Free Asteria In Love with the Prince by Tanya Korval Page A

asked.
    “Scared, Your Highness.”
    “That’s your first mistake. Don’t be scared or worried: just learn the game.”
    “Couldn’t we start with matchsticks, Your Highness?”
    “You’ll learn faster when the stakes are higher. God, I want you.”
    I jerked upright and glanced around, horrified. The bodyguards were standing a respectful distance away, but there were at least four locals close enough to have heard him. I looked back at Jagor, eyes wide.
    Then I remembered we were speaking in Asterian.
    “Your Highness,” I asked, a little testily, “How do you know they don’t speak Asterian?”
    “No one speaks Asterian outside Asteria,” he chided. “Except librarians. Enjoy it while you can, before we get home.”
    That reminded me of the dress shop again. I needed a long conversation with him before we went anywhere near Asteria. But before that, now we had some semblance of privacy, there was something else I wanted to ask. “About this morning, on the terrace…”
    He was silent for a moment. “Some things should stay in the past,” he said at last. “We should be shaping our futures, instead. Making new memories.” He looked at me and his eyes were kind, even as they were pained. He wasn’t angry that he’d told me, but he wouldn’t…no, he couldn’t revisit it again. Not yet.
    “Of course, Your Highness. I understand.”
    He nodded gratefully and gave me one of those devilish smiles. I lit up inside and I could feel it, with a certainty I’d never known before. I loved this man.
    His phone rang. He looked sagely at the screen for a few seconds and then signaled the casino owner with a wave of his hand. He didn’t even look round; just assumed that the man would be standing ready to attend to him.
    “I need to make a private phone call,” Jagor told the owner. “May I use one of your offices?”
    The owner was delighted to show us into his own, wood-paneled office. It had huge windows overlooking the driveway in front of the casino. The lights were off: just a desk lamp and the moonlight from outside lighting the room.
    As soon as the huge double doors had closed behind us, Jagor slipped his hands around my waist and guided me towards the owner’s desk. I squeaked as my ass bumped into the hard wood. Jagor lifted me easily to perch on the edge, my body like a doll in his hands. I could see his pecs flexing under his tight white dress shirt, his stubble gleaming in the dim light. Those green eyes skimmed down my body as they had at the embassy, what seemed like months ago. He was in full-on sex mode, like an animal that’s scented its mate, and I knew this was at least partially to do with our conversation. Forgetting the past. Making new memories.
    I’d started breathing hard as soon as he touched me. “What about the phone call, Your Highness?”
    “There is no phone call.”
    He’d set an alarm on his phone, I realized. Wait: he hadn’t even had his phone out the entire time we’d been at the casino. He must have set it back at the hotel: he’d planned this whole thing hours ago. The thought made me unbelievably hot.
    He leaned in and kissed me softly. Then hungrily, his lips exploring mine, my mouth open and panting. This man could take me from a standing start to full speed just with a touch – it was disconcerting, the power he had over me. One hand was in my hair, the warmth of it sliding deliciously along my scalp, making me tingle right down the length of my body. The other was unzipping the back of my dress.
    He started to lay kisses down my throat, and I lifted my chin to let him, giving a low moan of pleasure. “Your Highness…what if—”
    “No-one will come in,” he told me. “I could be on the phone to the US president.” He stopped. “I could do that, if it would make you feel better.”
    “What?”
    “I could call the president, while we—”
    “No!” I squeaked, and he chuckled.
    I felt my dress come loose, the back of it flopping down. He slid his