The Billionaire Princess (3 page)

The sound of a chair scratching on the ground drew Christopher’s attention to Dylan whispering something in Callie's ear before they both stood and joined the dancing couple.  Shortly after that Maureen pushed her chair back as well.

“I think I'll say goodnight. It's already tomorrow morning back in North Salem.”

Left alone at the table, Sara and Christopher ordered another round of drinks and finished their dinner in silence while the other two couples danced to the slow love songs pouring from the speakers. 

Finished with dinner Christopher leaned back in his chair and watched Sara from across the table.  Since joining the party she hadn't said much beyond the basic pleasantries. 

“Do you want to dance?” he asked before taking the last sip of his second martini.

She was watching the two couples moving to the music and immediately her head whipped around to face him, but Sara remained silent.

“If you don't want to that's fine too.”  It didn't matter much to him either way.  When it came to dancing he usually avoided it.  Yet she'd been watching the other couples with such longing, he guessed she enjoyed it.

Sara started to push her chair back.  “Sure.”

Christopher followed her toward the dance floor.  When she stopped and faced him, he encircled her waist with his arms and pulled her closer but kept an appropriate distance between them.

Once Sara slid her arms around his neck, they began to move to the classic love ballad pouring from the speakers.  Slowly one song melded into another, and soon he couldn't remember how long they'd danced or when he'd pulled her so close.  No space remained between them as they moved as one with her head resting against his chest.  But he didn’t mind, in fact he liked the way her body felt pressed up against his.  He didn't even mind that every now and then a strand of her silky hair blew across his face.

Throughout their dancing, his eyes strayed back to the woman in his arms.  He enjoyed watching the candlelight flicker across her skin, and the way she felt in his arms.

A few feet away Charlie and Jake danced and, as the song ended, he noticed Charlie whisper in Jake's ear.

“I'm told it's time to call it a night.  We'll see you all tomorrow.”  The smile on Jake's face told everyone he was more than happy to head inside.

“I doubt that,” Dylan said from near the pool where he and Callie danced.

Jake ignored his half-brother and kept on walking. 

Christopher agreed with Dylan.  He’d be surprised if he saw Jake or Charlie again before he returned home.

“I think it's time we went inside too.  We'll see you two sometime tomorrow.”  Dylan led Callie toward the glass doors.

Christopher paused for a moment even though a new song started. “Looks like we've been deserted,” he said letting his eyes rest on Sara's face.

Sara met his gaze and then nodded, “Seems that way.”

Without any warning, Sara moved out of his arms.  “I think I need another drink.”

He couldn't be certain but he thought he detected the slightest hint of embarrassment in her voice.  “Sounds like a good idea.  What can I make for you?”

“Another Cosmo would be great,” she answered with a tiny half smile.

Nodding he headed toward the vacant bar.  He'd never received any formal training, but he knew how to mix the staple drinks.  Once both drinks were prepared he carried them to Sara, standing near the pool.

For a while they both stood in silence gazing out at the beach below.  Although long past sunset, the lights from the other hotels and the streets below provided enough illumination to see the sandy beach and rolling waves.

“Are you working for
Sherbrooke Enterprises now?” He remembered Jake telling him Sara graduated from Harvard Law School.  A position in the company's legal department seemed the next logical step for her.  Assuming she worked at all.  She didn't have any reason to.

“No.  I'm Senator David Healy's chief of staff.  I've been with him since his campaign.” 

She took a large swallow of her drink and he watched, mesmerized for some reason by the way she held her glass to her lips.  The urge to pull the glass away and replace it with his mouth started to overtake him.  It wasn't the first time since meeting her years before that he'd been physically attracted to her, any man with a pulse would be. But tonight the pull was stronger.  Different somehow.  In a way he couldn't explain.

“You look surprised,” Sara said reminding Christopher that he still hadn't responded.

“I don't associate beautiful woman with politics.”  He didn't stop to filter the thoughts flowing through his head and the words spilled out.

Countless men had called her beautiful, yet coming from him it sounded different, more sincere perhaps.  Running her tongue over her lips to moisten them, she met his gaze. Then they both took a step forward at the same instant.  A tiny part of her brain went on autopilot when she felt her body come into contact with his.  Slowly, he lowered his head toward hers and she found herself craving the taste of his lips more than she craved her next breath.

When his lips settled on hers he placed his hands on her shoulders, warmth seeping
though her body.  Their kiss remained gentle and sweet, but Sara allowed herself to learn the taste and texture of his lips, something she'd wanted to do since he climbed into the limo that afternoon.

The desire to increase the intensity of the kiss soon exploded.  Sara wrapped her arms around Christopher's waist and anchored him against her as they continued to kiss.  When the need for air became so great she feared his lungs would explode, Christopher pulled his mouth away from hers and began to leave a trail of kisses from the corner of her mouth across her jaw and down her neck.

In response Sara tilted her neck to the side to give him better access.  Christopher continued his trail of kisses as his hands slid up and down the skin of her uncovered back causing her to tingle at his touch.

“Maybe we should go inside,” he whispered near her ear.

She nodded in agreement without pausing to consider the ramifications.  Moving on autopilot, she let him lead her back inside to his room as  his hands and lips stayed in contact with her body.

After closing the door with his foot, she heard him lock it.  One hand gripped her hip making it difficult to move, while he attempted to unbutton his shirt with the other.  When the buttons wouldn't cooperate fast enough he yanked at the front tearing the buttons off and sending them in every direction.  Once his shirt no longer remained as a barrier between them, he reached for her zipper.  In the back of her mind, she expected him stop at any second—for him to come to his senses, pull away and toss her from the room.  Instead he slid the zipper down her back and then pushed the thin straps from her shoulders, making the dress fall in a puddle around her feet.

Kicking the dress aside, she reached for his belt buckle.  As her hands worked to undo it, his hands explored the contours of her back only stopping once to unclasp on her strapless bra.

When they'd both managed to dispose of each other’s clothing, he moved them, stopping when the backs of her legs hit the bed.  Then in one final movement they tumbled onto the bed together.

Sara awoke and was instantly aware of two things; she had no clothes on and there was an arm draped across her stomach that didn't belong to her.  As the cobwebs of sleep cleared from her mind bits and pieces from the night before came trickling back into her consciousness.

After the ceremony everyone had gathered for dinner and dancing.  At some point everyone but she and Christopher disappeared from the romantic poolside setting and she had yet another
cosmo, her fourth of the night. Normally she stopped after two.  She could only remember one occasion when she'd consumed three and she didn't know why she had so many the night before.

After the drink they'd kissed.  At first the kiss had been gentle, but it'd changed as desire and longing surged through her veins.  It'd been more than two years since a man kissed her.  Without any warning her body instantly responded.  Soon she and Christopher were holding onto each other for dear life as they made their way to his room.

Not once had she paused to think about what she was doing.  She'd let him take her dress off without any protest.  She thought she remembered helping him remove an article or two of his clothing, but she couldn't be certain.

Groaning at the memory, she squeezed her eyes together.  Maybe if she didn't open them all these memories would turn out to be just part of a dream.  A very nice dream, but one she'd didn't want to be real.  Maybe the weight she felt across her middle was a figment of her imagination.

Sara shifted her leg a little and the feel of crisp hairs against her leg dashed away any hope that she was still dreaming.  Slowly taking in a deep breath and then exhaling, Sara opened her eyes.

Something between a groan and a laugh bubbled up and out of her when her eyes settled on Christopher's face.  His eyes were still closed and his breathing remained even, as if he didn't have a care in the world.

Hell, what was I thinking?
  She'd never in her life had a one-night stand.  Not to mention this was her brother's best friend. 
How was she going to face Christopher now?  What about her brother?
  She'd die if Jake ever found out.

Could she sneak out before he woke up?  While it might not solve the overall problem at hand, at least she would not have to face him naked the minute he woke up.

In an effort not to wake him, Sara slid toward the edge of the bed all the while keeping her eyes locked on his face. 
Almost there.

The arm Christopher had draped across her stomach slipped off.  With one leg over the side of the bed, she sat up prepared to retrieve her dress and yank it on.

“Sara?”  Christopher sounded as confused as she'd been when she first woke up.

Embarrassed by her state of undress and unable to get her dress without standing, she yanked the sheet around her.

For what felt like an eternity a heavy silence hung in the air between them.  “I… we… uh… should talk.”

The mattress shifted and she knew without looking that he'd pulled himself into a sitting position.

“I'm… I didn't intend for this to happen,” Christopher said, his tone apologetic. 

He took hold of her hand and heat flooded her face.  Unable to look at him, she nodded, not sure whether to tell him she understood or tell him it was okay. At the moment a whole
plethora  of perplexing emotions churned inside her.

“Sara?”

Since she couldn't undo the events from the night before, she had to face them.  “We're both adults.  Last night happened.  No big deal.”  Sara struggled to keep her voice sounding nonchalant.  “Trust me, things like this happen all the time.  I don't even know how many times it happened during the eighteen months I worked on the senator's campaign,” she said matter-of-factly. 
Just not to me.  “
People get lonely and when they do they look for companionship.”  Did her argument sound better to him than it did to her?  She hoped so.

“Still it shouldn't have happened.  I'm sorry.”

She saw worry and guilt in his eyes when she looked over at him.  Placing a hand on his bare shoulder, she leaned a little closer.  “You have nothing to apologize for, okay?  Let’s pretend it never happened.”  Could she do that?  Saying the words was one thing, carrying them out another.

“I should go before anyone gets up and sees me leaving.”  Sara dropped her hand. 
The way she saw it, if she left now she had more than a fifty-fifty chance of getting back to her room unseen by either of her brothers.  “If it's all the same to you, I'd rather keep this a secret between us.”

Sara knew she didn't imagine the look of relief that washed across his face.

“You read my mind.  Jake would kill me if he found out,” Christopher answered, his face devoid of any humor.  In one fluid movement he swung his legs over the side of the bed so he faced away from her.  “Go ahead and get dressed.  I promise not to look.”

She glanced once at his bare back.  The night before she hadn't seen any of it, but her hands had roamed across every inch.  In the morning light she could see the muscles her hands had traced the night before and immediately her hands tingled wanting to do so again.

Bad idea.  Very bad idea.
  Before she could give in to her hands’ desire, she jumped off the bed and snatched up her dress.  In record time the dress went over her head, and she zipped it up.  While her first instinct was to fly out the bedroom door, she paused long enough to open it and peek into the hall.  From there the coast appeared clear.

Please let me make it to my room.
“I'll see you later,” she said without looking back at Christopher.  Sara didn't stick around for his reply.  Slipping into the hall, she closed the door gently behind her.

So far so good.
  Sara walked down the hall toward an empty living room.  The curtains covering the windows and French doors remained closed, hinting at the fact no one else was up yet.  As she crossed the living room toward the hall leading to her room, she held her breath.  Just a few more steps and their secret would be safe.  No one would ever know.