I try to push aside all the things I know my family would say. I don’t want that to take this special moment from me. I want to cherish every second of our lives together and not spend it dwelling on what others might think.
I feel the car finally stop, but I only grip him tighter. “I don’t wanna let go,” I whisper to him. I don’t know where we are, and to be honest, I don’t care. I want to stay right where I am.
“No one said you had to,” he says before I hear the door open and the cool air greets my body.
Karim unfolds himself from the back of the car with me still wrapped tightly around him. He brings my legs around his waist to help me stay on. He turns his head to kiss me and slides his hands under my bottom to get a better hold of me.
“Sir?” I hear someone say, and I pull back a little to get a look at an older man standing close. He’s got pure white hair and is in a butler uniform. I instantly know we must be back at the palace.
“Albert,” Karim says in response.
“I’ll prepare the guest room?” I can hear the question in Albert’s voice, as if he’s unsure of what to do. He steals a curious look at me.
“That won’t be necessary.” Karim keeps walking, and the butler follows him as the car drives away. I watch over Karim’s shoulder, peeking out as one of his security guards follows us up the stairs with a smirk on his lips. But when we enter the home, he doesn’t come in. He stops and turns at the door, shutting it. Only Albert follows us.
“I need you to get chocolate milk, marshmallows, grapes, raspberry goat’s cheese, and crackers from the kitchen.” I look at Karim, who’s carrying me like I weigh nothing and taking the stairs two at a time. He listed off all my favorite foods. Sometimes I can go days only eating those things alone. “I’m sorry, love. I don’t know what kind of crackers you prefer.” My mouth falls open. How can he possibly know this? “Just get one box of every kind.”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
I glance over at Albert, who’s taking notes on a pad while still following us.
“No one in my wing of the palace without my consent. Ever again. I don’t care if it’s you or a maid. I want to give the okay anytime this door opens,” Karim says as he flings open the door that leads to a long hallway. Albert stops at the door, nodding, a smile forming on his face.
“Of course, Your Highness,” he says, shutting the door behind us as Karim keeps up his pace.
He walks past door after door until he gets to the end of the hall and yet another set of double doors. He flings them open, showing off a massive room with a bed in the center. It’s larger than any bed I’ve ever seen.
He tosses me on it, making me laugh as I sink down into its softness. He turns back to the doors, closing them, and I hear a lock click into place. He watches me as I get up on my knees, wanting to admire the man who’s going to be my husband.
I smile at him as he strips off his shirt, and my body heats again. Just like it did the last time I was trapped in a room with him alone.
“While I was on the hunt for you I got as much information about you as I could find. Even sending someone over to your home to make sure I didn’t miss a thing.” He glances over to the side of the room, and I follow his line of sight.
I see a pile of things from my room. Books, make-up, stuffed animals, and piles of the drawing pads I love to doodle in. “You moved my stuff here?”
“Everything but your clothes and furniture. I didn’t like the idea of my men touching your clothes, so I had them leave them behind. We can go get them later, or I’ll get you all new things.”
I bite my lip unsure of what to say. He prowls towards the bed. I didn’t know a man that big could move so easily, but it makes me think of a lion moving towards something he’s about to claim as his own.
“Am I scaring you?” he asks when he gets to the end of the bed. “I don’t think I can slow down. Maybe if you hadn’t run from me I could. But when you did that, you awoke something deep inside me I didn’t even know was there. It’s consuming me, and I have a feeling it won’t stop until it consumes you as well. Until it knows you’ll never run from me again. Until it knows you’re bound to me in every way.”
I drop down and crawl towards him, not scared of him at all. When I reach the end of the bed I wait. I like the idea that I had the power to wake something up inside him. “What do we need to do to make that happen?” I ask as I get back up on my knees. The tulle of my dress is bunching up all around me.
“Show me you’re mine. Bare yourself to your king.”
His words send a thrill through me. He belongs to me just as much as I belong to him. I dip one shoulder and let the strap fall down my shoulder. Then I reach for the other, letting the top of my dress fall below my breasts. He reaches out, softly brushing my hair back to give himself a better view. His bright blue eyes travel over me, and I want to give him more. I like watching his eyes turn darker with need.
I reach down and slide my skirt up my thighs, spreading my legs farther apart for him. He sucks in a breath, and a sound from deep in his chest fills the room. He falls to his knees in front of me, and his fingers go to my thighs. I watch as he traces the remnants of his branding, which still coats my thighs from the first time we made love.
“Are you hurt?” he asks, and it’s then I see a small smear of blood on my inner thigh.
“I wouldn’t say hurt,” I admit. “I ache.”