"What is this, a condom for my beer can?"
He laughs. "Keeps it cold. I'm giving you the full Kentucky experience here." Then he strips off his shirt and stuffs it in his bag. "Strip, princess."
I slip out of my clothes and hand them over so he can shove them in his backpack. Then I grab my inner tube, which is bigger than I am. "I've never seen anyone float down this river, ever," I tell him.
"I know. I don't know what's wrong with you people," he chides, stepping down into the water and reaching out his hand to take mine. "I had to order these tubes from the United States. I couldn't even find floats here. You have a perfectly good, slow-moving river and you don’t tube on it."
I step into the water and squeal. "It's not even warm! It's cold!"
Max laughs. "Drink more beer," he advises. "You'll warm right up."
"That sounds like sage advice," I note, laughing.
Despite the chilly temperature, I quickly get used to the water. I just mimic what Max does, getting into my tube and kicking up my feet and lying back with my head against the rubber. He grabs the side of my tube and we float along, drifting slowly and lazily along in the sunshine, drinking our beer out of cans.
Somewhere along the way, it becomes something awesome. The sunshine warms me all the way to my toes, the bright greens of the countryside seem to brighten the longer we drift around, and I'm so damned happy being with him that my heart aches.
Who knew I had a heart, let alone that it could feel the way it does now, like it's going to burst?
Still, there's that nagging little thought in the back of my head, the expectation that everything is going to go wrong. It can't last, because happiness doesn't last. A princess and a bodyguard cannot be together. I'm not naïve enough to believe in fairytales and happy endings and relationships and love.
Love.
That word comes to mind and I think it might trigger a panic attack as my heart pounds at the thought.
No. This is not that. It's only sex. That's all.
Then Max takes my hand in his and it jolts me out of my fearful thoughts. I look over at him, kicked back in his inner tube wearing his swim trunks, a wide grin on his face. "What did I tell you, princess?" he asks. "This shit is fun, isn't it?"
He's in his element right now, and I want more than anything to see him back in his hometown, to see the way he grew up and the people who love him.
I want it so badly, my heart aches.
I smile. "Totally fun."
Fun, and that's all, I remind myself. Nothing more than fun.
38
Max
We float on our tubes down to the place I scouted earlier. Hopping out, I pull both of our tubes to the riverbank and help Alexandra out of the water.
She brushes a stray lock of hair away from her face as she looks around. "What is all of this?"
"Lunch," I answer with a shrug like it's no big deal. I mean, it's not a big deal, compared to all of the expensive stuff that surrounds the princess on a daily basis. "I drove out here with a blanket and a cooler, then left the car out here and came back to get you."
"You did all of this for me?"
"It's not much," I tell her, suddenly self-conscious. "I just wanted to show you a little non-royal fun." I leave out the part where I wanted to have something more like a date with her – an actual proper date that didn't involve me tying her up or handcuffing her to anything or fucking her in a room full of people.
If I told her that, I think she'd run. Hell, I know she'd run.
But the way she looks at me right now, I think she just might want the same thing. She just can't admit it.
I clear my throat and gesture toward the blanket. "Here, sit."
"That's really…" Her voice drifts off and her hand goes to her mouth. "You went to a lot of effort. No one's ever done anything like this for me before."
I laugh as I sit down beside her. "Well, that much I can believe. I definitely don't think anyone's ever taken you tubing."
"That's not what I mean."
"Okay, well, before you get too impressed, what's in the cooler isn't exactly the kind of fine dining you're used to. It's just barbeque. That's what we eat in Kentucky, but it's nothing special. The chef let me use the kitchen to make it for you."
"You cooked for me?" she asks, her voice squeaking.
"You think that's a good thing, but you might change your tune after you taste it."
Honestly, though, I'm not entirely sure if the weird face she's making is because she's impressed or because she thinks this whole thing is corny as hell.
"That swing wasn't there before this morning, was it?" She nods in the direction of the swing I fashioned out of ropes and a plank and attached to a large branch of the tree closest to us.
"I was going to make a rope swing, but the river isn't deep enough and there wasn't a tree close enough to the riverbank to do a proper one, but –"
"Shut up," she says, her voice strained.
"Excuse me?"
"Stop talking," Alexandra repeats. Her voice catches in her throat as she straddles me, pressing her lips to mine in the softest of kisses. Her hair falls around her face, the ends of the strands wet from the river. My hands go to her back, drawing her against me as my mouth tastes hers.
When her tongue finds mine, it's not the way it usually is. She's not warring with me or settling an argument by kissing me. The kiss is slow and languid and easy, exactly the opposite of the way everything with her has been up to this point.
She sits on my lap and moves against me as my cock flexes through my swim trunks. As her legs wrap around me, I think to myself that I'll never be able to get enough of this woman. I slide my hands over her arms, touching her, wanting her. Pulling the material on her bikini top to the side, I dip my mouth to take her breast. As I suck her nipple, she arches her back, pushing her pussy harder against my cock while she lets out a loud moan.
Then she breaks away suddenly in order to kneel just above me so she can undo my swim trunks. When I arch up, she pulls them over my hips and down my legs, and I kick them away so there's nothing between us except those tiny swimsuit bottoms as she straddles me. Then they're off too, discarded beside us on the blanket in seconds after a quick tug of the strings on her hips. I don't bother to even undo her top; I just push aside the other scrap of fabric still covering her breast and cup them in my palms.
Her mouth is on mine as she takes my cock and guides it straight to her entrance, sinking down onto me. She's warm and wet, and I could stay inside her forever. When she moans into my mouth, I think it's the sexiest sound I've ever heard. I grab her ass cheeks, pulling her deeper and deeper as she rocks against me.
She doesn't stop kissing me. Her lips are locked on mine as she wraps her legs around my waist tightly so that I'm inside her as deep as I can go. We're melded together, skin against skin, with no barrier or space between us.
"Fuck, I love being inside you like this," I groan as she rides me. When she arches her back, I take one of her breasts in my mouth, my tongue rolling over the nipple, and she moans loudly. Her pussy swells around my cock. "Your pussy is so tight, so wet for me. It's like it was made to fit me."
Her hips rock against me faster. "I love the way you feel inside me."
My hands on her hips, I push her down on me over and over until I can hardly hold out any longer. I watch the base of my shaft as it slides in and out of her. "Fuck, you're so wet you're dripping all over me. I love the way your pussy looks with me fucking it."
Her moans come faster and faster, and then I'm groaning and there's no longer any more dirty talk. When she closes her eyes, I pull her tighter against me, telling her to look at me as she rides my cock. "I want you here with me. I want to see the look in your eyes when you come."
I can tell by the way she flutters inside that she's close. She whimpers as she grinds her clit against me, bringing herself higher and higher. "Oh, God. I'm so close. I'm so close," she whimpers.
"Come for me, Al
exandra," I tell her. I spread her ass cheeks, pressing my finger against her tight little hole, and that's what sends her over the edge. Her eyes locked with mine, she comes, riding me hard as she squeezes tightly around me.
I can't hold anything back, and I don't want to, either. I let go inside her, releasing everything I have. She's made to milk my cock, pulling me in deep and squeezing me. I hold her right there as I fill her all the way up, my hands on her hips as I push her all the way down, my cock lodged deeply inside her.
She's still squeezing me as I lean back to pull her down on top of me. Her hair tumbles forward and she's crying out her orgasm, her body pressed against mine. Then she collapses with her head on my shoulder, her breathing heavy.
The two of us lie there unmoving, and I listen to the sound of her breathing. I don't want to say anything or do anything that will break this moment. Right now, we're frozen here and it seems like it'll last forever, even though we both know it won't. We're going back to the palace soon, and everything will be different. I know that and I think she knows that, too.
So I try to memorize exactly how she feels in my arms. Right now, I want everything from her. Right now, I want to breathe her in. Right now, I want to own every inch of her.
When she finally stirs, I pull out of her and roll her onto her side. Wordlessly, she turns to lie against me, her ass pressed against my hips. Despite having just been inside her, my dick stirs as soon as it grazes her ass cheek. It's unbelievable how much this girl gets me worked up.
She moves her head to angle herself against me. I slide my hand around to cup her breast, my fingers going over her nipple. "Max," she whispers. "You said you wanted every part of me…"
"All of you is mine," I murmur into her ear, enjoying the way she squirms when I talk to her like this. Alexandra might want to pretend she's completely independent and totally disconnected from anyone she might possibly rely on, but her body betrays her. When I tell her I want to own her, she's definitely turned on. She might be able to hide how she feels, but she can't hide that from me.
"All of me," she moans softly, stirring as I nip her earlobe. Her nipple hardens under my fingertips, her body so responsive that I swear it's like I've known her forever and know every button of hers to push.
"Like these perfect little nipples." I play with one slowly, teasing it and tweaking it to a little peak, and her breath quickens at my touch.
"What else?"
"That filthy little mouth," I tell her. "Those lush lips, that tongue … and most of all, that dirty cock-sucking mouth is definitely mine."
She inhales sharply and squirms, pushing her hips against me. The movement causes my dick to swell again. "My mouth is meant for sucking your cock," she whispers.
Fuck, it's insane to hear those words come out of her mouth.
I slide my hand from her breast down her abdomen and then between her legs, pressing my fingertips to her clit. "This is also mine," I tell her.
"Uh-huh," she moans.
I move my hand over her ass cheek and then reach between her legs from behind, my fingers going to her entrance.
"This wet little pussy is mine," I tell her. "I own it. It's made for my cock, and my cock only."
She moans as I slip my fingers into her, still sticky with my cum and her slickness. "For your cock," she repeats, pushing against me for emphasis.
I take my time, stroking her until she starts to rock her hips and ride my fingers. When I finally pull away, pushing her leg closed, my fingers are soaked in her wetness.
"I already claimed that part of you," I explain as she whimpers her disappointment. Sliding my wet fingers between her ass cheeks, I find her asshole, pushing them against it. "This is the only part of you I haven't yet claimed."
"Yes," she whispers, pushing her hips back.
"Do you want to give me everything?"
She moans. "I've never done that before with anyone."
"Tonight," I tell her, guiding my cock to her slick pussy. She opens her leg, angling herself so I can fuck her from behind. Rocking inside her slowly, I kiss the back of her neck and cup her breast, my fingers squeezing and pinching her nipple as I fuck her again.
"Tonight," she repeats.
"Tonight, all of you is mine."
She moans as she rocks back against me, her movement subtle and slow. We fuck like that for what seems like forever, slowly and unrushed. This time, there are no words, no dirty-talking or telling her what I'm going to do to her, because she already knows. When she comes, she calls my name over and over and the sound is so hot, it immediately triggers my orgasm and I unleash everything.
Afterward, I lie there like that with my cock still inside her, my arm holding her tightly against me. I know the summer is ending and that means everything is changing. I want to possess every inch of her, even if it's only for right now.
39
Alexandra
"You need to get out of my room before you get caught," I advise. "There will be security everywhere soon for the charity event."
Max laughs. "I'm obviously only in your room to brief you on security matters for tonight, Your Highness."
At least Max had the foresight to stash a change of his uniform back at the pool house. If anyone were to walk into my room right now, which isn't going to happen because Max is the only one who barges into my room, no one would question the fact that he's here right now "briefing me".
I'm being paranoid for no reason.
Well, I'm being paranoid with semi-good reason. It's because things were so good this morning when Max and I were lying by the riverbank eating the food he cooked and talking.
Laughing about stupid stuff.
Sitting on the swing he made – for me – while he pushed me.
Closing my eyes and leaning back while hanging onto the ropes and letting the warm morning breeze rush over my skin.
It was probably one of the best mornings I've ever had.
So that's why I'm antsy now, wound up and on edge. It's basic physics: what goes up must come down.
I'm waiting for the crash.
"You're tense," Max notes, sliding his arms around my lower back. "I spent the entire afternoon with my cock inside you, and now that you're back here, you're tense."
I can't explain why I'm tense, not to him.
"I really don't like these events," I tell him. "I know it's for charity, but you know I hate these things. All of the people and the stuffiness … the summer is supposed to be a big escape from this kind of thing."
Max kisses me tenderly before pulling away and looking at me with his hands cradling my face. The way he's looking at me right now makes my heart skip a beat. He's serious, about to say something important, something I don't want to hear. Internally, I start to panic. What if he's about to say something – like the R word again or worse the L word? "Alexandra," he murmurs, pausing for a moment.
I open my mouth to tell him that I need to go get ready for the party. I need to make an excuse, anything to avoid whatever he wants to tell me that is making him look at me the way he is right now.
"Alexandra," he repeats, his eyes on mine, his expression serious. He pauses for a long moment. "Would it help your stress level if I pulled you out of the middle of the charity event so I could fuck you in the ass?"
Oh my God. Did he really just say that?