The same dark eyes he’d connected with when she’d swooped in to rescue him from unwanted female attention stared back at him. Even now they were filled with compassion and concern for him.
That spark of worry he saw floating in her gaze scraped across his soul, igniting a blaze of anger that threatened to overcome him.
He fisted his hands at his sides as if he were physically trying to wrestle his rising anger under his control. He was a king. Control was kind of his thing. Losing it could mean the difference between life and death and between the success and failure of his nation, his people. He had to keep his head on straight.
“What type of game are you and your sister playing at?”
His jaw clicked with each word. He was certain it would ache later, considering how tightly he was clenching his teeth. He tightened the muscles there even more, knowing it was either deal with a sore jaw or put his fist through the wall of a hotel he didn’t own in a country he didn’t rule.
She stepped closer to him. He was sure she could see the fury humming off him in waves, but she kept walking until she was directly in front of him, as if she welcomed his anger, accepted it. He reasoned either she had no sense of self-preservation, or she was out of her mind. His anger was at a raging boil now; he was certain he could rip her to shreds with his bare hands.
Then the soft scent of roses and vanilla filled his senses, acting like a soothing balm, dousing his rage even though he wanted nothing more than to pour gasoline on it.
“Your Majesty.”
“Aléx!” He bellowed. “To you, I am always Aléx. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
He didn’t know why her use of his courtesy title raised his hackles so much. People used it repeatedly throughout any given day when addressing him. And yet it sounded so wrong crossing those full lips. Lips he’d tasted, lips he’d devoured, and heaven help him, even in his anger, he wanted to devour again.
“Aléx… I… I didn’t mean to deceive you.”
“You sure about that, Treasure? Because I’ve spent the last four months thinking I slept with your sister and not you. If that’s not deception, I don’t know what is.”
He expected her to cower at his words. That’s what most people did when they earned his displeasure. But not this woman. She stood bold before him, owning the disdain he was so generously dishing out.
She held his gaze, as true and as strong as it had been that night four months ago. Again, it soothed him, making him want to forget even when he needed to remember.
“I never intended to say more than hello and goodbye to anyone that night. Reigna and Jasiri were secretly married in a civil ceremony at the Nyeusian embassy here in America, and she was off in Nyeusi helping Jasiri secure his throne. That’s the only reason I was there in the first place.”
His eyes narrowed into slits as he watched her try to make sense out of the nonsensical.
“What does any of this have to do with you crawling into my bed and letting me think I was sleeping with your sister?”
To her credit, she didn’t falter. Her gaze remained steady on him, and he couldn’t help but be impressed by whatever it was that was driving her to face him and his wrath.
“Reigna’s absence would’ve been noticed at an event of that social and business magnitude. The press would’ve begun digging, and Jasiri’s Uncle Pili would’ve thwarted their plans and possibly stolen the throne away from Jasiri. Besides that, it would’ve been bad for Gemini Queens if the face of the company didn’t turn up. I was only supposed to show my face, smile and mingle. But when I saw that woman pawing at you, I knew I had to do something.”
Her forthrightness threw him. How could she be so calm as she recounted her wrongdoing?
“I wasn’t expecting to end up in your bed, Aléx. It all just sort of happened. One minute we were talking, and the next we were all over each other.”
They certainly had been. He could still feel the heat of her burning flesh against his, still feel the need that vibrated through her body every time he touched her.
She was so close to him, his fingers ached to touch her. Although he knew he couldn’t give in to that desire, it still spread through his veins like an opiate, making every ounce of his being crave her from the first and only taste he’d had of her.
He turned, spotting the desk behind them. He leaned over it, pressing his knuckles into its cool wood surface. He hoped the bite of the wood against his flesh would sober that temptation. The discomfort was supposed to keep him focused instead of making him want to reach out and possess her the same way he had four months ago.
“I was trying to protect my sister, Aléx. That night with you was an unexpected gift I had no way of anticipating.”
He chuckled at her use of the wordgift. He straightened as the heat of his anger began to swell again.
“Funny how I’d thought of it that way too until I thought you were trying to pass my baby off as Jasiri’s.”
Yes, this…this rage, this searing, ugly thing that made him want to lash out,thathe could hold on to. He turned and closed the distance between them again.
“Until you walked into this room obviously not pregnant, tore open a familiar hole in my—”
He clasped his jaw shut, refusing to let the rest of that sentence find its way into the ether. That was his alone. He wouldn’t share it with anyone else. Not now. Not ever.
