Heidi Betts – At His Majesty's Convenience / Her Little Secret, His Hidden Heir: At His Majesty's Convenience (страница 14)

Jake’s mouth crushed over hers once more and her doubts crumbled beneath the fierce desire to feel him inside her.

Working together they eased off her panties and he climbed over her. The inviting weight of him pressed against her chest for a moment; then he lifted himself up with his powerful arms and entered her slowly.

Too slowly.

She found herself writhing and arching to encourage him deeper. Her insides ached to hold him and her whole body burned hot and anxious with an urgent need to join with him. Her fingers dug into his back as he finally sank all the way in and she released a deep moan of pleasure into his ear.

Jake layered hot kisses along her neck and cheek as he moved over her, drawing her deeper into the mysterious ocean of pleasure that felt so strange and so good at the same time. They rolled on the bed, exploring each other from different angles and deepening the connection between them. Her hands wandered over his body, enjoying the hard muscle, squeezing and stroking him as he moved inside her.

She loved riding on top of him, changing the rhythm from slow to fast and back again as the sensations inside her built toward a dangerous crescendo. Jake was over her again when she felt herself suddenly lose control of her muscles and even her mind as a huge wave of release swept her far out of herself. She drifted in limbo as pulses of sheer pleasure rose through her again and again. Then she seemed to wash back up in Jake’s arms, exhausted and utterly at peace.

“That was …” She couldn’t seem to find the words. Any words, really.

“Awesome.”

Jake’s unroyal response made her laugh. “Exactly.” Then she frowned. “Is it always like this when we … make love?”

She could swear she felt him flinch slightly. “Yup. It is.”

“I guess that’s good.” She smiled. She must be one of the luckiest people on earth, to have a loving relationship—with really hot sex—with this ridiculously handsome man who just happened to be a king.

She stretched, still feeling delicious pulses of pleasure tickling her insides. She couldn’t help wondering how she’d arrived at this juncture. How did she find herself engaged to a gorgeous monarch? Maybe she was from some kind of upper-crust family herself. It was so odd not knowing anything about yourself. She opened her eyes and peered at Jake.

“Will you tell me some things about myself?”

His sleepy gaze grew wider and a smile tilted his mouth. “Like what?”

“My background, the kind of things I like to do, that sort of stuff.”

He frowned, still smiling that half smile. “Hmm, it’s hard to know where to start.”

Adrenaline buzzed through her at the prospect of nailing down a few details. “How about at the beginning. Did I grow up in New York?”

“No. You moved there after college.” He kissed her cheek softly. “You came to work for me right after you graduated.”

“What did I study in college?”

“Hmm. I can’t remember exactly. I think it was something to do with literature. Or maybe French. You spoke French fluently even though you’d never been to France. I remember that.”

“Oh.” It wasn’t so odd that he didn’t know what she’d majored in. That was before she met him. “Where did I go to college?”

Jake hesitated, and frowned. “Was it U Penn? Somewhere in Pennsylvania. I’m pretty sure of that.”

“You don’t remember where I went to college? You’re almost as bad as I am. Where did I grow up?”

Jake licked his lips. His eyes showed a mild trace of alarm. “Pennsylvania, definitely. Philly, maybe. Or was it Pittsburgh?”

“We’ve never been there together?” An odd knot of tension was forming in her stomach. She propped herself up in bed on one elbow.

“No, our relationship has always been pretty under wraps. The whole professional thing.”

“So you haven’t met my family.” Again, unease niggled somewhere deep inside her.

“No. You have parents and a sister somewhere, though. You get together with them for holidays.”

“In Pennsylvania?”

“I think so. You usually took the train.”

“Oh.” How odd that she couldn’t remember anything about them. Or Pennsylvania. And it was a little disturbing that Jake seemed to know so little about her. Did they never talk about her past? “What’s my sister’s name?”

Jake pursed his lips for a moment. “I don’t know.”

“I guess I didn’t talk about her that much.” Maybe she and her sister weren’t close. What a shame. Maybe she’d try to improve their relationship once she got her memory back. “What about my parents? Do you know their names or where they live? We could get in touch with them and see if they could jog my memory back into existence.”

Jake’s brow had furrowed. “I suppose we should be able to find that information somewhere.”

“It’s probably on my computer if I could just figure out the password.”

“We’ll worry about that in the morning.” Jake pulled her closer to him. “Right now let’s just enjoy each other.”

Andi let out a sigh and sank back into his arms. “You’re right. Why get stressed out over something I can’t control?”

But even in his soothing embrace, there wasn’t a single second when she didn’t ache to recover her memory—and her history. How could you really go forward, or even live in the moment, if you don’t know who you are?

After breakfast, Jake left Andi in her office to look over her files. She seemed anxious that she wasn’t able to do her job since she didn’t remember the details of palace life, let alone any specific events. He mused that he should have been concerned, too, since a key purpose of this whole engagement was to keep her at his side running the show, but somehow the palace was managing to tick along. And he was enjoying her company far more than he’d imagined.

How could he have worked with her for six years and not even know where her family lived? As far as he knew she was born behind the desk in his Manhattan office. And he cringed at not knowing her sister’s name. For all he could remember she just referred to her as “my sister.”

He strode to his current office, intent on mining it for the information he should know simply on the basis of their long acquaintance. They spent all day together—did they usually talk about nothing but work?

Andi was always excellent about keeping them focused so no time was wasted. She managed their affairs with such efficiency that there was little downtime for chin-wagging, especially since they’d moved to Ruthenia and tackled challenges higher than the legendary Althaus mountains that loomed over the palace. He’d always appreciated her professional approach to her job and to life in general.

But now he was beginning to realize he’d missed out on enjoying her company all this time. She was much more complex than he’d realized, more vulnerable and intriguing—and not just because of her missing memory. He’d never seen her as a person with emotions, with needs, before, because she’d done such an excellent job hiding that aspect of herself.

And he’d never realized she was so tempting. She’d hidden that, too.

He closed his office door and walked through to the cabinets in the file room, where the personnel files from New York were stored. Thanks to Andi’s relentless organization he quickly laid his hands on her file, and the résumé she’d submitted when she applied for the job as his admin back when he was simply a venture capitalist.

A quick scan revealed that she’d graduated from Drexel University in Pennsylvania—right state, at least—with a degree in business administration and a ridiculously long list of clubs and activities to her name. Apart from some temping in Manhattan, her first job was with him. She’d graduated from North Hills Senior High School in Pittsburgh—ha, right again, maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. He had to congratulate himself on being able to pick such a promising employee despite her lack of relevant work experience.

But that didn’t solve his current problem of finding out about her past and helping her recover her memory.

Wait. Did he even want her to recover her memory? If she did, she’d surely remember that their relationship had been strictly professional and the whole engagement his invention.

Discomfort rose in his chest, threatening to overwhelm the sense of satisfaction—of happiness, dammit—that had suffused his body and mind since their overnight encounter.

Andi was sensational between the sheets. He’d never have dreamed that his quiet, prim assistant hid so much passion and energy beneath her suited exterior. She even looked different, like she’d forgotten to put on the mask of no-nonsense propriety she usually painted on with makeup and pinned into place with a spritz of hair spray. The real Andi—the one without the mask—was soft and sexy and downright irresistible.

Desire stirred inside him again, tightening his muscles. Blood rushed to his groin as he thought about her in his arms that morning, scented with passion as well as her usual floral fragrance. He put the résumé back in its file.

Maybe her memory wouldn’t come back and they could start over from the night he’d found her dancing outside, freed of the inhibitions and anxieties built by a lifetime of experience. He couldn’t help believing that the woman who’d shared his bed was the real Andi, and that she’d been hiding inside all this time, waiting for a chance to be free.