Royal's Untouched Love by Sophia Lynn Read Free Book Online Page B

restaurant, she didn't think for a moment about the women who were dressed so much more finely than she was, or the men who had more money than her entire hometown. Instead, she kept sneaking glances at Jaque, letting the warmth inside her rise up.
    When he went to give his ticket to the valet, she stood in a small alcove in front of the restaurant. The night was warm, but there was a cool chill to the wind. Absently, Heidi rubbed her hands up and down her arms to keep warm.
    To her surprise, Jaque came up, and he set his hands over hers, pulling her a little closer.
    "It's going to be a cool night," he murmured, as if they did this every weekend.
    "I can tell," she murmured. "I've been noticing it cooling down a bit."
    "You are so beautiful," he said abruptly. His hand came out to brush against her cheek, sending a tremble through her body. When he pulled it away, everything in her only yearned to have it back.
    "When I'm with you, I feel beautiful," she said, looking up at him. "When I'm with you … it feels as if everything is possible."
    He laughed at her words, and then he touched her chin. It reminded her abruptly of the first time they had met, when he had looked her in the eyes and reminded her of her own worth.
    "Kiss me," she whispered.
    It was so soft that he might have missed it entirely. He might have chosen to ignore it, or to push her away, laughing at how seriously she was taking his little flirtation. He did none of those things.
    Slowly, he bent down to brush his lips across hers, the very tip of his tongue running out to caress her tender flesh. She could feel that heat inside herself responding to him, wanting him, and needing him in a way that she could barely understand.
    Somehow he was suddenly leaning into her, pressing her back against the stone of the building behind them. She could feel and not just guess at the muscles of his formidable frame. She felt utterly hidden from the world as they shared this pleasure.
    At least, she felt hidden until a scuffing of a foot on the cobbles warned them both that the valet had returned. They pulled apart just in time, and Heidi was relatively certain that good training was the only reason the valet could look so calm.
    "Your car, sir."
    "Thank you."
    They got into the car in silence, their seat belts clicking locked at the precise same moment. In the plush leather interior of the Ferrari, it felt as if she was somehow in a totally different world than the one that she had left. Suddenly, everything was different, and nothing felt as simple as it had when she was kissing Jaque—her boss, she realized with a cringe—against the wall of an exotic restaurant.
    Jaque started to drive, and after a moment, he started to talk. His voice was as level as a board, warm and welcoming, but perhaps there was something distant about it.
    "So that was a thing that happened," he said with a slight laugh.
    She could still feel the fire inside her, dimmer and lower now, perhaps, but still hot. It wasn't just "a thing that happened" to her, but she had no idea how to convey that to him.
    "I … it certainly was," she said. Heidi was not sure that she had ever felt so much like a country mouse as she did right then.
    "I think that if I had my way, I would take you home," he said consideringly. "I would spread you out over my bed, and let all of that glorious red hair of yours free. I would kiss you, and I would touch you in all the ways that I have imagined doing in these last few hours."
    "But you're not going to?" she asked, hearing a plaintive note in her voice.
    He laughed, and now she could detect a rough note in it. There was something longing there, and something more than a little wild as well.
    "That rather depends on you," he said. "I don't make it a habit to put my employees, particularly my new, young, and female employees into situations that they can't say no to. I want you to know, here and now, that no matter what happens, what you choose or do not choose, it will