Since the other night’s casino debacle had made the news, it was likely her people expected her to be on house arrest. Or at least wearing something much flashier than she’d chosen for the day. In the papers, lately especially, she’d been shown in glittering gowns with bright lipstick. Today, she was much more subdued.
“I got yours,” she said to Mak. “We can sit over here.”
“I’m not here to be, or look like, your companion,” he said, hardly looking her direction.
“Oh, come on, Mak.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to argue with me?”
“Maybe, I zoned out through half of that speech.” If she didn’t look so beautiful, the sort of beautiful that tied a man in knots and made him say, and do, things he was sure to regret, he would have slung her over his shoulder and deposited her back in the car. All things considered, it seemed like a good idea, really. And he would have an excuse to touch her.
“You are disobeying direct orders.”
Her full lips curved into a smile. “I’m not very good with orders.”
“Princess …”
“No one knows I’m here. I’m traveling without an entourage of security which, on sanctioned outings is quite unusual, if not unheard of. And the barista didn’t seem to have a clue who I was. Let’s pretend I’m a very forward woman. And I’ve just bought you a coffee so that you’ll come and chat with me for a while. How about that?”
“I have a lot of experience turning those sorts of women down.” Mak took the cup of coffee Eva was holding out to him and moved to a table tucked into a corner of the shop.
She was intent on causing a scene and going along with her wishes seemed the best way to keep it from escalating. That was why, in some ways, he preferred protecting someone in a war zone to something like this. In a hostile situation, he would simply pick her up and sling her over his shoulder if he needed to move her.
In public, in a situation where he was protecting her reputation more than her safety, it was something that couldn’t happen.
He sat in the chair and she put the coffee in front of him. Her full lips tipped upward into a smile. She had sauntered across the coffee shop, each movement speaking of her utter satisfaction with herself. Each step revealing a bit more of her long, golden legs.
She was beautiful, there was no question. He had noticed it the first night, when she’d been putting herself on display, and he noticed it now, when she was practically demure in a dress that recalled old days of sophisticated glamor and elegance.
At least, he imagined that’s what a woman might think. Being a man, his focus tended to run toward her toned, tanned thighs.
He tightened his hand into a fist. Not for the first time, he wondered if it was time to find a lover. Well, the answer to the question was yes, it was past time. But there were complications. Complications that would only grow.
Eva took her seat across from him, a hint of her feminine scent drifting to him. Like floral soap and clean skin. His blood started to pump hotter, faster. Thinking of her at the same time he thought of finding a lover was not the best idea.
Another crack in his iron-clad control. She always seemed to be at the center of those breaks. Not something he cared to analyze. That was how he lived his life. He filtered out what he didn’t need. Extra information, emotion, and he concentrated on what he did need. Essentials, the ability to act in a crisis. He had to. He had to be able to cut through noise, and confusion, to take swift and decisive action.
He didn’t have time to stop and smell the flowers. Whether they were literal flowers or soap that smelled faintly of them.
“Why do you turn them down?” she asked, her head tilting to the side, dark curls spilling over her shoulder like a glossy river.
“You’re trying to share again. Why do you go to casinos?”
“We’ve been over that,” she said, looking down into her cup.
“To try and destroy your reputation?”
“In part. I won’t lie. But also because I want to have some fun. My father … I love him but he believes very strongly in control and in public opinion. Those two things mean that my life has been micromanaged from the moment I was born. If I ever went on vacation with friends I had to bring an entourage of palace employees. To keep me safe, that’s what he’s always said. But the reality is it’s also to keep me in line. The more I’ve grown the more I realize that … the more I’ve hated how much I’ve always stayed in line.”