by Leila Haven
I opened my mouth to argue, but I closed it again. Rick was blind to what Anna was doing. He couldn’t see the game she was playing. And no matter what I said or did, he wouldn’t believe me.
Anna was winning.
I didn’t know how to convince him, make him see what was happening right in front of his face. It was breaking my heart standing there with him being so angry with me. Not knowing what to do about it was even worse. We’d never argued like this before.
“We will talk about this more later,” Rick said with steel in his voice. “In the meantime, you shouldn’t get your cousins’ hopes up.”
He stormed off down the corridor without looking back. Every step he took away from me took a piece of my shattered heart with him. My instincts said to run after him, but what was the good? I didn’t know what to say to him.
My hand hesitated on the doorknob. How was I supposed to go back inside and pretend like everything was okay? My cousins had been here for less than an hour. I couldn’t let them know how bad everything was. I was supposed to be living in a fairy tale, not a nightmare.
It didn’t seem like a possibility at the moment, but if I did become a princess, I was going to have to hide my feelings a lot. I would have to smile to hide anything I might have been experiencing behind closed doors. Now was my first practice run.
I plastered on a smile and linked my hands together so nobody would see them shaking. Opening the door, I strode in like nothing had changed. “Now, what did I miss? Who is the father of Trisha’s baby?”
The girls knew something was up. I wasn’t that good of an actress yet, but they didn’t say anything. It was the reason why I needed them around me. They understood that sometimes you just need to pretend everything is okay.
The afternoon was long and difficult. Trying to pretend that everything was perfect really took it out of me. The argument had taken the excitement out of the moment, and now I just felt like hiding away for a while. I blamed Anna for the entire thing, sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong. She had no right.
We had dinner in my private suite, giving the excuse of needing some family time before my cousins were introduced to the whole palace.
I went to bed afterwards, but I couldn’t sleep. The bed felt way too big and empty without Rick. I kept expecting him to creep in, slide under the covers, pull me against him, and whisper declarations of love in my ear. The door stubbornly remained closed while I stared at the ceiling.
It was my vow that I would fight for my man. I told myself that I would do anything to make sure he was mine and that we would walk down that aisle on our wedding day. It was much easier said than done.
If I were to go to him, what would he do? The fear of being turned away and rejected kept me in my own bed. An amazing blowjob couldn’t fix everything, and I got the feeling we’d gone beyond that.
The palace seemed like a very lonely and cold place that night.
In the morning, I didn’t feel like getting out of bed. Which was ironic considering all I wanted to do all night was leave it. But I had to keep up appearances so there was no option except to carry on like nothing had changed.
Rick wasn’t at breakfast, neither was Anna. I tried not to think of them being together, conspiring against me. I munched on some toast, too sick to my stomach to really taste anything.
My day was scheduled to spend time with my cousins, but I didn’t think I could. I needed to do something about the situation, so I made a detour after breakfast. I headed straight for Anna’s office, hoping I wouldn’t find Rick there. Images of them cavorting together naked entered my thoughts unwelcomingly.
As I approached her door, my dread grew in leaps and bounds. Even if I found Rick with her, I would have to pretend like there was nothing wrong. It would prove her lies right if I had a meltdown. I wouldn’t be the Bridezilla she said I was.
I pushed on the door.
She was alone.
“Melody, I thought you were too busy for planning duties today,” she said politely, like she hadn’t been telling tales on me to my fiancé. Did she really think I wouldn’t find out?
“I’m not here to discuss the wedding.”
“Oh?”
I closed the door and leaned against it, making sure nobody could interrupt our discussion. “You’ve been telling Rick lies about me. Don’t deny it.”
She sighed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Anna stood, her fingertips still resting on the desk between us. She was owning the place, making sure I knew that this was her domain, and I was just a visitor in it. “I spoke honestly with Richard. If you have a problem with that, then I believe there are bigger issues here.”
“You told him I agreed with you about the bridesmaids,” I stated. My memory of the conversation couldn’t have been wrong. I knew it ended with me insisting I have my cousins attend to me.
“You did agree.”
“No, I didn’t.”
She sighed again. If she did that one more time, I wasn’t going to be responsible for my own actions. It shouldn’t have been a hassle speaking with me. I was engaged to the prince. Surely that afforded me some respect.
“You’re making trouble for no good reason,” I continued. “I’ve let you have your way on every other wedding detail and all I asked for was this one thing. And you couldn’t even give me that. Did you tell Rick that too? Or did you conveniently leave that out?”
“I tell Richard what he needs to hear.”
“You tell him what you can to make me look bad.”
She didn’t sigh, but shrugged, all but admitting to her bad behavior. I’d never gotten into a physical fight with someone before, but I was almost at the brink of starting one with the wedding planner.
“I don’t know what you expect me to say,” Anna said, not even looking me in the eyes. “It’s my job to make sure this wedding is fit for a prince. I’m only doing my job. If you find that… troubling, then maybe you don’t belong here in the palace.”
The conversation wasn’t going anywhere. It was time to pull out the ace card. “Have you told Rick how you feel about him? Does he know you’re in love with him?”
Her mouth dropped into an ‘o’ before she caught herself and slipped back into the cool and collected women she liked to portray. Maybe that was why she didn’t like me, I could see through her mask.
“I’m sure he’d be interested to know,” I stated. “But if you think that will change anything, you’re sadly mistaken. Rick loves me and nothing is going to change that, no matter what trouble you cause.”
“You know nothing.”
“I know everything I need to. How long have you been pining for him? I bet it was difficult having all those perfect women parade in front of him, knowing he would never consider you in the running to be his wife. And then planning a wedding that will take him away from you forever.”
“Get out,” she said coldly.
“I’m not leaving until you agree to tell Rick the truth and accept my cousins as bridesmaids.” I hadn’t realized my terms until that moment. But that was really what I wanted, nothing less and nothing more.
If I demanded Anna resign and leave the palace, it would place the wedding in jeopardy. As much as I wanted her gone, it wasn’t in the best interest of the palace. Sometime in the last few weeks, I’d realized how important that was.
“I can’t un-invite the bridesmaids. It would risk offending them, and we can’t have that or there will be dire consequences. They are from powerful families, if not powerful in their own right.”
“Then we’ll have all of them.”
She scoffed an ugly snorting sound. “We can’t have that many bridesmaids.”
“Says who? We’re the royal family. We can do whatever we want.”
She didn’t have a comeback for that. She had to think about it for a while until she found another argument. “We don’t have that many groomsme
n. It will be unequal.”
“So we’ll start a trend. Everybody will be doing it in no time.”
One more sigh. I had to clench my hands together so I didn’t launch myself at her. “Fine. Is that all?” She said it sarcastically, but I ignored the inflection.
“You’ll stop telling Rick lies. He’s only to hear what a good bride-to-be I am. No more running to him with everything that happens.”
“Fine.” Her tone told me it wasn’t fine, but it would be as good as I was going to get. “Now get out, I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
I left without saying another word. It should have felt like a triumph, but it didn’t. Having someone obsessed with my fiancé and working so close with him was far from ideal. I was still going to have to keep a close eye on her.
The problem with Rick still needed to be fixed, but I was less sure how to do that. Anna was easy in comparison. Rick was convinced that I was in the wrong, and only Anna could rectify that.
At least I could talk to my bridesmaids, knowing their position in the wedding party was now secured. Maybe we could get back to the planning in earnest.
Chapter 9
Richard
҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉ ҉
The whole day had been long and horrible. If I wasn’t wading through paperwork, I was thinking about Melody. When I checked in with Anna, she said the bridesmaid issue had been resolved, but she didn’t seem happy about it. I hoped that didn’t mean Melody had bullied her into something.
I needed to see my fiancée, but I couldn’t face all her cousins at the moment. A group of excitable women was too much against one mere male. Maybe I’d be able to steal her away later.
Some relaxation was in order. The best way to do that was for a hot bath. I filled the oversized cast-iron tub in my bathroom and let the steam permeate the air so it was a thick haze. Only then did I slide into the water.
Soft music filtered through from speakers in the ceiling. I rarely listened to classical music from the masters, but a moment like this called for it. Nothing was more relaxing than a full orchestral sound.
My quarters were a piece of paradise in the palace grounds. Nowhere else could I have some time that felt like my own. I tried to leave the problems at the door and not let them creep in through the cracks.
“Rick? Are you here?” Melody’s voice was welcome in my private sanctuary. Anyone else, and I would have pretended I wasn’t there.
“In here,” I called back.
The door opened a few moments later. My beautiful bride-to-be stood in the doorway. “If you’re busy, I can come back later.”
“I’m never too busy for you. Is there something wrong?”
“I just thought we should talk. You know, after yesterday.”
I was glad she’d come to me to talk about it. We couldn’t dance around the issue for too long. Not when the wedding was so close. “How about you take off your clothes and join me? I have a strict no-clothes rule in the bathroom.”
“Do you really think that’s wise?” she asked. Clearly, I’d said the wrong thing. Everything seemed so tender that one wrong word could make it all that much worse. It had never been like that between us before.
“Anna spoke with me today. She said the matter had been resolved. That’s good enough for me.”
“You sided with her without even giving me a chance to explain.” She was right, of course. There was rarely a time where she was wrong. I’d never admit that to her, or my future was doomed.
“I’m sorry.”
“You think that’s enough?”
“No, but we’ve both got a lot going on right now. We can’t afford to be fighting when our nuptials are just around the corner. I’ll make it up to you for the rest of my life, how does that sound?”
She scowled for a moment before her features relaxed. “It sounds pretty good.”
“Will you get naked with me now? Please?”
She nodded, and it was the best thing I’d seen all day. Melody didn’t take long to undress, but I watched the whole show. My dick was excited after she took off her shirt. It didn’t take much to be horny for her.
I held her hand as she stepped into the tub and eased in. I pulled her against me, enjoying the feel of her naked body pressed against mine. My cock was hard. Something she noticed straight away and wiggled her ass against it to make the situation worse.
“I’ve got a question for you,” I whispered against her ear.
“Ask away.”
“How many times do you think I can fuck you before the water gets cold?”
She let out a breathy giggle, as seductive as hell. I tickled her ribs, drawing out more laughter. There was nothing I liked more than to hear her laughing. Except maybe hearing her come, that topped everything.
My hands found her boobs, like they usually did. The woman had a fantastic pair of tits, a perfect handful—much like herself. Her nipples were both tight and hard, pebbles that had my mouth watering for them.
I started massaging them, one in each hand. She leaned further back against me, resting her head on my shoulder as she pushed into my palms. Toying with her nipples always made her cunt slick; I could pretty much guarantee it. Once she was drenched for me, I was going to fuck her hard.
With one hand remaining on her boobs, I let the other wander down further. She was small, so I could easily wrap my arms around her and reach everything I needed to.
My hand tickled down her belly, earning a pleasurable shudder in the process. Her cunt was next as my fingers slid between her folds. She was wet already, her hot little cunt slippery and wanting.
She tilted her hips and spread her legs wider for me, silently urging me to explore further. I found her entrance with my fingertips but just grazed the area, caressing everywhere else except where she really wanted it.
“So tell me about your day,” I grumbled, low and gravelly. My want and need for her was affecting my voice. I continued stroking her clit, gentle and slow.
“I… hung out… with my cousins,” she said slowly. I think I was distracting her.
“What else did you do?”
I pinched her clit, and she jumped before relaxing again. Her chest was rising faster than usual, as she got lost in the pleasure I was giving to her. She still hadn’t answered me so I tapped on her pussy. “What else, Melody?”
She licked her lips before answering. “We had… tea. And… tried wedding cakes.”
“That sounds like fun. Did you have fun?”
“Yes.” The word came out as little more than a sigh. I picked up the pace as I worked her clit, playing with it roughly before relaxing it again. Her hips bucked into my fingers, as she greedily looked for more. I wanted to make the bath last so I could enjoy every moment of it. Neither of us wanted it to be over too soon.
“Are you enjoying that, beautiful?”
“Hmmm.”
“If you wiggle that ass one more time I’m going to have to spank it.”
She wiggled it one more time.
I laughed and slapped it. Being that her ass was under the water, it didn’t have much of an effect. She giggled though, and that was enough to make my cock harder.
My hands slid around her body, tweaking her nipples and then stroking her clit again. She settled down as she dissolved into the sensual ecstasy of the moment. I slid one finger inside her, feeling her tight entrance wrap around me. I so badly wanted my dick inside her. It was going to feel fucking fantastic.
I pushed another finger in and scissored them open, forcing her to grant me further access. My thumb rubbed circles on her clit, making sure her nub was not forgotten. She was panting now, ready to be satisfied and completely under my control.
“Rick,” she sighed.
“What, beautiful?”
“You know.”
“You’re going to have to say it. If you want it, ask for it.”
“I… want…”
“What do you want, beautiful?” I teased. She was so close, but I wasn’t letti
ng her tumble over until she said the words.
“I want to come,” she whispered.
I flicked her clit one last time, and she pulsed around my fingers. The tensing and then relaxing of her cunt continued on as she was lost in her orgasm. Her hands gripped my arms, stopping them from touching her further while she was so sensitive.
Holding her against me, I kissed the side of her neck and let her go. My cock felt like it was a stick of dynamite, but I would wait until she was finished before starting anything up again. I loved seeing her like this. Her orgasm seemed to go on and on.
