Page 24 of Twelve Nights In The Prince's Bed

‘You tricked me into taking your virginity.’

‘I did not trick you!’

His nostrils flared but otherwise he didn’t react. ‘We were both there. You had a chance to tell me; you didn’t.’ She couldn’t refute that. He was right; they both knew what had happened that night. ‘Don’t I deserve some explanation?’

She closed her eyes and he moved closer, his body so strong and warm, and even though it was his questions filling her with uncertainty, he was also the antidote to that, so she wanted to lean against him and draw strength and courage from his powerful frame.

‘Damn it, Adrastos,’ she groaned, blinking up at him.

As if he understood what she needed, he closed every last skerrick of distance between them, his eyes half mocking, half sensual, when they held hers.

She chewed on her lower lip, shaking her head. ‘It’s not a big deal. I’ve just never had sex before.’

Standing so close, he now lifted a hand to tuck some hair behind her ear, the touch gentle and light, before falling to her shoulder. She almost jumped at the contact. ‘You went to a co-ed school. Then university. You have a job, in an office, with, I presume, other people. You have lived away from the palace since you were eighteen years old. There has been no shortage of opportunities, and I am sure no shortage of willing and available men throwing themselves at your feet...’

‘If they were, I didn’t notice.’

‘Oh, come on. You’re not seriously saying you’ve never noticed how men look at you?’

Her pulse throbbed heavily in her veins. ‘What are you talking about? You’ve never seen me with men.’

‘But I’ve seenyou, and I am a man. I know that any red-blooded male would find it hard to be around you and not wonder...’

‘Don’t say that.’ She squeezed her eyes shut against his compliment. It wasn’t, couldn’t be, true. Not of him, and not of anyone. ‘I know you don’t feel that way.’

‘I understand that you’re inexperienced but you were there the other night, weren’t you? You saw the effect you have on me.’

‘I thought it was a mistake?’

‘It was a mistake to act on my attraction but that doesn’t change how I felt.’

She shook her head, sipping her tea quickly, and burning her tongue. ‘Damn it.’ Her voice shook a little. She placed her tea down quickly. ‘Just...stop.’

‘I can’t understand why this is an issue.’

‘Because I’m not—I don’t—I mean, I’ve been asked out. I’m just...’

His eyes had an intensity that made her realise he was paying very close attention, not just to her words but to what she wasn’t saying as well. He moved his hand lower, down her arm, to her wrist. Goosebumps trailed in the wake of his touch.

‘You’ve been asked out, and?’

And any of the dates she’d gone on had been abysmal failures, because she’d treated them almost like job interviews. It had been of little interest to her before her twenty-first, but after that kiss, something had shifted inside Poppy, had been completely closed off, so she couldn’t think of a man without remembering the way Adrastos had made her feel.

‘I’ve been busy, Adrastos,’ she said, unevenly. ‘Law school, my job—’

‘Not so busy you couldn’t date.’

‘We weren’t all born to be playboy princes,’ she said with an attempt at dismissive humour she immediately regretted, because she knew he hated the moniker the press had given him. He wasn’t a playboy. He was intelligent and focussed on his role as Prince; he just happened to see a lot of women in his downtime.

‘Somewhere between my lifestyle and yours there is a happy medium,’ he said, his voice gruff, so she couldn’t help but tilt her face towards his, to see him better. Then wished she hadn’t when their eyes locked and she felt that powerful, zapping connection.

Her heart stammered and she swallowed unevenly.

‘When I kissed you,’ he said slowly, moving his hand to the small of her back and pressing her forward lightly, so their bodies were melded. He smelled of cologne and Scotch. Her stomach rolled.

‘Which time?’ she asked, aiming for tart and instead sounding breathless.

‘At your twenty-first birthday.’ He moved his other hand to her cheek, his thumb brushing the corner of her mouth. She closed her eyes on an uneven breath.

---