Recklessly Royal
Page 8

He shifted his shoulders and frowned into his cup. He looked so uncomfortable I felt a twinge of sympathy for him. It was hard to leave your normal life behind and do anything different. And he was here because Sam trusted him with her home and the Future Bird Trust, which had become her baby over the last year.
“You know, it’s not so bad.” I smiled at him. ”You’ll be so busy with the FBT you’ll hardly notice anything else, but you won’t have to worry about washing your clothes or cooking dinner.”
“It doesn’t sound that bad when you put it that way.” Something warm filled his eyes when he looked down at me. “You know, you don’t really seem like a princess.”
“Wow. You’re really bad at compliments, you know that?” I laughed. “Besides, how many princesses do you know?”
“Well, not many.” He chuckled. “You, and I guess Sam will be one soon.”
“Exactly.” I shook my head. “Speaking of the morning grump, she should be up soon.” I looked down at my watch. We had a lot to accomplish and very little time to do it in.
“I’m up. There better be more coffee.” Sam shuffled into the kitchen, her eyes half lidded. “And if you call me Princess, I will throat-punch you.”
In fear for my life, I turned to open the cupboard to get a cup for her and face-planted into David’s chest. My coffee splashed onto his shirt and I cringed.
“Yow.” He grunted and pulled at his shirt.
“Sorry!” I spun and set my cup down and picked up a rag from the counter. I rubbed at his shirt in an attempt to soak up some of the hot liquid. “Sorry. So sorry!”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay! Are you burned?” Without thinking I lifted his shirt to make sure he didn’t have any blisters. As soon as I exposed his skin I gulped. Despite a red mark, his tanned chest and stomach looked perfect. Too perfect. Perfect enough to make me consider suggesting taking the shirt off all the way. You know, so I could rinse it, not just because I suddenly wanted to watch him walk around half naked.
Okay, I could be honest with myself and admit that I liked what I was seeing. Hadn’t I already decided I wanted to see him na**d last night? Of course, I had been drunk. Heat rushed over my body and I froze, my fingers still on his skin. I may have had too much to drink last night, but I wasn’t drunk right now.
“I’m fine.” His voice rumbled out of his chest under my touch. His hand caught my wrist with gentle fingers and I looked up into his warm eyes. He smiled at me, even though I had just dumped steaming liquid on him.
“Um, I suppose you want to take care of this yourself.” I handed him the rag and turned around to hide my pink cheeks. I had just rubbed all over his chest like some kind of hormonal idiot. I looked for my coffee but it was gone and I scanned the room. Sam’s wide eyes watched me over the rim of my cup as she sipped the leftover contents.
“You were taking too long and blocking my way to the pot.” She shrugged, but her eyes were amused. Which was very wrong considering that she had just woken up and had only a little coffee. I must have looked like a real idiot.
“Whatever keeps you from killing everyone with your grumpy face.” I shrugged and walked over to the sink. When had I become so incredibly clumsy? And since when did I rub all over men in Sam’s kitchen? What was wrong with me?
“We’re going to need more coffee if we’re avoiding death glares.” Sam scooted between us and filled a new mug with coffee. “We’ve got a lot to do.”
“I’m going to change.” David jerked his head toward the door. “Do you have a little time to talk before you go?”
“Sure.” Sam answered. “After coffee.”
“Got it.” David smiled at us. “See you around, Cathy.”
“Bye.” I smiled at him awkwardly. As soon as he walked out of the door, Sam burst out laughing. “What?”
“You sure are determined to get his clothes off.” She shook her head.
“I am not!” My words were a little too loud. Great. I sounded guilty. “It was an accident.”
“Right.” She sat down on one of the stools. “That’s why you were busy stroking his chest a few minutes ago.”
“I was not stroking anything. Oh God, I had stroked his chest. I was making sure I hadn’t hurt him.”
“Uh-huh. Sure.” Sam rolled her eyes. “There was definitely no stroking going on in my kitchen just a few minutes ago. Nope. Not at all. And certainly no sexual tension or gooey puppy-dog eyes.”
“Shut up and drink your coffee.” I glared at her. “I did not give him puppy-dog eyes.”
“Whatever you say.” She hummed to herself as she poured more creamer in her cup.
My phone beeped and I picked it up. Selene, my assistant, had sent a text to let me know a car was on the way. I had to get back to the palace for a meeting and to check some of the last-minute wedding plans.
“I’ve got to go.” I stood up and stretched. “I’ll see you tonight?”
“You know, you really didn’t have to do as much for the wedding as you have.” Sam frowned.
“Hush. I like doing it.” I smiled. “It’s fun to see all of the little details come together.”
She looked up at me and smiled. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I rinsed my cup out and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. “I need to go. My car should be here any minute.”