Page 117 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

‘Your secretary?’

‘No,’ a smile softened her response. ‘Anja I trust completely.’

‘So with Anja’s help, you’ve dated?’

He was like a dog with a bone and, yet, she wasn’t sure she minded.

‘Well, yes, I suppose… I mean, I’ve spent time with men, seeing if they were suitable,’ she said, her stomach somersaulting. He’d probably run a mile. Javier Diamandi did not seem like the kind of man who’d waste his time on inexperienced, twenty-five-year-olds. Only she was wrong. A second later, his other hand lifted to her hip, held her there, before pulling her closer towards him, so finally their bodies connected as she’d wanted them to the night before. Everything exploded. The hand at her cheek moved slightly, so his thumb could brush across her lower lip.

‘You’ve been kissed, I presume.’

She closed her eyes against the awful memory of her first and only kiss—at a trusted friend’s birthday party, when she’d had a few too many champagnes and one of her friend’s cousins had taken advantage of the situation. She was fortunate it had only been a kiss. Luckily her security detail had been there to swoop in and separate them.

‘Yes.’

‘And sex?’

Her eyes widened. ‘That’s incredibly rude.’

‘You’re right. And sex, Your Majesty?’ he amended, wilfully misunderstanding her response.

Her lips parted. His thumb swiped over them again, then pressed in lightly brushing over her tongue. Her knees felt weak.

‘I barely know you.’

‘That’s not an answer.’

Panic surged through her, but why lie? Already, she knew this man was someone she could trust. Not with her heart, or her future, but with the truth. He was not going to go and spread anything she told him to the press. That was completely beneath someone like Javier.

‘As you pointed out, my every move is watched. To sleep with someone would be to date them for real and to invite the kind of speculation I don’t welcome. Even now, I know I must marry, but I’m doing so carefully. Screening potential husbands in a public setting, to avoid this sort of thing.’ She gestured haphazardly towards the newspapers, that were now on the occasional table in the parlour.

Instead of returning her hand to her own side, she found it landed on his hip, mirroring his touch. Power swirled through her veins and her fingertips tingled with the euphoria of that connection.

‘I suppose that’s very different to your own life. Your own experience.’

His eyes met hers with a hint of amusement. ‘I’m not a virgin.’

It was so absurd she laughed, the gesture dislodging his contact with her face. She closed her eyes against the wave of disappointment. Where was her icy reserve, the cool barrier she’d built to defend her heart from hurt?

Only this was nothing about her heart. This, right here, was all driven by other, insatiable parts of her body, wanting something she’d never thought to need before. Ice wasn’t required. She was safe because Javier would never marry her, even if she wanted him to.

‘You don’t have to date someone to have sex with them.’ He moved closer, dropping his head slightly. ‘Nor do you have to marry them.’

‘Perhaps in the normal sense of things, but my life is far from normal.’

‘And the expectations of you likewise.’

Her heart tripped at the way he seemed to innately understand her and her life.

‘I have no interest in making your life more difficult, Your Majesty. But I am very interested in you.’

Her lips parted softly. ‘What does that mean?’

‘It means I’m interested in getting to know you better. It means I’m interested in this—’ He dropped his head then, slowly, giving her time to read his intentions and reject them, if she wanted to. His eyes holding hers the whole time. Giving her time to tell him to stop.

She didn’t, even when she knew she should. Even when she could zoom out of this scene, see it from above and recognise how out of character this was, she couldn’t step away.

When he kissed her, it redefined everything she thought she knew about being kissed, about everything. It obliterated the ice she stored inside of her and threw her into a fiery furnace of need. She groaned as his tongue duelled with hers and heat spread to the tips of her fingers and down to her toes.