Wrapping her in his arms, he couldn’t help but wonder if each time they were together felt like the first time, or if this particular moment was just so powerfully intense and all-consuming. This woman had the ability to bring him to his knees in all the right ways.
So why was his beautiful fiancée—who’d just come apart in his arms—sobbing against his shoulder?
* * *
Oh, no. No, no, no.
Kate couldn’t stop the tears from coming, just as she couldn’t stop Luc from making love to her.
No. Not making love. They’d had sex. He didn’t love her, and once his memory returned, he wouldn’t even like her anymore. She’d been worried about tonight, about going to sleep. She’d truly never thought he would join her in the shower. The sex just now with Luc was unlike any encounter she’d ever had. Nothing could have prepared her for the intensity of his passion.
How had this entire situation gotten even more out of control? The reality of being with Luc had far exceeded the fantasy. And now that she had a taste of what it could be like, she wanted more.
“Kate?”
She gripped his biceps, keeping her face turned into his chest. She couldn’t face him, couldn’t look him in the eyes. Not after what she’d done. He would never understand.
Was this how he’d treat her if he loved her? Would he surprise her in the shower and demand so much of her body? Part of her wanted to bask in the glorious aftermath of everything intimacy should be. But she knew it couldn’t last.
Luc shut off the water behind her, and in one swift move, he shifted, lifting her in his arms.
“Talk to me, baby.” He stepped out of the shower and eased her down onto the cushioned bench. Grabbing a towel from the heated bar, he wrapped it around her before securing one around his waist.
Kate stared down at her unpainted nails. Focusing on her lack of manicure would not help her out of this situation. Luc gripped her hands as he crouched before her.
“Look at me.”
Those words, said only moments ago under extremely different circumstances, pulled her gaze away from their joined hands and up into his dark eyes. Worry stared back at her. Didn’t he know she was lying? Didn’t he know he should be worried about himself?
She could come clean. She could tell him right now that she wasn’t his fiancée, that she’d been dying for him to make a move on her for years. But all that sounded even more pathetic than the truth, which was that she’d gotten caught up in this spiral of lies. In an attempt to protect him, she’d deceived him. There was no turning back, and if she was honest with herself, she couldn’t deny how right they’d felt together.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked.
Swiping the moisture from her cheeks, Kate shook her head. “No. You could never hurt me.”
“What is it? Did you not want to make love with me?”
A vise around her heart squeezed.
She shook her head. Eventually she was going to strangle herself with this string of lies.
“I’m just overwhelmed,” she admitted. “We hadn’t been together before.”
Luc studied her a moment before his brows rose. “You mean to tell me we hadn’t made love before?”
Shame filled her. She couldn’t speak, so simply nodded.
Luc muttered a slang Portuguese term that no member of the royal family should be heard saying.
“How is that possible?” he asked. “You said we’ve been working together for nearly a year.”
“Your family has a rule about staff and royal members not being intimate. We’ve been professional for so long, we both just waited. Then we ended up here on this getaway and...”
She couldn’t finish. She couldn’t lie anymore. The emotions were too overwhelming and her body was still reeling from their passion.
Luc came to his feet, cursing enough to have her cringing. He was beating himself up over something that was 100 percent her fault.
Unable to stand the tension, the heavy weight of the guilt, she jumped to her feet. “Luc, I need to tell you—”