Locking the door to James’s room, I turned into his embrace and tilted my head up to let his lips descend upon mine. His lips were warm and soft, the hairs of his mustache and beard tickling my sensitive skin.

My hands rose up of their own accord, clutching his shoulders. He tugged me closer to him so that our bodies lined up perfectly, our hips together, his thigh between mine. His bulge was hard and demanding against my leg. I pushed against him and arched my back, letting out a soft moan that traveled no further than his rough, devouring kisses.

I felt hot between my legs, my need for him building rapidly. I kissed him again and again until we were both breathless, then slid my tongue over his full lower lip, asking for entrance. He gave it gladly and our tongues danced together, a sensual give and take.

There was no way to describe his taste, except to say that it existed on some other level far above normal sweetness. I drank it in, drank in his little gasps and moans as he rubbed himself on my leg while we kissed.

“Reid,” he whispered. His hands wove through my hair, tugging at me, demanding more.

Only too willing to answer his call, I thrust my tongue at his, then sought out the back of his throat. He let out another soft cry and pulled back, struggling for breath. His chest heaved, then heaved again, and then he grabbed me and pushed me back against the wall, his mouth descending upon mine once more.

God, but it had been so long since Alexander died, so long since another man had touched me. My body was responding rapidly, my blood racing, my heart pounding. My breath came fast in little pants, and my legs were so weak that the only thing holding me up was the force of James’s body pinning me to the wall. My dick throbbed and I pushed myself hard against James’s thigh, rubbing on him, making pulses of lust shoot through me.

At least, those were the excuses I was giving myself as to why I was reacting the way I did. I wanted to believe that this was all still because of the contract, that we were just mingling pleasure and business.

My protests didn’t last long when James kissed me harder still, so hard he was literally stealing my breath away. The dance of his tongue and lips were exquisite, showing off every ounce of skill he possessed in this department.

As much as I loved Alexander, as much as I would do anything to have him back, not even he had been able to do this to me. No one other than James could make me feel like this, so wild and out of control.

My hips bucked and my back arched, and I clawed at James like an animal in desperate need. Needing to be fucked, to be claimed.

Pulling away, James grabbed at my shirt and tore it open. Buttons went flying across the room. Before I could bemoan the loss of a pretty good shirt, James had descended upon my chest, kissing me, sucking my skin, trailing his tongue through my chest hair. His mouth was on my nipple, sucking and sucking, biting gently with the barest scrape of teeth on sensitive skin. I cried out and yanked the back of his shirt up to get my hands on his bare skin, luxuriating in the feel of the ridges and valleys of his muscles.

Sliding my hands up, I pulled his shirt up over his head and tossed it aside. Without even missing a beat, he went back to my nipple, curling his tongue around it, teasing it. I pressed my face into his silky hair and moaned, my small peaks growing hard. And something else was getting even harder, throbbing, fit to burst at any second.

“James,” I whimpered, begging for him.

James looked up into my eyes and I saw myself reflected back, saw his own needs and desires. I melted, going weaker than before, letting him grab me and toss me onto his grand, enormous bed.

I bounced up off the mattress, and then James descended upon me again, pinning me, his mouth roaming as he tugged open my jeans and pulled them down. He ripped my underwear in half and threw the pieces to either side.

Suddenly, abruptly, he slowed. It was as if someone had flipped a switch. He went from being a wild beast to a cautious explorer, dancing sweet little kisses and licks across my thighs, up my shaft, to my red, swollen, oozing tip.

His tongue flicked out again, startlingly pink. He licked his lips, then came up over my body to kiss me. I tasted him, tasted myself, and it was like the finest ambrosia.

Sliding my hands down his back, then around to the front of his hips, I pushed his slacks and underwear down. He kicked them away impatiently, and then he was gloriously naked, every inch of him exposed to my eyes for me to see.

He was exactly as I remembered, except that he was also different. Stronger, sexier, more solid of figure. His broad shoulders led down to the graceful curve of his side, the line of which flared out gently for his hips.

His cock was the staff of a flagpole, bigger than any other I’d ever seen, bigger than I could recall. The size of it was almost frightening. How could I fit all that inside me?

James gazed into my eyes. His hands rested gently on my shoulders, not pushing, not demanding. He seemed to be waiting for something.

He was waiting for me.

I took a deep breath, listened to my body cry out for relief and release, and knew this was what I wanted. It was what I had wanted since I saw him again, striding into the clinic, so smug and gorgeous.

“James,” I whispered. “James, please have sex with me.”

James chuckled and kissed my lips, slid his mouth down to the hollow of my throat. “So polite,” he purred. “As you wish.”

James turned over and reached for a shelf near the bed, which held an array of interesting bottles in unique shapes and colors. At the very end of the lineup was a much more modern tube with a crimped end and a flip top cap. James grabbed that one and popped the top open, then glanced at me. “Want one of those?”

“What are they?”

“Perfume.”

“Perfume?” I was torn between wanting to know more and wanting James to hurry up, since he seemed to be taking his sweet time with that lube. He rubbed a large amount in his hands, either warming it up, or teasing me, or both.

“Allison recommended them,” James said. “They’re supposed to enhance the experience.”

Of course those came from Allison. That old friend of ours had always been very much into New Age culture and all of its various subsets.

As intrigued as I was by the bottles and how they could possibly enhance a sexual experience, I didn’t want to touch them. It was my first time with James in years. I wanted to experience him, and nothing else.

Finally, he wrapped his hands around his massive cock and stroked it, spreading the lube everywhere. I watched, swallowing hard. He was so beautiful, all shiny and slippery like that. My own dick throbbed, and I felt my ass opening get a little loose, readying itself to accept James.

Unable to wait any longer, I snatched the tube from him and squeezed some of the lube onto my fingers. Rubbing them together briefly to warm the lube, I spread my legs and reached way down between my ass cheeks. The touch of the gel was a shock at first, before the coldness disappeared and I was left only with an exciting, slick sensation.

Making sure to keep my legs spread wide so James could watch, I rubbed my opening with my fingers, relaxing myself, getting the gel everywhere. I started to shake from how good it felt, and my back arched when I pushed one finger hard against my opening. My body was ready and my finger slid inside, causing a wave of tingles to surge through my body. I rode the wave like a surfer, letting it carry me higher and higher, all the way to the apex, and then back down.

Lips touched mine and I opened my eyes, realizing a few things in the same moment. I had almost come right then and there, and my finger was buried inside my ass as far as it could go.

I kissed James back, wriggling my finger, trying to press deeper, searching for that place inside me where it felt really good.

Chuckling against my mouth, James reached down and held my wrist, then gazed deep into my eyes. “I don’t think your finger will do the job.”

“What will?” I asked, breathless, intoxicated. I knew the answer. I wanted to hear him say it.

“Me,” he said. He pulled at my hand and I relaxed, allowing my finger to be pulled out of my ass.

Almost immediately, James’s cock was there to replace my finger. His hot, hard and soft tip pressed against me, then started to push inside. Gasping, arching my back, I relaxed my muscles and let him in.

The feeling of him sliding inside me, stretching me, filling me, went beyond description. It was beyond words. Beyond understanding.

I pushed against him, my body straining to meet his, to become one with him. He kept coming and coming, and there was still more of him entering me. Speared on him, I writhed and cried out, trembled and shook. I couldn’t hold still. I couldn’t do anything but give in to the desire to move.

James started moving with me, thrusting slowly, mimicking my movements. Finally, after an eternity, I felt his hips push against my ass, and knew he was all the way inside me.

James leaned his body over mine and kissed my lips. He gazed at me, deep into my eyes, and touched his nose to mine. “Are you ready?” His voice was so husky it was hardly more than a breath.

I couldn’t even find the words to respond. All I could do was nod dumbly and wriggle my hips to try and get my meaning across.

Chuckling softly, James kept his eyes on mine as he started to move. His hips rose and fell and his cock moved inside me, thrusting slowly in and out. The sensation inside me was so beautiful I could have cried and screamed all at once. As it was, sharp cries of pleasure burst up through my throat.

I moved with James, meeting his thrusts, picking up the pace. He followed along with me, keeping up, but never rushing ahead. He was still waiting for me, even now that we were in the middle of the act, still giving me a chance to end things, if that was what I wanted.

It was not what I wanted.

Grabbing at his shoulders, I cried out, ”James!” and bucked my ass even harder on his cock. He responded, matching me, our bodies moving together in a rhythm that very nearly became a dance.

James lowered his face and pressed kisses to my chest and neck, adding a new dimension to what I was feeling. One of my hands fluttered down to my dick, stroking myself, but then I needed to go back to holding onto him or else he would shove me clear off the bed.

Frustration mingled with my pleasure and I moved faster, harder, trying to get his cock to hit against that place inside me. At the same time, I tried to wriggle my hips to get more attention to my own dick. I felt like I was being torn in two from my separate needs.

Either James could tell what I wanted, or he somehow managed to decipher my frantic moans. He shifted, adjusting his body so that every thrust would rub the hard muscles of his abdomen on the tip of my cock. Jolts of pleasure shot through me and I closed my eyes, preparing to be swept away by my approaching orgasm.

That was when we heard the knocking.

Actually, it sounded more like someone was pounding the door, just fucking away on it.

I was so startled that I nearly lost control of myself, coming right to the edge of, well, coming. Gasping, tensing my muscles, I struggled to keep a grip on my needs. It was a very close thing, though.

“What is that?” I gasped out.

James grunted above me. His words came in a rush, delivered through gasps of breath. “I spoiled some fun for my cousin a few weeks ago. This has to be her revenge. Guards … probably breaking in.”

Judging from the hammering on the door, I would say that was exactly what the guards were trying to do. Luckily for us, and unfortunately for them, the doors in the palace were very thick and sturdy.

Which brought my thoughts turning back to something else which was rather thick, something inside me, which I needed.

“James,” I whispered.

“Yes?”

“Don’t stop.”

James laughed and nodded. He kissed my lips hard, and then his hips got to working, pumping up and down, thrusting his cock inside me at twice the speed of before. I met his pace, fucking with him. The fire inside me reached a rapid crescendo, and then James’s cock struck against that seat of pleasure buried deep in my ass.

I lost control of myself, my orgasm rising, spilling over, pouring out of me, like I had fallen into another dimension. Heat climbed up the shaft of my dick and escaped against James’s stomach, and I felt his release at the same time, burning hot inside me.

I thought I cried out, but it might only have been in my mind, because I was pretty sure that my mouth was shut. My jaw was tense and tight. In fact, every part of me felt the same way. I was like a rubber band stretched to its absolute limit.

Then, the world came rushing back in on me. I went limp, the pressure and tension inside me releasing. I gasped for breath like I hadn’t breathed in a year, shuddering and shaking.

James’s body was sprawled across mine, quivering.

I’d lost track of the pounding on the door while in the middle of my orgasm, but now there was a resounding thump, followed by a crash, and the door flew completely off its hinges. Several burly guards in traditional uniforms, like the ones we had passed in the garden, burst into the room.

James lifted his head and yelled, “Get the fuck out of here! I don’t care what Lesandra told you!”

“Sir,” a guard said, looking meek underneath his big black hat. His eyes were trained on me. I thought I saw recognition on his face, and wondered if he could possibly remember me from all those years ago.

“Does it look like I need rescuing?” James bellowed. “Get out of my room! And close the fucking door on your way out!”

The guards scattered like dogs with their tails between their legs. The last one through the door seemed to remember James’s request for the door to be shut. He spun around, shielding his eyes so he wouldn’t get an eyeful of us, and grabbed up the door from where it was lying on the floor.

The hinges were completely busted, so all he could do was lean it up against the wall. He stood there, looking troubled, before hurrying away after the others.

I started laughing, surprising myself. How long had it been since I’d laughed like this? It had just been such a comical sight, and I couldn’t help myself.

James leaned his body over mine, pressing our foreheads together. “Where in the world did you learn how to do that?”

I blinked up into his sweet, dark eyes, which were still a little hazy from orgasm. “Do what?”

“Fuck like that! You were so incredible, Reid. You took my breath away.”

A blush rose up to my cheeks. I turned my head away, only to find his hand on my cheek, guiding me to look back at him. “Was I really that bad before?” I asked.

“Not bad,” James conceded. He touched his lips to mine, softly, fleetingly. “But like a college student.”

“I was a college student,” I argued, laughing. “It’s all about the orgasm back then, right?”

“That’s what I’m saying.” James nuzzled his face into my neck, delivering more tickly kisses that made my dick twitch around, wondering if round two was about to happen. “You made me feel alive.”

“It kind of helped that we had a bit of a time limit,” I replied.

“No.” James shook his head. His fingers tenderly stroked my cheek, brushed hair out of my face. “With or without that interruption, you would have been fantastic. Maybe that doctor was right, and we should have been doing this all along.”

“I don’t know how much more of this I can do if your guards keep busting the door down. I don’t want an audience,” I teased.

“Then we can invite them to join us.”

“That would probably only happen once. You’re such a glory hog.”

“Only when it’s deserved,” James murmured. He went back to kissing my throat, my lips, my forehead. Everywhere he could reach, he treated with gentleness and affection.

Closing my eyes, I wrapped my arms tightly around James. I really didn’t know what I had gotten myself into, but I was glad that I had done so. Even though my heart ached for Alexander, and would always ache for him, it was nice to have someone make my toes curl again.

I felt almost as if I had come home after being gone on a long journey, as if this was the place I belonged. Right here, right now, in James’s arms, with Haley nearby.

That was a dangerous way to be thinking, making me stir around restlessly in James’s grasp. That was just the sex talking. This wasn’t my home, and I didn’t really belong here. This was only happening at all because James had had no other choice, and I needed the money.

“What’s wrong?” James murmured.

I looked at this beautiful man wrapped around me and felt my heart twinge in my chest, in spite of what I had just told myself. “I should probably get going.”

“Go? Go where?” James propped himself up on his elbow, his head resting in his hand. His dark hair tumbled around his cheeks, like drifts of airy, melting chocolate.

“We came here because of the paparazzi, right?” I reminded him. “I’m sure they’ll be gone by now. And in any case, I need to check up on Haley. And she and I need to have dinner, and…”

James sat up now, interrupting me by tapping my shoulder. “Hold on,” he said, very softly. “I know the press is the reason we wound up here, but it doesn’t have to be the reason that you stay.”

I don’t understand.

“I can almost guarantee you that there are swarms of them waiting out there, just outside the gates. But, even if there weren’t, I’d still be saying what I’m about to say. You can spend the night here.”

“But … Haley…”

“I’m sure Haley wouldn’t mind the opportunity,” James pointed out. “You saw the look on her face. She loves it here.”

“I don’t want her to get the wrong idea,” I protested. “She might love it here, but she also loved her daddy. I don’t know what it would do to her if she got the idea that there’s something going on between us.”

“Doesn’t she already know?”

“Kind of?” I frowned. “How do you explain any of this to a little girl?”

James shrugged and shook his head. I held back a smile, because I hadn’t really been expecting an answer from him anyway.

“I told her that it’s kind of like when dogs have puppies. You get money for the puppies. I don’t think that equates to there being something between us, not to a kid.” I bit my lip. “If she thinks I’m trying to replace her dad, she’ll be so hurt.”

And that was not what I was doing. No one was being replaced. No one could be replaced, because James and Alexander had been so different to begin with.

James stroked his chin. I loved the sound of his fingers rasping through the short, trimmed hairs of his beard. “I have an idea. What if we make it seem like you’re staying … for Haley?”

“What?” I stared at him.

“It won’t even be a lie. Think about it. What father wouldn’t love for his little princess to have a night where she’s treated like royalty?” James clapped his hands together, his eyes glimmering. “Surely one of the other kids will be near her size. We can find her a dress to wear, and we’ll take her and anyone else who wants to come on a tour of the palaces. There’s quite a lot to see. Then, we’ll end it all with a bit of a party, and she can have a sleepover with the other kids. Or she can spend the night in a guest room with you.”

“And with you?”

James shook his head. “Of course not. I know my place here. I just want to spend more time with you. If that means I can’t sleep with you tonight, then so be it. As long as you’re near, I’ll be happy.”

I liked James’s plan, but it was the last part of what he said that really sold me on it. He really meant all of this, if he was willing to miss out on a chance for sex just to make me and my daughter happy.

He wanted us happy.

I blinked rapidly, chasing away tears of gratitude. “I think I like that idea.”

“If Haley likes it, then I’ll get the staff busy with preparing a small dinner party out in the garden.” James rolled out of bed, lithe and nimble as a cat. Striding over to his dresser, he rummaged around through the drawers.

“Here, come get some of my more boring clothes to wear. We’ll tell people you were a klutz and broke one of my perfume bottles. Got it all over yourself. Such a shame.”

Part of me didn’t really understand what was happening here. The rest of me didn’t care. I was happy. I was enjoying myself.

What was an evening of fun and relaxation? My responsibilities could wait until the end of it, surely.

I caught the clothes James tossed to me, put them on, and then went in search of my daughter.