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He sat on one couch—there were two pristine white sofas facing each other—and waited. I took the spot next to him this time, because the others had ganged up on him. I wanted to show them that I had Henryk’s back the same as I would one of theirs if they needed it.
But Viktor had been the one to invite Henryk along. In fact, he’d blackmailed him into coming, because he’d said Henryk was lonely. He knew. Could see it.
But now, he acted like Henryk had done something wrong by paying for the trip, by flying us here in his private plane, by putting us up in this paradise of a hotel. And Silas was a master of the dirty look. At least that was how it looked every single time Henryk spoke. Or breathed. Or talked.
Henryk glanced over at me and smiled and there was something softer and sweeter this time.
I waited for Viktor and Silas to come back to the common area.
Ray sat in a chair behind the sofa Henryk and I were seated on. He had a view of the ocean on one side and the TV on the other. Between our sofas was a smokeless firepit, but we didn’t have it lit. Sun streamed in the windows and reflected off the water.
When the other two joined us and sat on the couch opposite us, I smiled. “I don’t like all this anger.” And because this wasn’t my first rodeo with angry men, I smiled, but a pouty kind of smile. “Can’t we all get along?”
“I don’t like their insinuations,” Henryk said, and in his accentinsinuationswas one sexy word. “I’m not rubbing anyone’s nose in my money.”
I knew that. He wasn’t showing off. He had what he had, and he was kindly letting us benefit from it. I could also see how the others would think he was trying to buy his way in. But they were the ones who’d asked him to come. He was the one making sure they were comfortable and had the accommodations
Viktor looked at Henryk. “We aren’t insinuating anything.” Viktor sighed and looked at Silas, who raised his eyebrows and shrugged.
Silas would go along with whatever Viktor said. I knew that it wasn’t because he was a follower. They’d probably discussed how they were going to handle everything.
Silas looked at me and smiled, but when he looked at Henryk, a shadow crossed over his face. “It’s intimidating to be sitting here in a suite paid for by someone else, knowing we’re already a step down because we can’t afford to give her anything like this.”
To his credit, Henryk didn’t flinch. “And I can’t give her all you can.” He looked down at the fire-less pit. “I can’t be easy and relaxed. There’s a weight on my shoulders. And it’s... heavy.”
He looked back and forth between Silas and Viktor.
Viktor shook his head. “Not this week, my friend. This week, you aren’t Henryk, Prince of Lichtenstein. This week you’re just Henryk, a guy who might or might not share his time and his bed with the most beautiful woman—”I liked that.“—this side of the sky.”
I grinned at him. He might’ve been saying it to Henryk, but he was saying itforme. And I wanted to thank him, but first, they had to work everything out. In this, I was but a bystander. And as much as I wanted to help, I couldn’t.
“I can’t just pretend I’m not who I am,” Henryk said, sounding confused.
I pressed my lips into a thin line so I didn’t laugh. It wasn’t as existential as it sounded. He really was a prince, and he was in line to take the throne. Forgetting that for one day or one hour or one minute was probably as difficult for him as it was for us to forget that he was a prince. I certainly hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it for very long. Especially here.
He looked at me. Not a sidelong glance, not anything in passing, but a solid, long gaze, his eyelids at half-mast, his lips slightly parted. “Are you sorry you came to Lichtenstein? Sorry we’re all here now?”
I was no novice or young virgin. I knew what we were here for, and I wanted them. I wanted them more than anything. I wanted to be worshipped and devoured and cherished. What woman didn’t want that? I was just aiming for the grander scale. It scared me, but it was also the most exciting thing I’d ever considered before in my life.
Who knew that when this all started, I would end up in Ibiza with the same three boys I’d married on a playground in Washington DC? I certainly didn’t. But as I looked at each one now, I couldn’t believe my luck.
“No. I’m not sorry at all.” I put my hand on Henryk’s thigh. “Have fun with us, Henryk. Let it all go. Here, no one knows you.”
He laughed. “I’m a prince. Your words can’t change that.”
“Not here. Here you’re just a guy in a baseball cap and sunglasses who’s on vacation.” I wanted this, I really did. And whatever it turned out to be and I wanted us all to give this a real chance. I’d heard everything that they’d said in the castle before we left. I’d heard it all. I’d trembled like a virgin before her first time.
In a way I was innocent to this sort of love, but that was as tantalizing as any other thought or idea I’d ever had. And no way in hell was I passing up the chance that was in front of me.
“So, how about dinner? I’m starved.” And that was as good a place to start as any.
