"Must be the hockey scores," he chuckled. His accent was getting thicker with every touch and the sound surrounded her, the heat returning and pooling low in her stomach. The things he did to her with a few harmless, soft-spoken words had her wanting to tell him.
"Just a casualty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Attempted beheading?"
"Something like that." She remembered it like it was yesterday, the last time she"d let herself be oblivious and carefree. The last time she"d acted without a plan, without thinking everything through and being ten steps ahead.
"Why does it scare you?" he whispered against her, where neck met shoulder, his lips softening the words.
"It doesn"t," she protested, turning to look at him and show there wasn"t any fear in her eyes even if there was in her heart. "It just reminds me of things I"d rather not remember." They all chided her for it but being prepared would prevent more scars she had no more on her body for him to see.
It wasn"t the only scar from that night though. She knew Blaze had one, rising jaggedly from his hip like a toddler"s first attempt with crayons. He hadn"t even noticed when he was. .h.i.t, but that was expected. Manic and tripping on acid, his words and thoughts running away with him, great works of art splashed across every surface of their apartment.
But he"d noticed Kat fall. Which was more than her mother had off her meds, ranting at the walls and screaming dissertations on revisionist history, lashing out so "they" wouldn"t win. One minute she"d been listening to Black Sabbath, the next she was flat on her back, the whole illusion of her childhood shattering in an instant. The moment she was forced to grow up.
"Kisa, where did you go?" Sebastian"s lips rested against her temple, pulling her from her thoughts.
"Nowhere warm." Kat slipped her hand into his hair and pulled his lips against hers, wanting nothing more than to end the questions and forget herself in the feel of this skin. Sebastian wrapped one hand around her body, curling across her hip, the other in her hair, crushing her lips against his, demanding more from her with the pressure of his tongue.
He pulled her down onto the floor and rolled her beneath him, never breaking their kiss. She draped her arms around his shoulders, holding him in place, not daring to let him get too far away. She reveled in the weight of him, the all too infrequent promise of satisfaction making her dizzy. She growled her disapproval when he inched away; he chuckled as his hand slipped between her thighs, warming all of her. First one finger, then another, parting the folds inside of her, searching for the heat of her, throbbing in time to his own desire.
Sebastian growled a torrent of words, none Kat understood. "So deliciously warm and deliciously wet all at once." She could barely hear the whispered words but her body reacted instantly, writhing beneath him. He panted against her skin, quick, fiery kisses as he made his journey down her body.
His hands disappeared and she wanted to cry. Then his lips appeared, pressed against the juncture of her thighs, just teasing, not entering. She raised her hips and he chuckled again, slipping his tongue inside of her, long, slow licks until she wondered if she could even remember her name. Circling but not touching the part of her that demanded his caress until she thought she would die from need.
"Don"t stop," she demanded as he retreated from between her legs. "Please don"t stop."
"I wouldn"t dream of it."
"You just did."
"Patience Kisa." Kat dragged his mouth to hers, pulling his warmth back to her. Sebastian kissed her deeply and as he felt her body relax with desire, slid inside of her, agonizingly slow. He leaned his forehead against hers, delighting in the feel of her tight around him, her body shifting to make room. "Patience."
When he couldn"t stand it any longer he moved, long, slow thrusts. She moaned and he became undone, quickening his rhythm as her hips swayed in time with his. Her hands trailed down his back, digging her nails into his backside, trying to pull him closer, closer, closer. She writhed beneath him, incontrollable sounds of desire escaping her. He thrust harder, faster, demanding everything as she tumbled towards the edge.
Sebastian lingered as long as he could, his control rapidly breaking as her fingers drew blood, the pain tipping the scale. Her body convulsed around him, climaxing, pleasure rocketing through them. "Kisa!" he cried, letting go and quickly following, needing to join her there.
Sebastian waited long moments for his breathing to return to normal before rolling onto his side, taking Kat with him. She curled into his body and he wrapped his arms around her, tucking her up under his chin and against his still rapidly beating heart. He was the first to regain control. "Warm enough for you?"
She laughed, the sound causing his pulse to quicken again. "For now."
Chapter 16.
A lawnmower bursting to life woke Kat the next morning. For a moment, forgetting which country she was in, she thought it was a car backfiring or the garbage men but no, a lawnmower. She supposed royals more than anyone had to be cautious of their landscaping but still, so early in the morning? She groped around for her phone to confirm the indignity and sat up straight in shock when she saw the time. It was almost noon!
She ran a hand through her hair and surveyed her surroundings from her spot on the floor. Sebastian wasn"t there though the bed was made and the blankets were folded neatly on the couch, the one she had wrapped around herself notwithstanding. Had she slept through the chambermaid coming in to clean? What a great first impression. "So much for not seeming improper," she mused.
She managed to get off the floor without tripping over the long duvet train she was sporting. She stood still for a moment, her eyes panning the room, wondering if she"d be able to get away with a comforter wrap dress until Sebastian returned when her eyes alighted on the coffee table. A note sat atop her suitcase and she flipped it open with a smile.
"Absolute Perfection." That"s all it said. And even though no one else was there and she wasn"t the least bit ashamed, Kat bit her lip to hold off the blush she felt coming, fanning her face just a bit with the card. He was good; you had to give him that.
She flipped open her suitcase and laughed, another note sitting on top of her neatly piled clothes from last night, this one with a winking eye on the front. "I know what a light sleeper you are, otherwise I would have moved you to the bed; you looked so peaceful I didn"t dare wake you. Once you"re decent and dressed, go down to the sunroom. "The Queen" will be waiting for you. And the pastries too," she read aloud. His neat, legible scrawl was accompanied by the crudest drawing; it took her too long to realize it was a map to the sunroom. Wordsmith he was; artist he was not.
Which left Kat wandering the maze of the castle twenty minutes later, hoping her alarmingly loud and growling stomach would guide her towards food. She knew she"d slept through dinner last night and the minute she"d read the word pastries, she"d become ravenous. She came across very few people and the ones that she did see were either too busy to bother with her or unable to understand her. She"d never felt more like a tourist than here in Sebastian"s house.
"Can I help you my dear?" a pleasant voice asked. She turned and smiled thankfully. No doubt it was full of desperation because the woman looked taken aback, as if this was nothing like what she expected.
"You speak English!" she exclaimed excitedly. "I"m lost. Could you help me find the sunroom? I"m also starving and I heard there"s food there."
"Well breakfast service has already been cleaned up," the woman offered, "but I"m sure we"ll be able to find something for you." She had a lilting accent that Kat couldn"t help but adore. She smiled again in relief as the woman beckoned her to follow, leading her in the opposite direction.
"Does that mean the Queen"s not in there anymore?" After a pause she added, "Well, that"s probably a good thing."
"Is it?"
"Yeah. I mean, I"m kind of nervous. I"ve never met anyone royal before. Well, except Sebastian but he doesn"t really count, you know? And I"m not exactly looking my best either jet lagged and completely missing breakfast. Probably come off as a crazy American. Which, okay, I kind of am, but that"s still not a very good first impression. And I"m babbling. I"m sorry, I"m just starving. And a little overwhelmed this place is huge."
"Built over two hundred and fifty years ago. The cellar is still all original stone and brick. Over four hundred rooms, not to mention the grand ballrooms, and my personal favorite, the museum alcoves holding great historical treasures."
"A game of hide and go seek could last years in here," Kat murmured, just pa.s.sing glances at the ornate architecture of the hallways they were breezing through.
The woman smiled, a look of mirth flittering across her face. "It could," she replied. "They do like to say that Count Christophe is still roaming around here somewhere after getting famously drunk at a party in 1893, wandering off to use the lavatory and never being heard from again. Of course he was wandering off with that Lady Elaine, not his wife, who had a penchant for violent rages, so he may have met some other untimely end."
"Intrigue, I love it," Kat replied as they finally arrived at the sunroom. "So many places to hide a body." She turned away from the woman, and scanned the bright, cheerful room. Yellow and white flowers decorated the credenza where only the remnants of a meal remained. "Thank you so much for your help. I"m Kat by the way. And you are . . . ?"
She stopped mid-question when she saw the answer staring her in the face. A portrait of the royal family was hanging opposite the window. Sebastian and his twin sister Anastasia couldn"t have been more than sixteen, sitting on a throne pretending to look regal. A tall, imposing man, who looked a bit like a rather serious and dark-haired Santa, stood behind Anastasia. And behind Sebastian, there was her friendly tour guide. Fifteen years older now but there was no mistaking her kind eyes and whiff of a smile.
She turned quickly, eyes wide and got all the confirmation she needed. Sebastian"s mother had dropped down into a chair near the fireplace, just an ordinary chair, but the way she held herself, the way people started popping up to wait on her now that she"d arrived, the way she vaguely nodded her head to get things done. This was the Queen.
"Your Highness! Your Majesty? Ma"am? I"m sorry, what should I call you?"
"Anya will be fine," she replied with a secretive smile. Sebastian had the same one always looking like he found something she couldn"t understand patently amusing.
"Anya, good morning! I am so sorry . . ."
"No need to apologize my dear. You"re making a fine impression. Which reminds me Pasha, could you bring out some food for Ms. Lawson please? She babbles when she"s hungry."
Kat wanted to laugh how could that nice of an accent be mocking her but wasn"t quite sure yet. The kind eyes were twinkling at her. Did the Queen find her amusing or was the Queen merely amused? "Tell me a little about your life, dear," she prodded gently.
"Well," Kat started, dropping down into the place at the table that had been quickly set for her, facing the Queen across the room, "I live in New York with my brother Blaze. He"s an artist, at the moment all post-modern stuff but he"s going places. I like to cook make the best cannoli you"ll ever have hate to drive all of the lampposts better jump out of the way and I once touched Bruce Springsteen"s ankle when I saw him in concert." She"d done enough of these "get to know you" conversations to have an a.r.s.enal of meaningless, quippy quirks to small talk for hours. Maybe not the best things for royalty but she was too hungry to vary from the routine.
"And tell me," Anya started after the food arrived and Kat was taking her first bite, "have you slept with my son?"
If Sebastian had been there, he would have loved it Kat almost choking on her food, his mother"s laughing eyes. Plus he just liked getting under Kat"s skin and that definitely did. She looked at Anya for a moment, contemplating how she should answer it. And why she was asking it was royalty really this concerned with illicit affairs?
"I have," she replied honestly, meeting his mother"s gaze. She couldn"t stand the heavy silence and added, "I was intrigued with this one-night stand concept he espouses."
"And how did that go?" she wondered mildly. Well the one night hadn"t quite lasted but she wasn"t about to say that. The conversation was weird enough as it was.
"One night stands aren"t really for me," she replied, sounding diplomatic, "but I enjoy spending time with your son."
"You"ve spent a lot of time with him? You must if he"s brought you home with him."
"Not like that," she a.s.sured her, using her hands to punctuate her a.s.sertion. "We"re just friends. Didn"t he tell you about me? I"m just here to help him find a quality wife as a matchmaker. He does have the tendency to pick the worst women."
"I do remember that," Anya said with a rueful shake of her head.
"Sounds like there"s a story there," Kat said.
"Quite a few," Anya promised. "All that time spent together, sure doesn"t sound like a "one-night stand" does it? Are you sure you"re not going to marry my son?"
Kat laughed. "Definitely not. Sebastian wants to get married to win, whatever that"s supposed to mean. Not for love. Frankly I deserve better than that. I demand better than that. He doesn"t believe in love; I still have a little hope."
She paused, and when the Queen said nothing, Kat felt compelled to fill the silence. "But he also wants to marry to rule the country so I"m sure we"ll find him someone that won"t care and will trade the love to be a princess." Kat"s eyes met Anya"s across the room and it dawned on her that that might have been exactly what she had done. "Not that I mean anything by that, of course. I just "
Anya held up her hand and silenced her. "Don"t worry my child. I married Viktor and it was true, at that time we weren"t in love. But we grew into it. It might have always been there we just called it something else." She smiled, again, and Kat was curious and confused by it, again.
"Well, either way, I"ll find someone perfect for your son, don"t worry. Someone to make him happy."
"Are you sure you haven"t already?" she asked.
Kat gave the Queen a quizzical look. "Pretty sure I"d remember that." Anya just smiled at her, the queen"s expression gentle.
Sebastian breathed a sigh of relief as he slipped into the hallway unnoticed. Sergei had been called away and he wasn"t about to miss the perfect opportunity for escape. It felt like eons since he"d had the freedom only the palace could provide, coming and going as he pleased.
The prince walked when he was stressed. Not hide, he would never hide, but he often thought that if he could keep in front of his problems he could outrun them for a bit. If he just kept going they"d never catch him. The twins knew the castle better than anyone, used to stage scavenger hunts that no one ever won. He could have slowly walked the whole place and when he returned to the foyer the whole King ascension would have been decided for him, by time.
Sebastian made his way through the throne room, using it as a shortcut across the castle. He averted his eyes from the thrones, not wanting to look at them and be met with Anton"s face. He"d often been told to keep his eye on the prize but lately that only served to distract him. What he needed now, with so little time to spare, to remain focused, was to keep his eyes anywhere else.
He exited and was brought up short, nearly colliding with a burly man as he did so.
"Roman!" he exclaimed in surprise, a genuine smile jumping to his face.
"Sebastian, so good to see you!" his brother-in-law responded in quick Sezynian.
"And you." They shook hands and embraced quickly. "You still enjoying married life?"
"No complaints yet. When did you get in?"
"Last night."
Roman"s eyes started to twinkle. "That is right. I heard about you arriving with the American. Wife?"
Sebastian laughed. "Again, no, just friend."
Roman raised an unconvinced eyebrow. "What is this? You know a woman that you did not try to bed? This does not sound like you, the man I"ve heard such stories about. Are you going soft?"
"Who said I didn"t bed her?" he asked with a sly grin.
"And she"s still around?! I am amazed. Someone that can put up with you for this long, you should definitely think about keeping this one."
They laughed. "I do ask her to marry me on occasion. She turns me down."
"See, smart girl," Roman said.
"Roman!" a voice down the hallway yelled before its owner came into view, "Roman! Did you remember to " But that was as far as Anastasia got before she saw her brother and her scolding was replaced with smiling.
"Little brother," she breathed, as he enfolded her in a bone crushing hug.
"Big sister," he answered as he put her down. "How are you enjoying married life?"
"He snores."
"Ahh, but you knew that before we got married," Roman protested.
"Yes but I thought I could order it out of you," she demurred.
"Silly royals," her husband responded with a smirk, "just think you can control everything, don"t you?" Roman wrapped his arm around his wife and pulled her close for a quick kiss.
"We sure as h.e.l.l try," said Sebastian.
"I hear you brought an American home with you. We really are turning into James Dean, aren"t we?" his sister chided.
"It"s not like that," he protested with another laugh. "We"re just friends."
"You? Friends with a woman? No."
Roman laughed. "That"s what I said!" The three of them started walking again.
"Why does everyone keep saying that? I"ve had female friends before. What about all those girls from your boarding school?"
"Made out with every one of them and then never called them again."
"That Swedish maid from down the street. Elsa, the tutor we had that summer in Prague. Sasha, the cook"s daughter. The cook now!" he rattled off.
"None of those women were your friends Sebi. You slept with the maid who then caught you making out with the tutor and they both slapped you. Sasha tried to poison you after you pursued her incessantly and then threw her over once you caught her. The only reason Nena still talks to you is because she"s heard stories about you and won"t let herself get caught here on stormy nights."
"Who"s telling stories on me?" he demanded.
"Me!" Anastasia piped up. "I like her cooking too much for you to screw it up. Face it Sebi, you"re a wh.o.r.e."