Royal Games (Dating Games Book 5)

by T. K. Leigh

  Every girl dreams of becoming a princess.

  But this is no fairy tale.

  When I met Anderson North, I fell in love with the man, not the title. With his heart, not the crown.

  But as I step foot in the Nation of Belmont for the first time as the Crown Prince’s fiancée, I’m reminded of exactly who he is outside of the bubble we built around ourselves.

  I’m reminded of exactly who I’ll need to become if I’m to survive this tangled web of antiquated rules, constant media attention, and negative publicity from a country that hates the idea of an American marrying their future king.

  This may be a life of privilege and excess, but I soon learn that with notoriety comes jealousy.

  With fame comes enemies.

  With a crown comes a gilded cage.

  I’ve always dreamed of being a princess. I didn’t realize our happily ever after would come at a price.

  Playlist

  Listen this playlist here.

  Blow Me (One Last Kiss) - P!nk

  Fall - James Arthur

  Peer Pressure - James Bay, featuring Julia Michaels

  Good Stuff - Griff

  Reason to Stay - Sody

  Can You Hear Me - Anson Seabra

  Route 66 - Chuck Berry

  Fade Into You - Mazzy Star

  Either You Love Me or You Don’t - Plested

  Have a Little Faith in Me - John Hiatt

  Photograph - Cody Fry

  Break My Heart Right - James Bay

  River of Tears - Alessia Cara

  Rush - Lewis Capaldi featuring Jessie Reyez

  Fall on Me - A Great Big World featuring Christina Aguilera

  Already Gone - Sleeping At Last

  Tell Me It’s Over - Avril Lavigne

  Hurt - Lady Antebellum

  Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John

  Favorite T-Shirt - Jake Scott

  BRKN - Madison Ryann Ward

  Superman - Ronan Keating

  I Love You - Marcus Johns

  Satellite - Ben Abraham

  Always & Forever - Lily Kershaw

  Consequences - Camila Cabello

  Bitter Pill - Gavin James

  Need You Tonight - Welshly Arms

  Hate Me Too - Emily Burns

  Covered In Chaos - Billy Lockett

  Mixed Signals - Ruth B.

  Heaven - Julia Michaels

  Everything I Wanted - Billie Eilish

  Colour Me In - Damien Rice

  Addicted to Love - Florence + The Machine

  Please Stay - Francois Klark

  Reason to Stay - Sody

  Homesick - Declan J Donovan

  Revival - Gregory Porter

  Finally // Beautiful Stranger - Halsey

  Beautiful & Brutal - Plested

  Let’s Fall in Love for the Night - Finneas

  Explain You - JP Saxe

  Last Time I Saw Sorry - Kane Brown, John Legend

  I Choose - Alessia Cara

  New York - Jake Isaac

  I Love You’s - Hailee Steinfeld

  Square One - Tom Petty

  Free Book!

  Start the Redemption Series by T.K. Leigh FREE right now!

  Download here.

  Everyone has a chapter they don't want to read out loud.

  For Brooklyn Tanner, it's the summer before her junior year of high school. The summer boys finally begin to notice her. The summer he finally begins to notice her.

  Andrew Brinks. Handsome. Popular. Star hockey player.

  Her best friend's brother.

  For one summer, she's happy, carefree, and convinced she'll finally experience what she's been dreaming about for years...her first kiss.

  But just like everything else in her life, it comes at a price she may not be ready to pay.

  One he may not be ready to pay, either.

  Promise is a prequel to T.K. Leigh's Redemption series. Start this second chance, single dad romance today.

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  The Other Side of Someday

  Here’s a little taste of a fun and flirty romantic comedy, The Other Side of Someday. If you’re looking for another heartwarming romance, this is perfect. Grab your copy here.

  “Mmm…,” I moaned, basking in the luxurious Egyptian cotton sheets caressing my skin. A whisper of breath warmed my mouth, followed by a soft tongue. It had been ages since I had woken up to the feel of a man’s mouth on mine, so I didn’t want the moment to end. Keeping my eyes blissfully closed, I tried to remember the previous night. Nothing momentous stood out in my mind, and I certainly couldn’t recall meeting a handsome young stranger whom I would so willingly invite into my bed.

  The mysterious tongue grazed my cheek and I inhaled, only to be assaulted by a vile stench. I flung my eyes open, my dopey beagle-terrier mix smiling his excited smile at me. Wiping my mouth, I turned away from the dog, pulling the duvet over my head.

  “Sport, Mommy’s sleeping,” I groaned, still half asleep. I would give anything to return to the dream I had been having. There was a man… I didn’t recall much about what he looked like, but he had the most mesmerizing blue eyes I’d ever seen. Every time he smiled, my heart picked up just a little bit. When he leaned in to kiss me, my leg kicked out slightly, just like the leading lady’s did after her first kiss with the object of her desire in all those romance movies I watched…until the funk of Sport’s breath ruined my perfectly innocent fantasy.

  Sport burrowed beneath the comforter and found me. He incessantly licked my face, his friendly reminder that he needed to go for a walk. He’d never let me fall back to sleep, so I sat up. Wiping my eyes, I stretched, yawning as I adjusted to my surroundings.

  “California,” I murmured. The past few weeks seemed like a blur as I gazed out the sliding glass doors at the Pacific Ocean from fourteen floors up. The sunlight rising behind the building made the water sparkle and dance.

  A month ago, I was living in the same town I had spent the past twenty-eight years of my life. I was still married to my high school sweetheart. I was happy to maintain the same life I had since birth…until something inside of me snapped, probably the result of walking in on my former husband balls deep in my former best friend on the kitchen island of the house I had paid for with my inheritance.

  Despite Will’s begging and pleading, I filed for divorce, hired movers to pack my belongings, and left North Carolina with his dog. I knew it was immature and spiteful, but I couldn’t let Sport grow up in a house with a revolving door of women. Will was pissed and rightfully so, but I knew him. He would simply replace the dog, just as he would replace me with the flavor of the day.

  A wet tongue met my cheek, bringing me back to the present. “Okay, boy,” I said to Sport. “Want to go explore your new home?”

  The thirty pound dog barked excitedly and darted off the bed, running circles through my legs. I padded across the hardwood floor and rummaged through my suitcase, pulling on a pair of yoga pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt over my tank top. Sliding on my flip-flops, I made my way into the hallway and down a set of stairs, entering the open living area.

  I hadn’t had a chance to take in my new home since arriving late last night. Still, I couldn’t really get a feel for the place, nearly every corner filled with boxes the movers had arranged in the condo while I
took my time driving across the country. The lower level was flooded with natural light from the floor-to-ceiling windows adorning most of the walls. The architecture had an almost industrial feel to it. The kitchen was any chef’s dream and I couldn’t wait to finally settle in and put it to use, despite my relatively mediocre cooking skills.

  Sport’s paws clicked on the hardwood floors as he ran around the living room, exploring. “Come on, buddy! Let’s go for a walk,” I called out. He ran toward me, sliding across the travertine tile in the kitchen area and practically slamming into the wall. I laughed to myself. “It’s going to take a bit to get used to not having carpeting, isn’t it, pal?” He sat on his hind legs and raised his liver-spotted paw.

  Finding his collar on the kitchen island, I clipped it around his neck and hooked him up to his leash. He jumped, grabbing part of the leash in his mouth, and we left my new penthouse condo.

  After the elevator whisked me down fourteen floors, I sauntered through the lobby and emerged onto Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, smiling at the doorman and inhaling the late September air. It was a comfortable day. There was a slight chill, but the sun was already beaming, even at eight in the morning.

  “Smog,” I snorted. “Better than horse shit, I guess.” I glanced over my shoulder, hoping no one had heard me talking to myself. The doorman tipped his hat at me and I cringed. “You heard that?” I asked.

  “Heard what?” he responded slyly.

  “Okay then.”

  I turned back around and waited for the WALK signal at the crosswalk.

  “For the record, ma’am, you’ll get used to the smog.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh as I crossed the street to Palisades Park, a grin on my face. For the first time, I actually felt grateful Will couldn’t keep his willy in his pants. If he hadn’t been stupid enough to bang my best friend at the precise time he knew I would be home every night, I would still be stuck in North Carolina, miserable and waiting for my life to truly begin. Now, I finally had the opportunity to make my dreams a reality, and what better place to do that than somewhere with sun, sand, and surfers?

  “What do you think, Sport?” I glimpsed at the amused expression on his furry face as he set his eyes on the ocean for the first time in his life. “Happy to be out of Carolina?” He looked back at me, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he sniffed every tree and bench we passed, and I knew he was thrilled with his new zip code.

  “And the best part? It doesn’t snow here, bud! No more having to go out in nasty weather!” I surveyed his reaction, which remained the same. It didn’t take much to make a dog happy. Give him a place to shit while looking at the crashing waves of the ocean and he’s as happy as can be.

  Allowing Sport’s leash a little more slack, I stared at the water, tuning out the sound of horns and cars as they drove along the coast of Santa Monica. The waves were peaceful and serene, and I felt a renewed energy. When I pulled away from the small town in North Carolina I had grown up in, I almost turned my car around at least a dozen times. The thought of leaving the only life I had ever known petrified me. Most women my age probably went through that when they were eighteen and headed off to college for the first time. I never had that experience. Now, as I stared at the Pacific Ocean, sailboats and surfers bobbing up and down in the water, I started to think I was finally where I belonged.

  “Why would anyone want to live anywhere else?” I mused out loud.

  A sudden and unexpected strong yank on Sport’s leash woke me from my thoughts, startling me. Unable to react quickly enough, his leash slipped out of my hand and I watched in horror as he darted down the paved path, apparently on a mission.

  “Sport! Heel! Stop! Slow down!” I shouted, trying to get him to obey my lackluster command. It was completely useless. I was never the dog’s master. This was just another reminder of that fact.

  Chasing him through the park, I was relieved when he finally slowed his pace. However, that relief was short-lived once I saw what had captured his attention so suddenly.

  “Sport! No!” My eyes growing wide, my face turned red in embarrassment when he attempted to mount a light-haired dog that easily outweighed him by twenty pounds.

  Struggling to catch my breath, I grabbed Sport’s chest, doing my best to pry him off the other dog, who didn’t seem to mind the affection. “I’m so sorry,” I said to the owner of Sport’s new girlfriend, keeping my eyes cast downward. For a small dog, Sport was freakishly strong, especially when he was about to get some. “He’s fixed, but he has a tendency to take after his daddy.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” the stranger replied, both of us attempting to separate our dogs. “Enjoying the love, are ya, girl?”

  Just when I couldn’t be any more horrified, things took a turn for the worse. “Oh, my god, Sport! Lipstick in! There are people around, buddy! If you were human, your ass would be on the sexual offender registry!”

  He ignored me and continued to hump the other dog’s leg, his size prohibiting him from getting any higher.

  “This may just be the most embarrassing thing ever,” I remarked, my breathing labored.

  “I’d say more amusing than embarrassing.”

  “All right, buddy. That’s enough.”

  I leaned in with the intention of using every ounce of strength I possessed to pry my dog off his girl, my motions fast and quick… Too fast and quick. Giving one final tug, my head slammed into the stranger’s nose, a faint crack echoing.

  “Shit! I’m so sorry,” I apologized, no longer worried about my dog’s sexual promiscuity. Embarrassment turned into absolute humiliation as I looked up to see this complete stranger holding his nose, blood streaming down his face and into his hands.

  “Okay. Now you can probably call this the most embarrassing thing ever.” He laughed, remaining composed, despite my reaction.

  “Here.” I rummaged through my bag, pulling out a messy pile of tissues. “Use this to stop the flow of blood.” I held the tissues out to him. “We need to get you to the hospital.” I frantically scanned the park, unsure of how far I was from my condo building.

  “Thanks, but it’s not a big deal.”

  “But your nose… It’s got to be broken.” I observed his blood seeping through the tissues.

  “It’s not broken,” he assured me in a nasal tone. “I’d know if it were. You know that kid in elementary school who always suffered from bloody noses? Well, that was me. And it never goes away. All I have to do is bump it and the flood gates open, but it stops pretty quickly.” He winked as a warm smile crossed his full lips. In the midst of trying to pry my dog off his, I hadn’t taken a second to even look at him. Now that I was, I wanted to rewind the clock so I could perhaps brush my teeth and run a comb through my hair before leaving my condo. He had to be in his thirties and was at least six feet tall. As he lifted his arm to keep the tissues pressed to his nose, he revealed a slight sliver of skin between his t-shirt and shorts.

  “See,” he said, snapping me back to reality and away from mentally undressing him in my mind. I had read my fair share of romance novels. All the leading men seemed to have a six-pack and a V that disappeared below their shorts. I imagined this man was endowed with such a physique. That was how I pictured him in my mind, anyway.

  Removing the tissues from his face, he continued, “It stops as soon as it starts.”

  I studied his nose. Just moments ago, a gush of blood was running down his face. Now there was nothing, other than a few streaks of dried blood. My gaze roamed from his nose to his gray-blue eyes that seemed to dance with amusement. My uncle always said you could tell a lot about a person from their eyes. I didn’t know if that were true or not, but I got the feeling this was a man who didn’t take anything in life too seriously, who was just along for the ride, letting the journey take him where it should.

  “This was certainly an unexpected way to wake me up before I’ve even had my morning coffee,” he added when I remained silent. If I were him, I would have questi
oned my ability to form a basic sentence. Raising his eyebrows, he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

  Tearing my eyes from his, my face burned with embarrassment. “I don’t know which is worse,” I began, trying to act like the twenty-eight-year-old woman I was, and not the thirteen-year-old schoolgirl who was drooling all over Logan Benson, the new kid who had just moved to our small town from Atlanta. All the girls seemed to lose half their brain cells whenever he was near, myself included. “My dog humping yours, me breaking your nose, or all of this happening before you’ve even had a chance to have your morning coffee.”

  A playful smile crossed his face and I couldn’t help but stare. Truthfully, it was more like gawking with a hint of drooling. A bit of scruff covered his chin and upper lip. The combination of the cargo shorts and olive-colored t-shirt brought forward all sorts of fantasies of this man having been deployed on a secret mission for the past week, just now returning to civilization. My imagination ran wild with various scenarios involving loaded weapons, zip ties, and rope.

  That was what six months without getting laid can do to a girl.

  “I think it’s the combination of all three that really makes this a day I’ll not soon forget,” he commented.

  “Grenade launcher,” I mumbled, still lost in my fantasy world.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” I answered quickly, cringing that my internal thoughts didn’t stay that way. “Why don’t you let me buy you a coffee? It’s the least I can do for assaulting you.”