I smirked at her, stepping closer. My heart started to beat harder in my chest.
“Where is your security detail?” she asked me.
I gestured. “Nearby, but I can get rid of them.”
“No,” she said quickly. “That’s okay. I was just asking.”
“Why? Are you afraid?”
“Would you blame me?”
“I suppose not,” I said, closing the gap between us. My lips were inches away from her cheek, and she didn’t move an inch. “I’d be afraid if I were you, but I’d also remember who saved me.”
“You did,” she said simply.
“Yes, I did.”
“But to be fair, you were also the reason I was in danger at all.”
“Yes. That’s also true.” I shrugged, taking her chin in my hands. I wanted to have her right there in the forest. I wanted all the old gods to watch. “That’s the danger of being with a man like me, Bryce, but I promise you’ll never be truly harmed, not if I can help it.”
“Maybe I don’t want a man like you,” she said, but I knew she was lying.
“If that’s true, then I’ll let you go,” I murmured. “But we both know it isn’t.”
So I kissed her. I couldn’t waste another second, couldn’t stand it another moment. I kissed her hard, my lips pressing roughly against hers. We embraced like that, our arms wrapped around each other. I loved her taste and the way she kissed me back, starving and intense.
As my hands twisted into her hair, I heard something. We broke off slowly and I realized that it was Al speaking Starklandian.
I gently released her. “Your Highness, the parents are on their way. However, there has been an emergency.”
I grunted. “Another?” We spoke in Starklandian.
“Yes, sir. It’s important.”
“Very well. It never ends, does it?”
“No, sir. We’ll take you back.”
“Good.” He melted away, giving us some space.
“Sorry,” I said, turning to Bryce and switching back to English. “There was another emergency.”
“Bad?” she asked.
“Honestly, probably not. There seems to be an emergency every few minutes these days.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” I kissed her softly on the lips again. I needed just one more taste. “We need to go, though.”
“Okay.”
She followed me back out of the copse of trees. I didn’t want to leave them. There was a special feeling in there, like I was surrounded by history, by the history of my family and of my people. More importantly, I wanted to press Bryce up against one of those ancient, magic trees and fuck her rough and deep until she screamed my name and came hard as fuck. I wanted her dripping wet and begging by the time I was finished with her perfect, tight little pussy.
She was the first woman I’d ever brought to that spot. Very few people went there outside my family. For some reason, that felt right. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
23
BRYCE
I kept thinking about that kiss in the forest as I waited for my father and Lucy to arrive. Less than a day had passed, and they were already heading down to the estate in a guarded caravan.
History and power and sex and politics. That was what I got myself wrapped up in when I got involved with Trip. His family was ancient, as was his world. I was just an American girl, a regular person, and yet somehow I was thrust deep into it all.
In the back of my mind, I knew he still wanted to marry me and get me pregnant. I was still freaked out by that, but I was just going with this thing. Maybe he wanted to put the royal baby in me, but I wasn’t ready to jump into that role. I wasn’t going to be queen.
It had felt incredible to be walking toward the river like that with Trip opening up. And then, to make that moment even more right, he kissed me. I wrapped my arms around him as he pulled me against his body, his lips warm against mine, his tongue soft in my mouth. I couldn’t stop myself, even if it was so dangerous to get involved with the king. I should have backed off and left the country. I should have gone back to safety.
But I couldn’t. Standing in that ancient, magical forest, I couldn’t help but kiss the bad boy king. Trip was too much and everything I wanted. More than that, he made me feel things I thought I’d forgotten. I’d never thought I had that inside me, much less with the intensity that he made me feel it. But there I was, kissing the king in some beautiful and surreal forest, and it had felt right. It had felt so damn right.
Most of the day passed as I waited. Trip had promised to have my parents back by dinnertime, and I believed him. I smiled to myself as I picture Lucy getting shoved into a car without any time to get herself ready. She was probably fuming. The thought made everything so worth it.