The outfit she’d selected looked like a little black dress at first glance, but when Nick looked closer, he saw that it was covered in intricate black embroidery. The shoes had heels so high that Raluca would seem taller than him, and were polished black except for startling, bright red toes.
Put together, the outfit probably cost more than Nick had earned in his entire life to date. It would be stunning on Raluca. For a moment he was stuck on the image of her in that little black dress. Between the high heels and short skirt, her legs would seem to go on forever. And it would be so easy to reach up that skirt...
Then he forced himself to shake his head. “Nope. You have to change back into Fiona’s workout gear. Her shoes, too.”
“Why?”
“Because we have at least one more shopping stop, you can’t wear a bulletproof jacket over that dress, and you can’t run in heels.”
“But you said it was impossible for me to wear a jacket at all times,” she protested. “What is the point of buying clothing I can’t wear?”
“You can wear it,” Nick said. “Just not right now. Like, the nightclub — Destiny or I will check it first, and it’ll have guards at the door. Or the parties. We’re talking about fancy shit with royalty and diplomats and politicians, right? So they’ll have their own security. But Destiny’s favorite shop for buying dance clothes won’t have any security but me. Just have the dresses and shoes packed, okay?”
“Packed?” Raluca sounded as shocked and appalled as when he’d mentioned birth control. “No, they’ll be delivered to the hotel.”
“The fuck they will!” Horrified, Nick said, “Did you tell the saleswoman which hotel you’re going to stay at?”
“Yes, of course...” Raluca’s voice trailed off as Nick saw her realize her mistake. “Oh, but surely an employee of Santa Martina’s best haute couture shop would not betray me. And I used a false identity.”
“What the fuck does working at a fancy shop have to do with being trustworthy?” Nick demanded, though he knew the answer: if you’re a rich snob, then you figured even anyone working for a rich snob had to be okay. “And even if she is, once you told her, you also told everyone she talked to, their delivery guy, and anyone who can hack into the store’s computer. As for the fake ID, you’re only the most recognizable person in the universe.”
Nick’s heart accelerated as he spoke; assassins could already be on their way. “Fuck! What were you thinking?”
Raluca’s eyes narrowed and cooled until they looked like slivers of gray ice. Haughtily, she said, “Unlike you, I am not trained in professional security. Nor am I accustomed to running for my life. Nor am I telepathic. If you wish me to do or not do something, you must inform me of it.”
Her tone got up his nose, but she had a point. He couldn’t assume that she knew anything security-related. “Fine. From now on, don’t tell anyone who’s not on my team where you’re staying or where you’re going. I’ll find you a new hotel. The clothes can be delivered to... Wait, why are the clothes even being delivered? I have room in my trunk.”
Raluca stared at him like he was out of his mind. “They are on hangers. They must be transported either on a clothing rack, or in packed flat in tissue paper. You couldn’t fit a single dress into your trunk either way.” Grudgingly, she added, “We could take the shoes in boxes.”
“Oh, yeah, shoes in boxes, that’ll fix everything.” He let out a groan, then conceded, “Fine. I’ll hit up someone on the team to rent a van, pick them up, and bring them to the hotel. What a fucking pain in the ass.”
Icily, Raluca replied, “I am so sorry to make you work at your job.”
An uncomfortable silence fell. Nick was sure she was regretting the hell out of the sex. Worse, so was he. Her crack about his job had hit home.
She was so naïve that she didn’t even know not to give her address to some random salesperson, and he’d been so overcome with desire that he’d completely dropped his guard. When she’d grabbed his cock in her bare hand, he wouldn’t have noticed a hundred ninjas dropping from the ceiling. If anyone had attacked her while they were having sex, they’d probably both have been killed.
The recollection of Raluca coming against his hand flashed through his mind and body, making him instantly rock-hard again. If he’d only had a condom in his wallet, maybe he could have felt her come with him inside her, too.
But now he never would. He didn’t know who he was more pissed at, himself or the fate that had brought them together once and once only, just to taunt him with what he could never have again.
“We can never have sex again,” Nick said.
Chapter Three
Raluca
Raluca had already decided that if Nick didn’t say they could never have sex again, she would have to. All the same, hearing it from him hurt like a drop — no, like a bucket — of dragonsbane in the face.
For only the second time in her life, she’d followed her heart rather than her head, doing something wild and outrageous and absolutely unbefitting a dragon princess, because it was what she’d wanted to do. And for the second time, it had been a complete disaster.
>
Nick — supposedly her mate, the person who ought to love her unconditionally and forever — hated her. They’d had incredible, earth-shattering sex exactly once, and only minutes later he was scornfully pointing out her utter foolishness and ignorance, then vowing to never touch her again.
Or maybe it was only incredible and earth-shattering for me, Raluca thought gloomily. He couldn’t have faked his actual climax, but maybe for him, it was only an average sexual encounter. Or even below average.
After all, there had been no penetration, and she knew how important that was to men. In her admittedly limited previous sexual experience, men stuck it in as soon as they got their clothes off and didn’t bother with anything else.