"Don't suppose you'd make me a sandwich?" he says from somewhere in the interior of the refrigerator.

"That'd be a no."

He slams the door shut and joins me at the table, ripping the plate and fork from underneath my nose and then shoveling half the quiche down his throat before I can even protest.

"That was mine!" I reach over and try to wrest it back "Sandra would want you to share with me." He holds me off with one hand...again.

Damn. I need to start a weightlifting program. I try one more time to grab the plate back, and this time Reed doesn't fend me off. He pulls me in and the surprise move makes me lose my balance. I end up tumbling into his lap with my legs splayed on either side of his broad thighs.

My attempts to wriggle free are put to an end when he clamps one hand around my butt and pulls me against him. When he kisses me, I can't help but respond eagerly, wanting him to make those husky noises that tell me how hot I get him.

"You left this morning," I say when he releases my mouth. I wish I could stuff the words back in, because I'm afraid he's going to say something hurtful.

"Didn't want to," he replies.

"Why'd you leave?" All my pride is left on the floor, but my weakness doesn't turn him off.

He runs his fingers through my hair. "Because I'm weak when it comes to you. I don't trust myself to be in your bed all night. Hell, I should be thrown in jail for half the things I just think about."

His words fill me with giddy pleasure. "You think too much."

He makes some indecipherable noise-impatience, cynicism, humor-and then kisses me again. Soon the kissing isn't enough. I reach down to tug at the bottom of his shirt. His hands are all over me too-inside my T-shirt, down the elastic waistband of my shorts. I strain toward him, seeking the release I've discovered only Reed can provide.

A scuffling noise outside the kitchen breaks us apart.

"Did you hear something?" I whisper.

Reed stands up in one smooth and powerful gesture, still holding me in his arms, and walks out into the hall. It's empty.

Setting me on my feet, he gives my butt a little smack. "Why don't you go put a swimsuit on?"

"Um, why would I want to do that?" I just want to go back to the table and sit on his lap while he kisses me senseless, but he's already moving outside.

"Because we're going for a swim," he calls over his shoulder.

With a sigh, I trudge upstairs. When I reach the top, I see Brooke coming out of my room. Or, at least, that's what it looks like.

I halt in my tracks, anger and suspicion forming a tight pretzel in my gut. What the hell was she doing in my bedroom?

Oh shit! My money is in there.

What if she took it?

I scan her quickly but she doesn't have a purse and her clothes are so tight that there's no way she can hide a stack of cash on her. Still, she doesn't belong here, and I make my displeasure known as I march toward her.

"What are you doing here?" I demand.

She saunters my way. "Well, if it isn't little orphaned Ella, the new princess of Castle Royal."

"I thought you told Callum you were leaving and never coming back," I say warily.

"Don't you wish." She sneers and flicks her long blonde hair to one side. Whatever warm feelings she may have had for me are long gone.

There's no point in engaging, so I sidestep her and move in front of my bedroom door. "Stay out of my room. I'm serious, Brooke. If I catch you up here again, I'm telling Callum."

"Right. Callum. Your savior. The man who swept you out of the gutter and brought you to his palace." Bitterness fills her eyes. "He did the same thing for me. He saved me too, remember? But guess what, sweetie-we're disposable. We're all fucking disposable to him." She waves a perfectly manicured finger in my face. "Your life is transformed, isn't it? Like some princess out of a fairytale. But fairytales aren't real. Girls like us, we'll always turn back into a pumpkin after the ball."

I notice that her eyes have started to glisten with unshed tears. "Brooke," I say gently. "Let me call you a cab, okay?" My heart softens toward her. She's hurting and needs help. I don't know what I can do for her, though, other than a safe ride home.

"He'll tire of you, too," Brooke continues as if I hadn't even spoken. My response doesn't matter. She just needs an audience. "Mark my words."

"Thanks for your insight," I say dryly. "But I think it's time for you to go."

I try to steer her toward the stairs, but she flinches away, stumbling against the opposite wall. A peal of maniacal laughter tumbles from her cherry red lips. "I've had the Royals in my palm for a lot longer than you have, honey."

I'm done listening to her. She just wants to whine and bad-mouth the Royals. My patience evaporates, so I just duck into my room, slam the door shut, and run to the bathroom. With a shaking hand, I feel inside the cabinet. When my hand brushes across the taped wad of bills, I sag with relief.

I need to move my cash to somewhere only I have access. ASAP.

"What's wrong?" Reed asks the moment I step onto the patio.

I can't answer him immediately because my tongue is attached to the roof of my mouth. I don't know how I'm supposed to function when Reed stands there in only a pair of board shorts that look like they're about to drop off his hips. His chest is a wall of lickable muscle, and it's hard to concentrate. My argument with Brooke fades in importance when the hottest guy on the planet is standing there on display for me.

"Ella?" he prompts, with humor in his voice.

"What?" I shake myself. "Oh I'm sorry. It was Brooke. She was coming out of my bedroom. Or at least I think it was my bedroom."

Callum's room is on the other side of the house. The sweeping staircase bisects the two wings and the boys' rooms are on one side and Callum's room is on the other. Guest rooms are on the first floor. There was absolutely no reason for Brooke to be on our side of the house.

Reed frowns and starts to move toward the door.

"She left," I tell him. "I saw her car heading down the drive before I came out here."

"We need to change the gate code," he mutters.

"Mmm-hmm." I can't stop staring.

Before I can blink, Reed lifts me in his arms and throws me in the pool.

I land with a huge awkward splash, spitting up water as I kick up to the surface. "What was that for?" I yell, pulling wet strands of hair away from my face.

He grins wickedly. "You looked like you needed cooling off."

"You're one to talk!" I swing myself onto the tiled surround and lunge for him.

He skates away easily. There's no point in chasing him. He's bigger and faster than me, so I have to resort to trickery.

I pretend to bang my foot against a lounger.

"Ouch!" I holler and stagger over to the pool's edge where I bend down and clutch my foot.

Reed comes over immediately. "You okay?"

I lift my supposedly hurt foot up for his inspection. "I stubbed my toe."

He leans down and I push him into the water.

He surfaces immediately, whipping his head around to get the water out of his eyes. Then he grins. "I let you do that."

"Sure you did."

I watch with fascination as the water clings to his body. He beckons me toward him. "We're both wet so you might as well get your pretty ass in the pool."

"Why? So you can dunk me?"

"I won't dunk you." He holds up two fingers. "Scout's honor."

I squint at his spread fingers. "I think that's the Vulcan greeting, not a Scout's pledge."

He slaps a hand hard against the surface and a huge wave of water sprays over me. "Smart ass. The Vulcan greeting is four fingers. Now don't make me come out there."

"I'm only getting in because I want to, not because you ordered me to."

Reed rolls his eyes and sprays me again.

I back up and then run hard, launching myself high in the air and then curling into a ball to drop right beside Reed. I hear him hoot with laughter as I sink into the water.

We spend about ten minutes trying to drown each other.

In the process, I might have tugged his shorts down a little too far and he might have grazed my bikini top with his hand. My body responds immediately to even that light caress.

The next time I dive for his hips, he wraps his hands around my wrists and hauls me up to the surface. He drags me backward until he's sitting on the ledge that surrounds the pool and I'm standing in front of him, still in the water.

"You think you can depants me, huh?"

"I was just swimming." I blink. "I'm innocent, officer." I raise my still shackled wrists.

Reed flicks a finger over my breast. "You don't look innocent."

In retaliation, I run my foot along his calf and smile smugly as he shifts uncomfortably against the tile.

"It's cold out here," I say. "Anyone would nip out."

"If you're cold, I should warm you up." He takes his free hand and nudges aside my bikini top until I'm fully exposed.

I think I've always closed my eyes before when he's touched me here, and it's shockingly erotic to watch him, in broad daylight, take me into his mouth. He gives me a gentle little bite and then licks the sting away before opening his mouth and sucking my nipple.

Holy hell.

"I, ah, I think I'm going to drown in here." I gasp.

He lifts his head and gives me a wicked look. "We can't have that." Then he boosts me out of the pool and drags me to the pool house.

Breathless, we tumble onto the couch, then Reed rolls onto his back and pulls me on top of him so I'm straddling his thighs. We're both soaking wet, but I don't care that my hair is dripping water all over his bare chest. I'm too busy moaning because his hands are tugging on my bikini top and his hips are rocking up against me.

He pulls at the strings around my neck and back, and my bikini falls off. Heat instantly floods his gaze. "I wanted you from the second I saw you," he confesses.

"Really?" I tease. "You mean when I walked into your house for the first time and you stood up at the railing glaring at me?"

"Oh yeah. You came in dressed like a hobo, with that flannel shirt buttoned all the way to your neck and your eyes blazing up at me. It was the hottest thing I've ever seen."

"I think we have different definitions of hot."

He laughs.

Speaking of hot, his chest is on fire, burning my palms as I stroke his pecs. When I lean down to kiss him, he responds so eagerly that it takes my breath away. Our lips fit perfectly. I run my hands over his chest and his breath sucks in. The muscles there quiver beneath my fingertips.

I love knowing that I'm the one turning him on. I'm turning on Reed Royal, the guy who scowls instead of smiles, who keeps his emotions under lock and key, hiding them from the world.

He's not hiding anything right now. His desire for me is written all over his face. I can feel it when he presses against me.

I bend my head to kiss him again and he makes me gasp by sucking on my tongue. Then he makes me moan by using his thumbs to toy with my nipples.

Breathing hard, I lean into his palms, and a frustrated noise leaves his mouth.

"I'm being selfish again," he mutters.

"I like it when you're selfish," I breathe.