Rich Boy: A Royal Landlord Romance (Blue Collar Bachelors Book 5)

by Cassie-Ann L. Miller

  It’s only then that I let go of him. I give him a hard push in his mother’s direction. “Now, get the hell out of here!” I roar as the woman fawns over her overgrown man-child.

  All eyes are on us. Women, children, dog walkers. Even that creepy guy from the laundromat. When I turn back, Sadie is stomping through our impromptu audience, toward the park’s exit. Shit! I jog to catch up with her. “Hey. Are you okay?”

  She’s fuming. “Your response was one hundred percent exaggerated back there.”

  “He disrespected you.” No man should be allowed to get away with that.

  “And I could have handled him. You didn’t even give me the chance. You just swooped in to save the day. Again.” She’s so angry, with her hands balled up and her shoulders rigid.

  I spin her around so she’ll look at me. “I can’t help it, Sadie. When I’m standing by your side, the world has to get through me to take a shot at you.” I pound a fist hard into my chest, shamelessly displaying the caveman that I am. “I protect you, I defend you. There will never be a time when it will be okay for anyone to disrespect you in front of me.” It’s that simple.

  She sighs, the shaky breath moving through her. “And what happens when you’re not by my side, Xavier?”

  I want to tell her that I’ll always be by her side and I want that to be the truth. But my days here are numbered and we both know it.

  Her lips stretch into a sad smile when I say nothing. “That’s what I thought…” she whispers and takes off down the path again.

  My shoulders weigh a ton as I follow after her. “With everything that’s been going on in your life, I just want things to be easier for you, darling.”

  “It’s life, Xavier. It’s rarely ever easy. I understand that. I’m prepared for it. Hell—I’m used to it.”

  I hate every word that’s coming out of her mouth. “You’re gorgeous, Sadie. And genuine. And so good. And I just want to protect you from anyone who’d try to hurt you.”

  “You don’t have to defend me, Xavier.”

  Now, I’m getting irritated. Why won’t she just let me take care of her? “I know that! But I want to!” She spins around and pins me with fire in her caramel eyes. My voice drops an octave, I plead with every fibre of my being. “I want to give you every damn thing I have to offer.”

  She reaches up and cups my face in her hand. Her thumb brushes across the stubble on my chin. “This isn’t a fairytale. It’s some lost town in Middle-of-Nowhere, U.S.A. Your crown is no good here, Prince Charming. ”

  With that, she walks off, leaving me there trying to figure out how to stop time so I can keep her forever.

  30

  Xavier

  Sadie is sitting beside me on the couch with the laundry basket on the floor at our feet. She's telling me some ridiculous story about her and Natalie from their teen years. She’s laughing so hard that she’s literally snorting like a pig. I sit back and watch her, a slight smile on my lips as I soak in her features. The perky tip of her nose. The graceful column of her neck. The way her tits jiggle with each mirthful sound that sputters from her body.

  Dammit—this feels good. My toes tingling, my chest swelling, my heart overflowing. I can’t remember the last time I even thought of having a drink. Or getting numb. I want to feel everything. With Sadie, I want to feel everything. Because everything feels so damn good.

  She doesn’t realize how much she’s taught me. About life, about humility. About love.

  I’m in love with her.

  There’s no more ‘falling’. I’ve face-planted. I am facedown in love. But I don’t know what comes next because happily ever after isn’t in the cards for us. I don’t get to keep her. Even though I really, really want to.

  With the purest look of happiness shining in her eyes, Sadie slaps down a sloppily-folded Iron Maiden tee on top of the T-shirt pile. She watches as I pull a clean fitted sheet from the basket and shake it out in front of me.

  “Don’t worry about that one,” she tells me with a chuckle. “I usually just roll it into a ball and shove it in the back of the closet.”

  I hold a palm up to her appeasingly. “Look darling—I’ve got this. I’ve got this.”

  “Oh really?” Her brow cocks up and she folds her arms under her breasts, watching, waiting.

  “Have some faith in me.”

  Fully up to the challenge, I stand from the couch and slip my fingers into the pointed corners of the fitted sheet, working to bring all four corners together one at a time. Then, I tuck the elastic bits inside before creasing the sheet into a perfectly flat square.

  Watching all those YouTube videos paid off.

  Throwing her a glance, I push my shoulders back proudly and grin. “Not bad, huh?”

  “Dayummm.” A grin splits her face and her hands come together again and again in a purposeful slow-clap. “I’m impressed.”

  “Are you really?” I spit out a curt laugh under my breath.

  She pulls on the hem of my shirt until I plop down onto the couch cushion next to her. Then, she leans over and brushes her mouth over mine. “Really. I think I just squirted in my panties a little. A man who’s mastered this domesticated shit is a total turn-on.”

  I snicker and give her upper thigh a cheeky squeeze before wordlessly grabbing another item to fold.

  Her eyes are on the side of my face when she leans back slips her fingers under the waistband of her jeans to pull up the pretty pink elastic of her thong. “You can check,” she says flirtatiously. Lips quirking, eyes glittering.

  Forcing my smile wider, my thumb draws a little circle on the back of her hand. “Don’t talk like that unless you want to find yourself on your knees and tied to the bedpost again, love.”

  She watches me with concern in her dark irises. “Are you okay? You seem a little quiet tonight. Melancholy.”

  She’s a sweet girl, and perceptive, too. I want her to know me, who I am, what life is waiting for me when I leave this place in a few weeks. I want to tell her everything. But I’m afraid to ruffle our situation. I like the way that things are between us. I don’t want the truth about me to change anything.

  Then I look at her. The way she’s watching me, so eager and trusting, affectionate. And I want to share myself with her. It’s nearly frightening how much I want it.

  “My grandmother’s been sick. She’s been getting worse over the past few weeks. Honestly, I’m becoming afraid of what will happen.”

  “Oh Xavier, I’m so sorry.” She lays her hand on mine and squeezes. “I didn’t know.”

  I blow a breath out, feeling like an idiot. “I haven’t talked about it. I was sort of hoping that if I ignored it, things would go back to normal.”

  “Are you two close?” Her eyes warm with sympathy.

  “We’re not as close as we should be,” I admit. “I love her dearly and I know she loves me. But my grandmother is a strong believer in duty and obligation to family. She and I haven’t been seeing eye-to-eye. She’s not too pleased about my…leave of absence.” Frustration clogs my throat and my words peter off.

  Sadie’s lips twist to the side. “She wants you back in Ridgeland…” She tries to play it cool but I see the little twitch in her features when she says it.

  Ridgeland.

  The mere sound of the word and a chill sweeps through my blood.

  Right…Ridgeland.

  I scrub my fingers across the pleats on my forehead. The somber look on Sadie’s face tells me she feels the same dread that I do. She inches closer and rests her head on my shoulder, almost as if she doesn’t want me to see the hurt on her face. Shit…

  My fingers slide through her hair, curling around the ends. I hear her whisper. “Y’know—when you first said you lived in a palace in someplace called Ridgeland. I thought you were making it up.”

  I huff through my nose. “I don’t blame you, darling. I’m just too good to be true. You thought you were making me up.”

  She growls and playfully pinches my nipple.
“Arrogant bastard…”

  I flinch and bat her hand away. “You know you love it.”

  Her eyes roll about in her skull. “Seriously though, you don’t act like a prince and you don't speak like a prince and you don’t dress like a prince.”

  Her shoulders stiffen. “Well, tell me, Sadie darling…Do I kiss like a prince?”

  My arms slipping around her, I pull her flush to me and my mouth meets hers without pause, without hesitation. The kiss is intense, wet, deep. I kiss her like I own her. Like she’s mine. She kisses me like she believes it. And she melts against me, moaning and breathing hard, fingers clenching possessively on my back.

  I’m breathless when we pull apart. My head is light and dizzy. I whisper against her lips. “Girl, when you kiss me like that, it makes me want to make you my princess.”

  “Well, we both know that’s not gonna happen.” Notes of sadness dance in her tone. She says the words quietly, almost like I wasn’t supposed to hear them.

  My heart squeezes painfully. Fuck—I’m hurting her…

  With a finger under her chin, I lift her face so she’s looking at me.

  The pain in her eyes is raw. So is her love.

  I never intended this. I never meant to end up feeling this way. Now what the hell am I supposed to do?

  Her fingers crawl beneath the hem of my T-shirt and she draws shapes along my side. “What’s it like? What’s Ridgeland like?”

  A rough inhale expands my chest. “Gray.”

  She chuckles softly. “Gray?”

  “Yeah, it rains all the damn time…” I circle an arm around her waist and pull her into my lap, angling her toward the world globe sitting on Ethel’s coffee table. Sadie straightens, her full attention riveted to the sphere. “We’re a small island in the Bay of Biscay, just south of the Celtic Sea. Smack dab between England and Spain.” My finger points to the spot. Ridgeland is barely a speck of green in the expansive mass of water.

  She listens quietly, attentively, her fingers splayed across my heart. “I just can’t believe I’d never heard of it before I met you. Not on the news. Not in geography class. It’s like it sprouted up out of nowhere.”

  “Most people say that,” I tell her. “We’re pretty low-key on the world stage. Grandmum doesn’t like to flaunt our power but our little sovereignty is mighty.”

  “Tell me more about it,” she says softly.

  I scratch at my stubble, trying to decide where to start. “Well, originally the island was known as Aravaña. It was under Spanish rule for a couple of centuries until it got handed over to England in some treaty after…some war.” I glaze over the details because honestly, History was never my best class. “Basically, that’s why we look like the Spanish but we sound like the Brits.”

  “Which war was that?”

  I chuckle. “Not sure which one because those arseholes were always fighting over something."

  She laughs, too. “Tiny kings trying to overcompensate?”

  “Right. Napoleon complex, I guess. In any case, Grandmum always jokes that the cession was actually a victory for Spain. They wanted to get the crazy, little island off their hands. The Arvañians behaved like savages. Difficult to reason with. Impossible to govern. The Brits couldn't tame my forefathers, undomesticated brutes that they were. It was a constant battle. After a particularly brutal battle along the coast, England granted Aravaña its independence and my namesake, the great warrior, Xavier George rose to power."

  Her eyes shine with wonder. She hangs onto my every word. “Wow. That's fascinating.” Her attention is fixed on the globe, her little fingers tracing across the blue sea. “You come from a long line of badasses, huh?”

  I huff a laugh. “I guess you could say so.”

  “I’m not surprised.” She cups my stubbled chin in her tiny hand.

  “Why are you smiling like that?” I get lost in her glittering eyes.

  She shrugs. “You just seem really proud of your country, of your history.”

  “I’m actually shocked I was able to tell you all that.” I snort out. “I never even realized I knew all this stuff. I wasn’t the most attentive student in school. I guess the information sunk in anyway.”

  “Or maybe it’s imprinted in your genes…you instinctively know exactly where you come from. I’m jealous.”

  I see the sadness in her eyes. I lower my face to hers. “Look, Sadie…Not knowing your mother has to be difficult for you.” I run a finger down her cheek. “I know it’s been hard for me.”

  “Nah, I’m over it.” She keeps her eyes down on her lap when she says that. She isn’t telling the truth.

  Calling her out on the lie she’s telling herself would be cruel, so I just go along with it. “Then, you’re stronger than I am,” I say. “Sometimes I wish I could see my mother. Just so I could tell her…tell her…” I struggle for the words that express how I feel. “…how much she fucking sucks!”

  Sadie giggles. The cloud lifts from her eyes.

  The Lord Kent, the palace barrister, pops into my mind. He would kill me for making these confessions to her, especially without a duly signed nondisclosure form in place. But this is the most honest, intimate moment I've ever shared with anyone. Ever. I wouldn't expect Kent—lying rat that he is—to understand. As painful as it is to admit that my mother’s abandonment has scarred me, the admission is worth it if it helps Sadie feel a little less alone.

  I tilt her chin with my finger so she’s looking at me. “Knowing where you come from is hardly as important as knowing where you belong.”

  She’s quiet for a while, her gaze on the Oriental rug at our feet. Then she looks up into my eyes, searching. “Where do I belong, Xavier?”

  With me.

  Silence pulses around us. The thoughts going through my head scare me. I must be losing my mind. But maybe I’d rather lose my mind than lose her. And if I don’t ask the question that’s been nagging me for days, I’ll never know the answer…

  "What would you say if I asked you to come back to Ridgeland with me?"

  "What?" Her caramel gaze rises slowly to my face.

  "What if I asked you to come to Ridgeland with me? So we could keep seeing each other?"

  "I would say that you’re out of your mind. Crazy pants."

  I stroke my thumb across her chin. "Why would you say that?"

  A thousand things are going through her mind. I can almost see the conflicting thoughts bouncing around. “Wait—Is this because of what Thandi said about you being my boyfriend? Xavier, you do realize that she’s just a child, right?”

  I’m not letting her wiggle herself away from the topic so easily. “Why would you say I was crazy, Sadie? Why would you say no to coming to Ridgeland with me?”

  She chews on her lower lip as she contemplates her answer. “Because I can’t just pack up and follow you halfway across the globe. That’s not how a fling works. My life is here. My job. I'm starting school soon. My dad is in the hospital. If I pack up and leave who's going to take care of him? Look, we have a few weeks left. Let's just focus on that. Have fun. That's what we agreed to, remember?"

  I want to argue with her. I want to tell her that there’s got to be a way to make this work. But her heart is set. I can see that. Such a stubborn girl.

  Instead, I bring my lips to hers and I kiss her. Softly, deeply, so she knows she’s cared for. So she feels it all the way to her soul.

  When she pulls back, her eyes are shining with tears she’ll never let herself shed. Her breath fans over my lips. “You’re going to be a good king someday.”

  My secrets weigh down on me. I don’t deserve her confidence. I don’t deserve the Crown. But she deserves the truth.

  She thinks I’m a good person. I’m not.

  “Don’t fool yourself, darling. You don’t know me…” I wish so deeply that I actually was the man she sees when she looks at me. Brave, strong, a leader. I’m none of those things.

  “I know you enough to believe in you…” She says it wit
h so much conviction. There’s no arguing with her unshakeable faith.

  And for the first time, I wonder if maybe it’s worth believing in myself, too.

  31

  xavier

  I really needed tonight's AA meeting. With the intense, confusing emotions I’ve been feeling lately, I needed some clarity, I needed some help getting my thoughts in order.

  The things I feel for her are just too...much. I never planned on falling for her, especially not this hard. I've kept women at a careful distance all these years. I've kept everyone at a careful distance. But Sadie, she found a way in. Her carefree ways, her generous heart, her love for life. She broke through the gates around my heart.

  Life has been cruel to her and I just want to guard her against all pain and gift her with the purest happiness she’s ever known. Even though, truth be told, I may be the one to crush her completely in the end. Because I'm going to have to tell her about the accident, about the cover-up. I won't be able to hold this secret forever.

  Maybe it's time to tell her the truth.

  Maybe I should do it tonight.

  When I get to the apartment building, I pause at her door, wondering if she’s home or if she’s still at the hospital with her father. I want to be with her. I can’t wait anymore. I bang at her door.

  “Xavier?” I hear her voice but it’s not coming from inside the apartment. It’s coming from upstairs, the penthouse floor.

  I rush to the landing and peer up the stairs. I catch sight of Sadie standing outside my door. And I lose my breath.

  She’s wearing a ball gown. Glimmering pale blue satin clenching her narrow shoulders and molding to her breasts, her torso, her waist. The fabric fans out around her. Soft frills hanging from her small waist. Her hair is in a complicated undo and dark tendrils drape down, framing her face. The crystals on her slim headband catch the light.

  “Sadie…” My voice is caught in my throat. She looks like a dream. Like a princess.

  She sets one hand on the banister, squeezing as if to keep herself from lurching down the stairs into my arms. Her big, caramel eyes are full of trepidation but a small smile curves her lips anyway. “Got plans for tonight?”