Insatiable

12:30 A.M . EST, Friday, April 16

910 Park Avenue, Apt. 11A

New York, New York

M ary Lou and her husband did an admirable job of making sure Meena’s wineglass was

never lower than half full throughout the evening.

But Meena was careful to drink from it only sparingly. The last thing she wanted was to

get plastered in front of people she had to see in the elevator every day….

Not to mention in front of the prince.

It wasn’t until Mary Lou was asking if anyone cared for coffee that she realized it was

past midnight. Meena noticed her brother, Jon, looking surreptitiously at his watch. Apparently

his dinner companion, Becca, hadn’t been able to take his mind off his celebrity crush, Taylor

Mackenzie, which was no surprise. Few could.

“Oh,” Meena said with genuine regret. “I’m so sorry. I have to go. I have work in the

morning. And I still have to get home and walk my dog.”

“I’ll do it.” Jon volunteered, hopping up from his place on the couch with a speed that

Meena found a little embarrassing.

“I’ll join you, Meena, if you don’t mind some company,” Lucien said, setting down his

wineglass. “I’d enjoy stretching my legs a bit after that delicious meal.”

Meena felt her cheeks turning red. She couldn’t believe she was blushing. That was

something she hadn’t done in ages.

Until tonight, that is.

“I’d be delighted,” she said. She didn’t point out that Lucien had hardly touched a bit of

that “delicious meal.” He’d said he still had a little jet lag.

Jon sank back down into his place. “Oh,” he said, struggling to hide his disappointment.

“I guess you guys have it under control, then.”

Becca had taken out her cell phone and was scrolling through her applications, looking

everywhere but in Jon’s direction.

“What a great idea,” Mary Lou said enthusiastically. “You two go out for a walk. It’s

such a lovely night. Isn’t it a lovely night, Emil?”

“It’s a lovely night,” Emil said.

But Meena couldn’t help noticing he looked a little worried as he sent the maid to collect

the prince’s overcoat.

“We’ll just go up the street,” Lucien was saying.

“Let me run and get Jack,” Meena said.

She slipped across the hall, aware that Jon had hastily made his good-byes and followed

her, not seeming to care that his escape had been so awkward.

“What are you doing?” he asked when she’d unlocked the door and let them both into

her apartment, then closed the door again behind them. “Are you actually into that guy or

something?”

“Um, let me see,” Meena said. She plucked her coat off the rack by the door and slipped

it on, cinching it tightly around her waist, while Jack Bauer, over the moon at seeing her,

danced around her feet excitedly. “What’s not to like, exactly? His old-world manners, his

dark good looks, or the fact that he’s way into me and is probably going to be the father of my

children someday?”

Jon had slunk over to the couch and collapsed onto it. Now he lifted his head off one of

Meena’s Pottery Barn throw pillows and stared at her. “I thought you didn’t want kids,” he

said, “’cause you don’t want to be the worst, most smothering mother in the world, always

following them around with Bubble Wrap and needles filled with adrenaline.”

“Fine,” Meena said with a sniff. “That was a figure of speech. I don’t really want to have

his children. Seriously, though. What do you think of him?”

“He’s all right, I guess,” Jon said, leaning his head back down and picking up the

remote. “If you like the brooding, mysterious type.”

“Honestly.” Meena took Jack Bauer’s leash off the hook on the wall and clipped it to his

collar as he jumped around. “You have to get off that couch more, Jon. Lucien Antonescu is

the perfect guy.”

“I’m just saying,” Jon said, flicking on the TV. “Don’t blame me if he tries to ravish you

in a dark doorway.”

“I should be so lucky,” Meena said. “And you could have been a little nicer to Becca.

She seemed really sweet.”

Jon looked confused. “I thought her name was Becky.”

Meena rolled her eyes. “If I’m not back in an hour, don’t wait up,” she said.

“Practice safe sex,” Jon called after her.

Meena threw him a disgusted look over her shoulder.

“Remember our conversation approximately five seconds ago regarding my not wanting

to ruin the lives of any future progeny with my constant harping on their impending deaths? I

never have anything but safe sex.”

“Good,” Jon said, and turned up the volume of Top Gear. “Because I’m too young to be

an uncle.”

Meena turned away with another eye roll…although at the last minute she grabbed her

other purse—the big one that had the stash of condoms in it left over from her ill-fated date

with the high-cholesterol guy, which had of course been wishful thinking on her part—and left

the apartment.

It never hurt, she supposed, to be extra careful. And prepared. Even though nothing was

going to happen, of course. He was a prince! Princes didn’t do things like that. Not on the first

date.

Lucien was waiting alone for her in the hallway, looking exactly as Jon had described

him…brooding and mysterious. Meena’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of him.

“Hi,” she said, feeling suddenly shy. Okay. What was she doing ?

“Hello,” he said.

His gaze seemed to penetrate straight through her. Those dark eyes didn’t seem so sad

anymore. She was convinced now that he knew not only that she’d grabbed her purse that had

condoms in it, but that he knew exactly what she looked like without her dress on.

The strange thing was that she didn’t mind.

It was too bad that Jack Bauer did. Or at least she thought he did, judging from the way

he carried on, tugging at his leash and growling.

“Sorry,” she said, embarrassed by her dog.

“It’s all right,” he said, smiling. He pushed the Down button. “He seems a bit highstrung.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” she said. “That’s why we call him Jack Bauer.”

“Jack Bauer,” he said, gazing down at the dog, who continued to growl up at him. “Oh, I

see. After the character on the television program.”

“Right,” Meena said, pleased that he finally got an American popular culture reference.

“You’ve seen it?”

“Enough of it,” he said. There was a world of condemnation in his tone. He did not like

the show. “I don’t tend to watch programs with torture in them.”

“Oh,” Meena said. She felt mortified. His tone implied he had personal reasons to dislike

these kinds of story lines. Had he himself been tortured while serving in the military or

something?

It was entirely possible. Meena knew next to nothing about the history of Romania,

much less its military.

But she thought she remembered something about…oh, something awful. Why hadn’t

she Googled Romania really fast when she was in the apartment? Then at least she could have

been informed.

“Well,” she said uncomfortably. “I can understand that. I don’t like to watch things

where people die.” That touched a little too close to home for comfort. “But, anyway, Jack

Bauer only tortures bad guys.”

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