Princess's Temptation Read online

  "Of course. It just gave me some satisfaction. He was a dick."

  "That he was."

  "I'm going to offer to buy you a drink. And feel free to say no. The drink doesn't equate to you owing me your company."

  A smile threatened to break free. "Much appreciated."

  "I saw you looking at me earlier."

  I coughed a laugh as the bartender placed my gin and tonic on the bar. "Me? Me looking at you? No, no, no. You were for sure looking at me."

  "But how would you notice that I was looking at you unless you, yourself, were looking at me?"

  I laughed. "Oh, we could go on about this all night."

  "All night. I like the sound of that."

  "As fun as that sounds, I think I will have to pass."

  His silvery gaze locked on mine. "Oh, that's a shame. Well, if you're interested in a dance, you know where to find—"

  A sudden commotion by the booths interrupted him. Somebody screamed, and then I could see Elena yelling at someone.

  I groaned. "Sorry, as fun as this is, I need to go fix that before it gets worse."

  "Let me help."

  Did he have a savior complex? "No, I’ve got it." And then I took my drink in hand as I turned to leave. But I could see that it wasn't likely a situation I could handle. The guy who’d gripped my arm earlier and his friends were getting into it with Elena and the others.

  Shit.

  "Hey." I signaled for the bouncer, who caught my eye and started to make his way through the crowd. When I reached my friends, I tapped the rude guy from the bar on the shoulder. "What the fuck is your problem? Leave us alone."

  "You already declined, but I know one of your little princess friends wants some of this." And then he grabbed his crotch.

  I’d always known that eventually my tongue was going to get me into trouble, and it seemed that day had come. "Nobody wants three inches of limp dick, I promise."

  I’d miscalculated, because he turned around with a backhand that I saw coming far too late. I put an arm up to guard and tried to duck away, but there was another hand that caught it right before it made contact.

  "Mate, you're making me have a bad day. The lady said she doesn't want to speak to you. And now you're harassing her friends? That's a problem."

  "Who the fuck are you, her bodyguard or something? Why don't you leave it—”

  And then it was pandemonium. The bouncer came through. One of the guys had tried to touch one of Elena's model friends. She had used a bottle of champagne to defend herself. That guy had gone down and was bleeding. The bouncer was trying to carry him. And then there was screaming. And oh my God...

  Elena, where the fuck was Elena? People started running all over the place.

  There was screaming and yelling. "Elena. Fucking hell, Elena, where are you?"

  Where had she gone? Why couldn't I find her?

  And then I saw two men, wearing all black, carrying her toward the back of the club. All I could hear was her screaming my name. "Alix! Alix!"

  "Oh my God, Elena."

  The guy from the booth grabbed me. "Where are you going?"

  "My friend… Someone has my friend."

  He whipped around that direction, and I tried to follow. But then suddenly I was airborne, hoisted in the air, and something hard landed against my diaphragm. Motherfucker. I was over his shoulder.

  A firm hand was on my ass, and I used my elbows and my fists to beat against his strong back. "What the fuck are you doing? Put me down."

  "You want to get to her? I'm your best bet. Now quit wiggling."

  His hand on my ass didn't budge. Instead, it pressed firmer as he plowed me through the crowd.

  What the fuck was happening?

  When we got outside, he flipped me back over and slowly slid me down, my breasts making contact with his broad chest. "Where's your friend?"

  While my body was trying to process the tingles running from my neck down to the tips of my breasts and all the way to my belly, I forced my head to look around. "Elena, where the fuck is she? I saw her being taken out by two guys in black. I need to call her father. She ditched her guards."

  "What do you mean her guards?"

  "Elena Kyriakos. Greek heiress. Somebody took her."

  His too handsome face morphed into a scowl. "What do you mean someone took her? Fuck."

  "Exactly. Fuck." And then I heard someone call my name faintly as a black SUV sped by. "Oh my God, there she is."

  I took off sprinting, and Mr. Tall, Dark, and, Dangerous followed. "Where the fuck do you think you're going?"

  "She's in that car. Our driver is out front. I can catch them."

  He cursed under his breath. "Oh, Jesus fucking Christ."

  Instead of letting me head around to the front, he took my hand and dragged me with him. "What the fuck are you doing? My friend—"

  "Yeah, your friend. I heard you. I told you, if you want to find her, I'm your best bet."

  "I'm sorry, but I don't know you."

  He sighed. "I'm Gabe. And you are?"

  I huffed. "Alix." I left my last name off because I didn't want to cause any other problems.

  "I work for a security company. Let's go find your friend."

  "How do I know you aren't with them? This could be a two-for-one kidnapping."

  "Have I hurt you?"

  I shook my head. "No."

  "Do you feel like you're in imminent danger?"

  My nipples did, but generally, the rest of me felt fine, so I shook my head no.

  "Great. Do you want help or not?"

  I glanced in the direction of the SUV. "Yes. I want help."

  "Come with me."

  So I followed him. He led me right to a sleek black motorcycle.

  Chapter Four

  Alix

  Sleek. Black. Metal. It was a racer. "I'm not getting on that."

  "Weren't you just screaming about your friend a second ago?"

  Yes, that was me. Jesus. "I just… Oh, God."

  He unlatched his helmet from the back of his bike, then sneakily liberated one from from the next bike over. "Put this on."

  It was either get on and chase down Elena or waste time arguing, so I did as I was told while leaving a voice text for Elena’s brother, Evan. He would know what to do.

  When I climbed on the back of the death trap on two wheels, I kept thinking about every single decision that had led me to this moment. To me climbing on the back of a bike with a stranger that I didn't know, hoping to God to get to Elena in time. I’d tried calling Gregor, her driver, twice, but so far, nothing. Jesus. If Gregor didn't answer, and Steven, her head of security, didn't answer, I was going to have to call her parents. Then that was going to be some nuclear-level shit show.

  "Wrap your arms around my waist. Close your eyes if you’d like."

  "I'm not closing my—"

  The moment the engine revved up, I could feel the vibrations starting from my ass all the way down my legs, and straight down to my toes. "Holy hell."

  I could have sworn that he chuckled. And then we were zooming like a bullet through the streets of Barcelona, following the SUV that had my best friend in it. There was no point in trying to talk over the roar of the engine. All I could do was continue to wrap my arms around Mr. Tall, Dark, and Definitely Dangerous and do as he'd instructed, so I closed my damn eyes. I felt us banking to the left and then making a sharp right. Inside the helmet I squealed and gripped tighter. He was warm and hard. My hands had slipped under his jacket for a better grip, and I could feel every single one of his back muscles as my fingers were flattened against his abs. He was taut and tense and cut like glass.

  What the hell was happening? All because we wanted to celebrate Elena’s birthday away from the ever watchful eyes of her security team.

  After another sharp left, I dared to open my eyes and look around. The SUV was driving straight away from the city.

  We raced after them. As they reached the beach, I thought we'd lost them for a m
oment and Tall, Dark, and Dangerous slowed down, as if he too was trying to figure out where they'd gone. He finally stopped in front of a bakery that had long since closed for the evening. He dragged off his helmet. I did the same.

  "Why are we stopping?"

  "I see you did close your eyes. I lost them. Do you have your friend's phone number?"

  "Of course."

  He nodded and pulled out his phone. "Give it to me."

  I rattled off the numbers, and then he typed them in and texted someone. Then he made a call. "Hey, Michel, I need Bryce to do an emergency lookup on that number."

  There was chuckling on the other line, and it sounded like the guy murmured something about, “That's one way to get her number.”

  Gabe cut him off. "It's urgent."

  Michel, on the other end, apparently got to business. He said something and then hung up.

  "We'll have information in a few minutes."

  "So just like that, you make certain calls, and you can get information. Who are you?"

  "I told you, I'm a security consultant."

  "Yes, but who are you really?”

  He sighed. "We’ve already done the name game. I moved here for a job. My mate, Michel, works for a security company too, so I called in a favor to save your friend."

  I watched him as we waited. "Shouldn't we, um, at least keep moving?"

  He shook his head. "No. It's better to get a tracker and go in the right direction than to go the wrong direction and have to double-back."

  He turned in his seat. "Since you've had your arms wrapped around me for the better part of ten minutes, is Alex it? Or is it short for something?”

  My snarky part wanted to scream out, Yours. You can call me yours. Instead, I said, "Alix. With an I. And it’s just Alix"

  He nodded. "This would be so much easier is you had trousers.”

  “Yeah, circumstances aren’t the best. Didn’t realize I’d be racing on a bike with a perfect stranger."

  "I've met people under worse conditions."

  The way his tone sobered told me those conditions were dangerous or unpleasant. “Military or something?"

  His gaze tipped up in a lopsided smile. "Used to be. Discharged after I was injured."

  “I’m sorry. Was it bad?”

  “Bad enough to leave, yes.”

  I nodded. "I hear it in your voice that you miss it."

  He shrugged. "Something like that. Mostly, it was sort of a family business. Dad, brothers. After I nearly died, it made me re-evaluate."

  "I'm so sorry to hear that."

  He shrugged. "It seems like another life. You're surprisingly calm about your friend."

  Did I look calm? That had to be the years of training. My mother had beaten into me the importance of appearing placid and calm, even in the face of extreme danger and fear. People were always watching and looking at you for cues. “You can just call me self-contained, I guess."

  His phone rang then. He answered it without a greeting. Then he hung up and shoved the phone in his pocket and put his helmet back on.

  "What's happening?"

  He turned to me. "I know where your friend is. Let's go."

  And I had no choice but to once again hang onto Tall, Dark, and Dangerous, otherwise known as Gabe Turner.

  Chapter Five

  Alix

  Gabe whipped the motorcycle around in the opposite direction. When I dared open my eyes, I realized he was driving toward the beach.

  I shouted right next to his ear, even though I doubted he could hear me. "Where are we going?"

  "The beach."

  His response was garbled. But it definitely sounded like he said the beach. All I could do was hold on tight and pray for Elena. Where the hell was she? What the fuck had happened? How could she just vanish like that?

  When we finally reached the beach, Gabe pulled his bike right up to the pier, and I searched frantically for Elena. When I saw her being carried off over the shoulder of one of the goons, I screamed her name. "Elena."

  She looked up, but the goon just kept carrying her on as she searched frantically for the person calling her name.

  "El—" Gabe shoved a hand over my mouth. What the fuck? When he finally released me, I shoved at him. Not that it budged him even an inch. "What the fuck are you doing?"

  "I don't want you to draw any attention to us as we're trying to sneak onto the fancy yacht, okay?"

  I scowled at him. "What do you mean, sneak on?"

  "If you start drawing a lot of attention to the fact that we’re following them, they're not going to let us on the boat. You want on that boat, don't you?"

  I glowered up at him. His whiskey eyes made me feel warm and tingly.

  "I said I'd help you get your friend back, and I was serious. Okay?"

  I nodded. "How are we going to get on?"

  He angled me away from the main entrance where Elena had been carried on and toward the other side where workers were loading something onto the boat.

  "My friend made a call."

  "This friend of yours, who does he work for again?"

  "I’m not going to answer those kinds of questions. The point is, we're getting on, right?"

  "Okay, but how do we get her off?"

  He shrugged and winked. "I haven't thought that far ahead yet. Right now, you say your friend is in trouble, so I'm doing the chivalrous guy thing."

  "Or we could call the police." I said.

  "Sure, you could take your chances with them being too late. It's up to you."

  My gut twisted. I could help save her now, or call the police. Shit. I was no good at this. I liked to think I usually lived by the book for a reason. When I followed the rules, I had no problems. But this… This was so far beyond anything I'd ever had to deal with. There were reasons for protocols, but in the moment I didn’t have time to think things through.

  "All right, let's go."

  He tugged my hand, and one of the security guards at the bottom of the step gave him a nod. "What's up Gabe? What are the chances that you're coming by for some moonlighting?"

  "Trent, good to see you, mate. This is Alix."

  Trent was a behemoth of a man, at least six-five. I mean, Gabe was enormous, but lean and rangy. Like he moved quickly. Maybe a hair over six-two. But Trent was bigger than he was and packed with muscle. He looked like an American football player. Or the largest rugby player I had ever seen in my damn life. Shaved head, ice-blue eyes that were shrewd and assessing.

  Trent called out, "There are uniforms on the left. You can slip a couple on and blend right in."

  Gabe bumped fists with him. "Thanks."

  Trent nodded. "Thank Michel. And don't forget me when you start your nice cushy job."

  Gabe chuckled at that. "Yeah, of course."

  I took the waitress uniform Gabe handed me and asked, "Cushy job?"

  "In three days, I'm starting a new job. Private security. Something low stress. And I won't be getting shot at, so that’s a bonus."

  My brow furrowed. "Were you shot at?"

  He nodded. "Yeah, you could say that. My life was a shit show. Woke up to no girlfriend and half my mates gone. It was messy. Just ugly shit. I needed a fresh start."

  I nodded. "I'm sorry about your friends."

  His voice dropped. "Yeah, me too. Get dressed."

  We found an empty room that was mostly tanks and water heaters and he didn't even have to be asked. He politely turned around and then started to strip. I was the one who gawked. Holy hell. As he moved and tugged the shirt over his head, I could see every muscle move. Jesus fucking Christ. He was… Wow. A full-on work of art. And I was salivating. As if sensing me staring at him, he looked over his shoulder and lifted his brow. "Something I can help you with?"

  I flushed right through the tips of my hair. "Oh, sorry."

  I quickly turned around. The uniform was a jumper. Since I was wearing tight leather trousers and basically a backless shimmery top, I could just slip it right over. "Nothing I c
an do about the shoes?"

  He shrugged. "No one will look at your shoes. They'll see a black and white uniform and ignore you. That is the way of the rich."

  I stiffened at that. "Do you know any rich people?"

  He laughed. "Let's just say my mother is from the London elite. I grew up with people like this. That old side of the family is horrified that she married my father and let her sons go into the military.”

  I’d been geared up for some kind of fight about the rich aristocrats. But he was right. And he had the experience to back it up.

  I ran a hand through my hair and tied it up with the elastic I had on my wrist. "Okay. I can't believe I'm doing this."

  He laughed. "You seem very good at going with the flow. Is there someone you need to call or something?"

  "I already texted her brother, but he hasn't replied back."

  "All right. Well, that's all we can do. I don't want you playing hero. I don't want you to do anything until we locate her. Then get on one of the rescue boats and get going. Do you understand? No wild heroics. Blend in."

  I didn’t really have a choice. "You're the security expert. Do you know like martial arts and stuff?"

  He laughed. "Yes, but my assumption is that you don't. And martial arts are not really useful if you don't have weapons to back you up. So let's try and not get anyone shot, yeah?"

  I nodded. "Sorry I got you into this."

  "Yeah. Not quite how I thought my night was going to go."

  I flashed him a grin. "What? You didn't think you'd hook up with a beautiful woman?"

  He chuckled low. "I did not, actually. I'm trying to keep my nose clean. After the whole girlfriend thing didn’t work out, I'm sort off the market."

  "That is a shame."

  A slow grin played across his lips as he did his final button. "Come on, let's go get your friend."

  In moments, we were back out in the hall. His clothes, at least, discarded. We passed several waiters, and one of them grabbed the two of us. "Where are you two going? The kitchen is that way. The birthday party is up there."

  We both turned right back around toward the kitchens where we'd been directed. "Jesus Christ. There's some kind of party? Is she the gift? This is awful. Who kidnaps an heiress?"