the middle of the bridge, Adam stands, staring over the city and water. He is empty-handed and alone.

PAN OUT:

VOICEOVER
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