Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50869 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
I open my mouth to invite her. The words are right there, but then I picture the cameras. Even if word doesn’t spread before the wedding, pictures will be taken and posted by someone. That is inevitable.
I know the way they’ll descend on her. Like fucking vultures. They’ll scare her away. She’s already got bullshit in her head about being boring and dull. And it’s not an afterthought in her mind, either. She’s not turning her contracted, routine life into chaos over it, and that pisses me off for her. Mable doesn’t need to change, not for anyone.
She’s so sweetly innocent and unaware. The tabloids could tear her apart in a day, depending on how they felt. I can’t let her walk into that. That’s not her burden to carry. Not yet. First, I have to prove that I’ll be worth it.
“Will you, ah…”—she pauses hesitantly—“have a date for the wedding?” Her voice is carefully casual. Too casual, letting me know that I’m in a no-win situation here. If I don’t invite her, then what will she think? That I’m trying to hide her away? I’m stuck between trying to protect her or hurting her.
The question catches me off guard. “I... hadn’t thought about it.”
Liar. I’ve thought about nothing else. But the truth is, I am supposed to attend with Lady Cordelia VanCleef, a family friend my mother has been pushing me toward for years. I was annoyed, but I knew that it would calm her down, so I agreed. She’s been so worked up about the wedding to begin with.
Cordelia knows I have no interest in her, and if I recall correctly from my own observation, I’m fairly certain she’s hooking up with her security guard. I’m sure that’s why she, too, agreed to it, knowing I was a safe bet and a nice way to throw her own family off her trail.
“Oh,” she says, averting her eyes from me, and I watch her shut down. The wall goes up, that practical, protective shell she wears. “Of course. I mean, you probably have obligations. Family things.”
Tell her, my conscience screams. Tell her you want her there.
But if I tell her that, I have to tell her why. Why there are these obligations. Why there are family expectations. Why my picture will end up in the papers regardless of who I bring.
“We should head back,” I say instead, fucking this all up, but the truth is, this is new to me. I have never pursued a woman, let alone one who didn’t have a clue who I am. “It’s getting cold.”
She nods, but her hand slips out of mine as we turn back toward the hotel. The distance between us is growing, and I put it there.
I hate the walk back in silence, the sound of the waves loud between us. When we reach the suite, she goes straight to the bedroom door, hovering there like she’s not sure if she’s welcome. I can see it in her eyes, debating if there is a way out.
“Mable,” I say, crossing the room and cupping her face in my hands. “Look at me.”
She does, and I hate the doubt I see there. The way she’s already pulling away and trying to protect herself from me.
I kiss her, desperate to close the gap I created. I kiss her like I can erase the last ten minutes and make her forget it all. It only takes her a moment to start to kiss me back.
“Caldwell,” she moans my name softly when I move my mouth from hers down her jaw to her neck. The small sound has me lifting her off her feet. She wraps her legs around me, and I carry her over to the bed.
I lay her on it, following her down, my mouth never leaving her skin. I kiss my way down her throat, her collarbone, and the valley between her breasts.
“Caldwell,” she breathes, and I love the way she says my name. The real one, not the title, not the crown. Just me, getting to worship her. That’s what I need to do. My new plan. If I make her fall madly in love with me, the rest won’t matter.
I lift my head to look at her. “Tell me I can taste you.”
“Tell me there isn’t someone else.” That I can give her.
“There is no one else,” I vow to her. There never has been. “I only want you,” I reassure her. “I’d give up a whole kingdom for just one taste of you.”
She blushes, that gorgeous pink spreading across her cheeks and down her neck to bloom across her chest.
“I don’t...” She licks her lips that are still swollen from my kisses that I can’t stop giving her. “I don’t know. I’ve never...”
“I know.” I hover above her, staring down into her eyes, wanting her to really see how badly I want this. Want her.