Prince's Addiction (The Exiled Royals Series Book 2) (6 page)

“You look upset, man,” Xavier said.

Alex was in the shared bathroom of their suite. He was futzing with his tie. Even after all these years, he never quite got the hang of getting it right. That was both what his mother and staff were for. Once he’d had a personal stylist to make sure he presented the “correct” image for the crown of Lavinia. God, had that been a waste. All anyone in the world thought about him was that he was a lying gambling addict and, possibly, a waste of space. It wasn’t as though Alex could fault them for these assumptions. He was both of these things and hardly the man that he wanted to be. That was just the way it was, and he resented that part of his reality.

Sighing, he started again, reciting the poem his mother had told him as a kid “Okay so the rabbit goes down the hole…”

“Seriously, cousin, you should be ecstatic. After all, you’re going out with her. You were on cloud nine when you got back from the game and bragging to all of us about the kiss. I don’t understand now why you look like you’re going to a funeral and not a date?”

He finished the tie and would have to deal with it being just a bit shorter than he wanted. That happened a lot. It was one of the problems of being tall. Turning to his cousin, he shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked a bit on the balls of his feet. “Can I talk to you, exile to exile?”

“Wait so I rank over the vaunted Raymond on something?”

“This time, yeah. He has his happy ending. In a short while, I might be permanently bumming off of him and you might not be much better. Are you even trying to get back to the throne of Ruminea?”

“I’m trying, but I have no idea how to please mother. Queen Mina is so very demanding,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Still, I don’t really think it’s permanent. Christ, I’m their only son. If they don’t get the stick out of their asses, the crown will default to some distantly related baron.”

“Well, I’m glad I have younger brothers,” he huffed. “I’m serious. I want to go home so badly and I am trying but gambling…it’s something I can’t resist.”

“I haven’t seen you hitting the tables,” Xavier said, frowning a little. “How much sneaking around are you doing?”

“I’m not sneaking around…uh, not exactly,” he hedged. “I just…okay, so at the game some jerk was hanging all over Kate. They’re friends or whatever, and I just wanted so badly to impress her. She said he and I should have a bet about who could hit a homerun. So I did, and I won, but I promised myself I’d never publicly bet on anything again even between friends.”

“So do you privately do things?”

“That’s not the point,” he sidestepped, even as his cousin’s scrutiny told Alex that Xavier hadn’t discounted the possibility. And why should he? He’d been using his online accounts for a solid six months and had lost close to three hundred thousand dollars. “Anyway, I just felt like I backslid. I was weak and foolish and, worst of all, I was weak in front of Kate and she deserves so much better.”

“Does she know about you? I mean about who you really are—that you’re a prince and why you’ve been exiled?”

“No, I was scared if I told her she’d just be impressed by the, ugh, former title. I didn’t want her to turn out to be a gold digger. This isn’t some fuck for fun. I want her to like me, apart from all the reputations and tabloid expectations. That’s all I ever wanted,” he said, his voice growing quiet.

Xavier nodded and smiled. Reaching up, he squeezed Alex’s shoulder. “I think that it’s time for you to tell her everything. Maybe if she knows, she can help support you instead of accidentally tempting you.”

“And what if she either only sees the crown or, worse, knows exactly all about my past and thinks I’m a fuck up?”

“Well, cousin, we
are
fuck ups, but if she’s as amazing as you say she is, then she’ll love you anyway.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Xavier grinned, his normal levels of cockiness rising with his shit-eating expression. “I always am.”

***

“I know you’re not going to believe me,” he said, as he met Kate in the lobby of the theater, but you’re even more beautiful than our last date.”

She laughed and it was gorgeous, like the tinkling of bells at Christmas time. Today she’d opted for a long, slinky black dress with a plunging neckline and a slit just this side of appropriate up the left thigh. “I’m glad. It makes it worth dressing up to make your tongue hang out of your mouth like that.”

“My tongue is not!”

“Oh, there’s definitely some drool there, Casanova,” she chirped, her tone amused.

“Well, I’m glad I can be so funny to you,” he huffed, narrowing his eyes at her mockingly.

“No, completely. I guess it’s just been so long since I’ve dated. I take care of Lily because I just don’t have time for anything else. I have my job in hotel reception and I’m there doing double shifts just to make ends meet.”

“Can I ask where your parents are?”

Kate stilled and he instantly regretted asking her such a question. It was obviously dredging up very painful memories for her. “They were taking my sister to a pediatrician’s appointment. It’s funny. I was supposed to do it but I begged out of it. I mean I was already a senior. Lily was kind of a surprise,” her breath hitched and he squeezed her shoulders.

“Just take your time.”

She nodded and swiped at her eyes quickly. “There was a car accident and they died, so it’s been me and Lily against the world since then, but Joan, my best friend, helps a lot too. I guess with basically being a mom at eighteen I didn’t have time to do a lot of dating and I don’t focus on it much. I can admit it’s been fun to have a reason to dress up.”

He nodded and squeezed her hand. “Then I’m glad that I can serve as an oasis for you. If that’s how you’d like to think of it.”

“Definitely,” she said. “So, what’s your story? You said you learned to play chess as a kid. Did someone back home teach you how to do close-up magic too?”

He frowned at that question and let his fingers trail over the poster for The Great Waldo, the performer they were seeing tonight. He could have gotten front row tickets to Pen and Teller, but he wanted to be modest, to let her see him and not the money or, frankly, the title he may never actually have again.

Jesus, not if his mother had anything to say about it.

To be fair, he was far from the right man to be king of Lavinia, even he knew that.

“My dad. He’s always had a lot of passions, and both chess and magic were part of that. He wanted me to be good at everything I did. He said the tricks would help me be more flexible, and think faster than others.”

“You don’t have bad skills. I’m not telling you to start your own show in Vegas, but I think he must be impressed with you.”

“He’s never impressed with me. That’s…I could never live up to anything he wanted.”

“I’m sorry. Is your father dead too?”

He shook his head and patted her arm. “No, but I’ve been disowned somewhat. As I said, I was always the family disappointment. Now,” he said, offering her a crooked arm. “Would you like to see the show, princess?”

“Definitely!”

***

“You never stop surprising me,” she said, her voice breathy and low. When she spoke like that—and Alex wasn’t even sure Kate realized she did it—but when she did, that tone went straight to his cock and made him hard and desperate for her.

Kate Morrison was beauty incarnate, and the craziest thing was she couldn’t see it in herself; she couldn’t see what so many others saw in her. Good. It meant more for him. “I mean, tonight? The show, and now a moonlit stroll to watch the Bellagio Fountains? God, they’re gorgeous.”

He chuckled and wrapped his arm over her shoulder. “If I said they pale next to you?”

“Then I know a line when I hear it, buster!”

“Okay, then I’m still glad we’re here together,” he said, and the moment felt right, even better than hitting a home run and being a hero out on the field. Leaning down, he kissed her again, this time willing to go further, to let his hands roam over the expanse of her hips, and to let them finish by resting and cupping her hips.

She was hungry too, he could feel that much; both from the way she mewled against his throat and the way she pressed her soft warm body against him. God, had anything ever felt more right in his life?

Kate let out a long breath. “That was…”

“I know,” he said, amused by her heavy-lidded look of need facing him.

Then, he wasn’t sure why, but it was as if she woke up and was fully conscious of her actions. She blinked up at him with wide, scared eyes and tried to pull away from him. He held her there, as gently as he could but firmly. Alex was tired and confused by her mixed signals. She was going to explain everything to him—he had a right to know, to understand why she kept trying to run. If she legitimately wanted to end this, he’d let her go, but Kate didn’t get to just run off with no warning—with no recourse for him.

“Let me go. I-I just can’t.”

He shook his head and, while he kept her wrapped up with one arm, he reached out and stroked her cheek. “You can, and we both know that. If you don’t like me, princess, then you have a funny way of showing it. Why do you keep pulling away?”

“Because I just can’t. Lily—”

“Wouldn’t she want her big sister to be happy too? I do that, right?” he asked, feeling her breath as she looked up at him. Every part of her was so warm, and he just wanted to hold her here forever.

Okay, he’d also like to add a lot more than making out to that wish as well.

“I know she does, that’s true. It’s just so complicated. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me after, like, three dates. She’s not used to new people, and I just have so many other considerations.”

“But you feel this,” he said, bringing his one free hand to his chest and gesturing to his heart. “You feel this pull between us, don’t you?”

“Of course I do, but I’m not sure what it all means, or if I want it to mean anything. Right now, like this? All I can think of is how badly I want you to take me back to your place and make love to me.”

He swallowed at that as warmth flowed over him and, yeah, his pants grew even tighter. That was all he’d wanted to hear from Kate since he’d first spied her in the park. “Then that’s what I want. I…just come back to my suite and I have some things I have to tell you. I need you to understand things about me before we do anything else. I…you might not like me much when you know so it might all be moot anyway.” She teared up and sniffled. He hadn’t been expecting that dire a reaction at all so, dumbfounded, the best he could do was lean down and kiss the tears off her cheeks. “Don’t be so upset, please.”

“No, it’s not that. You’re perfect.”

He sighed and took her hand, leading her back to his Porsche.

He wasn’t sure she’d still think that when he revealed his true identity—not at all.

She needed to be here. She knew she needed to be here. That was the plan: disarm him in any way possible, make sure he was asleep or distracted or both, and then find the right files on his computer.

She needed the big guns, the true ammo and proof that he was gambling, whatever it took to sink his reputation with his parents and sink the inheritance. Still, as she stepped into his bedroom, Kate had no idea what she was doing.

It felt like everything was going off plan today. She’d needed access to his home, to his private computer, but she never planned to sleep with him. It was dishonest and cruel and it also, frankly, made her feel little more than a whore. Again, she was making this choice, making this call for the benefit of her sister.

Lily deserved a chance at life and without the operation she’d never get that.

“You seem nervous,” he said. That was beyond obvious, but she was surprised to notice that he seemed the same way, that he seemed to be sweating quite a bit. “Like I said, there are things I need to tell you.”

She nodded and sat down on the mattress. That probably wasn’t the smartest idea; it would lead to more intimate situations than was probably ethical.

Keep it together, Morrison. This is for Lily
.

He sat next to her and reached out for her hands. She gave them to him gladly and hoped hers weren’t clammy or sweaty. She didn’t want to be nervous. Kate needed to come across as the seductress here, as the one in control. It was the key to her plan.

“I haven’t been honest with you about who I am,” Alex said.

“You’re really a woman?” she quipped, trying to keep everything light.

“No, but I’ve hidden some things. I’m not just a guy who bums off his cousin and plays pick-up chess games.”

“I didn’t think that of you,” she said, honestly.

“Well, I mean that my full name is Alexander Godonov and I was the heir to the throne of Lavinia. It’s a small country near Russia.”

She blinked and forced herself to feign surprise. Kate couldn’t afford to come off as if she knew anything. Then he’d wonder how and ask too many questions. “What?”

“I’m a prince. I mean, I was.”

She nodded. “Was?”

“I’ve been exiled. My family was tired of my gambling problems. That’s why I didn’t want to use the chips that night and that’s why I was so nervous at the game. I can’t go back to the throne—can’t be in line again—unless I prove to them I can go without gambling. I’ve done it about six months, and I just need to go another six.”

She nodded and felt worse again. He was trying to be so honest, and she could tell from the waver in his voice how much he wanted to be free, to be able to go home. Who wouldn’t want to have their family accept them, to be back in their arms? She could understand that, but she didn’t want to.

“That sounds hard. I shouldn’t have encouraged you to gamble.”

Or tricked you a couple times, either
.

“I just should have told you sooner so you understood where I was coming from, but I was nervous about it. It was more that I wanted you to get to know me for myself before you got too attached to labels. I might not ever get my throne back, but I was scared that someone would only see me for the family name, and I’m
trying
to be more than that.”

She smiled and that much was genuine. “Like an aspiring magician and the world’s hottest chess geek.”

“Maybe?”

“And someone who mastered the home run before really even learning the term.”

He snorted. “Again, baseball doesn’t matter outside of the U.S.”

“And who maybe, just a little, sometimes reminds me of Count Von Count from
Sesame Street
.”

“My accent is mysterious and sexy, I’ll have you know,” he said, offering her that megawatt smile, and she melted for him. The heat flared through her belly, and, even if it was only for tonight, and even if she wasn’t being honest with him in return, Kate wanted Alex like she’d never wanted anyone before. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her skin. “Don’t you love the way I could whisper sweet nothings to you, princess.”

When she spoke, her words were so strained, as if speaking were the hardest thing on Earth. “I want you to do more.”

It was all she needed to say.

He was kissing her then, fevered sucking at her neck and then feather-light kisses that teased her collarbone. The next thing she knew, his mouth was on hers, his tongue tangling with hers warm and reassuringly. She reached up and grabbed onto his shoulders, solid like rock, and then relaxed even further as he ran his hands over her body, down her back and to her hips. Heat wasn’t just flaring through her body. No, it was more than that. She was wet and so ready for him, and so quickly. All she wanted was to feel skin against skin and to have him fill her deep inside.

“Too many clothes,” she gasped, pulling away from him.

He nodded. “It’s like you’re reading my mind.”

She stood. He reached over and lowered the zipper inch by agonizing inch on the back of her dress. She smirked even if he couldn’t see it and then shimmied out of it, standing before him in nothing but fine black lace. Kate turned around and was gratified with the way he licked his lips and how much more dilated his pupils seemed to be.

He stood up as well and stripped for her. It was slow and sensual, and she loved how the silk of his shirt slid off of his torso effortlessly. The sight before her made her knees weak, and she couldn’t keep herself from running her hands over his torso as Alex unhooked his belt. Even in a tank top, she’d had no idea how gorgeous he was.

Sure he was close to six and a half feet of broad-shouldered man, but his torso was a damn work of art, like he’d been carved out of marble for posterity in a museum—large shoulders, arms that looked strong enough to carry her anywhere, and a line of rippling abs that ended with the most tantalizing trail of hair going places south.

She grinned and reached out and ran her fingernails over the lines of his abs, enjoying the way he shivered under her ministrations. “Well, I didn’t think princes were supposed to be ticklish.”

He was still for a moment, even as he finished unbuttoning his pants. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“My title. It’s not even official currently, and it might never be again. I’m not a prince, that’s all.”

“Then it’s not completely what I meant,” she corrected, smiling and running her hands over the sharp planes of his delicious hip bones as well. “I just didn’t expect someone as strong and strapping to be ticklish. I mean, you squirm as badly as Lily.”

“I don’t always have to be manly,” he said, the smile returning to his face as he broke away from her to push off his pants and his boxers. “Besides, those nails of yours could drive any man wild, princess.”

She wanted to say something cool and flippant—find a way to disarm him. Instead, she let out a gasp and shook her head in astonishment. Kate couldn’t help it. The sight of his erection springing free, already glistening with precum, was probably one of the seven damn wonders of the world. She’d had a few men in her life, but none of them had come close to his size. She shuddered just thinking about having him inside her.

“You’re amazing.”

He shook his head and kissed her again, and she could already feel his erection pressing against her stomach. “You’re the amazing one. I just…you’re sure, even if I’m not even in line for anything?”

She nodded and stroked his cheek. “I want you. Please, Alex, make love to me.”

And, to be fair, Kate was surprised by the vehemence of her words, her desperation. This wasn’t an act. It wasn’t something she was doing to lure him, not completely. She’d never wanted a man as badly as she wanted him. She was dripping for him, so ready, and it was mostly in reaction just to
seeing
him.

She slunk over to the bed and lay out on the silk sheets; they felt cool and inviting against her flushed skin. “Please,” Kate said, her voice coming out in a whimper.

He nodded and delayed only long enough to pull a condom from his bedside table and slip it over his length. Then he was on her, crawling up from the foot of the bed with all the feral grace of a panther, and then he was over top of her, the heft of him tantalizing in its own way. Alex leaned down and started to kiss at her breasts and then eased his eager mouth over her right nipple. He sucked at it and the pressure made her nipples peak and harden instantly.

By now, her most sensitive bundle of nerves was pounding in time with her wild heartbeat; need was flowing through her like a living, breathing force and she felt like she might die if he weren’t inside of her soon.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

She nodded and bit her lip as he entered her. It had been a while and he was so large. He went slowly, easing into her inch by delectable inch even as he continued to rub the sides of her body and hips and suck at her nipples. Finally, she felt him in her completely, all the way until his balls were up against her. Alex began to move his hips, and she wrapped her legs around him and moved with him in time as well.

The heat that had been flaring through her was roaring now, like a forest fire over every nerve, something raging unabated that showed no signs of stopping at all. He rocked and she rocked with him, the pounding of her clitoris crescendoing even as he screamed over her. They were like that for what felt like hours—writhing and screaming—she eventually couldn’t stand the pleasure and felt her nails dig a bit into his back in her desperation.

He came then, screaming her name and something else but she couldn’t follow; it was in Russian. Alex continued to pump into her and she felt him reach down to tease her clit just a bit more. It was too much.

She came with a force that made her whole body shudder.

She screamed too.

Huh, she’d never thought of herself as loud during sex.

When the pleasure finally and slowly drained from both of them, he pulled out completely and opened his arms. She cradled up against him, feeling his strong body encased around her almost like a protective cage. Kate felt so safe there, and the irony bit her hard since she was the one who was a threat to him, since she was the ultimate black widow spinning her web.

Tears came to her eyes, and she blinked them away.

This was the only way and life had left her no other choices. The damn insurance companies hadn’t either.

He sighed contentedly behind her and kissed her temple. “Are you happy, Kate?”

She forced her voice to be level when she spoke and offered him as much truth as she could. “I’ve rarely been happier.”

***

Alex was a deep sleeper and that was lucky for her because she needed desperately to get to his laptop in the kitchenette. She slipped with some difficulty out from under his anaconda-like grip. There were a few heart attack moments when he almost stirred, but she managed to weather them. Now Kate was at his laptop, doing her thing.

She’d been very good at computers in high school. Before the car accident had killed her parents and left her sister ill with seizures, before the endless doctors’ appointments and long days as a concierge, before all of that she’d been a gifted computer programmer with a partial scholarship to Carnegie-Mellon University.

It had been her dream.

Now all she wanted was for Lily to be safe.

It wasn’t hard to crack his password; that wasn’t a challenge and, frankly, one would be surprised at how many truly terrible passwords people chose. At least the prince’s had some random characters and numbers in it. That was better than someone she’d once hacked—if you could call it that—whose password was literally “password.”

Once she was in, she headed straight for his browser history and the last site he’d been to was “PokerHits.com.” Clicking into it, she was more than able to find his account. God bless autosave on passwords, since that saved her massive amounts of time.

She logged into it and its stats, shocked a bit even with his reputation to see how many thousands of dollars he’d lost over the last few months. Whatever pity stipend his family had given him for the year had to be running awfully low. She wondered if his cousin even knew. Was that why he was staying at the hotel?

She made screenshots of everything as well as three other accounts on similar sites and e-mails linking the accounts to Alex and then she both emailed them to herself and uploaded the screen caps to her online drive. It was more than enough to sink any chance Alex had of getting back on the Lavinian throne. Again, even had she suspected, Kate had had no idea how deeply in the red with some of these places he actually was.

Ouch
.

Sighing, she cleared everything expertly and turned the computer off.

Shaking her head, she slipped back under Alex’s grip. Now all she needed to do was find a foolproof way to get the evidence to the king and queen. That was a challenge, but she’d weather it.

It was what she did.