He couldn’t wait to have her. Couldn’t wait to explore her, get to know her body all over again.
“Has it always been this intense between us?” he asked, still gripping her hand and staring into those eyes any man could get lost in.
“Everything about our relationship is intense,” she murmured, staring at his mouth. “I never know if I want to kiss you or strangle you.”
“Kissing,” he whispered against her mouth. “Always choose kissing, my doce anjo.”
Sweet angel. Had he always called her that? When her lips parted beneath his, he knew the term was accurate. She tasted so sweet each time he kissed her. Wrapping one arm around her waist, he slid his palm over her backside. She still wore that short little sundress she’d had on all morning. She hadn’t changed when they’d done the bathroom demolition, and seeing her bent over, catching a glimpse of her creamy thighs, had nearly driven him crazy.
Gathering the material beneath his hand, he cupped her bottom. “I’ve wanted you since last night,” he muttered against her mouth. “The need for you hasn’t lessened, and I may not remember our intimacy before, but something tells me I’ve been infatuated with you for a long time. This ache inside me isn’t new.”
A shaky sigh escaped her. “That’s something I can’t attest to. I don’t know how long you’ve wanted me.”
Luc eased back, still holding on to her backside. “Forever, Kate. I refuse to believe anything else.”
Moisture gathered in her eyes. “You might end up remembering differently.”
Then she stepped away, leaving him cold and confused. What did that mean? Did they not have a solid relationship, a deep love, as he’d thought?
Luc let her go. Apparently, they both had emotional demons to work through. Regardless of his temporary amnesia, he wouldn’t let her go through this alone. They both needed each other, that was obvious, and even if she tried to push him away, she’d soon find out he wasn’t going anywhere.
They were in this together no matter how he’d been before. She was his and he would be strong for her. He would not let this memory loss rob him of his life or his woman.
* * *
Kate threw on her suit and headed down to the beach. Luc might have been content with busting things up as a stress reliever, but she needed a good workout. There was nothing like a swim to really get the muscles burning and endorphins kicking in.
She hadn’t lied when she’d told him their relationship had always been intense. And she hadn’t lied when she’d said she had no clue how long he’d been infatuated with her.
But he was right about one thing. The emotions he was feeling, his actions toward her, weren’t new. All that desire, that passion, had been lying dormant for some time now, and she’d wondered if it would ever break the surface. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined it would take a major injury to further exacerbate this chemistry.
The question now was were these feelings truly directed toward her, or were they left over from his ex? A year ago he’d admitted to an attraction, but had put the brakes on it because of their professional relationship and her parents working so closely with his family. And it was then that he’d explained in great detail why members of his family never dated or got involved with an employee. The list of reasons was lengthy: reputations on the line, the employee could turn and go to the media with a fabricated story... There was too much at stake—even Luc’s crown in this case—to let staff in on their personal lives. Kate didn’t have a clue how Luc and his ex had been in private. She actually tried to never think of that. But now she couldn’t stop herself.
Did Luc really have such strong emotions for her? If so, how had he kept it bottled up all this time?
Kate loosened the knot on her wrap, letting the sheer material fall onto the sand. Running straight into the ocean, the world at her back, she wished she could run from this whole ordeal and stop lying to Luc. She wished she could kiss him and sleep in his bed and have him know it was her and not the fake fiancée he’d conjured up.
He’d said they would be sleeping together later. Dodging that was going to be nearly impossible.
She was in desperate need of advice. She’d wanted to phone her mother earlier, but the call hadn’t been able to go through. She would try again later. More than anything Kate needed her mother’s guidance. Holding back from Luc was pure torture. How could she say no to the one thing she’d fantasized about for so long?
The warm water slid over her body as she sliced her arms through the gentle waves. The hot sun beat down on her back and her muscles were already screaming from the quick workout.
Kate pushed herself further, breaking the surface to take another deep breath and catch her bearings. Panting heavily, she dived back in for more. She’d not fully worked through her angst just yet.
Before she knew it, she’d gone so far up the coastline she couldn’t see Luc’s home anymore. She swam to the shore, trudged through the sand and sank down onto dry land. Pulling her legs up against her chest, Kate wrapped her arms around her knees and caught her breath, willing the answers to come.
One thing was clear. She and Luc needed to stay away from the house as much as possible. With just the two of them alone, there was no chaperone, nobody else to offer a buffer. At least back at the palace there was a full staff of butlers, maids, drivers, assistants to the assistants, guards, his parents, her parents, the cooks...the list was almost endless.
Perhaps an outing to the small village was in order. Anything to hold off the inevitable. The hungry look in Luc’s eyes, the way he constantly kept touching her, were all indications that the moment was fast approaching. And yes, she wanted that moment to happen more than she wanted her next breath, but she didn’t want it to be built on desperation and lies.
Pushing herself up off the sand, Kate stretched out her muscles. She’d never been a fan of running, but she wasn’t done exorcising those demons. She headed back toward Luc’s home, passing other pristine beach houses. Some were larger, some smaller, but they all had the same Mediterranean charm, and their own docks, with boats bobbing against the wood planks.
The island was a perfect getaway for a prince. Under normal circumstances, he could hide away here without the media hounding him, without the distractions of the internet and the outside world.
This place would be heaven on earth for any couple wanting a romantic escape.
Too bad she was only a figment of Luc’s imagination.
As Kate ran, she kept to the packed sand that the waves had flattened. Her thigh muscles burned and sweat poured off her as the sun beat against her back. This felt good, liberating. She would go back to the house and go over Luc’s schedule for when they returned to Ilha Beleza. Looking at all his duties and responsibilities would surely help jog something in his mind.
And the memories were returning. Apparently, her dirty state earlier had shot him back to the moments when she’d been a little girl and had gone to work with her parents. She’d loved the Silvas’ old sheepdog, Booker. She used to play with him, roll around in the yard with him and be completely filthy by the time she left.
Luc’s parents would just laugh, saying how they missed having a little one around. They’d gotten Booker when Luc was eight, so by the time he was a teen, he wasn’t so much into running through yards and spending hours playing with a dog.
Kate was all about it. When Booker had passed away, she had taken the news harder than Luc had. Of course, he’d had his women “friends” to occupy his time and keep his thoughts focused elsewhere.
Finding her discarded wrap in the sand where she’d dropped it, Kate scooped it up and quickly adjusted it around her torso. At the base of the steps leading up to Luc’s home, she rested her hands on her knees and pulled in a deep gulp of air. She was going in as professional Kate. Keeping her hands and mind off Luc was the only way to proceed. Flirty, dreamy Kate had no place here. They hadn’t made love yet, so she could still turn this around, and pray Luc wasn’t totally furious once he remembered what her role in his life actually was.
Seven
Luc’s phone bounced on the couch cushion when he tossed it aside. Useless. He recognized his parents’ names, his best friend, Mikos, and Kate. Other than that, nothing.
Raking a hand down his face, Luc got to his feet and crossed to the patio doors. Kate had been gone awhile and he knew her frustrations had driven her out the door. He’d like to run from his problems, too; unfortunately, they lived inside his head. Still, he couldn’t fault her for needing some time alone.
He stepped out onto the patio, his gaze immediately darting down to the dock. As he stared at the Jet Ski on one side and his boat on the other, he wondered what he’d been doing before he fell. Was he about to go out on the water so late in the evening? Was Kate coming with him? Everything before the fall was a complete blank to him. He had no idea what they’d been doing prior to his accident.
Hell, he couldn’t even recall how he and Kate had started working together. And some family rule about not getting personal with staff members kept ringing in his head. He reached into his mind, knowing this was a real memory. The Silva family didn’t get intimate with employees. So had Kate come to work for him after they’d become a couple? Had she been so invaluable in his life that he’d wanted her to be his right-hand woman in his professional world, as well?