Tara closed her eyes and her face got even redder. Max laughed gently. “I can see that you do remember that part.”
“Yes,” she choked out. “But I don’t remember anything after that.”
Max moved closer to her on the bed. “Tara, I can guarantee that when we make love, you’ll definitely remember it. But as for last night, after you kissed me, you promptly fell asleep. Another thing,” he continued, his eyes dropping down to observe her hands still clenching the sheet in front of her, “I can also assure you that when I make love to you, I won’t leave your clothes on.”
Tara could only stare at him with big eyes. “Your Highness, please…”
He leaned over her and she pushed herself into the pillows as his big body blocked out all the light from the windows. “If you call me ‘Your Highness’ one more time, under any circumstance, I’ll have to do something drastic to stop you. Understand?” he said.
Tara could only nod. The vague threat of “something drastic” sounded ominous enough that she didn’t think she’d test it right at this moment.
“Good. How about some aspirin?” he smiled.
“Um…that would be very helpful,” Tara said, her hand going to her suddenly throbbing head.
“I have some in the bathroom. There’s coffee in the front room,” he called back to her as he disappeared into the bathroom.
Tara had been clutching the sheet to her chest this whole time but as soon as he disappeared, she pulled it away and looked down at herself, just to assure her mind that she really was clothed. She was extremely grateful that she was still wearing her underwear but her dress was gone.
Max caught her and laughed. “Didn’t believe me, did you?” He was already walking back into the bedroom. He held out a glass of water for her and his eyes showed his continued humor in her shyness.
Tara blushed but held the sheet close to her chest, using it more as a security blanket than anything else. “I’m not very sure about anything right at the moment,” she said and took the glass of cold water gratefully. He also handed her two aspirin but that was slightly harder since she didn’t want to touch him. He finally turned her hand over with his and dropped them into her palm. “I won’t bite, Tara,” he said and winked at her. “Not very hard anyway.”
He stood up from the bed again and disappeared into what she suspected was the closet.
As soon as he was out of sight, she tried to quickly slip out from under the covers. “I have to go,” she said and slid to the edge of the bed, grabbing her satin dress and pulling it quickly over her head.
“Have breakfast with me at least,” he said popping his head out from the closet door.
Tara felt like she could just drool at the sight of his chest and almost wished he wouldn’t put any clothes on. But she was being ridiculous. “No. No, I really need to get home,” she said, frantic to get away from his devastatingly handsome physique.
Max walked out of the closet, pulling a sweater over his head as he moved back toward the bed. Thankfully, gone was the towel, replaced by a pair of jeans that were almost worse than the towel for her peace of mind. That man could definitely fill out a pair of jeans, she thought.
“Why?” he asked, pulling the sweater down over his lean, muscular torso. He stopped only inches from where she was standing next to the bed.
“I…I just need to. Please understand,” she said, looking down at the floor.
Max was quiet for a moment as he surveyed her features, noting the color still tingeing her cheeks. Then he acquiesced. “Fine, but I’m driving you home. I tried to take you home last night but we couldn’t find your home address,” he said.
Tara pushed her hair out of her eyes and nodded. “I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble.”
Max laughed. “Please, cause me this kind of trouble any time,” he said. “Have a cup of coffee and I’ll call my driver to take you home,” he said.
Tara longed for coffee to give her strength but needed to get away from him more urgently. Having coffee would me at least another fifteen minutes in his presence and she wasn’t sure what would happen in that time. “No, I don’t want you to do that. Please, I’ll just take a cab home.”
Max shook his head, not allowing any more arguments on the subject. “No way. Sit down, drink some coffee and I’ll call Jimmy. He’s probably downstairs pacing in boredom anyway.”
After two years of working for the man, she knew a firm order from Max when she heard it and so she gave in reluctantly. Tara poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down on the sofa, but wouldn’t relax, perching herself on the edge instead of leaning back against the cushions. The coffee was wonderful and made her feel marginally better and she was grateful for whoever called him on the phone, thereby distracting Max from teasing or questioning her further. Just as she’d predicted, fifteen minutes later, they were driving away in Max’s limousine toward her house.
Once there, Max walked her to the door. “Invite me inside, Tara,” he said and leaned an arm on either side of her doorway.
She held the door, afraid of looking up into his handsome face, afraid of what her eyes might reveal in her weakened state. “Why?” she whispered.
“Because I want to see where you live,” he said as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “And also because I’m going to kiss you goodbye and I’m guessing you don’t want your neighbors to see that.”
That last statement got her moving. It wasn’t because she wanted him to kiss her, she told herself. But she definitely didn’t want her neighbors to think there was something between her and the tall, dark man in her doorway. She was relatively sure they wouldn’t recognize him as their Crown Prince but the limousine parked on the street was a big indicator of someone wealthy and powerful which would raise suspicions.
Tara’s hand quickly unlocked the door, shaking the whole time. “You can’t kiss me,” she said as she stepped inside her small house, closing the door after he came inside, but also checking to make sure none of her neighbors were outside at this hour of the morning.
“Why not?” he asked, looking around her house curiously. “This is nice, cozy,” he said and wandered into her kitchen.
The house, which had seemed perfectly sized for her own needs, looked incredibly small with Max inside it. He tended to dwarf any person beside him but now he was doing it to her house. “Thank you,” she said breathlessly, still leaning against the door as if her legs wouldn’t hold her. And it was possible that they wouldn’t since they were shaking in fear and anticipation. Just the thought of kissing him was too enticing. Since she didn’t remember much of the kiss the previous night, it didn’t really count, she told herself.