“Do you have a headache?”
She rolled her shoulders, the pain receding a bit. “Just a tension one. Are you surprised?”
“No. For what it is worth, Jenna, if I could have spared you knowledge of this, I would have.”
“Not what I want to hear.” She wasn’t some hothouse violet who wanted stuff hidden from her. Not even really hard stuff.
She never had been.
“Why do you say that about Prince Konstantin?” She thought it was pretty obvious he had distrusted her and found it odd that Dima would try to deny it.
“You saw how natural he was with you at dinner. Yes, you two give each other a hard time, but he trusts you with his wife and his children. No way he believes you are a risk to them in any way.”
“He came to you.” Dima had said so.
“Yes, and I’m still trying to figure out why, but his reasons are not the ones he stated.” The prince sounded very certain of his conclusions.
Jenna wasn’t convinced. “Oh, I think he wants to know the source of the leaks, all right.” Of course he did. Prince Konstantin, like the rest of his family, would never stand for a leak remaining once identified.
“Naturally, but while we both knew it was somehow related to you, I do not believe my brother ever considered you the direct source any more than I did.”
“I want to believe that.” It would hurt a lot less.
But she wouldn’t lie to herself, even if it saved her emotional pain.
“Then believe. I am sure it is the truth.” Dima tossed his own trash, his aim as good as hers had been. “If it makes you feel any better, he suggested a lot of ways for me to get the information that weren’t dating.”
“We didn’t date. We had sex.”
“Fantastic sex,” he clarified, like it was really important. “The dates can come later.”
“You think I’m going to date you?” she asked. Again, were they living in the same reality?
“We are not done with each other, Jenna.”
“So you say.” But she couldn’t deny the truth of that statement, so she didn’t try to refute it directly.
She still wanted him, even if he was a toad for using sex against her.
At least, that’s how it felt.
And it worried her that she was having such an emotional reaction to the timing of them having sex for the first time, because she was feeling things she really, really, really didn’t want to.
“Are you going to talk to Emma?” he asked after finishing his coffee.
“And cause an issue with her husband?” Jenna wasn’t a monster. Emma and Konstantin had a good marriage, even if the man was a distrustful jerk. “I don’t think so. I do have other people to vent to than your royal siblings’ wives.”
It still rankled they had thought she would have put any stress on Nataliya right now, for any reason.
Dima had the effrontery to look alarmed. “I think even Kon would prefer you kept your venting to Emma.”
“Listen, buster, if I want to vent to my own sister, I will. If you don’t think she’s trustworthy, that’s your problem.Shedidn’t put a bug in my cell phone stand.”
“No, I am sure you are right.” They were the right words, but his expression didn’t match them fully.
She nodded anyway. Heshouldagree with her.
Unfortunately, righteous ire did nothing to diminish her body’s response to his nearness. What was it about this man that turned her on so effectively?