“Like anyone would believe you’re a bottom. I’m sorry!” She hid her wince behind her hand. “These are habits of a lifetime, trying to be funny to keep a mood light.”
After a silence that landed like a thump, he drawled, “I’m definitely a top.” The firmness in his tone underscored his preference for dominating in bed.
Which caused the most inexplicable swoop in her stomach. Runnels of tingling intrigue radiated into her loins, much to her everlasting chagrin.
When she risked a glance up at him, she saw humor glinting in his eyes along with something speculative that noted the blush on her cheekbones.
Her heart swerved, and she shot her attention to the sea while her shoulders longed for the weight of his hands. Something wanton in her imagination pictured him drawing her arms behind her back by the elbows while he kissed the side of her neck and told her not to move.
While he held her. Claimed her.
Her scalp tingled in anticipation and she refused to look down, deeply aware her nipples were straining against the soft silk of her dress, swollen and tight and throbbing with lust.
“Perhaps...um...” Her voice rasped and her brain was wandering around drunk in the dark. “Something with role-play?” she suggested tautly.
“Leak a photo of me wearing pointy ears or dressed like one of those gladiators?” He thumbed back toward the path. “No, thanks.”
He would so rock a leather sword belt. She licked her lips. “Voyeurism?”
“Hidden cameras? Gross.”
“What if you, um, did something questionable in public?”
“Caught with my pants down? Like a flasher?”
“With someone.”
“Mmm.” He grimaced as he considered it. “It has potential, but it means compromising someone else, and naked photos are forever. Keep going.”
“You’re really hard to please.”
“You’ll get there,” he chided.
A fluttery excitement teased through her.
“Group sex?” she suggested, then realized that might be too reminiscent of his father.
Luca’s gaze held her own in a way that made her stumbling heart climb into her throat.
“I prefer to give one woman one hundred percent of my attention,” he stated. “And I refuse to compete for hers.”
So dominant.
Bam, bam, bam went her heart, hammering the base of her throat while the rest of her was slithery honey and prickly nerve endings.
“The only thing left is tickle fights and foot fetishes.” She turned her gaze to the water, nose questing for any hint of breeze to cool her blood. She was boiling inside her own skin.
“I like a pretty shoe,” he allowed in a voice that angled down to where her silk dress fluttered against her ankles. His voice climbed as his attention came up. “Quality lingerie is always worth appreciating.”
He could see the sea-foam green of her lacy bra cup peeking from the open buttons at her chest; she was sure of it. Could he also see she was fighting not to pant in reaction? Why, oh, why was she responding to him so strongly?
“But it’s hardly a crime to admire a beautiful woman, is it?”
Was that what he was doing? Because she was pretty sure she was being seduced.
“I want to do something bad, Amy.”
She choked on a semihysterical laugh, fighting to stay professional and on task while imagining him—Don’t, she scolded herself. Don’t imagine him doing anything, especially not making babies with y—
“Oh! Baby daddy!” She leaped on it, pointing so hard toward him, she almost poked him in the chest. “A woman claims to be pregnant with your baby.”
His brow went up toward his hairline. “That sort of extortion died when DNA tests came along, didn’t it?”
“That’s why it would be taken seriously.” She spoke fast as she warmed to it. “Women don’t make the claim unless they’ve actually slept with the potential father. Here’s what I like about this idea.” She excitedly ticked off on her fingers. “It’s a very human mistake that still makes you seem virile, and you’ll take the honorable steps to accept responsibility. But, because she’s not suitable as a queen, it opens the door for your sister to question your judgment and take over.”
“It won’t work.” He dismissed it flatly. “If I conceive a baby while I’m on the throne, my honor would demand that I marry her. That child would become the future ruler of Vallia and my sister would be sidelined forever.”
“There is no baby.” Amy opened her hands like it was a magic act. “We’ll keep the timeline very short. We leak that a woman approached you and thinks she’s pregnant. You take the possibility seriously, but even while the scandal is blowing up, she learns it was a false alarm. She wasn’t actually pregnant. That way the trauma of a pregnancy loss can be avoided. The scandal will be about you taking reckless chances with your country’s future. Your sister can call you irresponsible and take the throne.”
His brow was still furrowed. “There’s no actual woman? I’m the only name in the press? I like that.”
“I think you need a living, breathing woman.” She wrinkled her nose. “Otherwise the public will search forever for this mystery woman. You’d have people coming forward for generations, claiming to be your long-lost descendant. No, you need someone you conceivably—ha ha—could have met and slept with. Perhaps a reality star or a pop singer. Let me go through my contact list. I’m sure I can find a few women who would be willing to do something like this as a publicity stunt.”
He cringed.
“You hate it?” She had been so proud, convinced this was a workable plan.
“I don’t love that I have to use someone, but if she’s in the know from the beginning and getting something out of it, I can live with it. This sounds effective without being too unsavory.” He nodded. “Run with it.”
CHAPTER FOUR
A DISTANT NOISE INTRUDED, but Luca ignored it and continued indulging his lascivious fantasy of Amy’s dress unbuttoned to her waist, held closed only by the wide black corset-style belt. Her lacy green bra and underwear would hold the heat of
