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“She says your brother spoils her. I’ve always been skeptical.”
“Jenna.”
She laughed. “I’m just teasing. Mostly.” She took the chair Dima pulled out for her. “He would go into shock if I stopped.”
“You could be right, but know that he values your friendship, not only to his wife and sister-in-law, but to himself and the care you show his children. He speaks of you as an aunt to them.”
“Putting a plug in for me staying on the periphery of the royal family?” she asked with some humor.
“Something like that.”
They talked about everything from history to the latest scientific discoveries over dinner. Jenna enjoyed Dima’s intelligent conversation but liked the way he respected her opinions and actively listened to her even more.
This man might be used to bossing people around, but he’d been raised to respect women, and Jenna thought maybe his father deserved recognition for doing such a good job. But the person sparking emotion in her heart she’d been so determined not to feel?
That was all Dima.
As they sat on the deck watching the city lights sparkle like manmade stars, the answer to why Jenna had agreed to travel with Dima, why she wanted this time with him regardless of what being with him had already cost her emotions, became too big to ignore.
Jenna had never been in love. She’d had relationships, but none worth making the compromises necessary to keep them going.
Because that all-consuming feeling had not been there.
Love.
Looking at Dima hurt in the best way. Touching Dima brought pleasure that had nothing to do with sex. Being touched by the prince did the same.
Sex with him was so mind-shattering, it would be easy to dismiss her feelings as sensual thrall. Only, they weren’t having sex right now. They weren’t even touching, and yet the connection between them was stronger than corded steel.
She didn’t just want Dima. She needed him.
As terrifying as that reality was, even more so was the tiny kernel of hope that maybe, just maybe, they could make this thing between them work. Despite the fact he was a prince. Despite her age and sterility.
Her practical mind told her not to be a fool, but her heart thrummed with a love so deep she wasn’t sure it had an end.
She had been slowly and surely falling in love with this man for eight years. Taking him as a lover had only cemented those feelings, making them permanent and inescapable. And no amount of telling herself it was a bad idea was going to change that.
His reaction to her list of reasons why they could not be together was ambiguous at best. If hewereinterested in a long-term relationship, shouldn’t he have tried to convince her that what she saw as barriers weren’t?
He hadn’t seemed upset,buthe had brought the subject up a second time to make sure he had the complete list.
Why?
Jenna had no more of an answer to that question as they boarded his private jet later than when she’d first asked it.
They’d had time to cruise the harbor and enjoy the view of the Statue of Liberty lit before docking and taking a limousine to the airport. The whole time, they’d talked about anything and everything, except the one thing Jenna could not stop thinking about.
Was Dima still set on a no-strings affair? She’d said she was too, but she’d been lying to herself and him. Had he been doing the same, or was she in this emotional quagmire on her own?
Dima led her back to the bedroom, starting to undress without even asking if she was ready for bed. But maybe her drooping eyes and frequent yawns had given her away.
While he seemed intent on being naked together, he made no effort to initiate sex, but pulled Jenna’s body close to his before giving her a sweet and entirely chaste kiss good-night.
Considering how her mind was spinning, it should have been impossible for Jenna to sleep.
It wasn’t.
For the first time ever, Jenna had no trouble sleeping on the plane. Of course, the fact she was doing it in an actual bed while snuggled closely to Dima’s warm body could have something to do with it.
