But there was nothing. No signs of life.
I exhaled slowly through the mouth, more than aware of how much heat was radiating out of the top of my head and the tips of my ears. There was only one way to be certain.
The electric buzz and click of the lock mechanism shifting reached my ears. Gently, I turned the handle and pushed the door open.
The first thing I noticed was the scent of fresh roses. The second thing I noticed was the trail of soft rose petals sprinkled about the executive suite’s floor leading down a narrow hallway toward another room. Curious, I followed the path, my heart beating so hard I could feel my pulse in my eyes.
The executive suite was nice—lavish, just like the lobby downstairs. I didn’t really give myself time to take everything in, however. I was too preoccupied with where this mysterious trickle of red and pink rose petals would lead me.
My suspicions were confirmed when I laid eyes on the king-sized bed in the master bedroom. The sheets were littered with rose petals, the sweet floral scent leaving my head wonderfully dizzy. Sunlight streamed in through the delicate beige curtains, flooding the room with warmth.
Across the room at the writing desk was Rodrigo.
His back was to me, so he hadn’t seen me arrive. There was a stack of papers next to him as he worked away diligently on a laptop. He seemed enthralled in his assignment, whatever it happened to be, so focused that he probably didn’t hear me come in.
I took a moment to admire the shape of his back. Rodrigo’s hair had grown out slightly since I last saw him, but there was no doubt in my mind that he was really here. There wasn’t a chance that I was dreaming up his big, strong shoulders and wide back. I would have pressed my lips to the back of his neck had I not been worried that I’d startle him. All these months I’d been anxious to see him again, to hear from him. And now that I was finally within a few feet, all I wanted to do was savor the moment. Leaning against the door frame, I crossed my arms and smiled as I drank in the sight.
There was something incredibly sexy about Rodrigo at work. He’d never been particularly studios as a child. He’d sometimes sit in on the last few minutes of my private tutoring sessions when I was younger. Every single time without fail, he’d managed to cause some sort of a disturbance. One memorable example was when he started making paper airplanes out of my homework and threw them directly at my tutor, who, at the time, had also been Rodrigo’s mother. We were carefree back then, full of unparalleled energy and joy.
Finally, I’d had enough. I didn’t want to see Rodrigo’s hands working the keys of his laptop. I wanted to see his hands working me.
“And they say romance isn’t dead,” I teased.
Rodrigo shot out of his seat, swinging around in surprise. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“Ah, damn. I told the front desk to call me when you arrived. I had a whole thing planned.”
I laughed. Lived. God, it felt so good to hear his voice.
I took a step forward, smiling wider than I ever thought possible. He’d let his beard grow out a little bit, giving his face an entirely different look. Rodrigo looked so mature and dashing, wiser than he had almost half a year ago. I eagerly wanted to run my fingers over his jaw, feel the coarse hairs of his beard against my skin. I wanted to know what his kisses felt like now that he had this whole gruff, yet dignified thing going for him.
Rodrigo also took a step forward, easily reaching to caress my cheek. Our eyes were locked together, his baby blues looking so fantastically bright that they put the gorgeous sea and beaches outside to shame.
“Hi,” he whispered. Rodrigo smiled down at me like I was something precious, too good for the world. Just one look and I was already melting for him all over again. Just one word and he reaffirmed that the months we’d spent apart were worth the longing and anguish.
“Hi,” I whispered back, balancing on the edge of laughing and crying.
“I missed you.”
“I missed you too.”
“How’s your father doing?”
I cocked an eyebrow at him. “We haven’t seen each other in under half a year, and the first thing you want to do is ask me about my father?”
“Well, yes. I want to make sure he’s alright. I’m sorry for what happened. I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am that–”
“Rodrigo?”
“Yes?”
“Shut up and kiss me.”
I raised myself up onto my tiptoes and crashed my lips against his. Something manic overcame us both, something heated and dangerous and wild. As our lips slid over one another, tongues teased and teeth clicked. It was a little awkward at first, like relearning how to ride a bicycle. But it didn’t take us very long to fall back into the swing of things.
Rodrigo easily slipped his arms around me and lifted me up, chuckling into my mouth as I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He carried me over toward the bed, nearly losing his balance. We ended up against the nearest wall, his body pinning my back against the hard surface.
God, how I wanted him.
I wanted him so badly I couldn’t think, couldn’t string together any thoughts. I just wanted to be lost in his touch, in his taste. Everything and anything I was, I wanted to give to him.
Rodrigo seared kisses into the crook of my neck and sucked at the skin there hard enough to leave a bruise. As I expected, the roughness of his beard against my sensitive skin was absolutely delightful, prickling and scraping me in a way that only left me wanting more. I groaned as he rocked his hips against me, the hardness beneath his jeans undeniable. I squeezed my eyes closed as I panted against him, all thoughts blanking from my mind. My only concern was touching him, dragging my hands over his muscular shoulders, his defined back, all the way down to greedily grab at his shapely backside.
It should have been illegal to look as good as he did.
He braced his hips against me to keep me where I was, freeing up his hands to pull his shirt off and over his head. I licked my lips as I raked my eyes over him. The sudden urge to taste every inch of him ignited an irresistible warmth between my legs. I wanted to nibble at him, wanted to drag my fingers over his tight chest and delicious abs.
Combing my fingers through his hair, I almost growled, “I need you.”
“You have me, Princess.”
“Do you know what the best part about this is?”
He shook his head. “What?”
I grinned. “We don’t have to be quiet here.”
Rodrigo licked his lips. “I love how you think.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Rodrigo
It was a little ridiculous how quickly we shed our clothes.
Was I complaining?
Hell no.
I laid Marina down on the bed, flower petals scattering over the soft sheets. Some of them drifted and landed on her bare stomach and got caught up in her long hair. As much as I wanted to feel her around my throbbing cock, I forced myself to take my time. Marina was a fine wine, a rare bottle of champagne. No self-respecting person would dare treat something so divine so casually.
The softness of her lips was so addictive that I was unable to pull away. As our tongues slid over one another, I massaged her breasts with my hands, teasing her hard nipples with my fingers.
The sounds she made drove me up the wall. She moaned and gasped and whined beneath me, grinding her hips upward against my throbbing cock. Marina’s every touch had me craving more, itching for release that I was doing my best to stave off. I didn’t want to rush things with her. I wanted nothing except to see her pleased, to hear her calling out my name in pure ecstasy.
I reached between her legs slowly, drawing light, small circles against her with my fingers. Marina’s body trembled beneath me, her cheeks flushing with heat. She groaned into my mouth and lifted her hips up against my palm for more.
“Rodrigo,” she panted. “Rodrigo, please just–” Marin
a jolted as I started circling her faster, with more pressure. “Please, fuck me. I’ve missed you so much. I want you inside of me.”
Seeing her this worked up awoke something inside me. I couldn’t quite identify what it was. It was a side of me I didn’t know existed, someone naughty and commanding and incredibly confident.
The corners of my lips ticked up into a grin. “You want me?” I asked, voice low and dirty.
“Yes. Yes, please, I–”
“Do you want me to make you feel good?”
Marina swallowed a gulp of air and could only manage a nod.
I hummed, amused. “Say it,” I ordered.
“I… I want you to make me feel good. Rodrigo, please.”
Her hips bucked, so I eased my touch. “But I really like teasing you.”
Marina’s brows were knotted together, desperation written all over her face. “I swear to God, if you don’t–”
I stopped touching her completely, pulling away so that my lips hovered over hers. Her writhing body was a splendor to behold. Marina’s soft, pale skin contrasted nicely against the bed of rose petals. Her hair smelled wonderful, as always, and it reminded me of home. That was when I realized that it was impossible to feel homesick when Marina was with me. I didn’t miss Brooklandia. I missed her.
She was home.
She was safety, comfort. She was my elation, my passion, and my bliss wrapped up in a single person.
Marina was everything.
“What is it?” she whispered, barely audible.
I looked into her eyes and gave her a soft, small smile. “You’re so beautiful.”
With surprising swiftness, Marina grabbed me by the shoulders and hooked her leg over my hip, using the momentum to roll me onto my back. She shifted her weight back, lowering herself to peck a trail of kisses against my chest, my stomach, and finally to the base of my cock. She wrapped her hands around me, stroked my length with tender loving care. It was when she wrapped her lips around me that I lost my mind.
“Oh my God, Marina,” I moaned.
She hollowed her cheeks and inched her way down, the warmth of her mouth the most fantastic thing I’d ever experienced. Her tongue swirled around, covering my sensitive skin with slick heat. A tight, intense coil of pressure started to build within my core, building and building until I just couldn’t take it any longer.
“Marina, slow down,” I growled.
She looked up coyly, smiling around me. “Problem?”
“There will be if you don’t get up here.”
Marina rose, basking in the sunlight. Her luxurious blonde locks looked almost white, a halo about her head like an angel. She lowered herself onto my length, threading her fingers through mine for stability as she started to rock her hips. The pleasure that flooded through me left me speechless. Combined with her blinding beauty, Marina had rendered me an absolutely useless fool. I couldn’t believe my luck.
I’d fallen in love with a goddess.
It wasn’t just that I was in love with her body, as gorgeous as it was. I was in love with her mind, with her very soul and being. The desire I felt for her couldn’t properly be put into words. I needed her like I needed air, food, and water. I had no idea how I managed to survive this long without her.
We lost ourselves in each other. The sounds of our heavy breathing and pounding hearts were the only things I could truly register. Every time Marina rocked her hips against me, she drove me that much closer to the edge.
Marina leaned down and kissed me hard as she climaxed, her whole body trembling against me as she did. The sweet cries that escaped her lips spurred me on. I wrapped my arms around her and rolled us over, snapping my hips against her in search of more of that sweet friction. A burst of pleasure overcame my senses. My nerve endings were tingling with delight. Time slowed, the world stilled. Nothing else mattered to me now that I had Marina in my arms.
I couldn’t tell how long we laid in bed together. The afternoon sun gradually turned into the soft, silver glow of the moon. Marina curled into me easily, resting her head against my chest as she drew little circles into my skin. We talked about everything and anything. In truth, I was happy just to be breathing the same air as her.
I ran my fingers across her cheek and plucked a rose petal out of her hair. We stared into each other’s eyes for hours. I’d be perfectly content to do it for days.
Marina giggled, stroking my beard calmly. “I like this.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded. “It makes you look so serious. It’s a nice change.”
I chuckled. “I’m always serious.”
“No, you’re the biggest goofball I know.”
I gawked at her, feigning offense. “I think we both know that title goes to Oliver.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Marina laughed softly. “What were you working on when I came into the room?”
“Homework.”
“Seriously?”
I nodded. “I’m half-way through my first year of law school.”
“Really? That’s amazing,” she said sweetly. “Are you enjoying it so far?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “I could probably enjoy classes more if I could see you more often.”
Marina’s eyes fluttered closed, the tiniest hint of worry fraying her brow. “I want you to come home,” she whispered. “I want you to tell me about your day, about your classes. I want you to tell me about your life in Allendes.”
“Even the boring stuff?”
Marina nodded. “Especially the boring stuff.”
“I want to go home too.”
“Then come back with me,” she urged. “I’ll explain everything to my father. You had nothing to do with the attack.”
I wanted to tell her yes. I would have returned to Brooklandia with Marina in a heartbeat. But things weren’t that simple.
“I can’t leave my mother behind,” I mumbled. “And even if I did go back, people wouldn’t see me. They’d hear my name, and I’d be guilty by association. The King would never let me near you.”
Marina sat up in bed, clutching the silk sheet over herself. “Who put that idea in your head?”
“No one. I’m just telling you the truth.”
Marina furrowed her brows, nibbling on her bottom lip. “Then… What are we doing, Rodrigo? Don’t you… Don’t you want to be with me.”
I sat up, immediately moving to cup her face in my hands. “I really, really do.”
The conflict was easy to read in her expression. “Then… What…” Marina shook her head. “I can’t stand this.”
“What? Being with me?”
“No. The secrecy.” The rims of her eyes turned red, glossing over with tears. “I don’t want this to end up being a relationship where I see you once, maybe twice a year.”
“I know. I don’t want that either.”
I hated how defeated Marina looked. What we had between us was still new, but it felt so right. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I wanted to be with her.
“Marry me,” I said abruptly.
Her face blanked. “What?”
I took her hands in mine and gave them a squeeze. My heart was racing, beating at a feverish pace. “I’m serious. Marina, will you marry me?”
She laughed nervously, but the spark in her eyes was undeniable. “You’re joking,” she argued half-heartedly, confused. “You’re joking, right?”
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my entire life.” I beamed at her. “We’ll run away. We’ll get married and live on a farm or something. We’ll make our own way in the world. I understand if you think it’s too hard to stay in Brooklandia and fight for us at the same time. I’d never want to put you in a position where you had to choose your family and your people over me. So let’s just run away and make a life for ourselves and live by our own terms.”
Marina grinned at me, giggling excitedly. “Oh my God, you are serious.”
“I love you,” I said firmly. “Wow, that feels good to
say. I love you, Marina. Marry me, and I promise I will do absolutely everything I can to give you a good life. It won’t be as fancy as life inside the palace. I probably won’t be able to hire a personal chef to cook you delicious food, but I can learn to do that for you. I probably won’t be able to make enough that you can wear designer clothes, but I promise to try.”
“Maybe we can just ask Oliver and Brandon to make clothes and cook for us.”
I laughed. “Sure. They can live with us, I guess. Maybe they can help take care of the babysitting.”
“Babysitting? You want kids?”
“Of course! A houseful of them. I want to be one of those fathers who’s tired all the time and barely holding it together because his kids are crawling all over him. I really don’t think I’d mind, though.”
Marina was smiling brilliantly at me. With some hesitation, she nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I mean, I don’t know if I can really abandon the throne. It’s my birthright. If I leave, the question of succession… Well, it’d get messy.” She squeezed my hands back. “But I do know that I want to be with you. So, okay. Let’s run away. Let’s–”
Before she could finish her sentence and give me an answer, three hard knocks at the suite’s front door shook the room. Whoever was on the other side continued to slam their fists against it, an urgency in every knock.
“Princess Marina!” a man’s voice shouted. “Open this door immediately.”
Marina jumped out of bed so quickly that she was a blur in the corner of my vision. She hastily threw her clothes back on, eyes wide in terror.
“Oh no,” she gasped. “Oh no, no, no.”
“Who is it?” I whisper-shouted to her.
“That’s Charles, my bodyguard. I thought he went to bed already.”
I slipped out of bed, throwing on my pants in a frantic hurry. “Can’t you send him away?”
“Princess Marina! Open this door, or I’ll kick it down.”
“You have to hide,” she told me. “I don’t know what they’ll do if they catch you.”
My eyes darted around the room in search of a hiding spot. There was no room under the bed, I couldn’t escape out the window because we were on the top floor, and the closet was on the other side of the room so I’d never make it in time. Even if I hid in the en-suite bathroom, ducking for cover in the bathtub, her bodyguard would likely check in there.
Royal Holiday Page 13
