Real-Life Prince Charming: A Friends To Lovers Romance Read online

  The short brunette kind of gave me a dirty look, but I stood my ground, and she finally got up and said that she would be back in a moment. Apparently, she didn't want to say anything on the intercom that was right in front of her. I had a feeling it was because she wasn't going to say something very nice about me.

  As time ticked by, I was starting to really get nervous. Here I was waiting for him to come out and I had no idea what I was going to be faced with. He was behind her when she came back in. He didn't look mad, but Frank did look like he was a bit confused to see me. I had made myself clear, after all.

  I followed him into his office and looked around. It was simple and masculine, just like he was. I also caught a whiff of his cologne when he passed me to shut the door. It brought back powerful memories of our time in bed, and it was really hard for me to focus on what I was actually there for. Instead, I probably stood there like an idiot for a good thirty seconds before I was startled back to the present when he asked me if I wanted to sit down. What must he think of me? I certainly didn't act rational when it had anything to do with Frank.

  I sat down and I took a moment to smooth out my skirt. He sat down across from me and his desk was covered in stacks and stacks of papers. From what I could see, each stack of papers had just as many lines and lines of numbers. I really had no idea what he did with all of it, but from the obvious, he was doing quite well for himself.

  It made me realize that I was being completely ridiculous, and I was going to waste a good opportunity. When would I ever get another man that I felt the same way about, not to mention such a quality man? Frank was the kind of man that I could depend on and that meant more to me than almost anything else.

  “So, what are you doing here, Amber?”

  There was a bit of a clip to his tone and I could tell that he wanted me to spit it out. That was a problem, though, getting the courage to do so.

  “I just wanted to talk to you about something that came to my attention a few days ago. I was on my way out of town, and I heard about your daughter, Caroline.”

  There was a change on his face. But it wasn't a good one. He actually tightened up a little bit, and I could tell that he didn't want to talk about it. Had I really been that bad about it?

  The answer was pretty simple. I had. I didn't give him a chance to say anything. I just asked him if he had a daughter, and then when he said he did, I told him to leave. I was actually quite horrible, and I could completely understand if he didn't want to talk to me.

  “So, you heard about Caroline? Where at?”

  “At the diner. The waitress made a comment about it after your daughter came in.”

  “That is probably Gail. She never shuts her mouth.”

  I told him that I didn't remember her name, but I didn't think that it really mattered. I was there for something completely different. Not to talk about who was gossiping, but to talk about the gossip itself.

  “I feel stupid about the way I acted to you, Frank. It was just weird because everything changed all of a sudden. We had this great week together and then you just kind of disappeared. I started to suspect that something was going on. I actually thought that you were married. And then I saw that little girl, and she got Blue Moon ice cream, and then you had it on your shirt later that night when you came over. I just knew then that she was part of the family that you had hidden from me, and I was really upset.”

  He told me that I sounded like Sherlock Holmes, and I just kind of waved him off. I had been right, but I didn't think it was the right time for me to bring up such a thing. Not the right time at all.

  “I don't have a hidden family.”

  “I know. I know now that you did it to help your friends and to make sure that she had a good life outside of foster care. I know that you are the hero of the story, and I'm the jerk. I also know that you're probably not going to forgive me, but I wanted to make sure that you knew that I knew I was a jerk. I probably messed something up that could have been great, and I will always regret that.

  “Why do you have to regret it?”

  I asked him what he meant, and he got up out of his chair and started walking around the desk toward me. He pulled me up to my feet and pressed his lips against mine. It was hard for me to regret anything that had brought me to this very instance in my life. Almost impossible, really.

  17

  Frank

  As soon as I realized that Amber wasn’t mad at me anymore, it was all I could do to get my hands on her. She was the sort of woman that loved hard, and once that little hiccup was through, I knew that she would want to be close. It was relentlessly on my mind, and we were a lot alike in that way.

  Amber took a minute to get with the program, but she finally seemed to be on the same page as me. I don’t know what came over me, relief more than anything, and I just had to have her. I think I had to prove to myself that I could have her.

  Once we started kissing, I didn’t think about the fact that we were in my office and that the assistant wasn’t that far from where we were. All I could think about was the fact that she was back in my arms, seemingly where she needed to be the whole time.

  Amber whimpered as I moved her toward the desk. She stopped me when I was ready to swipe it all away.

  “Don’t. You’ll make a mess.”

  I just chuckled, because that was not at all what I wanted her to be thinking about right now. I wanted her to know that I would make any mess that I had to, to get her in my arms. I was committed.

  “Do you really think I am so worried about a mess? I thought that you were going to leave me. Do you know what that did to my head?”

  Amber didn’t know how to answer me. I know I can be intense, and she was finding it hard to look away. It was pulling her in, much like everything about me. That was the point. I held her gaze as I wiped everything off the desk in one go. All of the papers started drifting to the ground, making the mess she had warned about, and I couldn’t have been happier.

  “I can’t believe you did that.”

  “Well, you needed somewhere to sit. It’s been a long time since I’ve had my hands on you and it’s going to take some time. I can’t just rush it and bend you over it. I want to do it right.”

  “What about your secretary?”

  Amber was worried about all these things that I hadn’t even thought about. Why did she have to sidetrack me? I didn’t know if she thought it was going to do her any good, because it wasn’t.

  “Carla, take a long lunch!”

  I hollered the words to my secretary, not sure how she would take it, but honestly not caring one way or another. I wanted Amber to know that I wasn’t going to give up on the moment. She had a skirt on and before I heard Carla getting up to leave, I already had my hands in a very moist situation. The rest of me was dying to be there, too.

  “Damn, you are wet and hot.”

  “Damn, you’re embarrassing me. I am never going to be able to look at her again. This is a small town and you know how people gossip.”

  “I suspect that the diner waitresses will have something to say. Are you really worried about it?”

  She said that she wasn’t, but by the look on her face and in her eyes before they closed, I had a feeling that Amber wasn’t thinking about much else at the moment.

  I had slipped my hand into her panties and she was perched on the edge of the desk. Before long, she was closing her legs to my ministrations, like that was going to stop me. It wasn’t. I needed her and if she wasn’t going to give it to me, I was going to take it. Amber needed a steady hand. If left to her own devices, she could have ruined it all for us. I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  Getting her right to the edge of reason, I slowly brought her back down. Amber wasn’t happy about it and I was happy to say that no other worries were coming out of her. She wasn’t concerned with the papers on the floor any longer. Her abandonment of the present just made me want her more.

  I kissed her lips, biting them on the bottom,
pulling it out a bit until she made a whining sound. It was one of the hottest sounds that I’d heard in a while, and it was hard for me to hold myself back. Now that we were together in the office alone and there wasn’t anyone else to hear us, I was able to feel like I could do whatever I wanted.

  When I pushed her just to the limit a couple more times and she started to get desperate, I backed off completely and started to undress. I told her to do the same, but she really wasn’t paying attention to what I said. She was checking out my body and I liked the way she was looking at me. I knew that I turned heads because I kept my body in the same shape I’d been in the military. I was glad that she approved.

  “Are you not going to take it off?”

  “Why don’t you come here and stop talking so much. Isn’t that what you tell me?”

  I agreed that it was, but I didn’t know if I liked it coming back to me. I wanted to tell her exactly what was on my mind. I wanted her to get naked so I could have the same good time looking at her. I know that it hadn’t been long, but I was ravenous for the view.

  Even though I didn’t want to listen, when a woman told me to get my naked ass over to her, I listened. As soon as I got close enough, her hand immediately wrapped around my length and I growled at her. Her eyes flicked up to meet mine, and then stayed, tugging on my meat and watching my expressions.

  Her other hand was rubbing on my chest, playing with the ridges and turning me on with her light caresses. I didn’t know if she was trying to drive me crazy, but it was certainly doing the trick. I didn’t know how to hide how good it felt. I didn’t think I would have been able to, even if I tried. I didn’t, mind you, but I could have.

  “You’re going to have to stop, or you’re going to have another mess on your hands.”

  “That’s one that I know how to take care of.”

  With that, she was getting off the desk, hand still working on my length and then she was on her knees. Oh dear God, I couldn’t do that. I already wanted to slam inside of her. It really didn’t matter if it was between her legs or her lips, either one would do.

  This time I picked what was offered and started to push my way between her lips. She whimpered and moaned a little as I did so, and I didn’t know why I was so turned on by that. It was like the sweetest sound, especially when it was garbled a bit because I was so far down her throat. I think that just might have very well been the best sound of all.

  The scene when I looked down, me in her mouth, lips stretched, eyes on me, it was too much, and I lost myself. I cursed as I did it, because I didn’t want to go out so quickly. I’d tried so hard to hold back, really I had, but there was nothing I could do when she started sucking on me.

  I filled her mouth so full that it was dripping down her chin after she pulled back because it was choking her. I wish I could have said that I didn’t like the sound of her strangling on it, but I did. There was just something so sexy about it and before I knew what I was doing, I was pushing deeper. I just wanted to feel it and it was not a disappointment. Instead, it was just what I needed.

  When she was getting back on her feet, I was already hard again. I pushed her back and then set her back up on the edge of the office desk and she made a comment about how ready I was. I didn’t say anything, because all of my attention was on her. I didn’t have a choice, no brain cells were being wasted talking. It’s what she had suggested.

  Pushing deep in an instance, I already felt better. I was supposed to be inside of her. I knew that much for sure and when she gasped, I think I lost it. I started to slam in and drag out quickly. She came repeatedly, but I didn’t want to stop. She just felt so good. I could have stayed in her forever. It felt that good.

  Only when I couldn’t take it anymore did I fill her up for the second time and finally released her. At some point, I had grabbed a hold of her hair and made sure that she couldn’t get away. I was a bit surprised because I wasn’t usually like that, but I also wasn’t usually as turned on as I had been. Amber just did something to me and I was afraid that I’d been too much. I asked her and she didn’t agree. I was thankful for that. The last thing I wanted to do was mess it up.

  Pulling out, she almost fell off of the desk and I had to catch her. She was trembling in my arms and I asked her if everything was okay. I didn’t want to think that I’d hurt her, but obviously she had taken it hard. Her legs weren’t working and buckled underneath her. Was I that hard on her?

  I set her down on the couch and asked her if she was okay. When she agreed that she was, but still a bit out of it, I decided that I knew one way to get her attention. All she had to do was see that I wasn’t giving up. That I wasn’t quite finished with her yet.

  I opened her legs and licked on her heated core. It was red with friction and attention. I was trying to sooth her, but she was quickly jerking and jumping like she was attached to electricity. Before I could stop myself, I had her hips in my arms and I wasn’t letting her get away.

  She struggled against me, desperate, saying that she wasn’t going to be able to come again. I wanted to show her that it wasn’t the case at all. I was going to make sure that she came repeatedly. I thought I was done with her, but once I got that taste in my mouth, I knew that it was one of those things that I was going to have to add to.

  When it was all said and done, she was laid out on the couch, still naked, and now I got to sit at my desk and have the view that I wanted. I didn’t know how much she had come, but I finally reached her threshold, and I think she just fell asleep. She couldn’t take anymore and to me, that was the greatest compliment.

  I didn’t know what I was going to do with her. She had gotten under my skin years ago and even now, a decade later, I couldn’t look at her without feeling like this was the one for me. That’s just what I felt. She was made for me, somehow, specially curated, and I wanted to never take her for granted. I didn’t want to.

  There was a lot of complications that a woman would bring to my life. It had never seemed worth it before. I had thought about having a girlfriend, but those complications were always enough to steer me away from that. I didn’t want a girlfriend, if it was going to cut into my life and not be worth it. None of the women that I met, sadly, none of them were what I would consider worth it. I had no feelings for them, not like I had for Amber. For her, I was ready to move the stars and moon, if that meant that I could have her back in my life. I didn’t know how it was supposed to look, but damn if I was going to give her up.

  18

  Amber

  After leaving Frank's office, I didn't think I'd ever felt that light before. It felt like everything was going in the right direction. It made me nervous in a way, because it was almost too perfect, and I was afraid that something was going to come along and change it.

  Not only did he forgive me, but he was the type of person that wasn't even going to hold it against me. I knew that once I left his office, it would not even be an issue again. That's just how he was. It was one of the things that I liked best about him, especially now.

  It left a lot for me to figure out, though. We were talking about going out for a date tomorrow and then maybe by the weekend, he wanted me to meet Caroline. It was a huge step, and I'm not going to say that we weren't ready for it, but I was a little more nervous than I think I was ready for. I wanted everything to turn out well, but the idea of him having a daughter and me being a part of both of their lives, was a lot for me to take in. A lot. Of course, I always thought about having children, but that was always way off in the future when I had my life straightened out, when I had my fashion house started and I was a household name. That was the only way I figured I was going to have children.

  Him having Caroline was, of course, not a problem, really, but it did bring up a lot more questions. If we were going to try and work something out where we were together, I was going to need to make sure that this was what I really wanted. And then I needed to make the decision of where I was going to live. We couldn't be together if I
was in the city or if I was in France. I didn't really know what to think or what to do. My body was still raging from our time together, and instead of thinking about any of it, I just went home and took a nap.

  I woke up later to Gemma calling me. There was another crisis with one of the clients, and it was becoming clear that someone was going to have to handle things while I was away. Someone had to be there to react.

  I just threw a question out, wondering how she was going to take it, and she did not take it well, at all. I was desperately trying to figure it all out, but I knew that I couldn’t be multiple places at once, which seemed like what I needed to be doing. No pressure. I just had to find a way to copy myself.

  “How would you feel about relocating?”

  “Relocating? What are you talking about? Relocate where?”

  When I told her that I was thinking about staying where I was, she actually laughed for a moment. I think that she thought I was joking, but, of course, I wasn’t. I was being very serious, but it was so far from what I would usually do or say, that Gemma just couldn’t believe it. Her reaction made it quite clear where she stood. Obviously, she did not want to relocate in the middle of nowhere. That wasn't too hard to understand.

  “What is going on with you? Everything was normal, and then you go back home, and it’s been weird ever since.”

  “Let's just say that I got ahold of an old flame, and he is really messing with my head.”

  “Well, it makes me nervous when you ask me questions like that. You can't seriously be thinking of staying there. What is going to happen to your brand?”

  I was thinking about staying, but I think if I had told her that, she would have passed out on the phone with me. I realized then that I never heard my assistant talk about men at all. It kind of made me curious now, because she clearly did not think a man was worth any sort of relocation. Was I really just being crazy even considering it?