Page 40 of Some Like It Deadly
“I’ll take the damn thing off its hinges.” Then his mouth closed over hers, his tongue gliding over the seam of her lips demanding access, and she sighed. The passion in his touch sought acceptance and when she acquiesced, he swept in and claimed. It was the sweetest form of surrender and she moaned when he lifted his head. “But first?” He kissed the tip of her nose. “Calories. Lots of calories.”
Laughter bubbled up inside her and she grinned. “Promise me there’s dessert.”
“Oh.” He stroked the curve of her neck and if she’d been a cat, she would have purred. “There will definitely be dessert.”
Dinner turnedout to be fun and Richard took tormenting her to impossible levels—exactly as he was supposed to, he’d teased when she complained. The food was delicious—the baked potatoes soft and buttery, the steak damn near perfection, and the grilled veggies the excellent complement. They both nursed their wine, loosening up to only have a second half glass.
She wanted her wits about her and, evidently, so did he. “Out of curiosity…” He speared a pepper on his fork. “Why work as an assistant? You’ve got the drive and the capability to run your own small empire.”
Fortunately, she didn’t have to play a complicated word game to answer his question. “I never went to college,” she admitted and his brows raised. “What, you thought only people who get a four-year degree are savvy?”
“Not at all, it’s just surprising. You’re wildly intelligent.” The emphasis he put on the last two words delighted her more than if he’d called her beautiful. Of course, he’d done that too.
“Admittedly, I thought about it. But I was an army brat, I went army.”
“You were—son of a bitch, no wonder you’re so good atCall of Duty.” Admiration and exasperation mingled in his laughter. “I think that’s cheating. And more than a little sexy.”
“Well, I was a communications specialist, not as sexy as you might think.” She lifted her wine glass for a sip. “I spent six years in the service and got a lot accomplished, but after the boys, well, Mom was happier when I took a step back.”
“So, you didn’t want to leave?” He settled back in his chair, one foot braced against a rung on the bottom of hers.
“I wasn’t a lifer.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t something I saw myself doing until retirement. I wanted to serve, I wanted to learn and I got a hell of an education. If you ever need me to take apart your electronics and put them back together, that I can do. If you need me to jump out of a plane and land on a deserted isle somewhere and set up a cell tower?” She grinned. “That I can do too.”
“You just get sexier by the minute. You can para jump?” At her nod, he picked up his wine glass. “What else can you do that I don’t know about?”
Since that skated perilously close to a truth she couldn’t tell him yet, she danced along the edge. “I’m sure I have many hidden talents. What about you? What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”
“Probably playing hide and seek with Armand’s security detail.”
“How so?” She was curious, particularly in light of their current situation.
“Because I jumped out of a moving car and landed in an alley. Then I got lost in a street fair where I didn’t speak the language.” Boyish chagrin warmed his expression. “The secret of why they couldn’t find me? I was well and truly turned around. I spentmost of the day trying to figure out where the hell I was so I could get back.”
“And you never told them because…?”
“Pride. Guilt.” He spread his hands. “But I’d also made my point so the little impetuous action served its purpose. What about you? You jump over bridges and out of planes, but what’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”
That didn’t explain how he slipped them now, but they had time for that. Gritting her teeth, she made a face and stared at the pool “Would you believe me if I said that I’ve been pursued by a prince before?”
He leaned forward and put the wine glass down. “If his last name sounds anything like Dagmar, I don’t want to know.”
“No.” She softened the response and covered his hand with hers. “I hadn’t met His Highness before I started working for Anna.” Which was the absolute truth. She’d worked for Peterson, taken on some jobs here and there when he’d had work for her, but not for the grand duke.
“All right.” Richard relaxed and blew out a breath. “So what prince pursued you?”
“His name was Achmed Al-Sabah. He was the fourteenth son or something like that.” She stroked her tongue against her teeth. Richard seemed relaxed, but she recognized the sharp look in his gaze. He wanted details. “I met him while on assignment in Kuwait. I’d gone there to do some work on one of our bases—which is neither here nor there—but he had been part of a tour. He saw me, decided I would make a fantastic princess, and began to send me the craziest things.” No matter how entertained she was by the story, she never forgot how damn irritating it had been at the time.
“For example?” Richard curved his hand around hers, his thumb tracing a lazy pattern against skin. Tiny electric shocks impeded her interest in telling the story.
“First, he sent me silks—several thousand dollars’ worth of silk. I wore fatigues and BDUs, not silk. The guys in my unit got a big laugh out of it. Then he sent me meals, gourmet meals flown in from all over the world, and he tried to send in a chef, but the gate guards wouldn’t admit him to the base.” She’d almost forgotten about her royal stalker. “Every gift included an invitation, usually something innocuous—a walk together, a supper, twice he invited me the palace. I declined every invitation, but when he sent me the camels? That I had to explain to my C.O.”
Whether it was the consternation in her tone or the content of the statement, Richard laughed. “Camels?”
“Adozencamels.” She squeezed his hand.
“And what offer did he have with the camels?”
“Oh, that was a proposal.” Shaking her head, Kate laughed. “My C.O. told me we needed to put an end to the pursuit immediately and that meant letting the prince know in no uncertain terms that I wasn’t interested, but…” She trailed off invitingly.
