Mistress to the Prince (14 page)

Tara
’s hand quickly unlocked the door, shaking the whole time.  “You can’t kiss me,” she said as she stepped inside her small house, closing the door after he came inside
, but also checking to make sure none of her neighbors were outside at this hour of the morning
.

“Why not?” he asked, looking around her house curiously.  “This is nice, cozy,” he said and wandered into her kitchen. 

The house, which had seemed perfectly sized for h
er
own needs, looked incredibly small with Max inside it.  He tended to dwarf any person beside him but now he was doing it to her house.  “Thank you,” she said breathlessly
, still leaning against the door as if her legs wouldn’t hold her.  And it was possible that they wouldn’t since they were shaking in fear and anticipation
.
  Just the thought of kissing him was too enticing.  Since she didn’t remember
much of
the kiss the previous night, it didn’t really count, she told herself. 
 

Max came back into the den area from the kitchen and stopped in the center, his arms crossed over his chest arrogantly as he looked across the room at her. 
“Are you going to answer my first question?”

“No,” she said and looked anywhere but at him. 

He didn’t smile but his eyes lightened, indicating that he was laughing but didn’t want her to see it. 
“Good, that must mean you don’t have any reason to not kiss me,” he said and wandered
over to her desk set up in the corner of her family room
.  “Is this where you do most of your work?”

Tara
followed him and stood
behind the sofa
while he looked out her window at the view of the horizon.  “No.  I thought I would, but I do most of it…” she trailed off,
as soon as she realized what the end of that sentence would be.  She didn’t want
to admit that she did
most of her work
in her bed right before going to sleep.

Max stopped looking out the window and studied her face.  He smiled and walked closer to her.  “The fact that you won’t continue means only one thing.  You do it in your bed, all warm and cozy between the sheets.  I’ll bet you let your hair down and let it fall over your shoulders while you work from home, don’t you?”

“No..Yes.  I mean, your….” she stopped herself at his warning look.  “I do it in bed, yes. But that’s usually simply because I work late which means I get home late.  So I only get a few hours of work in before I fall asleep.”

“Mmm.  Sounds nice,” he said and moved closer to her. 
“But do you have your hair down, spread across your pillows like it was this morning?  I like that, by the way,” he said and reached out to take a lock of her hair in his large hand. 

Tara
stepped out of his way, but he simply took her by the hand and pulled her to the door.  “Why are you so afraid of me, Tara?” he said.
  “Despite your inebriation last night, I know you were telling the truth about your attraction to me.  I can assure you that I feel exactly the same way,” he said softly, taking her hand in his and tracing circles on the palm with his thumb absently. 

Tara
took a deep breath and looked up at him.  “Because I’ve worked for you for the past
two
years and I know how you go through women.  I like my job and I don’t want to be one of your castaways.”

His eyes didn’t change but one eyebrow went up with her statement. 
“Is that what you think you would become eventually?”

She was relieved that he wasn’t angry at her bald comment but she wouldn’t relent, no matter what came next. 
“Yes.  It’
s pretty much a proven fact,” she replied.

One of his hands continued to play with the palm of her hand while the other reached up and touched the peachy softness of her skin in a gentle caress. 
“You don’t think you
’
r
e
different?  I can say I’ve never felt this way about any of the women I’ve dated before.  I’ve never waited this long for any of them either.”

Her eyes shot up to peek at his, startled by his statement. 
“You’ve waited for me?”

Max nodded his head and put his hands on her waist
, pulling her slightly closer to his tall frame
.  “Yes.  I’ve wanted you since you walked into my office for the interview
two years ago
.  You were so prim and proper.  Still are. That’s why I’ve never approached you before last night.”

Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes watched the heat in his gaze.  She was mesmerized by the desire she saw and it sparked her own. 
“Why did last night change things?  We can still work together.  We just need to pretend last night didn’t happen.”

“Can’t do that,” he said, shaking his head and moving closer to her.  “Because last night, I found out that you feel the same things I do.  And if they have only a fraction of the power mine have, we’re going to have to explore these feelings.”

The lower half of her body came into contact with his and she closed her eyes, savoring the feeling as her hands reached up to lay on his chest.  She’d intended to push him away, but her hands didn’t obey her mind’s command. 
“No Max,” she gasped.  “I
didn’t say anything like that.”

His thumb reached out to touch her lips gently. 
“You’re beautiful, sexy mouth didn’t have to say anything. 
You shivered in my arms, you closed your eyes while we danced and later, y
ou kissed me and your body came on fire for me last night.  That doesn’t happen often.  In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that for anyone.  I want you, Tara.”

His words just about made her knees give out on her. 
“Max, we have a professional relationship.  That’s all.”

He shook his head and the thumb that had so recently touched her lips covered hers again, stopping her words. 
“No.  That’s all we had.  We’re going to move forward with this slowly and see where it goes.”

She shook her head in denial as she stared at a point in the middle of his chest. 
“No.  We
’re not.  It can’t go anywhere,” she whispered but her voice was still shaky. 

His voice was husky as he replied,
“Why not?”

Taking a deep breath, she explained,
“Because you’re going to be the King of
Cordova
,” she explained as if that made all the sense in the world. 

“And?”

“And I’m your assistant.”
  Didn’t he see that any relationship between the two of them would have to be temporary?  S
h
e wasn’t wife material to the future king.  Was he just being obtuse?   He could deny that their relationship wouldn’t be temporary but they both knew what would eventually happen. 

Max smiled at her nonsensical answer.  “
Tara
, some day you’ll explain that comment, but for right now, I’m too distracted by your body and your mouth.  So I’m going to kiss you.”

Tara
shook her head but his mouth descended to hers anyway.  He kissed her neck, her ear, ni
bbling on the lobe, then worked
his way along her jaw. 
Tara
shivered with the heat and the feelings his lips created within her.  One long finger moved up and held her face while Max’s lips finally reached their ultimate goal.  As soon as his lips touched hers, she shivered and her arms came around his shoulders, her body arching into his and her mouth responded to his by opening up and allowing his tongue to delve into hers. 

She groaned low in her throat and let the feelings wash over her, amazed at how easily he could override her common sense. 

After several minutes, he pulled back and looked at her face, triumph in his eyes.  “And that is why we’re not going to ignore this thing that is between us.”

Tara
watched with a glazed look as he walked out of her house.  Half of her wanted to call him back but the other half knew that would be a very bad idea.  The door closed behind him and she sighed deeply, looking around her house and feeling like she’d just survived a hurricane.  But everything looked normal. 

Chapter
7

Monday morning came much too quickly in
Tara
’s perspective.  She had been dreading the moment she’d have to spend time with Max all day on Sunday and now, as she walked into the office, she wondered what his reaction would be.

“Good morning,
Tara
,” he said as soon as he walked into her office.  “We have the meeting with George and Sam in fifteen minutes.  Can you bring me those notes you wrote up so I can go over them quickly?”

With that, he disappeared into his office and left
Tara
standing beside her desk with a confused look on her face. 
Where was the embarrassment? 
Tara
hadn’t had time since Max had barely even looked at her. 
I
t was as if the whole scene
yesterday
hadn’t even happened.  Had she imagined waking up in his bed Sunday morning?  And had it been someone else who had pressed her body against his and kissed her until she was a mass of desire Sunday afternoon?  Had she only dreamed the time with him? 

Deciding to take his cue and pretend like it hadn’t really happened, s
he stored her purse in her desk drawer, then quickly pulled the notes out of her files and brought them into his office.  “Here you go,” she said
, glancing up into his eyes and noting the serious expression he shot back at her.  He took the papers and she quickly
walked out of his office
, feeling as if she were still walking in a wonderland of mystery
. 

The meeting was long and she took several notes, some of which she disagreed with and made comments of her thoughts in the margins.  The next meeting was right after that one but
Tara
didn’t need to sit in on that one.  She went back to her desk and typed up her notes, then e-mailed them to Max.  The day seemed to fly by and she kept waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop.  But Max never made any comment to her silly drunkenness of Saturday night, nor about the mind blowing kiss they’d shared in her tiny
family room
yesterday afternoon.  In fact, he pushed harder than usual to get things done today, requiring her to move faster and think harder to anticipate his questions so she could have the answer already. 

By
seven o’clock
, she was exhausted
and feeling rejected
.  All she wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed but instead, she packed up her bag with files to review for the following day. 
She wondered why he hadn’t said anything about what had happened between them over the weekend but was too nervous to bring it up. 

Her shoulders were drooping as she slowly turned off her computer and locked up the files for the night. 
Tara
almost fell out of her chair when she heard his voice. 
“Come on,
Tara
,” Max said, walking quickly out of his office. 

Tara
picked up her pen and notebook, then hurried after him, wondering what she had forgotten. 
There wasn’t anything else on her calendar for him and he was usually very careful about making sure she knew everything that was scheduled, even if the person he was meeting with hadn’t requested the meeting through her.  But it didn’t seem like he was getting ready for another meeting, she thought, still trying to keep up with him. 
Max was pulling off his suit coat
and
taking
off his tie as he walked down the hallway. 

Tara
picked up her step and caught up with his long legged stride. 
“I’m sorry,
Your Highness
, but I don’t have anything else on your agenda for the day,” she said
breathlessly
behind him. 

Max stopped
instantly
and turned around, taking her into his arms and kissing her in the thankfully empty hallway. 
Tara
held onto his shoulders, her notebook crushed between their bodies and her pen falling forgotten onto the marble floor. 
She was breathless by the time he pulled away.