As hours passed, I grew less intrigued and more annoyed by my summons. What was I doing here? I pushed the curtains away from the window and looked at the manicured lawns below. There was a fountain nearby that was illuminated. I was too high up to count the tiers of water that splashed into the pool.

I retied my hair bun for at least the tenth time, stabbing it with the pencil. I crossed my arms and began another lap around the apartment.

I heard the gentle bell of the elevator and stopped in the middle of my track, behind the couch. My heart sped up. My palms tingled. I waited for the doors to open.

“Who are you?”

Her voice was high. She was dressed in a long white gown that shimmered when she moved.

“I-I—who are you?” I retorted. Although, I didn’t know how much power I had to demand answers in this situation.

Her perfectly shaped eyebrows rose. “Princess Isabel.”

Shit. Holy shit.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” I cringed.

She placed a hand on her hip. “I take it you know where my brother is?”

“Actually I don’t.” I rounded the couch. “I’m Molly.” I extended my hand.

She looked at it. I didn’t know if I had just made a royal faux paus, but she took it with a mild shake.

“Nice to meet you, Molly.”

I smiled. “You don’t know where he is either?”

“I came straight from Sangreaux. I haven’t even changed. I need to discuss a few domestic matters with him.” She walked to the bar, letting the train on her dress slide across the floor.

I could see traces of Damon’s features. The dark hair and dark eyes. But Isabel had a certain grace, as if she floated on her designer shoes. I had to remind myself not to stare.

“Drink?” she offered.

I nodded. It seemed rude to turn the princess down, especially after I treated her like an intruder in her brother’s home.

“So how long have you been seeing my brother?” She poured both of us a vodka drink.

“It’s not really like that.”

She twirled toward me. “It’s not? Hmm.”

I didn’t know if that meant she was surprised or if I had missed her sarcasm. I felt plain in my yoga pants. I was Cinderella before she met her fairy godmother. Isabel could’ve put any Prince Charming on his knees.

“However, you are here and he is not.” She tipped her glass toward me.

I felt the need to explain, but took a sip of the lemony vodka drink. What explanation would I give the princess? I certainly wasn’t going to tell her how I met her brother. And reliving today’s events didn’t seem any better.

We turned our heads when the elevator bell rang.

Isabel rushed to the doors. “I need to talk to you.”

Damon stepped into the residence. He looked past his sister. His eyes landed on mine.

For a quick second I forgot how mad I was. How I was hauled out of the library. How I waited for hours with no word. One look and I was ready to melt into his lips again and get lost in his hands. Damn it. He was infuriatingly sexy.

“Damon,” she urged. “It’s a state matter.”

His eyes cut to her. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow, Isabel? I have plans this evening.”

“Sorry, Molly.” She quickly looked at me over her shoulder. “No, it can’t. Where have you been anyway?”

“With the Bostique prime minister. You didn’t see the press conference? The ceremony?”

I knew he was speaking to her, but I shook my head.

“You’re always doing something.” She sighed. “It’s non-stop.”

“It is part of my job.” He loosened his tie. “Would you like me to stop running the country and drop everything to hear your problems?” He unbuttoned the top button.

I felt like one of the palace servants. I was there, but practically invisible to them as they continued their sibling banter.

“No. But you could at least grant my audience when I ask for it.”

“When do I deny your audience, Isabel?”

“I didn’t want to go to Sangreaux. You know that. Instead of meeting with me, you sealed the itinerary and I was on a plane.”

He closed his eyes. “Let’s continue this in my office.”

He led her across the room and into his private study. I watched until the door was closed. I sat on the sofa with my vodka, waiting for one of them to emerge. I could hear them argue from where I sat. It was back and forth. Neither one letting it get out of hand, but there was no doubt it was heated.

A few minutes later, I heard Isabel’s heels click across the floor. I turned to watch her.

“Good night, Molly. It was a pleasure to meet you.” She tapped the elevator button.

“Good night.” I rose from the sofa.

The door opened and the princess disappeared in a blur of glittery white.

“Bon soir, Molly.”

His voice gave me chills.

I had enough time to prepare to come out swinging. Ample opportunity to perfect the lines I should have said. It could have been eloquent and fiery.

“W-what?”

“I see you already have a drink. I need a bourbon.” He walked toward me, but turned for the bar.

I didn’t know what it would feel like to see him again.

It was like whiplash, snapping between annoyance and giddiness that he was here. Then there was the guilt mixed with irritation that I was ok with any of this. I woke up disappointed he hadn’t contacted me and then was insulted by how he had.

“Do you know your goons removed me from my work and brought me here?” I challenged. “Do you have any idea what that cost me today?”

Damon’s back was to me. He poured his bourbon.

“I wanted to see you.”

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say? I’ve been here for hours. Basically a prisoner.”

His dark eyes landed on me. “Are you accusing me of locking you in my tower?” His smirk was irritating, but sexy at the same time.

This wasn’t some kind of game. And I wasn’t the Rapunzel type.

“I don’t understand why you think this is funny.”

He crossed the room, kicking back the dark drink. My chest tightened. The smile had dropped from his lips. He looked like a tiger tracking his prey. My heart beat, wondering when he would pounce.

“I’m not laughing, Molly. Far from it.”

With his final step, he reached me and I froze. His piercing stare burned my chest. I was paralyzed with a bizarre combination of need and anger. I remembered what it was like to be touched by him. To be under him. To be pinned against his hard body. It took everything I had to control my breathing. The memories flooded me, but I was suddenly defiant. I didn’t want Damon to know what kind of power he had over my body. My reaction to him was undeniable despite how much I suppressed my natural instincts.

“Well, neither am I. Do you have any idea what I went through? I was embarrassed in front of everyone. I looked like a criminal. There’s no telling what they think. And then I was left up here with no information on why I was dragged away. There wasn’t a message. A note. Nothing.” I tried my best to muster a hard glare, but I could tell I was crumbling. He was too close to me. The air was tinged with heat and want. It was impossible to fend off the inevitable.

“And then I sat. And I waited. And I-I don’t think it’s fair how you treated me. Is this what it means to be a citizen here? You just order people around? People have no rights?”

He exhaled. His eyes closed. When they opened the lust in them stole my breath.

“I’m sorry, Molly.” His fingers landed on my shoulder, sliding under the strap of my tank top. “I did try to get here sooner.”

He stroked the side of my arm, letting the strap fall gently. I dared myself to fall for it. I dared myself to soak in the heat of his touch.

“But Galona was needy today.” He bent toward me, catching my lips by surprise. His lips crushed mine. The bourbon burned my tongue as he greedily kissed me. He growled lowly, tearing down the walls I had built during my hours in his tower.

I pressed against his fitted jacket, feeling the strength of his chest beneath my palms. “Why?” I whispered. I needed space if I was going to get my answers. “Why am I here?”

I caught a glimpse of his tanned skin where he unbuttoned his shirt. The tie still loosely dangled around his neck. It was the sexiest thing I had seen.

“I have just spent two days with the prime minster of the Bostique. You were supposed to be here when I was out of my meetings yesterday.”

“I tried to return to the residence, but security wouldn’t let me in the elevator. There wasn’t much I could do.” I needed to defend myself.

He sighed. “Idiots.”

“And then I ran into the royal manager. He said I needed to go home.”

Damon’s eyebrows arched. “Sutcliffe?”

I nodded. I considered describing the man as the one with the stick up his ass, but it didn’t seem like a suitable royal description.

I continued my defense. “I did try to leave a message for you, but it seemed it was best I went home. Georgan took me.” I broke away enough from his hands to lean against the couch. “After the Titan, I knew I was overstepping. And I’m not that kind of person, Damon. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. But I’m not the kind of girl who came here to land a celebrity. I’m in Freychon for my research.” I hadn’t heard my voice this clear and certain in a while.

“The gala was a whim. A crazy, irrational kind of whim that I’ve never given in to. I’m not rash and impulsive. I realize you have every reason to think I am. But that was one night. It’s not the real me. This is.”

I waved my hands from my glasses to where my yoga pants bunched below my knees. The woman in front of him was who I truly was. These were the clothes I walked in. The glasses I saw through. The skin I lived in every day.

He rubbed the sharp angle of his jaw.

I couldn’t stop talking. “My work is my life. I left South Carolina for this grant. I left my family and all my friends to do something amazing. Something that fulfills me. I made sacrifices to move here. I’ve worked extremely hard. And it wasn’t to become the king’s side piece.” My chest heaved defiantly.

He finished his drink, pausing to respond. I didn’t know if I had completely pissed him off, or offended him on every level possible. There was a chance he was going to call security and dump me outside the palace gates.

“Did you consider maybe that’s why you are here, Molly?”

He deposited the bourbon glass and divided the space between us. He gently pinched the sides of my glasses, removing them from my face. He placed them next to empty glass.

My breath caught in the back of my throat.

“Now it’s your turn to listen.” He cupped my cheeks, crashing his lips against mine. I felt the weight of his mouth devour me in urgent gulps.

I closed my eyes, knowing I was going under. Drowning in his kiss. Surrendering to his need. Falling harder and faster than a star plummeting to Earth. I was lost. Locked and chained. And Damon Sauvage had hidden the key.