Page 26 of The Prince's Secret Daughter
They sat down at the table, and Helen served Raj and herself pizza. While they were eating, Helen asked Angela what the best part of her day had been.
Despite the intense sexual tension in the air between herself and Raj, the evening’s meal was actually quite nice. The pizza lent a sense of excitement to the meal that simply could not be achieved with chicken and rice. Once she and Raj had taken a few bites of the pizza, they were able to settle down and enjoy the meal and their daughter’s cheerful chatter.
Chapter 23
“She’s asleep,” Raj whispered into the darkness.
Helen turned to find Raj standing in the doorway, backlit by the hallway lights.
She swallowed hard. He was so tall, handsome, and powerful and…and the memories from five years ago came rushing back unbidden. The sexual tension created by the game earlier were just as strong and vibrant as before. Helen curled her fingers into fists, fighting to keep from reaching out to touch him.
“How about a glass of brandy?” he suggested.
Helen sighed, but nodded. That would be nice, she thought. Or maybe more alcohol wasn’t a good idea. She’d had wine with lunch and dinner. Another drink might cause her self-control to vanish entirely.
“Maybe, I should just go to bed,” she said out loud as she stood in the doorway with him.
He gave her a lopsided grin. “It’s only eight thirty, Helen.” He took her hand and led her down the hallway towards the great room. “If you’re tired, then, by all means, do what you need to do.” He dropped her hand when they reached the enormous room. The lights had been dimmed, which enhanced the view of the city lights through the large windows. He lifted a crystal decanter filled with the amber liquid, but hesitated before pouring. Looking over at her, he waited. “Are you tired?”
Helen didn’t feel tired at all. In fact, she felt…alive and unsettled. She knew why. It was because of Raj.
“No,” she finally replied. “I’m not tired. Not at all.” In fact, she was so incredibly aware of every part of her body, and his, that she could barely think.
“Good,” he replied and poured brandy into two snifters.
Helen took the delicate glass, careful not to touch his fingers during the transition. She was wound so tight, a mere touch might have her tossing the drink out of the way and grabbing the man, pleading with him to do all those delicious things to her that she couldn’t help but remember.
It had been a long time. Five years, since she’d felt the touch of a man.
Raj was more than a man, she thought as she took an absent sip of her brandy, watching him over the rim of the glass. Raj was…extraordinary. It wasn’t his money, although she now knew that he was pretty loaded, if the penthouse suite and his “staff” were any indication. No, Raj had a confidence that was pretty damn sexy.
In her line of work, she met a lot of men, most of whom were extremely wealthy. Despite the power that comes with money, Helen estimated that most of the wealthy men she’d met over the course of her career were insecure boys who masqueraded as men. Their confidence was only a façade. Their insecurities came across as arrogance when confronted by something they didn’t like. And a woman with intelligence was definitely something that wealthy men didn’t like. Their insecurities couldn’t handle a woman who might confront them with logic or facts.
Helen had learned the gentle art of tiptoeing around egos so that they didn’t deflate with the smallest prick.
She didn’t have to do that around Raj. She’d never held back and, even today, he’d never discouraged her from speaking her mind, offering an opinion.
It was nice, heady even, to be liberated from men with fragile egos. Raj was…strong in many ways.
“Helen?” he prompted, interrupting her thoughts.
Helen came back from her contemplation with a thud. He’d been talking. Oops!
“Sorry,” she murmured, sitting down on the sofa opposite him instead of right beside him where she wanted to be.
“I asked if you’d thought about the case that we found today.”
The case? Oh! The plastic case filled with weapons and ammunition. “No. I researched the property though and…,” she paused, trying to remember the details of what she’d discovered. Her mind went blank as she watched Raj sip the brandy. Almost in slow motion, he lifted the glass to his lips. She saw those lips separate, accepting the rim of the glass. Then her eyes focused on his fingers. They were long and lean. She pictured those fingers sliding down her body. She remembered what it felt like when those fingers cupped her breasts, the way it felt when his thumb slid teasingly over her nipple. And she remembered clearly what those fingers felt like when they slid into her body, as they teased her, brought forth reactions that she hadn’t realized were possible.
“Helen?”
She didn’t jump this time. Helen lifted her eyes, staring straight into his piercing gaze. That’s when her resolve crumbled into dust. She felt the heat in his eyes and knew that he felt the tension as strongly as she did.
Standing up, she walked over to him, setting her glass, and his, on the coffee table. She felt his strong hands grip her hips and knew he wanted her just as badly as she wanted him. That just turned her on even more, her body vibrating with the need to feel him, to straddle him and take all of this man’s obvious erection into her body.
“I haven’t been with a man since you,” she whispered.
This was just temporary. Helen knew that Raj could only be a temporary lover in her life. And for tonight, she was fine with that. Right now, she just needed to feel like a woman instead of a rushed, harried mother or a businesswoman trying to navigate men’s arrogance so she could do her job.
