Hell, if he didn’t get out of there soon, he might forget all about his principles and better judgment.
“Guess I’d better go,” he said, stepping past her for the open doorway while he could still manage it.
“Oh. Are you sure?” She waved one hand at the wet bar across the room. “Maybe one drink first? Or I could call room service…”
She wasn’t making this easy, he told himself. Need grabbed him at the base of the throat and squeezed. It would be so easy to stay here. To kiss her again and take his time about it. To feel her body respond to his and to forget all about who she was. Who he was. And why this was a really bad idea.
“I don’t think so,” he said, “but thanks. Another time.”
“Of course.” Disappointment clouded her features briefly. And after a day of watching her smile and enjoy herself, damned if he could stand her feeling badly.
“How about breakfast?” He heard himself say it and couldn’t call the words back.
That smile of hers appeared again and his heart thudded painfully in his chest. Garrett King, master of bad mistakes.
“I’d like that.”
“I’ll see you then,” he said and stepped out of the penthouse, closing the door quietly behind him.
In the elevator, he stood perfectly still and let the annoying Muzak fill his mind and, temporarily at least, drive out his churning thoughts. But it couldn’t last. He had to think about this. Figure out how to handle this situation.
Yes, he wanted Alex.
But his own code of behavior demanded that he protect—not bed—the princess.
He watched the numbers over the elevator doors flash and as they hit the first floor and those doors sighed open, he told himself that maybe he could do both.
The question was, should he?
Three
“Did you and Mickey have a good time?”
“Funny.” Garrett dropped into his favorite, bloodred leather chair and propped his feet up on the matching hassock. Clutching his cell phone in one hand and a cold bottle of beer in the other, he listened to his twin’s laughter.
“Sorry, man,” Griff finally said, “but made me laugh all day thinking about you hauling your ass around the happiest place on Earth. All day. Still can’t believe you let Jackson con you into going.”
“Wasn’t Jackson,” Garrett told him. “It was Casey.”
“Ah. Well then, that’s different.” Griffin sighed. “What is it about women? How do they get us to do things we would never ordinarily do?”
“Beats the hell outta me,” Garrett said. In his mind, he was seeing Alex again as he said goodbye. Her eyes shining, her delectable mouth curved…
“So was it hideous?”
“What?”
“I swear, when I went to Knott’s Berry Farm with them last summer, Mia about wore me into the ground. That kid is like the Tiny Terminator.”
“Good description,” Garrett agreed with a laugh. “And she was pumped today. Only time she sat down was when we were on a ride.”
Sympathy in his tone, Griffin said, “Man, that sounds miserable.”
“Would have been.”
“Yeah…?”
Garrett took a breath, considered what he was about to do, then went with his gut. He was willing to keep Alex’s secret, for the time being anyway, but not from Griffin. Not only were they twins, but they were partners in the security firm they had built together.
“So, talk. Explain what saved you from misery.”
“Right to the point, as always,” Garrett murmured. His gaze swept the room. His condo wasn’t big, but it suited him. He’d tried living in hotels for a while like his cousin Rafe had done for years until meeting his wife, Katie. But hotels got damned impersonal and on the rare occasions when Garrett wasn’t traveling all over the damn globe, he had wanted a place that was his. Something familiar to come home to.
He wasn’t around enough to justify a house, and he didn’t like the idea of leaving it empty for weeks at a stretch, either. But this condo had been just right. A home that he could walk away from knowing the home owner’s association was looking after the property.
It was decorated for comfort, and the minute he walked in, he always felt whatever problems he was thinking about slide away. Maybe it was the view of the ocean. Maybe it was the knowledge that this was his space, one that no one could take from him. Either way, over the past couple of years, it really had become home.
The study where he sat now was a man’s room, from the dark paneling to the leather furniture to the stone hearth on the far wall. There were miles of bookshelves stuffed with novels, the classics and several gifts presented to him by grateful clients.
And beyond the glass doors, there was a small balcony where he could stand and watch the water. Just like the view from Alex’s hotel room. Amazing how quickly his mind could turn and focus back on her.
“Hello? Garrett? You still there?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“Then talk. No more stalling. What’s going on?”
“I met a woman today.”
“Well, shout hallelujah and alert the media!” Griffin hooted a laugh that had Garrett wrenching the phone away from his ear. “’Bout time you got lucky. I’ve been telling you for months you needed to loosen up some. What’s she like?”
“Believe me when I say she defies description.”
“Right. You met a goddess at Disneyland.”
“Not exactly.”
“What’s that mean?”
“She’s a princess.”
“Oh, no,” Griffin groaned dramatically. “You didn’t hook up with some snotty society type, did you? Because that’s just wrong.”
Frowning, Garrett said, “No, she’s a princess.”
“Now I’m confused. Are we talking a real princess? Crown? Throne?”
“Yep.”
“What the—”
“Remember that job we did for the King of Cadria a few years ago?”
Silence, while his brother thought about it, then, “Yeah. I remember. They were doing some big show of the crown jewels and we set up the security for the event. Good job.”
“Yeah. Remember the daughter?”
“Hah. Of course I remember her. Never met her face-to-face, but I saw her around the palace from a distance once or twice. Man she was—” Another long pause. “Are you kidding me?”
Garrett had gotten a few of those long-distance glances, too. He remembered not paying much attention to her, either. When he was on a job, his concentration was laserlike. Nothing but security concerns had registered for him and once that had been accomplished, he and his brother had left Cadria.
Since the small island nation was just off the coast of England, he and Griffin had flown to Ireland to visit their cousin Jefferson and his family. And never once had Garrett given the crown princess another thought.
Until today.
“Nope.