A Wise Prince Read online

  As the meal comes to an end, Anna stands and comes over to me, holding out her hand. “Follow me,” she says. “Ten minutes,” she adds to the others.

  She brings me to a library, which is much smaller and cozier than the one at the main palace. “OK, here’s how hide-and-go-drink works. Have you played hide-and-go-seek?”

  I laugh. “Uh, yeah. I think every kid has played it.”

  “Good. This is nothing like that.”

  I frown, confused, and she continues. “First, there are teams. We’ll play with three. It’s sort of like if capture the flag and hide-and-go-seek and a pub crawl had a baby. One team is it. There’s a place we have to get back to. We go hide with a bottle of wine. We hide the bottle of wine in our assigned room. That’s a rule we had to add otherwise we’d never finish the game. Then we have to find the other team’s wine bottle, pour ourselves a drink, drink it, and make it back home before the other team. If you do that, you win. The team that’s it tries to find both the wine bottles. If they find the wine bottle before your team, you lose. If they make it back home with both wine bottles, they win. Make sense?”

  My brain tries to process the game. “I…maybe?”

  Anna laughs as Auggie, Mia, Chris, and Logan all enter the library.

  “I can’t believe we are playing this game,” Chris says, shaking his head.

  “Oh, come on, don’t be such an old man. It’s fun, and plus, it’s a tradition,” Anna says. She turns to me. “We used to play it with cookies when we were kids—hide-and-go-eat.”

  I laugh at that thought and wonder how many cookies Tessa had to bake for the game.

  “OK, Logan, you’re with me. Chris and Mia; and, Auggie, you can be with Kate,” Anna declares. I can already tell that Anna wears the pants in this family. Her brothers dote on her, and it’s actually sort of cute.

  Chris, Anna, and Auggie do rock, paper, scissors for which team is it. Auggie and I lose.

  “OK, you guys stay here with the desk. That’s home. Chris and Mia have the conservatory and Logan and I will take the guest quarters in the west wing.” Everyone heads off, leaving Auggie and me standing in the middle of the library.

  “How’s your hip?” he asks.

  “It’s OK. I promise,” I say, giving him a small smile. “So, this is what royals do when they are at home, huh?”

  Auggie grins. “I can’t speak for other royals, but when it’s just the three of us, we tend to revert to our childish ways. You should see us when we break out the Monopoly board.”

  “Clue and Candyland are my sister’s and my go-to games,” I say as I remember holidays playing them with her. It’s been a while since we’ve done that.

  Auggie looks at his watch. “We give them five minutes, and then it’s go time.”

  I walk around the library, running my fingers over the spines of the books. I love the smell of a library. It’s the best smell in the world.

  “Do you like to read?” Auggie asks.

  “I do. You?”

  “Yes. But I think you already might know that after our discussion at the palace stables,” he points out. I nod. I was surprised that Auggie was a reader. Marrying the playboy Auggie with the deep-thinker Auggie still has my head spinning.

  I’m so deep in thought about it, I jump when I hear his voice in my ear. “You shouldn’t believe everything you read in the tabloids,” he says quietly. The heat of his body is so close to mine that I know he can’t be more than an inch behind me.

  I turn to him. “I agree. Sometimes…what the world sees of us, isn’t actually us at all,” I muse.

  The left corner of his mouth quirks up at my words. “What’s the real Kate Bradford like?”

  I pause, considering his question. What am I like?

  “I…guess I’m still trying to figure that out,” I admit quietly. He reaches out and tucks a stray hair behind my ear.

  “Well, contrary to popular belief, I’m a good listener, if you ever need one,” he says to me.

  We’re both silent for a moment staring at each other.

  “What’s the real August Alexander like?” I ask him.

  He smiles but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Let’s just say, he’s a work in progress.”

  I place my hand on his heart and look up at him. “I think he has a good heart.”

  He closes his eyes as though he’s in pain before looking back down into mine. “I appreciate that, but I’m not so sure. I guess it remains to be seen.”

  “Auggie…” I say as I reach up and touch his cheek. Something inside me wants to kiss this man, wants to show him he’s good. He’s like a puppy that needs rescuing, a dangerous puppy that might bite me. But beneath it all, he’s good. I know it.

  For a split second, I think he might kiss me too, but then a timer dings.

  “Let’s go,” he says to me as he grabs my hand and we head off in search of the wine.

  Chapter Ten

  August

  * * *

  The sound of Kate’s laughter makes me grin like a fool. We’re running through the corridor, trying to make it back to the library. She’s hobbling, so I swoop her up and toss her over my shoulder as I sprint. She has both bottles in her hands.

  “Auggie!” she cries out between her laughs. “Put me down!”

  “No way! We are winning this thing!” I yell, my competitive nature taking over as we make it to the library with Chris on my heels.

  “Olly-olly-oxen free!” I yell as I place Kate on the desk with the bottles just as Mia, Anna, Chris, and Logan make it into the room.

  “Seriously?” Kate asks.

  I shrug. “It’s the rules.”

  “It’s…not…the…rules…you…ass,” Anna manages to say in between breaths. “You…just like saying it.”

  I chuckle and shrug again.

  “Let’s go grab some food,” Chris says as he looks at his watch.

  We all head toward the kitchen.

  “You kids hungry?” Tessa asks as she lays out a platter of sandwiches. Bowls of potato salad and chips also are set out on the longest kitchen island I’ve ever seen. There are seven bar seats on the side of it.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I say to her as I grab a plate and pass it to Kate. “Ladies first.”

  “Oh, isn’t your father joining us?” she asks.

  “He has a conference call,” Chris explains as we all start digging in. “When it’s just us kids, we tend to be very informal.”

  She grins at him. “It’s like that at home too. The chef is always keeping our favorite snacks for us in the pantry. Sometimes my sister and I will just go and have cereal for dinner when my parents are away.”

  “Which kind?” I ask her.

  Her face tinges with pink. “Fruity Pebbles is my favorite,” she says quietly.

  “Soul sisters! I knew it!” Anna says loudly as she fist-bumps Kate. “I freakin’ love that cereal. We have some if you want any. I totally got addicted to it when we used to spend our summers at camp in the States.”

  “Seriously?” Kate asks.

  Anna nods, her mouth full of potato salad.

  “It’s Anna’s favorite,” I explain. “Tessa spoils her and keeps it here.”

  “She doesn’t spoil me…much,” Anna whines.

  Chris and I exchange a look and laugh.

  “You two suck,” Anna grumbles as she stuffs more salad in her mouth.

  After that, we are all quiet as we eat.

  Kate finishes first. “Well, I’m exhausted. I’m going to go check in on my thesis stuff and then hit the sack.”

  “I’ll walk with you. I’m pretty tired too,” I say to her, mostly because I can’t get enough of her. There’s something about her. It’s weirding me out a little. I don’t normally have deep conversations with women before I’m buried deep inside their pussies. But make no mistake, I will be buried deep inside her. I’m laying my claim now.

  I follow her to her guest room. Jackie passes us in the hallway and gives Anna a hard look be
fore heading into her room. So, Kate’s in trouble from our little sneak-out.

  “Can I show you something?” I say to her deciding she needs to know about the secret corridors here. There aren’t as many as at the Royal Palace, but she can get out of here without letting her security know it.

  “Uh, sure,” she says hesitantly as she opens the door and lets me inside.

  I walk toward her wardrobe and open it. Inside, I press on the back panel and it opens into the passage that leads to the hall closet three doors down from my chamber. I explain this quietly to her.

  “I just thought…well, I’m sorry if we got you in trouble with your security the other night,” I say to her.

  “Can…we go in it now?” she asks, a mischievous look on her face. I decide she doesn’t need any more trouble.

  “How about I go wait on the other side?” I ask her, motioning to her security’s adjoining rooms.

  She nods. “OK,” she says, and I walk out and head toward the exit of the passage.

  About two minutes later, the door panel in the wall opens and she peeks out into the hallway. She jumps when she sees me and hits her head on the doorframe.

  “Ouch!” she squeaks as she rubs her head.

  “You OK?” I ask as I approach her. I help her into the hall and run my hand over the back of her head.

  She winces a little as I touch the spot that hit the doorframe. “Come on, let’s get you patched up,” I say to her as I take her hand and pull her toward my room.

  Once inside, I walk over to my minibar and pull out some ice from my freezer. I place it on a towel and motion for her to sit on the bench at the foot of my bed. She complies, and I place the ice on her head. I let my arm brush against her thick, silky hair.

  “You should be more careful,” I chide.

  “I know,” she huffs. She looks up at me from beneath her lashes, and I swear I stop breathing. She’s so fucking perfect.

  “Better?” I ask after a minute, realizing neither of us has spoken.

  “I think so,” she answers, her voice breathy.

  I slowly lower the ice. “Kate,” I start. Her face is so close to mine that I can see the flashes of green in her blue eyes. “I’m going to kiss you, now.” I bring my hand down to her cheek as I say this.

  “OK,” she breathes as my lips caress over hers, testing.

  Her lips are so unbelievably soft. I run my tongue over them, and she sighs, parting them in the process. That’s all the invitation I need. I angle her face and take control of the kiss. She tastes like Tessa’s sweet tea, and I want more. I fuck her mouth with my tongue, showing her exactly what I want to do with the rest of her body. My other hand finds her waist and then the underside of her breast. She trembles under my touch.

  “How’s your hip now?” I ask her as I move my lips along her jaw.

  “My hip?” Her voice is dazed, and I smirk.

  “Your hip,” I repeat.

  “Fine,” she says, her eyes still closed. I lift her and her eyes pop open as I place her on my bed.

  “I’ve been wanting to explore every inch of you since I saw you at the hospital,” I admit to her as I look into her eyes.

  “Really?” she asks, her face turning pink.

  She has no idea how beautiful she is and that shocks me and also turns me the fuck on.

  “Yes,” I say. I lie down next to her and begin caressing and exploring her body as we kiss again. I haven’t made out like a teenager in a long time, too long in fact because this is heaven. My hand finds her breasts under her sweater and I tease her nipples. She groans against my lips and I squeeze one tighter. Her skin dots with goose bumps.

  “You are so fucking responsive,” I murmur against her lips as my one hand trails down and slides inside her leggings and underwear. My finger separates her seam, and I’m rewarded with her heat and wetness as I slide it along her clit and down to her opening.

  She trembles again and grips my shoulders as I slowly work a finger inside her.

  “Fuck,” I groan. “You’re so fucking tight.”

  “Don’t stop,” she pants as I begin to fuck her with my finger, my thumb making small circles on her clit.

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’m not stopping until you are crying out my name,” I tell her.

  Her inner walls clench around my finger at my words. Someone likes dirty talk. This surprises and excites me all at the same time. I double my efforts and after a moment or two her body tenses and quivers as she comes, her cream coating my finger as her tight channel grips me.

  “August,” she sighs as she slowly comes down from her orgasm.

  “You want more?” I ask her.

  “Yes,” she whispers, and I can tell she’s embarrassed to admit this.

  “Good because I’m just getting started.”

  Kathryn

  In my post-climax haze, I’m half-aware that Auggie is pulling down my leggings and underwear. His mouth peppers my body with kisses as he worships each exposed inch of my skin. I feel…cherished. I’ve never felt this way with a man. Aside from Jared the one time, there hasn’t been another man.

  I shudder at the thought of my ex.

  “You OK?” Auggie asks, clearly feeling my body tense.

  I keep my eyes closed and will my body to relax. “Yes, don’t stop,” I urge. I don’t want Jared taking away another moment of this experience. And then as Auggie pulls my sweater over my head, I feel him stop and I know he sees it…my scar.

  “What’s this from?” he asks me as he runs his finger over the line on the inside of my upper arm.

  My eyes fly open and find his boring into me. “I broke my arm,” I say to him because it’s the truth.

  “It must have been a bad break,” he ponders as he continues to examine the jagged scar. I’ve had two surgeries on it. One to set my arm with screws and pins and the other one to fix the scar because it was even worse than that. My eyes close again as I remember Jared picking up the golf club. Fortunately, Auggie can’t see the scar on the side of my head as it’s covered by hair. My ribs didn’t need surgery to heal, just time. I shiver at the memory.

  “Fuck,” Auggie curses as he sits back on his haunches, and I know that he knows. “He did this to you.”

  I can’t bring myself to open my eyes, but I nod slightly. I can’t stop the tears that run down my cheeks from beneath my lashes. The tone in his voice finally breaks my wall. Auggie scoops me up and pulls me onto his lap, cradling me as he rocks us back and forth, his voice making soft shushing sounds.

  “I got you, sweetheart. I got you,” he says to me in a quiet voice. He lets me cry against his chest. When my tears dry, he smooths the hair away from my face. I open my eyes to see his worried expression.

  “Sorry,” I whisper, suddenly feeling embarrassed.

  His eyes burn as his jaw ticks. He doesn’t speak for a long moment.

  “There is nothing to be sorry about. If that asshole were here…well, let’s just say he wouldn’t be walking away,” he says from behind gritted teeth.

  “No, I mean I’m sorry that I ruined the moment,” I explain. I feel the heat creeping up my neck as full mortification takes hold.

  His hand cups my face as he runs his thumb across my lips.

  “You didn’t ruin anything,” he responds.

  “But—”

  His finger presses against my lips, silencing me. He leans down and runs his tongue over my upper lip and then my lower lip. I sigh against his gentle touch. We sit like this, kissing for long minutes. I let myself relax into the safety of his embrace. I don’t remember ever feeling so safe, so…understood.

  “Stop thinking. Let me make you feel good,” he says to me as he slowly lays me down on the bed and removes my bra. I realize then that I’m fully naked and he’s still clothed. Suddenly, the urge to see this man naked overpowers all my fears and embarrassment.

  “Take off your clothes,” I demand. He smirks as he begins to comply. He stands by the bed and peels off his clothing
, slowly, piece by piece. It’s like my own private exotic dance show. I watch, mesmerized by the flex of each of his muscles as he moves. He’s…breathtaking…perfect even. I’ve never seen a man like this before with every single muscle so well-toned and sculpted. I wonder how many hours he works out in a day because that type of body isn’t formed naturally, it takes work and probably some good genetics.

  I’m ogling his six-pack…really more like an eight-pack when he slowly pulls his pants down his long legs revealing that one, he’s commando and two…holy fucking shit. I’m momentarily transfixed by the body part he’s just revealed to me. My eyes bore into the thick, long column that springs forward from his body. I think that I’m equally excited and horrified at the same time. It’s not the first time I’ve seen a penis, but this penis is…wow.

  My eyes must be wide because when I look back up at his face, he’s smirking. He grips the base of his cock and my lady parts respond immediately. Fuck, he is sex personified. I can see why women fall at his feet. He’s the most perfectly sculpted man that I have ever seen.

  “Like what you see?” he asks. I roll my eyes at his cockiness.

  “It’ll do,” I reply, trying to sound underwhelmed.

  He laughs and crawls up over me on the bed, leaning in to swipe his tongue along my jaw. I tremble under his touch. “It’s about to do you,” he says, his voice low and gravelly.

  I become lost in his touch as his lips suck and nip at each body part that they come in contact with on their way down my body. He spends minutes on my breasts, lavishing my nipples with his wicked tongue and teeth. The dampness and aching between my legs start to become unbearable. I squirm beneath him.

  “I got you,” he murmurs as his lips make a trail down my belly. He places one knee and then another between my legs and slowly pushes them open, exposing my most intimate flesh to him. The heat crawls up my face again. No man has ever seen that. Jared just stuck his cock down there and that was it. I close my eyes as mortification sets in. I haven’t even shaved.