“I’m sorry,” Alex said. “We tried.”
With that he left the room.
Cort lay on the couch for several minutes trying to collect his thoughts. His mind was racing and he felt like he was going to pass out with a full blown panic attack. Why did it so often feel that the entire world was against him? His moronic uncle was going to be in charge in a few weeks unless he went against every single fiber of his own moral character and made some girl a bride. He would probably have children with her while always resenting the decision he made. Would he even be able to love the kids that were the products of a marriage of convenience? A marriage borne out of nothing more than politics? He would, he knew. The children would not be to blame, but he would live out his days ruling with a woman at his side he might not even like in the long run, let alone love.
The only woman he’d ever felt truly close to was Teegan.
The thought arrived in his mind somehow cutting through the mess of chaos and confusion that surrounded his every synapse of consciousness. Teegan… A woman he’d known for only a few hours before she basically blew him off. A woman who would not answer his phone calls. Who might have even been back in America now, never to be seen by him again.
But she was the one…
Cort rubbed his eyes in anger until his vision was momentarily blurry. How could he be that in love with a woman who was almost a total stranger? The logic of it was absurd. It was like something out of a Shakespeare play and everyone knew how tragedies played out…
“I feel like I’m living in a tragedy,” Cort muttered to himself.
It was true. He was being forced to marry someone he did not love meanwhile he was pining for a woman who he didn’t even know and really didn’t know how to get in touch with. Of course he could find her. He had a number and he now had her name. But what was the point? She’d made it abundantly clear that she did not feel the same way he did. He hated to think that she’d just used him, but it did feel that way. But it wasn’t like that. They were two strangers who’d met in a bar amidst several drinks and a hot, passionate lust that still made him weak in the knees and mind numb with pleasure to think about it.
Oh, if Teegan were there with him right now…
Maybe she would be interested if she knew who he really was? Or would she be angry that he’d lied to her? She would probably laugh in his face if he tracked her down and proposed marriage to her so that she could become Queen of a country she knew very little about. The whole idea was laughable.
But it was possible…
He could imagine her sweet body on top of him right now riding up and down on his hard member, probing the inside of her deepest, wettest pot of desire. Oh, he wanted to taste her again, to feel that tightness that fit him like the tightest but softest glove, wrapping around his body as if they were designed for each other in some kind of Heavenly factory. Two parts coming together to become one strong, unit.
As he closed his eyes the fantasy took him over completely. He could literally feel her quivering over top of him, her sweetness manipulating his organ until he was nothing but a rigid, sputtering slave spreading his hot seed as far and wide inside of her temple as he could.
Cort awoke covered in sweat just then, his whole body shaking. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been asleep. The dream was so vivid, so perfect. Tears threatened to sting his shaking eyes and he fought them back with fiery passion. His world felt as if it were all crumbling down around him.
He knew then what he had to do. It was so obvious. He’d known all along what was going to fix everything. He just had to get out of his own way and do what was required.
Cort knew that he would not be able to rest until he had Teegan right there in his arms. She had to know how he felt about her. He had to be with her.
If it was the last thing he did he was going to talk to her.
13
Teegan
Teegan splashed some water on her face. She can’t believe what she just saw. Cort was a prince… He lied to her. He’d probably lied to her about everything. Was that some sort of scam that he used to get girls into bed? It was some sort of a game he liked to play to see if he could seduce women without using the title of Prince to his advantage?
Teegan was so angry when she left the bar that she instantly deleted Cort’s number and the voicemails he’d left her. Hell, she’d almost thrown her phone on the concrete and smashed it into a million pieces.
“You bastard!” She yelled when she got back to her room. She threw the phone hard onto the bed and sat down, burying her head in her hands.
It was the worst kind of betrayal. She’d thought about Cort nonstop the past few days and it turned out that he’d lied to her about almost everything except his name. He was probably calling her just to set up some sort of a booty call, to see if he could nail the American girl a second time. Did he really think she wouldn’t find out about him eventually? Hell, all she had to do was google him and it pulled up hundreds of hits with his image and who he was all over. She felt so stupid. All she had to do was type his name into a search engine and she would have found out everything about him.
But why would she do that? He was a guy she’d just met. Everything had happened so fast. She never thought she would see him again.
And she sure didn’t count on falling for him. But she had. That was the most frustrating part of it all. She knew that he’d touched something deeply inside of her, something inside her soul. She really cared about him and the hope was so strong, the hope that he might care for her as well. When she saw that he’d called her twice and she heard how urgent his voice sounded in that last message.
That’s when the thought struck her. Was Cort calling her because he needed a wife? Did he want her to become Queen just so he could be King?
Teegan sat down on the edge of the bed. Her hands were shaking as she clutched at the small flip phone in her hand. It couldn’t be… he was calling her because he wanted to meet up again. There was no way…
She was American. Was that even going to be legal here? Didn’t she have to jump through some sort of crazy hoops to become a citizen or something?
“NO!” Teegan groaned now realizing what a stupid mistake it had been to delete Cort’s info from her phone. What the hell was she thinking?
She knew why she did it. The pain and the anger of being lied to forced her hand in the heat of the moment. She’d been lied to too many times before and she wasn’t about to stand for it again.
But oh, this time it was different. But why? Stupid question. She knew why.
“Because I love him…” Teegan admitted quietly to herself, tears beginning to roll down her face.
She loved Cort Monreau. It was insane. It made no sense whatsoever. She was faintly aware she was losing what little common sense she might have had left, but after she combed through all the garbage in her head, all the stupid excuses for not being with someone, she knew that it was true.
“Teegan, you are so stupid!” She moaned.
She felt like she was going to puke. The room was teasing her, swaying left and then right as a full blown panic set in.
“Easy girl,” Teegan said. “What are you getting your mind into here?”
She grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat back down on the bed. She took a long gulp and tried to relax. There had to be a way to make sense of all this. She had to talk to someone. And she knew exactly who.
“OH MY GOD!”
Ellie’s voice practically shattered the screen on Teegan’s laptop through the Skype call.
“I know,” Teegan said. “Am I just getting my head messed up over nothing? I feel like I can’t form a real, basic thought.”
“You had sex with a prince! A real, actual prince!”
Teegan laughed. “Stay focused. There are more important things here.”
“What are you talking about? You had sex with an honest to God Prince!”
Ellie screamed again and jumped up and down on her bed.
“Tell me everything!” She squealed.
Teegan rolled her eyes trying not to laugh. She’d had time to think about this fact as well and it was by far the coolest thing that would ever happen to anyone she knew. She supposed she was entitled to gloat a bit. But what was she going to do? She had to get Ellie back on track here.
“What do you think I should do? Should I call him?”
“Of course you should call him! What are you even talking about?” Ellie asked.
“But he lied to me. How can I believe that he really likes me or if he just wants me to be some fake wife? He will get rid of me the second he can. Hell, he might even have me killed!”
Ellie rolled her eyes and then started laughing. “Are you serious? You’ve been watching too much television.”
“Hey! Not fair,” Teegan replied. “Well, this is all assuming he is even interested in that. From what the news was saying the big issue is that he doesn’t want to get married. But it is the only way he will be King.”
“Well, find him and convince him to marry you,” Ellie said.
“It’s not that simple,” Teegan replied.
“I thought you said the guy was amazing? Aren’t you having all sorts of gushy feelings for him? That’s what you told me. Which is it?”
Teegan sighed. “Yes. I do have a lot of feelings for him. Ugh, it doesn’t even make sense. I hardly know him. And it turns out what I thought I knew about him was total fabrication!”
“So? Put yourself in his shoes. Maybe he doesn’t like girls who only want him because he is the Prince. You know it is quite possible that he was trying to hang out like a regular person under the radar and just happened to meet you. I mean he called you twice didn’t he?”
“Yeah, but I have no idea why.”
“That’s because you are too insane to talk to him. The only way you will know if you talk to him.”
Teegan realized that Ellie was actually right. That was a scary thought indeed, but she was correct. She had to talk to him.
“Ok, what do I do? I deleted his number like the colossal fool that I am,” Teegan said.
“Yeah, that wasn’t one of your brighter ideas, girl,” Ellie said.
“Thanks,” Teegan said. “You are quite the cheerleader.”
“Wait,” Ellie said.
“What?”
“I just had a thought,” Ellie replied. “With the whole country talking about this on the news he has to figure you’ve seen this, right?”
“I guess… for all he knows I’m back home now. I gave him nothing to go on.”
“True, but I have a better idea. Why don’t you just go to the palace and meet him in person?”
Teegan wasn’t sure she heard Ellie correctly.
“What? Are you crazy?”
“Come on,” she said. “Think about it. You show up there and tell them who you are. Maybe not tell them everything, I mean you got to hold some of your naughtier moments together back, but tell them to give Cort your name. It’s that simple.”
“That does not sound simple,” Teegan said. “You are saying that I should just waltz up there and say hey? That is ridiculous.”
“He knows you. I’m sure he will remember you. I mean he called you twice, right?”
Teegan groaned. “I can’t just go there and say that. Do you have any idea how many girls are probably camped out in front of the palace just trying to plead for the Prince’s hand in marriage?”
“Ok, well let me think,” Ellie said.
She grabbed her phone and began to search for something.
“What are you doing?” Teegan asked.
“Just give me a minute,” Ellie replied.
Teegan finished her beer and tossed it in the trash.
“Here! Oh, this is perfect!”
“What?”
“In an interview a while back Cort told someone he stays in shape by fencing, riding horses, weight lifting, surfing, but he is always looking for other physical things to learn and get into that might challenge him.”
“Ok,” Teegan said. “I’m not really seeing where you’re going with this…”
“You teach yoga dummy,” Ellie said.
“You want me to offer to teach him yoga?”
“Of course!”
“I don’t know…”
“All you do is show up and tell them that you are a yoga teacher and want to offer the prince your services. Tell them your name. You told him that your name is Teegan and you teach yoga… he has to make that connection!”
Now that was a thought… Could it actually work?
“It’s perfect, right?” Ellie asked.
“I guess it isn’t bad. I still don’t think it will work, but I’ve got nothing else to lose.”
“You aren’t going to do it, are you?” Ellie asked.
“I don’t know. I mean, I’m not sure even how I feel about him. The guy lied straight to my face and I bought it all. I hooked up with a random guy I knew nothing about and what I did know about him was all lies.”
“But it was good,” Ellie said. “Right?”
“Of course it was good,” Teegan replied.
“And you already know how you feel. You love the guy, right? I can tell. I know you are all conflicted and feeling like a total moron for being conflicted but don’t let your stupid pride get in the way of this. Please just tell those lame voices in your head to shut up and follow your heart.”
Teegan smiled. “Wow, that was insightful.”
“I may start writing greeting cards,” Ellie joked.
She signed off a few moments later leaving Teegan alone with her thoughts and a new course of action.
Tomorrow morning she was going to the palace.
There was no way she was going to sleep tonight.
14
Cort
The knock came at his office door. Cort had just finished another futile meeting with his advisors who had nothing new to really show him. It was all more of the same. He really felt like he was just kicking a dead horse here. There was no way out of this without playing their game. If he wanted to be King, if he wanted to continue to lead his nation in a prosperous fashion instead of letting it be mismanaged by the hands of his foolish uncle then he was going to have to grin and bear it. He was getting married.
The only person he wanted to marry was Teegan. And she would not return his calls. He’d placed two of his best advisors on the case to track her down. Hopefully they would have something soon, but it might take a while. He was not going to hold his breath. A girl like Teegan was a free spirit and appeared to be very hard to track down.
Besides it was quite possible and probable that she would tell his advisors to get lost. She would tell them that she was not interested. She wasn’t even from this country and she hardly knew him. Besides if she did believe his advisors were telling the truth it was quite logical she would be very angry with him. Cort had lied to her about who he was. He would explain everything to her if she would give him the chance to do so, but that was a long shot. Once you broke that trust with a woman it was over.
The knock came again. He didn’t want to see anyone but he still had duties to perform after all. If he was awarded the crown or not he was still Prince.
“Yes?” He answered.
His secretary Nora came in the room just then. She’d been his secretary for many years. She was beautiful and madly in love with him, but she hid it well. He’d been tempted many times to have a rendezvous with her but Cort knew such a thing was never wise. He did not get romantically involved in any way with his staff. That was just asking for trouble.
“Sir, you have a message.”
“Ok,” Cort said. “What kind of message?”
“A young woman came by very insistent on giving you this.”
Nora handed him a light blue piece of paper. He opened the paper up and almost fainted at what he saw in front of him. This had to be a dream, or at the very least some sick joke. But who would dare pull a joke like t
his on him? Certainly no one in his service who valued their lungs on the inside of their body.
Teegan Norton
Certified yoga instructor
First lesson free
Cort bolted up out of his chair almost knocking over his desk in the process.
“Is she still here?” he demanded.
“Um, no sir. I told her we would contact her if interested.”
“There is no contact number!” Cort yelled. His blood was boiling.
“She declined to leave one. She said she would be back this afternoon.”
Cort tried to calm down. “Ok, great. Make sure she is shown in directly to me. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Nora said. From her tone he got the impression she was calling him a bunch of dirty names in her mind.
Cort paced back and forth in his office for a few moments. The stress of everything coming together was hell bent to slowly bury him but he could see a light at the end of the tunnel. And her name was Teegan. Why did she insist on driving him nuts though? Why didn’t she just call him? Instead she shows up out of the blue to offer him her yoga services. Was she playing some sort of game with him? Did something happen with her phone?
He started to reach for his phone to call her and quickly stopped himself. A chuckle rumbled out of his chest. He needed to just step back a moment and breathe. Everything was going to work itself out. He could not get Teegan out of his mind. Ever since that night he met her she’d been in the front of his mind. It was distracting him from the job he had to do. But at the same time it was giving him something to shoot for, just a bit of happiness.
He was going to drive himself nuts if he just sat around waiting for the next few hours until Teegan arrived. His schedule happened to be wide open for the rest of the day. Usually on a day like this he would grab his buddies and they’d head off to do some mountain biking or if they were in a more relaxed mood they would play a few rounds of golf. It was perfect weather for it too.
Tank (The Bad Disciples MC Book 3) Page 21
