Double Team

"Words," I say stupidly. What were we talking about, before he slid his fingers inside me?

Albie chuckles. "I like the speechless version of you," he says, his eyes trained on mine as he reaches underneath my t-shirt and cups my breast, the warmth of his hand enveloping me. He doesn't take off my bra, doesn't slide his hand under the fabric the way I desperately want him to do.

My skin aches to feel his skin against mine, and I hate myself for wanting him the way that I want him right now. I curse my body for its obviously appalling taste in men.

"Not…speechless," I say, the words coming out in gasps, despite my attempt to produce a coherent sentence. Albie makes a 'come hither' gesture with his fingers, applying more pressure to the perfect place inside me, and I clutch his muscular biceps tightly, my fingers digging into his skin as increasingly powerful sensations wash over me.

"You're so fucking wet for me," he says, squeezing my breast just a little too hard, sending a twinge of pain through my body that somehow has the effect of heightening the pleasure.

Is this what I like – pleasure mixed with pain? Fucking someone I'm not sure I even remotely like?

"There's going to be no fucking." I blurt out the words again, my voice breathy. I'm not sure if I'm trying to reassure him or myself.

I can't think clearly. I'm so close, so on the edge. All I know is that I want to crash over. I want him to send me over the edge.

But he just smiles.

He slides his fingers slowly – excruciatingly slowly – from my wet pussy, and I think I hear myself whine, but that can't be true, because I don't whine. I definitely don't whimper, brought to the brink of orgasm by a man and then denied. He presses his fingers against my clit, but doesn't move. He just pauses there, his fingers pushed against me, the heat from him radiating into me.

I hear myself begin to whimper again and I bite my lip to stop. I won't do it.

"I already told you, Belle," he says, squeezing my breast. His thumb grazes the skin above the fabric of my bra, and I can’t help myself. I arch my back, pressing against him. His fingers are so close to just slipping inside the cup of my bra that covers my nipple.

“Told me what?” I ask, my voice breathless. I tell myself to ignore the throbbing between my legs. I tell myself that I should take this momentary pause as an opportunity to shut down what's happening between us.

But my body seems to have a mind of its own when it comes to Albie.

“I told you,” he whispers, bringing his lips close to my ear. I close my eyes lightly, savoring every sensation as his warm breath caresses my ear and my neck. He strokes me with the tip of his finger, gentle now, a feather-like touch. “I’m going to fuck you. That wasn’t an idle promise, Belle. You’re going to beg me to fuck you, luv.”

“I…don’t…beg.” I somehow manage to whisper the words, barely able to form a coherent sentence with Albie’s breath against my skin, teasing, promising more. My body feels on edge, every nerve ending more sensitive than they’ve ever been, brought to the precipice by him.

But hell, I have my dignity.

Even if I’m standing in a back alley with my jeans pulled down over my hips while a man with a fake seventies pornstache has his hand inside my panties.

“I’ll remember you said that,” he says, slipping his hand out from between my legs. I look at him with a mixture of confusion and disbelief as he takes away his fingers – his glorious, magical fingers – from where they were a second ago, pressed against my clit.

“Wha –“ I start, my words trailing off as I watch him bring his fingers to his mouth. He makes a show of slowly licking them, his eyes closing as he makes a satisfied sound.

“All you have to do is ask, luv,” he says, his voice low. The corners of his mouth turn up, a smile that has to be the smuggest, most arrogant expression I’ve ever seen on anyone’s face. Or maybe it’s just compounded by the fact that I’m the most sexually frustrated I’ve ever been in my life.

“You’re such a…jerk,” I say, unable to think of a word more clever than that. I’m pretty sure that all of my brain cells have evaporated, or have been turned to mush because of this man.

I yank my jeans back up, fumbling with the button, my hands shaky and my heart pounding wildly in my chest as adrenaline pumps through my veins. Smoothing my hair, as if by that simple gesture I can calm my rebellious body, I look at him through narrowed eyes.

And the pompous ass just grins. He’s thoroughly pleased with himself. The fact that he’s so damn smug, as if he’s planned this the whole time, sends a surge of irritation through me.

“Just remember that,” he says, bringing his fingers to his lips again. “I’m going to fuck you, Isabella Kensington. That’s a foregone conclusion. And I’m going to lick that sweet pussy of yours until you’re begging for release. And when I give you permission, when I say you can come, you’re going to come on my tongue.”

My face flushes red. I can feel the heat rise to my cheeks, the throbbing between my legs so insistent now that I swear I consider saying “please.” I actually consider asking him to finish what he started, to plunge his fingers back inside me and make me come. But I don’t. I’ll never beg. “Permission?” I ask, choking out the word. “I don’t know what kind of women you’ve been with in the past, but you’re not giving me –“

He cuts me off, putting his fingers – the fingers that were just inside me – on my lips to silence me. “Shhh,” he says. “I’m not finished. You should let me finish, Belle.”

I push his hand away. “I’m not listening to –“

Before I can react, his hands are on my wrists, pushing me against the wall, and my heart races. I’m not sure whether I’m frustrated, angry, or aroused. All I know is that I can’t stop thinking about him inside me. And, despite the rational part of my mind that screams ‘walk away,’ every part of my body is crying out for his touch. I want to know what he wants to do with me.

I want him inside me.

“You’re going to come on my cock, Belle,” he says. “I’m going to own you in every way possible. And you’re going to beg to be mine.”

A secret thrill rushes through me at his words, and I hate myself for it. I steel my jaw, wrenching my wrists from his grasp. “Never,” I say. “And you’re delusional for thinking that.”

And yet, in spite of myself, I’m already wondering what he means by saying he wants to own me “in every way possible.”

He chuckles, and the self-satisfied sound makes me want to slap him across the face. But I don’t. Instead, I mentally congratulate myself on my incredible self-restraint.

Then he steps away, turning around and walking toward the end of the alley, ambling like he doesn’t have a care in the world. “Come on, luv,” he says. “Noah’s bound to be sending a search party out for us. I wouldn’t want you to get caught with your pants down.”

15

Albie

Belle is ignoring me, sitting in the helicopter with her headset on, her arms crossed over her chest. She’s practically pouting.

I hate pouting. Hate it more than anything in the world. I hate whining and sighing, the passive-aggressive crap I get from women when I don’t want to see them again. Which is, obviously, every time.

I should hate the way Belle sits there, silent, acting as if I don’t exist.

I should hate the way her lower lip protrudes slightly, displaying her displeasure.

I should hate the way she was excessively friendly the rest of the afternoon, formal to the point of ridiculous, all “Prince Albert this” and “Prince Albert that.”

The problem is, I don’t hate any of it. I don’t hate it at all.

I fucking love it.

I love the fact that her lower lip is still swollen from my mouth on hers, even hours after I kissed her.

I love that she’s on edge.

And I love the fact that I know why she’s so irritable, so on edge.

I love that it’s because of me.  I'm doing my last-minute pre-flight checklist, when Noah interrupts. "Max has your sister, sir," he says. "We'll need to wait a few minutes."

Max brought my sister back from her jaunt off to wherever with Finn Asher? Okay, so the thought makes me laugh. I can't help myself. Alex is going to be pissed as hell when she comes back. I can't imagine the earful the bodyguard is getting right about now.

When the dark-colored SUV pulls up in the driveway, Max gets out, opening the back door and obviously arguing with my sister for a minute, before throwing her over his shoulder and walking toward us. Alex unleashes a litany of expletives as she punches him on the back.

"Your bodyguards have an interesting method of doing their jobs," Belle says, half-under her breath, into the headset.

"If we came back without Alexandra, my father would fire him," I tell her.

Max deposits Alex firmly on the seat beside Belle, and Alexandra gives him the dirtiest of dirty looks. "When we get back to the palace, I'm getting a new bodyguard," she say, her voice getting louder as she speaks. "One who isn't a fucking caveman!"

"Be my guest, Princess," Max says, sliding into his seat. He ignores her when she calls him a "cocksucker," and looks up at me. "Ready when you are, sir."

Alexandra looks over at Belle. "Maybe you should go back to America," she says. "It's better than being kept prisoner in your own house!" She sighs dramatically for effect, sinking into her seat with her arms crossed over her chest.

"What's with you lately?" Price asks, slapping me on the back. We're sitting in the upstairs VIP room of a club we frequent. The walls are made entirely of glass, and overlook the crowd below. Well, a club we used to frequent. It's been weeks since I've been out, which in royal terms is practically a lifetime. "You haven't been out since you came back from the States."

"Nothing's up with me." I sip a glass of scotch from a bottle that costs over a grand, sitting on a cushioned sofa in one of the most exclusive clubs in the capital of Protrovia. I should be happy with this.

Instead, Belle has me wrapped around the axle, so blinded by lust I can't see straight. Now I'm two glasses of scotch in, trying to clear my head.

"You just turned down the Lara twins," Price says, nodding toward the two women walking away. Noah stands by the door to the room, nodding at us to see if we want him to let another set of women inside to replace the girls who just left. Price holds his hand up to motion the girls inside, but I stop him.

"What the hell?" he asks. "When did you become a monk?"

I shrug, attempting to exude a nonchalance I don't feel. "Sorry if I don't want to stick my dick where a thousand other guys have been."

"Twins, Albie," he says, rolling his eyes as he leans back against the upholstered sofa. He swallows several fingers of vodka in a single gulp. "Since when have you ever given a shit about who you put your dick in?"

"Shut up." I can't think of a single time, other than the crazy ex, when I'd even bothered to get a girl's name. Well, maybe a few times, when I screwed women I already knew socially – countesses, duchesses, people like that. But they were forgettable.

They've all been forgettable.

Until now. Until Belle. And I'm not even screwing her.

Apparently, now I can't get her out of my mind, even when I try.

"You're ignoring me." Standing behind her in the tearoom, I whisper the words into her ear. I speak softly, mindful of the room full of people, an event for whatever the hell we're hosting today that my presence is mandated for. At this point, the events are a blur, and I just show up wherever my presence is requested, like a dutiful robot prince.

Belle doesn't turn around. She doesn't move or turn or acknowledge that she heard me, standing motionless with her teacup and saucer in her hand. From where I am behind her, I catch a whiff of the perfume she wears, something light with just a hint of something floral – jasmine maybe, or gardenia. She smells like summer.

Her dark hair is down, tumbling over her shoulders in waves to the middle of her back, over the pale blue tailored suit jacket she wears that matches her fitted pencil skirt. The outfit is made for a forty-year-old woman. It's conservative, respectful, and appropriate.

And I don't even need to look at the front of it to know that it's the hottest fucking thing I've ever seen. The way the skirt skims over her curves, caressing her ass like it was made for her, makes me crazy.

My cock stirs.

I'm at an afternoon tea, in a room filled with people I should care about impressing -- and I'm getting a boner looking at Belle's ass.

The problem is that Belle has been avoiding me for the past few days. I swear she's doing it on purpose, making sure we're never in the same room together for more than a few minutes. Last night at the club, I could have gone home with the Lara twins. I should have gone home with them, fucked my brains out until they erased every thought of Belle from my head.

That would be the smart thing to do. Instead, I jerked off, thinking about Belle.

And now, seeing her here, all I can think about is yanking that far-too-appropriate skirt up around her waist and coming all over that perfect ass of hers.

Belle finally half-turns toward me, her eyebrows raised. "Oh?" she asks, holding a teacup to her perfectly glossed lips. "I wasn't aware you needed my attention."

The way she speaks is laden with meaning, her words practically dripping with innuendo.

"I think you're mistaken," I say softly, my words barely audible. "It's the other way around. You need my attention."

Belle brings the tea cup to her lips, slowly taking a sip, her eyes trained on mine as she swallows, then licks her lips. The gesture is subtle, yet somehow the most sexual thing I've ever seen.

She glances down toward my cock, where my growing hardness is evident, and then back up at me. "You're lying, Your Highness," she whispers, then straightens. Her expression changes to a professional one as an older man in military regalia walks toward us with his wife on his arm.

“Miss Kensington,” I say, my voice excessively formal, while I’m willing my hard-on to deflate, “May I introduce the Count and Countess of Etier?”

Belle smiles – primly and properly. She laughs at one of the Count’s jokes, and talks with the Countess about gardening or something.

I’m not paying a damn bit of attention to what we’re talking about, because the only thing I can think about is Belle’s ass.

“I don’t need your attention,” she whispers, as soon as they leave. “Or your fingers. My fingers have been working just fine.”

I nearly spit out my tea. The image of Belle in bed, with her perfect legs spread, her fingers inside her wet pussy flashes into my head. When I glance at her, she smiles smugly.

I notice someone else important walking toward us, so I whisper in her ear quickly, before they arrive. “You should touch yourself in front of me,” I say, my voice barely audible. “Since we both know you’re thinking about me when you do.”

Belle’s face flushes, but she looks straight ahead, smiling appropriately as another dignitary approaches us. “Oh, I think that might be arranged, Your Highness,” she says, her voice sweet. “But only if you beg.”

From the corner of my eye, I glance at her as I greet yet another person of interest to my father. When Belle catches my eye, she smiles.

Little Miss Do Gooder has more of a backbone than I thought she did.

16

Belle

I wipe a towel across my forehead – navy blue monogrammed with the royal crest in gold stitching. Even the towels in the gym are excessively formal, perfectly placed in a little pyramid on an antique table against the wall.