Page 21 of Impossible Heir for the King

‘Never? No chance? No cute guest one time?’ He stared at her intensely.

She winced. ‘My father’s guests aren’t exactly my type.’ She didn’t want to talk about this. Didn’t want his pity.

‘So you have a type?’

‘I haven’t had a chance to figure that out yet.’

‘Because you’ve never had the chance to meet anyone else.’ He paused thoughtfully. ‘It’s not fair.’

His humanity was worse.

‘I’m sorry,’ he added. ‘This whole situation really isn’t fair.’

Not oneitherof them. She was never the bride he’d ever have selected for himself.

‘I guess we can’t all get whatever we want, whenever we want. Not without repercussions or some kind of price to pay,’ she muttered.

‘We should get what we wantsometimesthough. Even just some of what we want,’ he countered. ‘Just as we can’t always get everything we want, we also shouldn’t have to miss out oneverything all of the time. We ought to be able to get some things sometimes, right?’ He regarded her steadily.

‘There’s still a price. There’s always a price.’ For people like her anyway.

He looked at the little knife he still had in his hand. ‘Perhaps you’re right.’

Maia couldn’t answer him. The thing she wanted to get? Him. Just him. His attention. His touch. And she was angry with herself for being that predictable. That needy.

‘Truce, Maia?’ He held the knife out to her.

‘Okay.’ She took it from him. Maybe she would take all she could from him. ‘Truce.’

Niko made himself take another deep breath and counted to five while doing so. Anything to try to keep his focus. But he kept failing. Any calm he might have recaptured through his marathon swim session this afternoon had been instantly tossed overboard at the sight of her in that flowing dress that clung in only a couple of very soft-looking places. As for her stunning hair—it was finally loose and visible to him. She had beautiful jet black tresses that were so long, so rich in fullness and colour that all he wanted was to run his hands the length of them and pull her closer. He wanted to feel its silkiness tease his skin as she straddled him and bent her lush mouth to—

He was meant to be providing reassurance and building trust! Not teasing her about them getting it on, and worse, letting his imagination venture into a heated intimacy that he surely didn’t actually want!

But curiosity was in control—he was fascinated by her and desperate to find out more about her. And the realisation that her inexperience wasn’t because she wasn’t interested but that she’d just never had the chance for fun before was stunning. He’d been an idiot not to understand that already. And he was grateful that she’d not suffered worse at the hands of any of her father’s guests. All of whom were greedy and unafraid of skirting the law.

She shifted restlessly. ‘We ought to go inside and have dinner.’

She was running away from the intensity between them again. ‘So soon?’

‘I imagine Aron’s gone to a lot of trouble and I don’t want to disrespect him by taking so long that his food spoils.’

For a second he was startled. But her consideration made sense. Had that happened to her?

‘People who are spoilt sometimes aren’t conscious of the effort made around them,’ she said.

That was possibly true although not, he preferred to think, of himself though. ‘Aron knows me and my timetable here very well. He prepares cold salads because I’m often late to dine here.’

‘Because you lose track of time while entertaining?’

He suspected the acidic drop in her tone was based more in jealousy than judgement and he wantedherto have some fun. He wanted not just toseethat, but wanted to make it happen for her.

‘Because I’m often working late,’ he corrected. ‘But if I’m not working I’m off swimming or diving, running or climbing, and no one is here to stop me or to ask other things of me—’

‘And do you always do all those things naked?’

He paused, momentarily thrown. ‘You saw?’ He suddenly laughed as she blushed. ‘I do apologise if what you saw offended your sensibilities. When you dived overboard I was still fully dressed. I stripped to my briefs but they’re uncomfortable for swimming after a while. So when I went back to secure the boat I opted for full freedom over chafing.’

She didn’t answer. She just fidgeted with that knife.

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