by CA Quigg
"I hardly think you're being held prisoner. The door is open anytime you'd like to leave."
"I bet you'd love that, wouldn't you?" I tapped a finger against my lips. "What would the people of Rhias say if they knew their Prince was a widower, and his wife was a waitress who resorted to stripping to buy food for her kid?"
Beverly's lips thinned to a white slash. "Try it and see what happens." She did an about turn and moved toward the door. "If you want to leave, I'll have a driver take you to the transit station. I'll book you on a flight leaving tomorrow. The details will be emailed to you."
Why did she want me out of the prince's life so badly? What was she so afraid of? It wasn't like I'd planned to do anything that would ruin his life. I just wanted to say hi and laugh with him about marrying my mom in a chapel in Vegas.
"As much as you'd love for me to vanish, it's not going to happen. I'm not going anywhere until I talk to the prince. And just so you know, I've dealt with bigger bitches than you and have always come out on top. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to eat the rest of my burger and enjoy it without having to look at your miserable face or listen to your insults."
"Very well, have it your way. I don't want to see you wandering around this castle or the grounds unattended. Do not go anywhere but this suite. If you do, I'll have you escorted from Rhias and will make sure you never set foot anywhere in Europe again. Is that clear?"
"Get the fuck out of my face, lady."
Beverly left the room and closed the door, and if I weren't so damn hungry, I would've picked up the plate of food and thrown it at after her.
Tears stung my eyes, but I wouldn't let them fall. Who the hell was she to make me feel less than? For most of my life, people had tried to make me feel that way. They hadn't succeeded. Neither would she. And she could forget about me staying cooped up. As soon as I'd showered, I would find Kit.
Chapter Six
Kristian
The speeches droned on and on, and I'd lost count of the number of courses we'd eaten—ten maybe eleven. I sat at the top table with the ten women who were being presented to me. By my left side was Natasha de Luna. Her father Sir Constantine de Luna was a powerful shipping magnate with fingers in lots of political pockets and was a good ally.
On the surface, Natasha was everything a prince should have in a wife. Stunningly beautiful and frightfully smart, but she had boyfriends in every country, and often visited the club hidden in the caves of Rhias where she would partake in threesomes. Sometimes foursomes. Occasionally more. I didn't particularly care who she slept with or what she did because we would never share a bed. The woman who did share my bed would want me and only me with no need for any other man.
Every so often, Natasha's hand crept beneath the tablecloth and cupped my cock, and because of the events that had transpired earlier in the day, my traitorous member sprung to life. The first time it happened, Natasha raised an inquisitive eyebrow. She knew I wasn't attracted to her nor her to me, so I was sure she had more than a few questions.
Jerking off five times in one afternoon had been a record for me, and I still wasn't sated. Ever since I'd left Emma's side, I'd wanted to bring her to one of my many secret rooms. But I had held back. Doing something like that would be an idiotically bad move. I had read her right, I was convinced of that, but I still needed to make sure before I made my move on her.
Forks clinked against champagne glasses and Natasha's father stood. A hush fell over the gathered dignitaries and their daughters, and I smiled at Sir Constantine in support. He needed to say whatever it was quickly and sit back down so the other fathers of my ten potential brides could give their speeches too.
Constantine was known for his long-winded talks and would blather on for an hour or more if given a chance. He began his speech by saying how honored he was to be invited to the palace.
Beneath the table, Natasha grazed her fingers over the crotch in my pants, and my cock lurched at her touch. The last thing I wanted was to give her any encouragement, but my dick had other ideas, it was full of encouragement. While Sir Constantine continued to talk, she leaned over and whispered in my ear.
"Looks like someone needs a little bit of attention. I'm willing if you are."
"Listen to your father's speech."
The wisest thing to do would be to forget about Emma and focus on finding a wife. But how could I do that when thoughts of fucking her filled my head.
My duty was to find a wife, but my duty wasn't to love her. Was it wrong that I wanted to love her? Wrong that I wanted a life of happiness. But not just any woman would do. She had to be a certain kind, and one glance around the ballroom told me none of these women were right for me.
I liked my women soft and luscious. Most of the women here looked much too fragile with bones poking through their skin. If I had sex with any of them the way I liked to have sex, I'd break them in two, or they'd run screaming when they saw my cock. Being well endowed sometimes had its drawbacks. Not every woman could take me.
I'd discussed my feelings of wanting to marry for love with my father, but he'd expressed, in no uncertain terms, that love didn't belong in a royal bed. That his wedding to my mother had been one of political necessity. Over time, he'd grown to love her with all of his heart, and he was sure the same would happen for me. If not, he advised me to find someone who would satisfy me physically. Someone I could go to when I needed the release I couldn't find in my marital chambers. Someone who was discreet and who would give me everything my wife couldn't. Lacking a better word, he wanted me to find a concubine.
I didn't want a concubine or a mistress. I wanted my bed to be a place of joy and shared satisfaction. My wife was the one I wanted to go to for comfort, but this life was the life I'd been given, and I'd agreed to find a wife from the women in attendance.
Applause rippled around the banquet hall, and I realized Natasha's father had concluded his speech. I raised my hands and joined in the applause, but I had no clue what I was applauding for.
Natasha rubbed the tip of her nose around the shell of my ear. "Let's sneak away from here so I can have my wicked way with you. Maybe tonight, I'll get to see that legendary cock of yours."
I patted her hand. "You know that's not going to happen, Tasha. I want to be the only man in my woman's life."
"How very old fashioned of you, darling." She gave a gravelly laugh. "Does that mean you're not going to ask me to marry you? How could you not want this?" She gestured her hands up and down her body.
Indeed. How could I not want her? In her fitted blue gown and with her fiery hair spilling seductively over one shoulder, she looked exceptionally lovely, but there was no chemistry between us.
She gulped down her wine and set her glass on the table. "I'm sure a quick blow job would turn that frown upside down."
"You don't need to add my dick to your collection."
She tilted her head to one side and pursed her lips. "But your dick feels so big, and I'd so love to add it to my conquests. I've heard a lot of wonderful things about its beauty."
"Not going to happen."
"One day it will." A steely determination in her voice told me she believed what she'd said.
Dancing and small talk followed the speeches, and I gave each of ten woman in attendance equal attention. Each was lovelier than the last, but none of the women did a thing for me, and none would be my bride. They were all intelligent and cultured, but none were Emma. None made my dick hard with just a smile. None.
After everyone had left and the palace was quiet, I stood on the balcony adjacent to the ballroom, tilted my head up to the sky and closed my eyes. My father wouldn't be happy about the turn of events, but he would have to accept it, and when the time came to marry, I would be the one to find my wife. I wouldn't participate in another cattle parade. It was degrading to the women involved and to me.
When I opened my eyes, in the distance, I saw a figure by the fountain turning around in circles. My cock twitched in recognition
and my breath caught in my throat. Emma. I was already on my way to her before I could stop myself.
Chapter Seven
Emma
I stood by what must have been a fifty-foot fountain in the center of a lawn bigger than a football pitch.
Despite what Kit and Beverly had ordered me to do, there was no way I was going to stay inside. The place they'd hidden me in was a stuffy and ornate museum and sitting on the sofa was like sitting on a slab of rock. The suite of rooms would've held the trailer I'd grown up in ten times over, but the longer I stayed inside, the more I felt like a caged animal.
After showering and defuzzing my body, I'd wandered around the sitting room lifting up lamps and ornaments looking for cameras and listening devices. I was convinced Beverly had the place bugged and had positioned guards outside my door ready to pounce the minute I walked outside. But, because I couldn't have stayed inside a minute longer, I took the chance and left my makeshift prison. When no alarms went off, I took the elevator down to the hallway I'd first come through with Kit, and when no one arrested or cornered me, I went to the garage.
If I'd known were the staff housing was, I would have tracked Kit down, but since I didn't, I'd hung around the garage for a while hoping he would show up. He hadn't.
The car I'd arrived in sat where Kit had parked it, and I needed to know if there were cameras inside.
I tested the backseat door, and when it opened, I scooted inside and ran my hand over the roof of the car. At first, I'd felt nothing, but the more I investigated, the more I found. Pinprick sized lights poked from the fabric covering the roof. I suspected they weren't lights but cameras. My stomach sank to my toes. Kit knew what I'd been doing in the back of the car and his sniffing my fingers was his way of letting me know he knew. Fan-fucking-tastic. Waiting ten more minutes wouldn't have killed me, but at the time, I felt like it would have.
The garage had been eerily quiet, and every noise made me think guards were coming to take me away. But the place had probably been so quiet because everyone was too busy enjoying the banquet I hadn't been invited to.
Visions of me showing up, bursting out of a cake and yelling, hey, rich party people, I'm Prince Kristian's stepdaughter. It's just lovely to meet all of you , ran through my head.
Everyone would laugh and laugh and welcome me into the folds of the wealthy and wonderful. My imagination was forever running wild and creating crazy ass scenarios that would never happen.
After leaving the garage, I'd combed the grounds in search of Kit and when I couldn't find him, I'd entertained myself by imagining all the things we could get up to. Not that any of those things would happen because in my imagination I was a lot braver than I was in real life.
If I got the chance, oral sex with him would be fine, because, hello, he was as hot as fuck. He could go down on me, and maybe some mutual masturbation. I'd suck his cock, but I wasn't sure if I'd swallow his cum. I figured when, and if, the time came, I'd be more of a spit than swallow girl, but if Kit tasted as delicious as he looked, he could persuade me to swallow.
I shook my head and laughed. Who was this girl and what had she done with Emma Brown the Emma Brown who'd graduated valedictorian of her class? The Emma Brown who, until now, had superglued her knees together? Maybe there was something in the air, and the European sense of freedom had infiltrated my blood, which would explain why I was so willing to take a few giant steps further with Kit than I'd ever taken with any of the men I'd dated.
He was all kinds of dangerous, exciting, and inviting. Something about him made me want to do dirty and depraved things. Something about him called to the very essence of my being. But how could that be? I'd met him less than seven hours ago, and yet I already wanted to use words like soul mate and meant to be. Was I acting this way because I wasn't at home and I was free from the judgment of people who knew me? I could be who and what I wanted to be here. And dammit, if I wanted to be a slut I would be a slut. There was no one around to shame me. No one at home needed to know. What happened in Rhias would stay in Rhias.
Jets from the fountain danced and cascaded, and hundreds of jewel-toned lights sparkled beneath the water. It would give the fountain at the Bellagio a run for its money.
Classical music drifted from the distance, and I spun around and around as if I were at the ball wearing a floaty dress made from silk, but then, feeling foolish for my childish fantasy, I stopped spinning and sat on the edge of the fountain.
I kicked my Converse off, dipped my toes into the cold water, and yelped at the iciness. While ice cubes formed on my toes, I busied my mind by thinking about Kit. Where was he and what was he doing? I thought—hoped—that maybe he would've sought me out. The look in his eyes when he left me showed he was hungry enough to eat me up, but that was probably my imagination going wild again.
Both he and Beverley had said the banquet was an important one. He was most likely parking cars and directing traffic out front. Now used to the cold, I swished my feet back and forth. Had I crossed Kit's mind since I'd last saw him? Had he spent his day thinking about me the way I'd spent my day thinking about him? I still wasn't 100% sure he knew about me masturbating in the back of his car, but I was ninety-nine percent sure the pinpricks on the roof of the car were cameras and not lights.
Knowing my luck, a video of me on my hands and knees was already on every porn site imaginable. What a perfect way to begin my career. I could just imagine how my future interviews would go.
The interviewer would ask, "So, Miss Brown, is there anything else you'd like to share with us? Any experiences negative or positive?" I'd look at my interviewer and say, "well, are you familiar with the website Real Life Porn Stars? If you're interested and have five minutes, there's a video of me fingering myself while on my hands and knees in the back of a limousine." The interviewer would splutter and look at me in disbelief, and I'd laugh and say, "only joking but not really."
Humiliation ate me up, but it still wasn't enough to make me run and disappear into the night. Not even the thought of Kit watching a video of me masturbating so crudely in the back of his car was enough to make me leave.
There was still no sight or sound of Prince Kristian or any of his family. I was his dirty secret. Someone he'd never reveal to the world, and I was okay with that.
I continued to bathe my feet, not caring if Beverly came along blowing a whistle and had German Shepherds gnashing by her sides. I wanted to enjoy my first night in Rhias, and I would do that with or without Prince Kristian or Kit.
I tilted my head back and gazed up at the iridescent full moon and bright stars. The cloud cover from earlier had cleared giving way to a sparkling night sky. I'd half expected the constellations in Rhias to be vastly different from those in Nevada, but they weren't very different at all.
"Which one's your favorite?"
I yelped and stepped into the fountain, soaking the bottom of my jeans. I turned around and saw Kit standing a few feet from me. Holy fucking hot as hell. He wore the shit out of a tuxedo. An undone bow tie hung around his neck, and the top two buttons of his shirt were opened showing a light smattering of dark hair. He was dressed as if he were a guest at the banquet, not someone who'd worked it.
"Give me a heart attack why don't you?" I pressed a hand to my chest. "Shouldn't you be working? Not that it's not good to see you."
"My duty for the evening is over." He strode toward me, his hands buried deep inside his pockets.
"How long have you been standing there, watching me?" I asked.
"Long enough. I like watching you. I like watching how you look at things. I like seeing the wonder in your eyes as if you've never seen anything like this before."
"You got all that from watching me dip my toes into a fountain?"
"Come here. Let me help you out." He held out his hands. "I'm usually not a man who likes disobedience, but I'm glad you disobeyed me and left your rooms."
"I was bored out of my mind. If you're going to lock people up in musty old room
s, you should really think about getting Netflix."
"I'll ask housekeeping to look into it."
Not wanting to fall flat on my face when I stepped out of the fountain, I took his offered hand, and loved the way goosebumps chased over my skin at his touch. The musky scent of his cologne cocooned and engulfed me, and for the first time since he'd left me earlier, I felt at peace. I felt as if I wasn't seen as the enemy intent on ruining Rhias' monarchy.
"You look… Nice." I wanted to say more. I wanted to say just looking at you is enough to give me an instant orgasm, but I held my tongue. No need to scare him off by turning into a gibbering, drooling fangirl.
He laughed. The sound deep and rich. "I look nice?"
"Okay, you look better than nice. You look kind of hot."
"Kind of hot?" He was now a breath away from me, and the heat of his body seeped into mine. He reached out and ran a thumb over my bottom lip. "I think you can do much better than that, don't you? The confident woman from the backseat of my car would have a lot more to say."
"What? I—" I took a big step away from him, but before I could get too far, he stopped me and pulled me back.
"Don't be embarrassed, Emma. Never be embarrassed about what your body wants. And never be embarrassed about giving your body what it needs."
"Shit. You saw everything?" My voice was a shrill whisper.
"Everything. You want to know what I did after I left you this afternoon?"
"No. Yes. I don't know. Do I?"
"I gave myself a handjob, but that wasn't enough, so I gave myself another and another and another and not even they were enough."
He took my shaking hand and guided it down to his crotch. "Feel how fucking hard you make me. Feel how much I want you."
Unable to resist, I curled my hand around the bulge in his pants and sucked in a breath. He was huge. He was bigger than huge. He was enormous. I swallowed down the groan clawing at my throat. I'd never felt anything like him in my life. Not that I'd felt a cock before, but his was bigger than I imagined a cock would be.
