A Royal Mess and Her Knight To Remember Read online

  Tim swiped at his eyes and looked over at the chocolate-covered Natalia.

  She made a sound of bafflement and spread her arms wide, staring down at herself.

  Tim stuck his tongue out and caught a drop off the edge of his nose. “Mmm.”

  “Oh my God. It’s everywhere.” It was dripping off her own nose, her chin, and was plastered across the front of her shirt and down her jeans.

  She looked very edible, and immediately he started salivating.

  As if she could read his mind, she pointed a finger and glared at him. “This,” she said in a very royal voice, “is all your fault.”

  “Mine!” He put his hand to his chest—his chocolate-splattered chest—and had to laugh. “How do you figure that?”

  “You distracted me! I was trying to work and you wouldn’t stop…you just…”

  He liked where this was going. “Yes?”

  “Oh, never mind. It’s just all your fault.”

  Oh, no. Not good enough. He wanted to hear it. “Because I distract you.”

  “I just said so, didn’t I?”

  “Because you’re attracted to me.”

  “That I never said.”

  “I’m attracted to you back, Natalia.”

  She lifted her face and studied his. “Really?”

  “You know I am.”

  Her eyes closed. “Yes, but you hate to take advantage of a crazy woman.” She reached for a towel, wet it and started wiping her face. Her expression was a war of things, with annoyance topping the list, and for some unknown reason, it made him want to hold her.

  Kiss her.

  Because now it was in his head; the taste of her, the feel of her, the little murmur she made deep in her throat when he used his tongue. Taking her wrist, he pulled the towel out of her fingers. “Let me.”

  “Don’t.”

  “I want to help.” But he dropped the towel as he moved his mouth down just a little, to beneath her lobe. Then with his tongue lapped at the spot, taking in chocolate and the sweet taste of woman.

  Natalia’s eyes fell closed. “Wait.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m still mad at you. I can’t stay mad at you with your mouth on me.”

  “Oh, well, then.” He kissed his way down her throat to the pulse beating wildly at the base of her neck. “Good dessert.”

  “Tim.” Her voice sounded satisfyingly weak. “I mean it.”

  “Yes, you want to stay mad. Go ahead…” Another nibble. “Go right ahead.”

  Her low moan aroused him, so did the way she tilted her head to give him better access, and he smiled against her delicious skin.

  “I’m…famous for holding a grudge,” she warned breathlessly. “Ask…my sisters. Annie and Lili.”

  “Ah, classified family information.” He wanted more, wanted to know everything. “I’d love to ask your sisters all about you. Tell me more.” His mouth had worked its way down to her collarbone, a very sexy spot that made him want to tear off her clothes and start the blender again, all over her naked body. Now that would be a worthy food fight. “Tell me, Natalia, about you.”

  “You may not believe this, but people actually look up to me. Value my opinions.” Her eyes shuttered closed, her breathing still shaky, but she managed a smile. “My cooking.”

  “And yet you didn’t want to call anyone.”

  “I needed a break.” He blew on the spot he’d just wet with his mouth, and she sucked in a big gulp of air. “They like to smother me.”

  “Your father?” His hands slid from her waist to her back, to just beneath her shirt where he could play with the soft skin at the base of her spine.

  “Yes, my father.” A sound escaped her that managed to perfectly convey her reluctant arousal at what he was doing, but what really turned him on was the way she’d fisted his shirt in her hands, as if she couldn’t quite stand on her own. He wondered if she even realized how tightly she was holding him to her.

  “He worries about me.” She tossed her head back, eyes still closed. “Thinks I’ll get taken advantage of in the real world.”

  He lifted his head to look down into her face. Her eyes were still closed, her mouth opened slightly, as if she needed more air. On her cheeks where she’d scrubbed the chocolate off was the blush of arousal that he’d put there. Of their own, his hands tightened possessively on her, but suddenly he couldn’t take this any further. Couldn’t take advantage, no matter who the hell she was.

  She was only here because he’d wanted to help her. He wasn’t sure that still applied, as he’d never met anyone more capable of handling herself—mud wrestling came to mind—but that didn’t change things.

  Or did it? Even if she was who she claimed to be, did he really want to follow through with this crazy attraction? No doubt his body did, quite badly.

  But his brain held things up. She was worth so much more than what a one-night fling would give them, and what more could he offer? What more would she want? Women hadn’t exactly clamored for what he could offer before, and he couldn’t say he blamed them.

  In any case, he’d kept his mouth off of her too long, and she pulled back. “This is such a mess.” Hands on her sticky hips, she looked around with a stern expression completely overridden by the spatters across her face and entire body. “I can’t believe you did this.”

  He grinned and she narrowed her chocolate gaze on him. “You laughing at me?”

  “No ma’am.”

  “This is going to take forever to clean up.”

  “I guess you’ll have to stay longer.”

  In the act of reaching for a sponge, she went utterly still. “How much longer?”

  How much time do you have? “That would depend, I suppose.”

  “On?”

  “Well, you have that wedding to attend, for one.”

  “I’m not going to the wedding. I tried to tell you the other day, but…” She lifted a chocolate-covered shoulder. “I called ahead, told them I was…”

  “Covered in chocolate?”

  “Something like that.”

  She was looking at him, searching for something in his eyes, only he didn’t have a clue what she saw when she looked at him.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I wasn’t sure about it.”

  “Because you wanted to go.”

  “Because I wanted to stay.”

  Something deep inside him reacted at that, and instead of panic, he felt a surge of yearning. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said carefully.

  “So now I have a few extra days…if you still want them.”

  Oh, he wanted them. “And then?”

  “And then I go home.” Averting her face, she busied herself at the sink, wetting towels. “And that’s that.”

  “Sounds pretty final.”

  “It is.”

  Did it have to be? What was so wrong about seeing this thing through? Hell, if he was willing to try, why couldn’t she? “Natalia…” He took a step toward her, then hit a particularly slippery puddle of goop. Before he could blink, he was sliding, backpedaling…and bouncing on his butt.

  “Tim!” Natalia dropped to her knees, wrapped her arms around him and pressed his face to her chest. Specifically to her breasts. “You okay?” she demanded.

  He opened his eyes to take in the soft, lush curves cushioning his head. “I think I’m a little dizzy,” he said truthfully, and she pulled him closer, close enough to feel her nipple in his ear. He could have turned his head, opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue and licked it. Even as he thought it, the nub hardened, pressing against the material of her shirt as if perfectly in tune to his thoughts, making him groan.

  “Tell me what hurts, Tim.” She bent a little so that her hair fell all around him like a silk curtain, tickling his face, poking him in the eye. She held her body—a chocolate-covered body, he might add—against him so tight he could feel her every curve and nuance. Her flesh was hot, her hair—still poking him in the eyes—s