An American Cinderella:A Royal Love Story(16)

"Don't tell me, you're actually an assassin. Your whole family line goes  back into the ages as assassins and if you tell me, you'll have to kill  me," I teased, trying to make him smile.

"You're closer than you think," he replied, but at least he cracked a  smile. He looked up from his noodles. "I work for the government."

"Like me," I said with a friendly grin. I picked up one of the crispy spring rolls. "Where else have you been?"

"It's more of where I haven't been," he replied. He also reached over  and picked up a spring roll. It crunched as he bit into it. "I've been  just about everywhere."

I raised my eyebrows. "Where?"

"You want me to list them?" He took a deep breath and squinted one eye.  "Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria,  South Africa, Swaziland, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Uganda,  Tanzania, Zambia, India, Malaysia, Pakistan-"

He rattled them off as almost one string of letters rather than  individual countries. The places spilled out of him like water. I had  been expecting less than ten countries. I held up my hands as he worked  his way through various continents.

"I think I get the idea," I said with a laugh. "You've been everywhere."

He nodded and took another bite of food.

"What about you?" he asked, looking interested. "Where have you been?"

"I've been to Mexico. And technically, I've been to international  waters. So that should count as a country." I grinned at him. "So, we're  kind of close in number."

He laughed, the sound making my heart speed up. God, he had an amazing  laugh. It did things to the pit of my stomach that made me want more.

"What else should I know about you?" I asked, leaning forward on the  table. "Other than you're an assassin who has been everywhere."         

     



 

He glanced up at me and evaluated my face. I grinned and ate the last of my noodles.

"I was also in the military," he admitted. He looked up and shrugged. "I don't think I told you that yet either."

"I think you might have said something, but not much." I shook my head  and wondered what else I didn't know about him. He looked so normal. How  did someone who looked so regular have so many interesting things about  him?

"It's a family tradition," he explained, scraping the last noodles from  his container. "I served for three years in the Paradisa Army. I was in  Afghanistan for two tours."

I leaned back in my chair and imagined him in a uniform. The idea was incredibly hot. He would look damn fine in a uniform.

"Any other secrets?"

He stilled and then scraped his empty container again. "I can't give them all away in one night."

He looked up at me, his blue eyes hinting at hundreds more secrets and I  wanted to know them all. I wanted to know every secret and every inch  of him.

"You want to head to the couch?" I asked. It was an obvious ploy, but I  wanted to kiss him again and I couldn't do it easily at the table. Now  that my physical hunger was satiated, a different one had come to  replace it. "It's more comfortable."

The slow grin on his face told me that Henry knew exactly what I was doing and was very okay with it.

"Do you want help with dishes?" he asked.

I stood up and collected the empty containers. We'd both eaten all our  pad Thai as well as the spring rolls. All that was left were crumbs and  forks.

It took me two seconds to throw the forks in the sink and everything else in the trash. "There. Dishes done."

"I now see the appeal of no plates," Henry replied. The slow, easy grin  was back. It made my stomach do excited flip flops. I wanted to kiss  that grin.

He sauntered casually to the couch, settling down in a smooth motion.  There was plenty of space to his left, so I made sure to sit on his  right. That meant I had to snuggle up next to him. He smiled a little  wider and put his arm over my shoulder.

"I'm glad you liked my restaurant," I said softly. I wanted to kiss him,  but I wasn't sure how to start. I didn't want to push the moment. I  wanted to let us slide into it like last time so that it would be  perfect again.

"I did," he replied, his face close to mine. He traced my cheek with a  fingertip, sending shivers down my spine and goosebumps up my arms. "I'm  glad you liked the game."

"I did," I said, repeating his words back. "I really liked it."

I opened my mouth to say more, but I couldn't find the words. Not when I  was looking into those blue eyes that held depths I could only dream  of.

His fingers left my cheek to come under my chin, tipping my face up to  him. That slow, sexy, confident grin filled his face as he leaned  forward and kissed me.

And good lord could he kiss.

I opened my mouth to his, tasting and feeling his every movement. His  mouth was sure and confident as he found all the right spots to touch  me. I moaned softly and his arms wrapped around me.

I picked up my knee and straddled his waist, giving us a far better  position to keep kissing. I loved the low growl of approval at my new  orientation and the way his hands went to my waist and back, pulling me  into him.

His mouth left mine to trace the curve of my throat. My hands tangled in  his beautiful hair as my own head tipped back. He ran his tongue along  my skin, tasting me and kissing me at the same time. My pulse throbbed  against his kisses as he worked his way to my shoulder.

He pushed the shirt from my shoulder and nibbled on the bare skin,  making me whimper with desire. We both had far too many clothes on. I  looked down at him, our eyes meeting as we both realized we were  thinking the same thing.

He slid his hands under my shirt, his fingers hot and wanted along the  bare skin of my stomach. With a practiced motion, he lifted my shirt up  and over my head, tossing it to the floor behind me.

He leaned back, his pupils dilating as he looked me over.

"Wow," he whispered, taking in my body with just my jeans and bra. The  compliment made me flush. I didn't feel like a wow, but when he said it,  I thought it might possibly be true.

He kissed my shoulder, sliding the strap of my bra off. My heart pounded  in my chest, wanting to slow down and speed up at the same time. We  were all alone and had all the time in the world, yet I didn't want to  wait. I wanted him all right there on my couch.

I reached down to his waist and tugged up on his shirt. He pulled back  his head from the skin of my shoulder just long enough for me to pull  the fabric up and over his head. The shirt caught right at his eye  level, his arms tangled and sticking straight up.         

     



 

His chest was a work of art. Playing rugby was good for him. He was lean  and trim, but with enough muscle that I could play doctor and identify  each ab. I let one hand touch his skin, feeling his heat and strength  beneath me while the other kept him trapped in his shirt.

He didn't fight me, letting me keep him blindfolded and pinned for just a  moment as I kissed him. I could feel him harden between my legs and I  suddenly wished neither one of us had on pants. They felt like far too  much restrictive clothing now. I thought about standing up and shimmying  out of them, but that would require breaking our kiss.

His hands tugged out of his shirt, and caressed my back. I pulled the  shirt free of his head, wanting to see his beautiful face. His blue eyes  were dark with lust as he worked the clasp on the back of my bra.

I reached back, unhooking it myself. I let the silky bra fall forward,  biting my lip and watching his face as I showed myself to him. His eyes  widened and darkened. Beneath me, I could feel his excitement grow.

He breathed in hard before diving forward and kissing the tender flesh. I  hissed with delight as he took a nipple into his mouth. His hand  cradled my other breast, holding me like I was his treasure.

I wanted him so badly my entire body ached. I wanted his touch  everywhere. I craved the caress of his fingers along every inch of my  skin. I wanted him more than I'd ever wanted another man in my entire  life.

It was like being drunk I felt so crazy for him. Irrational need possessed me as I kissed him, grinding my hips into his.

He responded in kind, his hands everywhere on my skin. His mouth nibbled  and sucked, making me gasp and moan with delight while his hands held  me close to him.

I was about two minutes from orgasm and we still had on our pants.

The room suddenly echoed with a bang on my door. We both froze, our faces centimeters away from one another and breathing hard.

"It's probably just Mrs. West downstairs," I whispered. "She's always needing to borrow baking supplies."

The entire room vibrated as the person outside banged on the door again.  There was no way it was my eighty-year-old tiny little neighbor.

"Henry!" A male voice called out from the other side of the door.

Henry's eyes went wide and he pulled back.

"Is that Andre?" I asked, recognizing the voice. What in the world was  he doing banging on my door? He was going to make the neighbors come out  in a moment.