Page 11 of Liam

She scowled back at him, but it only made him smile wider. Damn that man was a menace to her equilibrium, but as she walked away, her step was lighter than it had been in weeks.

CHAPTER FIVE

LIAM WALKED TO THE DOOR OF THE SUITE, PEERING THROUGH THE PEEPHOLE EVEN THOUGH HE ALREADY knew who was on the other side. Satisfied, he opened the door and admitted Mitch and Waggs. The call to warn him they were on their way up was protocol, allowing them the knowledge that if the doorbell went and no call had been received, it was treated as hostile until they knew differently.

Closing the door, Liam bit back the questions on the tip of his tongue about Gunner and the situation there when he saw Princess Taamira walk in. She was wearing loose pale peach trousers that skimmed the tips of her high heeled shoes and a cream blouse with a wide but modest neckline and sleeves ending at her elbow in some sort of ruffle. It shouldn’t scream sex, but as she arched her long smooth neck to greet the other two men, Liam tried to douse a ripple of desire that shot through his dick.

What he wouldn’t do to wrap that long black wavy hair around his fist and watch those full lips take his cock. It was a useless dream for so many reasons he couldn’t count them all. The most apparent being she was a princess, and he was a cockney wide boy.

Another was the fact that she was a virgin and he would never take that from her, knowing he had nothing to offer her in return. Not that she would let him, they could barely be in the same room without taking a swipe at each other. As much as he enjoyed that, he knew it was not conducive to a long-term relationship.

Turning instead, he introduced his friends. “Waggs, Mitch, you remember Princess Taamira.”

Waggs offered his hand which Taamira graciously took and then did the same with Mitch.

“It’s good to see you both again. Thank you for coming to my aid. I appreciate this may have caused some difficulties being such short notice.”

Mitch offered her a lopsided grin that had more than one woman melt into a puddle of goo before he broke out the South London charm. “It’s entirely my pleasure, Princess Taamira.”

Liam watched as Taamira blushed, and shot Mitch a glare, which slid off the man as if he was Teflon.

“Are you both from the same place?” Taamira asked, pointing between him and Mitch.

Liam could see how they might sound vaguely similar to someone who didn’t know the London accent well, so he tried not to be offended. “Mitch is from South London and I’m from the Eastend of London.”

“Oh,” Taamira said, clearly not understanding the difference.

“The short answer is yes, we are, Princess,” Mitch added coming to her aid again.

“Well, I am sure you have lots to do, so I will leave you to get settled in.” With that, she turned on her heel and walked from the room.

Liam watched her leave, his eyes never leaving the sweet sway of her hips. He glanced back at Mitch and Waggs who were sporting wide grins. “What?” he asked sharply.

Mitch strode to him and laid a heavy hand on his shoulder as Waggs moved in beside him. “You, my friend, are so fucked.”

Liam frowned. “I ain’t got a Scooby Doo what you’re talking about.”

Mitch grinned. “If you say so, mate.”

“How about you give us an update on the state of play with the Princess’ security detail,” Waggs asked changing the subject.

Liam led the two men out onto the balcony that wrapped around two sides of the suite. He moved far enough away that Taamira wouldn’t overhear, before he turned back to them, his arms crossed over his chest. “I haven’t had a chance to speak to Derek in person yet because I didn’t want to leave the Princess alone. But what he’s told me so far matches with what Taamira did.”

Liam’s jaw tightened at the reminder of how someone had invaded her privacy. “Someone took a picture of the Princess working out and posted it all over the major social media sites, but it was leaked to a trash mag first who ran it.”

“Could be an employee?” Mitch said playing devil’s advocate.

Liam nodded. “Perhaps, and I’ll look into that, but I suspect by the angle of the photo it was someone inside the room. It was also off her regular schedule. I would expect an employee to have done it on her normal routine.”

“What makes you say that?” Waggs tipped his head in question.

“Something makes me think this wasn’t a spur of the moment thing, it was calculated.”

Waggs nodded, accepting his gut feeling. He, as well as all the men, knew it was a massive mistake to ignore your gut.

“Any suspects?” Mitch shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“No, but I think I’ll have a better idea when I’ve spoken to Derek’s men.”