That was six months ago.
Tira and Drake now see each other from Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon every other week but I have not clapped eyes on him since that dreadful evening in the park.
Nor do I have any intention to.
My life is so much better now.
I have an organised home.
I have restarted the course in Sports Nutrition that I abandoned when I became pregnant.
I’m even free to date other men if I so wish. Not that I wish to.
There’s no room in my life for another man.
As much as I detest it, Drake Henley owns my heart, he always has.
So now I’m on a mission to stay as busy as possible until the feeling passes. Which I’m sure it will. In time.
I’m just about finishing up organising and folding towels into size order when I hear the royal car pull up outside. It’s bang on time as usual and when I rush to the window to admire the daughter I’ve not seen for forty-eight hours, my breath catches. It’s not the usual palace liaison officer leading her up the path. It’s a woman I recognise very well from my days working at the palace.
It’s Princess Roxanne Henley. Although I used to know her as Roxy Bennet.
She’s changed so much. She’s more refined. She carries herself with confidence. She’s so beautiful. But why the hell is she dropping my daughter off?
I rush down the stairs, check my reflection in the mirror, notice I look like trash, and curse that there’s no time to do anything about it, then answer the door to usher them in quickly. The last thing I need is my neighbours to notice the next Queen of Marea standing on my doorstep with my daughter by her side. By some miracle, we’ve managed to keep the entire situation under wraps.
I fling the door open and grin inanely. ‘Well, this is a surprise.’
‘Hey, Vanessa. How are you?’ Roxy removes her sunglasses and smiles warmly at me. ‘I know this is unexpected, but I was hoping to speak with you for a minute.’
A lump grows in the pit of my stomach. This is it. The palace has played fair for long enough and now want to take Tira from me. Roxy must notice the panic on my face because she crouches down in front of Tira and places her hand on her shoulder.
‘Hey, sweetheart. You know that princess dress you were telling me about? You know, the yellow one, how about you put it on, show me how gorgeous it is in real life.’
Tira skips up the stairs and Roxy stands tall before me. She takes a deep breath and pulls her lips tight for a moment before speaking.
‘I hope you don’t mind me coming over unannounced. It’s just that I think we need to talk.’
Chapter Eight
Drake
I’m sitting in my car outside Vanessa’s house. My palms are sweaty, I feel like I’ve swallowed a rock and I’m not sure that I can find the strength in my legs to walk the short distance up her garden path to knock on her front door.
‘Get over yourself, Magnus. She just wants to talk.’ I say and grab the ridiculously huge bunch of flowers. I’ve brought them along as a peace offering, just in case I’ve fucked things up, again.
Since Vanessa messaged me this afternoon asking if I was free to visit her tonight I’ve been racking my brains about what I could have done wrong.
I’ve watched my language in front of Tira. I’ve not fed her too much junk. I’ve read with her and practised her letters like Vanessa has asked me to.
It’s definitely safe to say that I’ve played to the rules more than I ever have done before in my life.
I’ve even restrained from asking Tira a single question about her mother’s private life. I’ve wanted to. Oh, how I’ve wanted to. But it wouldn’t be good form so haven’t. At one point, the head of my security team offered to follow her for a while. To see if there were any men in her life. I didn’t hesitate to turn him down on his offer. I promised Vanessa I would stay well away from her. And I’m prepared to stick to my promise. Even though it’s crushing me inside.
Eventually, I pluck up the courage to approach her house. It’s eerily quiet.
Its eight o’clock so I suspect Tira is fast asleep in her bed but downstairs appears empty too. There are no lights on in the front room. The TV isn’t even flashing. I gently tap on the door so as not to wake Tira and check my phone. Yep. She definitely said tonight. I knock again. Louder this time, just in case she didn’t hear. A shadow streaks across the living room. Phew. She is at home.
The door opens and my jaw drops. Standing before me is Vanessa. But not the Vanessa I expected to see.
I expected to find casual Vanessa with her hair tied back in a ponytail and slippers on her feet.
Instead, standing before me is vixen Vanessa.
She’s curled her fiery red hair and has left it tumbling around her shoulders. Her fascinating green eyes are accentuated with glittery green eyeshadow and her eye make-up is complimented with an understated coral lipstick. She’s dressed up to the nines and has even slipped on the same stiletto shoes she wore that night at the picnic zone where we were reunited. Albeit briefly.
I can’t quite believe my eyes. ‘Ness? Had you forgotten I was coming over?’
She bites her lower lip seductively and I realise that no, she hasn’t forgotten. My cock springs into action and I lower the flowers to hide my ridiculously easy arousal.
‘Hey.’ she says. ‘I hope you’re hungry. I have food.’
I can’t smell cooking, but then again I can’t smell much more than her sweet perfume. Nor am I very hungry. Not for food anyway. ‘Erm, yeah. I suppose I could eat.’
She steps to one side and I walk on in. The door to the kitchen is slightly ajar and flickering light sneaks through the crack. I look at her quizzically and she gestures for me to go on through. So I do.
When I enter the kitchen a dozen flickering candles illuminate the space. In the corner is a teeny little table for two. And on that table is a tablecloth, a bottle of white wine on chill, a candle and two bowls.
I cock my head at her quizzically and she nods for me to have a look.
My heart is thundering in my chest as I make my way across the small space and when I see what she’s prepared, I howl with laughter.
‘Coco-pops?’
Her face, which was tense with anxiety, softens. She shrugs her shoulders and sighs. ‘Well, they are your favourite and who am I to change the essence of who you are?’
Vanessa
His face is a picture. Shock mingled with confusion mingled with elation mingled with desire.
He bounds over, thrusting the flowers in the sink as he does. He sweeps me into the tightest embrace and crushes his mouth against mine. I take a moment to mellow into him because this wasn’t quite the reaction I was expecting. When I do, I’m treated to the hardness of his shaft pressing against my belly. My underwear dampens and my nipples tingle like they’re on fire. This has been missing from my life. Drake and his beautiful kisses. And his rampant hard-on.
My mouth parts and welcomes in his tongue. He ravishes my mouth as though it’s the only thing he’s wanted for years. He’s like a hungry animal and I retaliate, showing that I too am famished.
‘The coco-pops will spoil.’ He breathes into my ear as he hoists up my skirt and lifts me onto the kitchen work surface. He pulls my underwear to one side and runs his fingers through my slit, drenched with arousal.
‘Let them. I bought a family size box.’
He buries his fingers inside my hot pussy and gargles with an appreciation of my readiness for him. ‘But what about Tira? We must be quiet.’
I shake my head. ‘She’s not here, she’s staying with a friend, so don’t you dare hold back on me, Drake Henley.’
He growls and grunts and his trousers fall to the floor and as quick as a flash his big fat cock replaces his fingers. I yelp and hold on tight for the ride. Within seconds, I’m climaxing and screaming his name into the night. Drake can’t hold back any longer either. I don’t want him too. I want him to fill m
e with his thick seed. I want him to fuck me all night long. In fact, I never want to go another day without being pleasured by, and pleasuring, my man again.
You never know. We might even be lucky enough to make a baby brother or sister for Tira one day.
Epilogue
I screwed Vanessa three times that night before getting round to asking her why she changed her mind about us.
It turns out my sister-in-law likes me after all because it was she who put in the good word and convinced Vanessa that I had changed and was miserable without her.
Which was true. I never did live my best life without Vanessa in it.
Which is why after fuck number five on the night she called me over to “talk” I begged her to marry me.
And she did.
Three days later.
Now. Here we are, nine months later, in the private maternity ward of the royal hospital giving birth to our baby son.
‘Fuuuuuuuucccccccckkkkkkkkk.’ Vanessa screams and spittle flies in every direction. ‘I fucking hate you Drake fucking Henley.’
It’s a bloody good job it is a top security ward and nobody can hear what’s going on because the media would have a field day with how much she’s declared to hate me during the last five hours.
Apparently she wishes she’d never seen me again. She hates the way I breathe. My choice of labour snacks is shit. I’m not doing enough. And she wishes I was dead.
To be honest, I’m trying not to laugh, if she catches me being even a little entertained by her distress, I would be very much, literally, dead.
‘One more push, Vanessa. You’re doing great.’ The midwife encourages.
Like a woman possessed my, five foot two inches tall, Vanessa Henley finds more strength than a heavyweight boxer. She grits her teeth. Clamps her fingers around my hand as though she’s trying to break every bone in it and gives it her all.
A mere second later, the siren call of a new-born baby fills every space in the room and Vanessa crashes to the bed in a heap.
My beautiful Vanessa has done it again. She’s brought another perfect baby into the world and I can’t stem the flow of tears which glide down my cheeks at the sight of the little pink ball of grime and goo.
The midwife hands him to Ness and instinctively she holds him to her chest and grins at me. She’s radiating more beauty than I have ever seen her emanate before. My wife. The mother of my two children and my saviour.
‘Thank you,’ I say and kiss her drenched hair. ‘Thank you for making me the happiest man in the world.’
She beams up at me and moistens her dry lips with her tongue. ‘Don’t thank me until you’ve witnessed the first dirty nappy. I promise that once you’ve seen that, you’ll drop your stupid idea of wanting four children.’
I screw up my nose and almost joke that I’ll not be a witness to that. But I will be. I’ll change my fair share of nappies. I’ll help with the night feeds. I’ll nurse my boy back to health when he’s ill. I’ll do everything a responsible husband and father does. And more.
A Quick Message from Tiffany Squires
Well hello lovely reader.
I’d like to take this opportunity to say a great big, huge, massive thank you for reading Infatuated Prince.
If you enjoyed Drake and Vanessa’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it would you mind leaving a short review?
Reviews really do make or break things for indie writers like myself. Not to mention give us a chink of motivation while we’re burning the midnight oil.
Or, if you’d like to get your hands on advanced review copies of my books in the future, you can join my readers group by clicking this link. I’m a no spam kinda gal and speak to my readers no more than once or twice a week.
Other Books by Tiffany Squires
Impulsive Prince - Randy Royals Book 1
Can an arranged marriage hold the promise of passion?
They can run, but will they ever escape their royal duties?
Brice
I only wanted one night.
One night to be free of my royal shackles.
To escape my fate.
I didn’t intend to meet a special girl.
The mystery girl has all the class of a princess but the sultry curves of pure temptation.
The night I'll never forget just happened.
Under the cover of darkness.
And now I must forget that stolen night because I’m duty bound to marry a royal.
Madeline
Freedom.
That’s all I ever wanted.
To taste what other people take for granted.
But I tasted too much.
And now I must go back
Back to being the dutiful princess who does as she’s told.
Back to face my future husband and the marriage my parents have arranged.
And keep my scandalous secret to myself forever.
Impulsive Prince by Tiffany Squires is a sexy royal romance with no cliffhanger and a HEA. Short enough to read in one sitting. Long enough to leave nothing to the imagination. One click now and take some time out for yourself.
Impassioned Prince - Randy Royals Book 2
She’s a bad girl from the wrong side of town. He’s a playboy prince with the world at his feet. They come from different worlds but they need each other more than they can ever know.
Magnus
She’s got balls, I’ll give her that much.
She seduced me then humiliated me in public and nobody, but nobody does that to the next King of Marea.
She needs to pay. And I know exactly how I’m going to make her.
Because her indiscretion has taught me a lesson.
I need to keep my nose clean. No more royal scandals for me. I’m going to bring my passion for bad girls inside the palace walls where nobody can see.
Roxanne Bennett just unwittingly made herself my live-in lover and I’m gonna love her sweet little body every chance I get.
As long as I can stop myself from falling in love with her.
Roxy
I know the score.
Free food. Free board. Paid employment.
And in return Prince Magnus enjoys unlimited access to my private rooms.
Sounds fair enough to me. In fact, there’s no way I’m gonna argue. Work experience and the chance to get my life straight are just what I need.
It also helps that the man is so damn fine it should be illegal.
All I need to do is keep my head low, not get carried away with myself, remember my place, and all will come good.
It has to.
Impassioned Prince is a safe, steamy novella with no cliffhanger and a guaranteed HEA. Fill a bath, light some candles, fix yourself a drink and one-click now to immerse yourself in your next favourite romance story.
Infatuated Prince Page 5
