Royal

by Tina Martin

  “Aren’t couples supposed to discuss things like this?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Then that’s what I’m doing. I’m putting it out there because I don’t want you to find out later on down the road when you want babies and I can’t have them. That’ll be a problem, wouldn’t it?”

  “Dang, you move fast, don’t you, girl?” he asked. He knew she wasn’t one to panic, but now, that’s exactly what she was doing. He found it endearing because even though the conversation was a bit premature, he understood why she wanted to bring it up so soon. She was thinking long-term about him and his feelings. She was putting herself in his shoes.

  “Okay, calm your pretty little self down for a minute,” he told her.

  “But, Royal—”

  “Shh,” he said, placing his index finger on her lips.

  She opened her mouth and caught his finger between her teeth.

  A smile grew on his face. “Alright,” he said in a warning tone. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew, baby.”

  “You’re not listening to me,” she managed to say without releasing his finger.

  He pulled his hand away from her mouth and said, “I am listening. I heard everything you said. Will you allow me to respond to it?”

  “Yes. Please.”

  “I don’t want children,” he admitted.

  She frowned. “You don’t?”

  “No. I’m just fine with being Uncle Royal to my brothers’ future children.”

  “Hmm…” she said, thinking it over. “Interesting.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I was just thinking…what kind of man doesn’t want children?”

  He chuckled. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  “No. I thought most men wanted children to carry on the family name and all that.”

  “Sweetie, I promise you I’m being truthful. I never wanted children. You can ask Rom, Ram, Regal or my parents. Take your pick.”

  “What about marriage?”

  He chuckled. “I must’ve really put that kiss on you, huh?” he chuckled. “Got you in here talking about kids and marriage. What’s next, Gemma? A big house on the lake with white picket fences? A dog? You want to know where I see myself in five years? Ten?”

  Gemma smiled and returned to her position of lying on his chest. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just anxious for this to work now that I know you like me.”

  “It will work. I’m in this for the long haul. I don’t want anything about us being short term. And to answer your question, yes, I would like to get married one day. What about you?”

  “Ummm…I’m not sure.”

  “What do you mean you’re not sure?”

  I never thought about it in detail. “It’s one of those things in life that I didn’t think was possible for me.”

  “Well, now it is.”

  She smiled softly against his chest. Yes, it is.

  Chapter 17

  “Gemma, baby,” Royal said softly. He’d gotten up early to take a shower and dressed – all so he could watch her sleep for a while. His hands ached to touch her but he couldn’t. He didn’t want to wake her up. She already had to get up early for this appointment. He wanted her to get all the sleep she could get.

  But now, at 7:55 a.m., it was time for her to wake up. The appointment was 10:15 a.m. in Charlotte. With the headache of morning rush hour traffic and having to take the convoluted mess people around here referred to as I-77, they needed to leave between 8:30 and 9:00 in order to get there in time.

  His eyes settled on her soft, pink lips – they appeared as soft and delicate as those beauty marks sprinkled on her face. She’d been through so much. It felt good to see her happy for a change. To know she would have a future. With him.

  “Gemma,” he whispered again, and this time, he leaned closer to touch his lips to hers, breathing in her essence. She was lucky he willed himself to take things slow with her although the intimate kiss they shared yesterday around dinner had gotten out of hand. Some things just couldn’t be helped, especially when you knew you were with the person you loved. “Gemma, sweetheart, it’s time to get up.”

  “Go away, Royal,” she said drowsily, pulling the sheet up over her head.

  “No. You have an appointment today, remember?”

  “Nooo.”

  “Yes.”

  “My goodness…why do they have to make these appointments so freakin’ early? Next time I’m making my appointment for four o’clock in the afternoon.” She stretched.

  Royal pulled the sheet down so he could see her face, then said, “I don’t think they make appointments that late. Now, come on, Gem. We gotta get going, bae.”

  Gemma pulled the sheet up over her head again.

  He smiled. “Okay…what do I need to do to help you get ready?”

  “Take my pajamas off and carry me to the shower.”

  “Oh. You should’ve said that first,” he said, tugging at the waistband of her shorts.

  She giggled, slapping his hand away. “I’m kidding, Royal. Get those big hands away from me.”

  “You weren’t saying that yesterday.”

  She blushed. “Your tongue was halfway down my throat. How was I supposed to say anything?”

  “Right,” he said.

  She grumbled with displeasure at the thought of getting out of bed. “Okay, I’m getting up.” She sat up, yawned again, then rubbed her eyes and looked at him. “You look good by the way. You always look so doggone good in your suits. Have I ever told you that before?”

  “Maybe, but it’s nice to know you’ve been thinking it all this time.”

  “I have. I was just too embarrassed to say it.” She stood up and stretched her arms up in the air so high, her top rose up, exposing her belly button.

  Royal snuck a peep. “Why?”

  “Because I thought it was out of line for me to be commenting on how good you looked when we weren’t together.

  “Come over here,” he requested.

  She walked over to the bed until she was standing in front of him.

  “Now, that you’re mine,” he said, grazing his fingertips across her mid-section, watching her body jerk in response to his touch. “You can complement the heck out of me.”

  “Ugh…you men,” she said, running her fingers across his rugged beard. “Always want your egos massaged.”

  “I want more than that massaged,” he said, grabbing her backside again.

  “Alrighty…that’s my cue to take a shower. I’ll be right back,” she said, quickly walking away from him.

  “Don’t be too long. We gotta hit the road.”

  “Okay.”

  * * *

  Going to the doctor wasn’t one of Gemma’s favorite things to do. It always served as a reminder that she was sick – well not sick anymore but still in the midst of her battle. The possibility of something going wrong was always at the back of her mind. And now she had more reason to worry.

  Sitting on the patient bed in the room while waiting for the doctor to return, she glanced up at Royal. He was sitting in a chair, looking at his phone – doing work-related stuff she imagined – while they waited for the doctor to return. Now that she had him and he’d made it clear that she was his woman (she smiled thinking about that) she had so much to live for. Before, she only had her sister, and while their sisterly bond meant everything to her, it wasn’t the same as having the attention of a finer than life St. Claire man. All the feelings she used to brush off and keep to herself were now bubbling to the surface with the realization of their new relationship. Royal was smooth in every sense of the word. Even his caramel skin looked creamy and delicious, and she’d always liked the bearded look on him – wild or tamed. It didn’t matter. He was fine enough to pull anything off. And he always dressed sharp especially when he went to work. Royal was the complete package and had a sensuality about him that she was just learning to appreciate.

  He looked up, caught her gaze and a smile automa
tically came to his face. “Daydreaming about me again?” he asked.

  She darted her tongue out at him.

  He placed the phone in the inner pocket of his suit jacket and stood up. “Is that an invitation?”

  “Don’t come over here trying to kiss me, Royal,” she said failing to hold in a giggle.

  “Why not?” he said, stopping immediately in front of her, crowding all of her personal space.

  “Because the doctor is going to be back any minute, now go sit down,” she said, nudging his chest.

  “Nope. Shouldn’t have stuck your tongue out at me, now give it here.”

  She smiled. “Royal…”

  “Give it here,” he said again, lowering his mouth. When she tried to protest once more, he took the liberty of taking what he’d been after – a literal mouthful of her, kissing her like he was satisfying a craving. Even after he heard the knock at the door, he shamelessly kept on kissing her.

  “Ahem,” the doctor said. “I can come back if you need me to,” he joked.

  Royal tore his mouth away from hers until the sound of their lips parting made a smacking noise. “You’re good, doc. Gemma was begging me to kiss her and I couldn’t resist.”

  Amused, Gemma said, “You better stop your lying.”

  “Don’t try to play shy in front of the doctor,” Royal said.

  “Okay, lovebirds,” the doctor teased. “Your X-ray looks good, Gemma. I sent refills of your medication to the pharmacy and I would also like for you to start on Echinacea to help keep your immune system nice and strong.”

  “And this is just the over-the-counter supplement. Is that correct?” Royal asked, taking Gemma’s hand into his as he looked at the doctor.

  “Yes. Over-the-counter.”

  “Is there a particular brand you recommend?”

  “No. They’re all one in the same. If you want to go with a name brand, it’s up to you.”

  “Okay.”

  “And that’s it. I’ll see you again in a month, Gemma.”

  “Wait. Before you go, I have a few questions, doc,” Royal said.

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “What about sex? Is that okay for Gemma?”

  Gemma’s mouth fell open. She could just wring his neck. Was he…? Did he…? Why was she even surprised?

  “Well, as you know, this sort of diagnosis does cause a lot of fatigue and even the medications can cause nausea. With those factors, a person is not necessarily thinking about sex, but sex is not out of the question. I guess it would just depend on how Gemma’s feeling. And, too, there have been cases of vaginal dryness, but of course there are ways to combat that.”

  “Okay,” Royal said squeezing Gemma’s hand. “I just want to make sure I’m not hurting her in any way because sometimes, my sweetheart doesn’t tell me things.”

  But we haven’t been physically intimate, Gemma thought, although Royal was giving the doctor a different impression.

  The doctor nodded. “That’s understandable but you should be okay.”

  “Good.”

  “Alright,” the doctor said. “I’ll let you get dressed and then you can check out at the front.”

  “Okay. Thank you,” Gemma told him.

  As soon as the doctor closed the door, Gemma stood up, slipped into her jeans while still wearing the paper gown and asked, “Why’d you ask him that, Royal? We’re not even having sex. We just started this relationship and you’re already trying to get in my pants.”

  “Trying,” he said, amused. “If I wanted to be in your pants, I’d be in them.”

  “Ugh…stop being arrogant with me.”

  “I’m not trying to be. You leave me no choice, girl. I wasn’t asking him about that because I wanted to take you back to my place and have my way with you. I mean, I do, but not right now. I want the time to be right, and when it is, I want the assurance that I’m not hurting you while trying to make love to you. That’s all.”

  “Okay, got it. Turn around so I can put my bra on, please.”

  “Do I have to?”

  She grinned. “Yes. Turn around.”

  Once he did so, she quickly put on her bra before he could sneak a peep then hurried up and slipped into her shirt. “You’re going to work now, right?”

  “Well, I have to take you back home first.”

  “Actually, I arranged for Carson to pick me up.”

  Royal frowned. “Why?”

  “Because I didn’t want you to drive all the way back to Lake Norman just to drop me off, then turn around and drive all the way back to Charlotte to work.”

  “It’s not a big deal for me to drive you home. Call Carson and tell him to go.”

  “No, Royal. That doesn’t make any sense. I can just ride home with Carson and you can go on to work.”

  “Alright,” Royal said somberly, doing a horrible job of trying to hide his frustration. “Ride home with Carson.”

  “Royal, it’s nothing to get upset over.”

  It was something to get upset over when every moment, every minute, every second of the day he had to spend with her mattered to him. But, pushing his feelings aside, he opened the door. They stepped out into the hallway and were on the way to checkout when he said, “I’m not upset. I had planned on spending that time with you today, too. That’s all. I try to make the most of the time we have together, especially since you’re living in Lake Norman and my life is here in Charlotte. My condo is here. My job. Everything is here except you.”

  Gemma inhaled deeply and proceeded to the checkout desk understanding exactly what he was saying in not so many words. Her being in Lake Norman was a problem for him. He wanted her with him or perhaps closer. But how?

  After she finished checking out, as well as arranging her appointment for next month, they walked outside where Gemma saw Carson’s Lincoln parked in the fire lane. He was already waiting for her and Carson must’ve seen her, too, because he was pulling up to them now.

  “So, I guess this is goodbye,” Royal said.

  “Stop it, Royal. You act like you’ll never see me again.”

  “I won’t today. After work, I have to get home,” he said as his hands conformed to the shape of her head. He angled her head up so she was looking at him. “I’m really starting not to like this.”

  “What?”

  “Us leaving each other,” he said. “It doesn’t feel right anymore, or is that just the way I feel and you’re perfectly okay with it?”

  “I don’t like it either.”

  “Then I think we need to talk some things through.”

  “Agreed,” she said.

  “I’ll call you tonight.”

  “Okay, and by the way, Royal…no one knows we’ve been sneaking around kissing and stuff. Gianna may suspect something, but…um…no one knows I’m your girl just yet.”

  He looked slightly amused. “Are you telling me this because you want me to make an announcement?”

  “No. I’m telling you this because you’re staring at me like you’re going to kiss me right in front of Carson.”

  He smiled. “Carson knows how I feel about you. I call the man every day to check on you. And even if he doesn’t know, now he will,” he said, pressing his firm, hot lips to hers and when he settled his hands at the nape of her neck, he proceeded to slip his tongue inside of her mouth and devour her right there. Didn’t matter who was watching. He had to satisfy his taste for her here and now.

  Gemma was certain she would’ve floated away if he wasn’t holding her. Her pulse quickened as she massaged her tongue with his and tried to handle the mouthful that he was giving her. As they neared the kiss, he used those powerful lips to suck on her lips again, then leave smaller kisses around her mouth.

  He released her and said, “I’ll talk to you later. Don’t forget to pick up your medication on the way home.”

  “I won’t.”

  He opened the passenger door and spoke briefly to Carson as Gemma got inside. When she was comfortable, he maneuvered his tal
l body to lean inside and put her seatbelt on before giving her a kiss on the cheek. “Take care of my girl, Carson.”

  Carson smiled. “I will, Sir.”

  With that assurance, he closed the door, then watched Carson slowly drive away.

  Carson looked at Gemma, staring at the big smile on her face.

  She could feel him staring at her so she looked over at him and asked, “What?” She couldn’t stop smiling.

  “Am I to assume Royal still gets on your nerves, madam?”

  Blushing, she replied, “Sometimes. Yes.”

  The old man grinned and said, “Sure he does,” before turning onto the street.

  Chapter 18

  As soon as Royal arrived at the office, he sat down, opened his laptop and checked his emails. One that caught his attention right away was an email from Ramsey:

  From: Ramsey St. Claire

  To: Royal St. Claire

  CC: Ralph Sheppard; Gilbert Lewis

  Subject: FW: ! Lumber Issue w/UC Project

  Royal,

  See email from Ralph below. Need this handled before your Paris trip.

  Thanks,

  RSC

  ---------- Forwarded message ----------

  From: Ralph Sheppard

  To: Ramsey St. Claire

  Subject: Lumber Issue w/UC Project

  Ramsey,

  Trying to be proactive here instead of reactive. There will be a lumber shortage for the University City Project if we don’t go ahead and get a backup supplier lined up. I’ve checked out some possible alternatives if you would like to pull a meeting together with Royal to discuss.

  Thanks,

  R. Sheppard

  Project Manager

  _____________

  Royal immediately dialed Ralph’s extension.

  “What’s up, Royal?”