PRINCE CHARMING: A Secret Baby Stepbrother Romance (18 page)

“Might need some wine for this conversation.”

She nodded, and they danced across the floor until the music changed to a slower song. She expected him to find Gigi, but he kept his grip on her hand and guided her around in a waltz. Olivia tried not to notice everyone’s eyes on them, but no one looked suspicious. Most wore sweet expressions on their faces, as if it was the best thing for the prince to be so kind to dance with his soon-to-be stepsister.

If they only knew what else we were doing together.

“So, do you fancy him?” Quincy asked.

Olivia glanced past his shoulder to find Edric at the edge of the dancers. He looked a bit put out that he wasn’t dancing with her but smiled when he caught her looking. “Like I said, he’s a gentleman, but past that… no, no fancying him happening here.”

“That’s too bad,” he whispered, and Olivia flinched. “Like I said, lots of wine.”

Their dance ended, and he excused himself to mingle with the other guests while Olivia tried hard to keep a smile on her face when her heart sunk in her chest. The room grew hot, and for a moment, the walls appeared to close in around her. In all the time they’d spent together, she’d never seen that look in his eyes. He was angry, but there was something else behind it. Regret maybe? His smile didn’t reach his eyes as he spoke with Gigi and the other women gathered around him, and she longed to go to him. She wanted to hear his laughter and see his eyes light up, but when he caught her eye from across the room, she sucked in a breath at the pain suddenly there.

“Princess Olivia? Are you alright? Do you need some air?” Edric asked as he approached her.

“Yes, air would be good, thank you. I think this dress is tighter than I thought.”

He escorted her to the courtyard, empty except for a few other couples strolling in the moonlight. Olivia’s hands were folded in front of her as she’d been instructed by Allete to do, though all she wanted was to hold her stomach. It ached, and she felt sick but forced herself to breathe and swallow. Bad enough she ran out on one ball. She was not going to be sick in the courtyard.

“Are you sure you feel alright, Princess? You look pale.”

“Maybe I just need to sit down,” she murmured and made it to a stone bench beneath a large palm tree. It helped, and she managed a few deep breaths as she watched the other couples milling about. The flowers around them were brightly colored oranges and reds, framing the paths. “You know, this is the first time I’ve actually sat out here.”

“Really? But you live here,” Edric said with a smile.

“Yes, well I’ve been busy with all these balls and dinners… It takes a lot to be a princess, apparently.”

“I forget, sometimes, that you are not used to this life, Princess.”

“When we’re alone you don’t have to call me that,” she said. “It’s still weird. I’m just plain old Olivia from Nebraska. A girl who misses her blue jeans and flannel shirts.” She laughed as she stared at her dress. “I wake up some mornings and think I’m dreaming.”

Edric laughed with her. “I can’t picture you in flannel and jeans, Olivia.”

He really was a nice guy, and it didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eyes. Why had Quincy said what he did about her not liking Edric? She pushed it from her mind for the time being and focused on the conversation at hand. She wasn’t going to get any answers until the ball ended anyway, so she might as well enjoy herself, even if the man she really wanted to speak with was busy inside the ballroom, surrounded by women vying for a heart he’d already given to her.

Chapter 14

Olivia pushed Allete out of her room as nicely as possible and locked the door behind her. She leaned against it, sagging in her tight dress, and kicked her heels off, sending them flying across the room.

“If those were your shoes, I resent that! They weren’t even that tall, miss!”

“Go to bed, Allete,” Olivia called through the door. She heard the woman yelling about shoes and princesses but stopped listening and shook her head. She needed to get out of the dress and open a bottle of wine.

Quincy had still been talking with Gigi when Olivia had finally called it quits and headed up to her room. Edric and she had spent the last part of the evening talking in the courtyard, laughing about her life and how he wished he could get off the isle someday and travel. It made her like him a little more, knowing what he longed for, but no one would replace Quincy in her life—unless, of course, whatever the prince was coming to tell her changed that.

She’d just opened a bottle of sweet red, her favorite new alcoholic beverage, and poured two glasses when a knock sounded at her balcony door. Her heart leapt in her chest, knowing Quincy waited on the other side, but she thought of his eyes during the ball and it sank again. What was he going to tell her?

“Sorry I’m late,” he said once she let him inside and quickly closed the doors again. “Gigi would not let me leave. Persistent pain-in-my-ass.”

“I poured some wine,” she said. “You going to tell me what happened tonight?”

He picked up both glasses and handed her one while he gulped the other. “My father and I had a discussion tonight,” he said as he picked up the bottle and refilled his glass. “Apparently, there is more to this marrying situation than I was told.”

Olivia stared into the red liquid swirling in her glass and swallowed the nausea roiling in her gut. She set the wine down and cleared her throat. “What do you mean?” She pressed her hands against her stomach and frowned.
What did I eat tonight?

Quincy was too busy chugging his second glass of wine to notice. “Apparently, Parliament, in their infinite wisdom, has decided I am not fit to rule once my father retires, and guess who is next in line for the throne?”

“Gigi? No—you’re serious?” Her gut twisted again.

“Gigi. The damn Pentacrafts are next in line, and this arranged marriage is a test! If I don’t pick a wife and get married one month after my father’s wedding, I will lose my crown!”

His hand curled tightly around the wine bottle, and Olivia saw the glint of rage in his eyes as he raised his arm. “Don’t! Don’t… Someone will hear,” she hissed and rushed over to lower his arm. “Calm down, alright? Just take a deep breath and give me the damn wine before you drown yourself.”

Quincy let her take the bottle and his glass, his brow furrowed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”

“It’s fine. I understand,” she said. “You don’t have much of a choice now, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

Tears stung her eyes. She didn’t let him see as she stiffened her shoulders and said, “You have to find a wife, and I’m assuming your dad is pushing you towards Gigi. It’s a smart choice and she’s very beautiful, so you might as well just get it over with.”

Silence fell in the room, lingering for so long she honestly thought he’d snuck out the balcony doors so she could be miserable in peace. Her shoulders sagged in relief, but two hands closed around her arms and turned her around. Quincy’s eyes searched her face, frowning as he leaned down so they were level.

“What are you talking about?”

“You have to let me go so you can marry,” she whispered. “It’s obvious. We can’t have this, Quincy. We can’t.”

“Why not? Who says we can’t be together?”

“We’re going to be siblings!”

“Step-siblings, no blood relation whatsoever,” he reminded her, and she could hear the desperation in his words. “I am not going to lose you. Not like this.”

“It will be a scandal, and your dad will kill you.”

“Then I’ll die happy.” He pulled her close for a kiss.

Olivia melted against him, pressing her body against his, needing to feel that connection, but this couldn’t happen. She pulled back, shaking her head. “You know this won’t work.”

He bit his lip and nodded once. “For now, though, we have time, and I will find a way for us to be together, Olivia. There has to be a way.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? We’ve been lucky so far, but eventually, someone’s going to notice,” she said. This particular concern had been eating at her for the last couple weeks. Allete eyed her strangely some mornings, and Olivia knew she smelled like Quincy. Pascal was sure to notice things were different with the prince, too. They were playing a very dangerous game, and she did not want to think about what would happen if they were caught.

“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life.”

There was something more he wanted to say, she saw it flash in his eyes, but the words never came. Instead, he ran his fingers through her hair, undoing the pins as he went, and let it fall down her back. She sighed at the relief of having it loosened, closing her eyes as his hands shook out her hair and moved to her neck. He kissed her, slow and deep, letting his tongue play against hers as his hand wrapped around her waist.

But her dress got in the way, and he grunted. “Turn around.”

Olivia did as he asked, laughing as his hands went to work quickly on the ties at the back. He nuzzled her neck, kissing her bare shoulders as each tie came loose and she could breathe more easily. The dress finally came free, and she slipped out of it. As the heavy dress fell away, Quincy sucked in a harsh breath and she glanced down at herself.

“Oh, I forgot what I wore under this,” she said with a laugh.

“You are seriously going to kill me,” Quincy whispered. “One of these days, it’s going to happen.”

Olivia put her hands on her hips and sauntered to him. She wore red lace panties and a corset top that had given her the cleavage she needed to pull off the dress. The top was satin, but the rest was sheer, and from the look in Quincy’s eyes, red was his new favorite color.

“You’re wearing too many clothes,” she whispered against his ear and nibbled it. “Take them off.”

“There’s that demanding tone again,” he said but unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off. Once his chest was bare, Olivia ran her fingers over his muscles while he removed his pants. His fingers fumbled as she licked from one nipple to the other, swirling her tongue around the sensitive flesh and enjoying the way his muscles tensed beneath her touch. The second he was naked, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bed.

She always forgot how strong he was until he held her like that, close to his chest, bending low so he could kiss her as he walked. He laid her across the bed, and his hands rubbed down her body, massaging her breasts first, then her sides, and finally her hips. His tongue licked the edge of her panties on her hip bone, nipping it and making her gasp. The want she felt for him made her heart pound, and her mind forget about anything else happening around them. All that mattered was this moment with Quincy, his touch on her skin and her need for more. He pulled her panties down, and she felt his warm breath against her.

As his fingers tickled her inner thigh, she squirmed, knowing the edge was close and all she wanted was to tumble over it with him. An image of him and Gigi doing this flashed through her mind, and she thought about pulling away until his tongue licked her clit. The shock of the touch on her nerves pushed any vision of Gigi away, and she fell back against the bed. She moaned when his tongue thrust inside her and his hands squeezed her thighs. Before, she would’ve been embarrassed to have him where he was, but now, she couldn’t find the words to argue, let alone get them out.

“Quincy.” She moaned his name as the intensity built and his fingers replaced his tongue.

“Yes, love?”

“I can feel that smirk on your face,” she whispered harshly without looking up.

“I’m just enjoying the look on your face,” he said and turned his fingers so they found her g-spot. “Especially right… about… now.”

His fingers rubbed her g-spot at the same time he sucked hard on her clit. Olivia bit her lip to keep her cries from being so loud but couldn’t stop herself. Her body shook with the orgasm as it exploded. She was falling through nothingness, and at the bottom, waiting to catch her, was Quincy.

He crawled onto the bed beside her, kissing her slowly as her body rolled to be against his. She moaned against his lips when his erection pressed between her legs. His hand busied itself undoing the corset she wore and ripping it away so he could get to her breasts. Olivia’s hands wound into his hair as his lips moved across her skin and found a nipple, sucking it hard. He pressed her naked body against his, and she closed her eyes, reveling in his touch.

This was paradise. The island was nothing compared to what she felt in his arms. It was a rush of adrenaline with his heartbeat in time with hers, filled with a knowing that they were supposed to be together. As the thought crossed her mind, another followed.
You can’t make this work. He is going to be king and you are just his stepsister, a flannel-wearing girl from Nebraska.

“God, I want you so badly,” he whispered, muffled between her breasts.

Olivia fought against the negativity filling her mind and lifted her leg up over his hip, pulling him closer against her. “Then take me.”

He lifted his head to gaze into her eyes and smiled. As he rolled them over so she was on her back, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, gently kissing her forehead, her cheek, and her chin as he lifted his body over hers. Her legs spread wider, and with their gazes locked, he thrust deep inside her. Olivia cried out as her body took him in, and he groaned, but when she closed her eyes, he kissed them gently.