Kat clutched her heart and quickly tiptoed to the bed, putting on her flannel shirt. “I didn’t see you there. You kind of blend in with the furniture.”
“I’ve been told that I’m wooden.”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to call you wooden, but youarea little antique,” she said, a playful lilt in her voice. She left the top four buttons undone and gracefully approached him. “Just so you know, I don’t do this with other guys.”
“Make love?”
She sat on his lap and kissed his neck. “I meant crying, letting someone give me a bath and feed me, the oil massage… although that was one of the highlights.”
“Incomparable to what we did in the basement?”
A smile touched her lips. “I like you, Charming.”
“Like?”
He bristled at the word, because the way he felt for her was indescribable—a word he longed to hear from her lips.
Kat dodged his glare.
“I have many years ahead of me, Kat, and so do you. I’m going to guess you’re already aware of this.”
She nodded and rested her left arm over his shoulder. “My father told us we were purebloods. I believe that’s why he was destroyed by our mother leaving, since it’s so hard to find another like us. Not that he wanted more kids or anything, but I guess he thought old royalty should stay together.”
“Did he love her?”
“Maybe it was a mating of convenience at first, but I think he fell in love with her. I just don’t think she loved him back.”
That made Prince’s heart stop. He’d given her everything a male could in one night, but was that enough to make a woman give a man her heart?
“Anyhow,” she went on, “I don’t think she hated us. On one hand, I think she was selfish to leave her children, but on the other hand, we were better off with our father. We grew up in Russia under the protection of my father’s pack. He wouldn’t have wanted my mother dragging us around the country with her new mate like a band of gypsies. I just wish she would have at least visited us instead of cutting all ties.”
“How long did you stay?”
She nestled against him, circling her finger against his bare chest. “Until we were about nine. Then Papa wanted to move to America. The pack was divided, but most of them came along. When we came of age, Nadia moved back to Russia. She got a job at a prestigious museum, but I think she really went back to find our mother. After ten years, she moved here but didn’t want anything to do with living with a pack.”
He was saddened by this story—that two girls were estranged from their mother most of their lives. “And your mother is still in Russia?”
She nodded. “How come you don’t talk to me like you do with Nadia?”
He brushed her tangled hair away from her face so he could read her expression. “I’m not certain what you mean.”
“On the rooftop, you were Mr. Chatty with her, but I always feel like I’m doing all the talking when we’re together.”
He squeezed her gently. “I spend too much time talking. It’s refreshing to hear what you have to say. And besides, your sister’s version of conversation is stilted and about superficial things. She’s not as forthright as she perceives herself to be.”
Kat flattened her hand on his bare chest. He liked the feel of her in his arms, the casualness of the way she showed her affection.
“You have to catch her in a good mood and she’ll open up. Sometimes she’s so concerned about what other people will think about her that she doesn’t know how to talk to someone. I don’t care about opinions. I say what’s on my mind and you either like it or you don’t. Maybe I’m too blunt and cuss too much…”
He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and she lifted her chin, silently demanding one to her lips. He obliged, but only on the corner of her mouth. “It wasn’t long ago I would have found a woman with your tongue crass and offensive.”
She nibbled his bottom lip and purred, “How do you like my tongue now?”
“I’m not sure. Let me taste…”
When their kiss deepened, Prince stirred with arousal.
Kat abruptly pulled back and patted his chest. “Not now. I have too much on my mind.”
