Prince of Midtown Read online

  Her breasts met the night air as her bra came unhooked. “And now I’m undressing you,” he murmured, pulling back just enough to get the words out.

  He slid her bra over her arms, his fingers gentle, his eyes hungry.

  “Beautiful.”

  His words caressed her along with his touch.

  She did feel beautiful right now. Couldn’t help it, with Sebastian’s warm, dark gaze heating her blood.

  She lifted his shirt over his head, which took some help, as it didn’t seem anxious to leave his thick muscles.

  His torso shone like pewter in the scant moonlight, that line of dark hair twisting down into his jeans.

  Jeans that bulged with arousal.

  Tessa breathed out slowly, trying to keep a clear head as she unbuttoned the snap at his waist. He was hard as the rock they stood on. She reached in and took him in her hand, enjoying the force of his arousal, kissing him, breathing in the rich, male scent of him.

  “Tessa.” His throaty voice caressed her ear like a summer breeze.

  She heard the snap of her own jeans, but barely felt them slide over her thighs and down her legs. Her whole body sang with so much sensation.

  Sebastian rubbed his thumbs over her nipples, which stood to attention. Her belly shuddered as he pressed his thick erection into her soft flesh.

  His thigh pressed between hers, rough denim against her bare skin. He grasped her backside and pulled her closer, higher, pressing her breasts against his chest and crushing her mouth to his until she thought she’d catch fire.

  “Take them off,” she breathed. Indelicate in her desperation, she shoved and pushed at the stiff fabric of his jeans. “Lie down.”

  She thought she saw the gleam of his grin in the dark as Sebastian lowered himself into the cool, soft grass. She tugged his jeans and he sprang free, then she pulled them down over his legs.

  Wow.

  Sebastian’s muscled, athlete’s body looked like an ancient statue come to life. And why wouldn’t it? He was descended from the warriors and champions of the ancient world. The tribal tattoo on his arm only added to the effect.

  His fierce arousal heated her blood as he rolled a condom over it. She climbed over him, hungry for his hardness inside her.

  Her hair brushed his chest as she took him deep. Her moan pierced the silent night air and made her open her eyes for a split second.

  She saw darkness. Silence. The stars.

  And Sebastian.

  She couldn’t stop now even if she wanted to.

  Shivering with the force of her need, she rocked, drawing him deeper into her pulsing core.

  Urgency kicked into a fierce rhythm, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could last without blasting out into the stars. Then Sebastian reversed their positions in a deft move that left him on top and her down in the soft grass.

  She writhed under him, enjoying the contrast of his hot, hard body and the cool, yielding ground. Sebastian’s hands roamed over her skin, squeezing and enjoying her body. He sucked her breasts and the skin of her neck until she cried out.

  Deep inside her, his erection danced, stirring sensations she’d never experienced before. Never even imagined.

  She couldn’t stop moving, wriggling under him, pressing herself to him and shifting her hips against his, testing and enjoying each new wrinkle of pleasure and the fresh ache of raw passion.

  Kissing was clearly Sebastian’s first language. His kisses came in unending variety—soft and teasing, wicked and sly, rough and hungry; or slow, controlled and throbbing with reined-in desire.

  Strange, new feelings built inside her, consuming her, taking her over like an invasion.

  She exploded into climax totally without warning, pealing out a sharp scream that rang over the nation of Caspia, followed by a series of hard gasps as sensation racked her body.

  Her nails clawed into Sebastian as his own climax shook him. Then he lowered himself to her, heavy and breathless. He pushed his hands into her hair, holding her, and he pressed his rough cheek to hers.

  Emotion swelled inside Tessa. Sebastian was so passionate in every other part of his life, should she be surprised that his lovemaking reflected his nature?

  Stars danced in front of her eyes and she wasn’t sure if they formed part of distant solar systems or were the creations of her own bedazzled brain.

  Sebastian eased himself off her and lay on the ground beside her, his arm wrapped around her chest.

  She felt…protected. Cherished.

  Not loved, though.

  Even now she didn’t delude herself, even for a split second, that Sebastian Stone, Crown Prince of Caspia, could love her.

  Which was fine. Because she had…

  Ohmigod. Patrick!

  She tried to sit up, but Sebastian’s arm was too heavy on her chest.

  She’d just cheated on the man she planned to—potentially—spend the rest of her life with.

  Horror descended over her like a bucket of cold water. She hadn’t even thought of him. Hadn’t cared at all about him.

  His message was still flashing, unheard, on her cell phone.

  She sank back into the grass, head pounding.

  “You okay?” Sebastian’s deep voice stirred a fresh pulse of arousal.

  “Sure. Fine.” She swallowed. “Great.”

  She spotted a torn condom packet lying in the grass. She’d been too carried away to think of practical things. She was on the pill—at Patrick’s insistence—but Sebastian didn’t know that. It was thoughtful of him to remember protection.

  Naturally the notorious Prince of Midtown carried a ready supply wherever he went. Perhaps he’d planned this.

  Tension tightened her muscles.

  Sebastian propped himself on one elbow. Her resistance ebbed as he stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I like a woman who knows how to give orders.”

  Her eyes met his. Humor sparkled in his dark gaze.

  “Orders? What do you mean?”

  Sebastian laughed. “I guess you were so caught up in the moment, you don’t remember commanding me to strip and lie down.”

  He brushed a kiss over her lips. They parted, as heat rushed through her, embarrassment mingling with unavoidable desire.

  She bit her lip. “Did I really? I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” Sebastian’s wide mouth turned up at the corners. “I loved it.” He growled and nipped at her neck. “Why shouldn’t you ask for what you want? That’s the best way to get it.”

  He licked her lips and pressed his mouth over hers in a hot, raunchy kiss.

  She couldn’t resist twisting to crush her body against his, flesh against flesh, enjoying the heat and hard masculinity of him.

  He pulled back for a moment to look at her. “Too many people drift through life, afraid to ask for what they want. Afraid to figure it out, even. I’m glad you’re not like that, Tessa.”

  I’m not?

  She blinked and shoved a hand through her hair—which was no doubt tangled and filled with bits of grass. “I’m not so sure I do know what I want.”

  She wanted change, for sure. A shake-up. New surroundings. New possibilities.

  And here she was, naked in the arms of a royal prince, on a foreign mountaintop.

  Apparently she’d succeeded. Though this was not exactly what she’d had in mind.

  Sebastian brushed his lips over her forehead. “You knew exactly what you wanted a few minutes ago. And I suspect that a few minutes from now you’ll have some more strong ideas on the subject.”

  His suggestive tone tugged at a knot of need deep inside her. His mouth followed the cord of arousal down her torso, sucking her breasts, feathering butterfly kisses on her stomach, until his head was buried between her legs, kissing and licking her into an alternate dimension.

  “Don’t stop!” Her hips bucked at the sensations roused by his lips and tongue. “Faster, harder.”

  Sebastian responded instantly to her rasped requests, driving her de
eper and deeper into a dark oasis of pleasure that blotted out the moon and stars.

  Then he was inside her again, turning her mind and body inside out in explosions of rapture and sheer, earthshaking pleasure.

  This time they came together. A perfectly orchestrated explosion, controlled yet devastating, that left them clinging to each other, sweaty, ecstatic and gasping for breath.

  Even when blood started to return to her brain, Tessa was unable to summon a lick of embarrassment.

  Sebastian lay fast asleep, his face buried in her hair, hugging her like his favorite teddy.

  And weirdly enough it felt totally natural and comfortable.

  Although his princely upbringing had created a sense of entitlement that could make him seem brash or arrogant, Sebastian was an affectionate and giving person. Something obviously appreciated by the citizens of Caspia, his vast crowd of friends, and the hordes of beautiful women who flung themselves at him daily.

  The same could not exactly be said for Patrick. He was nice, but in a shy, reserved, New England kind of way. You could call him standoffish.

  No one would ever call Sebastian standoffish. If he had a standoff with anyone, it would be a colorful occasion worthy of a tabloid front page.

  There were a few of those in the media file.

  He lived every day, every hour, with passion.

  He even slept with passion. She smiled as she saw the blissful expression on his handsome face, the rapid movements of his eyes under his closed eyelids.

  Is he dreaming about me?

  She cursed herself for the thought, but went back to it anyway. Maybe he was picturing her, all in gold, standing guard over the Caspian harbor.

  Two hundred feet tall.

  Telling him to get his clothes off. Now!

  She chuckled. The subtle movement made Sebastian snuggle closer.

  Oh, dear.

  This was all a little too wonderful. She had that nasty sensation right before you rip off a Band-Aid.

  The next part is going to hurt.

  Seven

  S ebastian woke Tessa with gentle kisses. He made love to her one more toe-curling time before they tugged their clothes on and drove back down the mountain, just in time to beat the dawn.

  Tessa wished she could disappear as they steered past the palace guards at 5:00 a.m.

  No prizes for guessing what we’ve been up to, she mentally told them.

  Sebastian didn’t seem the slightest bit put out.

  Of course, he probably brought disheveled but satisfied women back to the palace at dawn quite often.

  He did show some circumspection in guiding her through the halls. That was nice. She didn’t want to run into either of their royal majesties until she’d managed to get the leaves out of her hair.

  Then he kissed her good-night, with a provocative thrust of his tongue.

  Oh, boy.

  Tessa collapsed onto her bed in a puddle of dreamy lust.

  “Good morning, Tessa.” The queen looked up from a large newspaper, printed in French. “You look a bit flushed. Are you feverish?”

  Tessa gulped. “I’m fine. Maybe I got a bit too much sunlight yesterday.”

  Or moonlight…

  After only a few hours sleep she eased herself into her seat and spooned some yogurt and honey into a bowl. Once again she’d come to the table with shower-damp hair.

  Sebastian whistled as he helped himself to a heaping portion of some kind of Caspian fish stew. For breakfast.

  Tessa wanted to kick him under the table and tell him to look less exuberant. He was going to give the game away.

  Perhaps he just didn’t care?

  He chatted with his father about fishing reports and a construction project in the hills, and regaled Tessa with tidbits and statistics about Caspia’s economy.

  Sebastian could be quite grumpy in the morning, especially before the vat of coffee—with the consistency of used motor oil—he needed to get his systems going.

  Today he was downright bubbly even before his first sip. The king’s bright eyes twinkled with good humor as Sebastian described the previous day’s tour of Caspia. She could see where Sebastian got his natural joie de vivre.

  His looks clearly came from his mother, a severe beauty with bone structure sharp as a deadly weapon. She chatted politely with Tessa, asking innocuous questions about her college studies and her life in New York, but she didn’t have the warmth of the Stone men, and Tessa was glad when she swept off to some assignation.

  Sebastian’s father leaned back in his chair. She could swear he was giving her a once-over. It would be disconcerting if not for his good-natured expression. “Do you ride, Tessa?”

  She hesitated. Ride what? A bike?

  Sebastian took a swig of coffee. “He means a horse.”

  “Oh. Yes, actually I do.”

  Sebastian looked surprised. “I thought you were from the city.”

  “I learned in school. To be honest, I haven’t ridden since then. So maybe I’ve forgotten how.”

  “Impossible.” Sebastian rose and dropped his napkin on the table. “Gio, tell the stables to prepare Alto and Magna for us immediately.”

  Tessa’s mouth dropped open. Her adrenaline surged. Was it fear of making an ass of herself on a horse she couldn’t control? Or a rush of excitement at the prospect of riding a horse again after all these years?

  Sebastian pulled out her chair as she stood. “Do you have riding clothes?”

  She shot him a look that said You’re kidding, right? Then remembering the king was watching, she said, “I’m afraid not.”

  Sebastian suppressed a snort of laughter at her attempted change of demeanor. “Don’t worry. We’ll find you some.”

  He whipped out his cell and murmured something in Caspian. When he hung up, he was beaming. “Caspia is never more beautiful than from the back of a horse.”

  Sebastian loved to gallop across the open grassy meadows that belted the middle of Caspia, between the high mountains and the city. It was even better with Tessa galloping like a gale at sea in front of him, her golden hair whipping about her shoulders.

  It was all he could do to keep up, and his mount was usually the more spirited of the two.

  Tessa Banks was something else.

  “You learned how to ride at St. Peter’s?”

  She turned her horse in a fast circle and came up beside him. “Yup. I got a job grooming the other students’ horses and the instructor was nice enough to give me some lessons.”

  Her white cotton shirt was damp with perspiration, and Sebastian admired the view of her dark bra underneath. He raised his gaze, not wanting to harden painfully against the pommel of his saddle.

  “And soon I was exercising the horses, as well as grooming them.” Her face shone in the midday sun, her color heightened by exertion.

  He could swear on his life that he’d never seen a more beautiful sight.

  Tonight she would glitter amongst the crowd at the benefit ball. He’d be the envy of every man in the room.

  She patted her horse’s neck. “This does beat filing.”

  He took a minute to process her words.

  Oh, yes. She was his assistant.

  He’d forgotten about that.

  Still, no reason he couldn’t escort her to the ball. She was his guest here, in addition to being an employee.

  Awkward that he’d slept with her. He usually had strict rules about that sort of thing, drummed into him with stern warnings by his mother, and gentler and more practical admonitions from his father.

  So far, he’d kept the house rules.

  But there was something about Tessa that made rules seem foolish and irrelevant.

  “We must choose your gown.” He let his eyes drift over her long, muscled body as it flowed with the horse’s supple back.

  “Gown? For what?”

  “Tonight’s ball for Harvest of Health. It’s one of my mother’s favorite charities. She’s invited all the crowned heads of E
urope.”

  Tessa eyes widened.

  “It’ll be fun. They’re not all over seventy. You’ll enjoy the dancing.”

  Tessa slowed her horse to a trot. Sebastian’s own mount was so fired up it took Sebastian a moment to rein him in and trot back to her.

  “I don’t think I should, Sebastian.” Her lovely face looked troubled. “Last night was…wonderful, but I don’t want people to talk about me.”

  “Of course you do. If no one’s talking about you, it means you’re not having enough fun.”

  She laughed. “I’d rather live the kind of life that doesn’t make the headlines.”

  Sebastian stiffened, which made his horse jump. By the time he had it going forward again instead of sideways, Tessa was walking along on her horse, looking ahead, as if he wasn’t even there.

  Why did it bother him that she didn’t want the kind of life he led?

  He was hardly planning to marry her.

  His horse gave another leap sideways.

  He turned him in a circle and stroked his neck.

  Well, he wasn’t.

  From the corner of his eye he saw Tessa lean forward to brush a fly from her horse’s mane. Like all her movements, the gesture was as elegant as a ballerina’s arabesque.

  A thick sensation crept across his chest, tightening it. He shook it loose with a jovial chuckle. “I probably should feel guilty about depriving Caspia Designs of your capable hands.”

  “But let me guess, you don’t.” She turned to him, her lovely face lit with a grin.

  “Not in the least. Race you!”

  He surged forward. Maybe exertion would burn off some of the adrenaline surging in his blood.

  Alone in a palace hallway, Tessa tried to walk with as much dignity as possible. Her dress, picked out that afternoon at one of Caspia’s chichi boutiques, clung to her body like sea spray. The fabric, beaded with a million tiny jade-colored beads, swung as she walked, shimmering with every movement.

  Sebastian had talked her into it. At least wearing a dress this heavy probably counted as weight-bearing exercise.

  Not that she needed any after galloping all over the countryside with Sebastian, then indulging in an afternoon of Sebastian-funded power shopping to “support the local economy.”