Royal Rock:A Bad Boy Royal Romance(11)

It was surprisingly nice. When we finished eating, Trip hit a button on  his control panel and a few minutes later some servants came and cleared  away the mess. Once they were gone, he poured us more wine and we sat  on his couch.

"That's convenient," I said to him once the last servant was gone.







"I can't complain," he admitted. "Being king has perks."

"I'm sure you always had those perks."

He grinned. "Got me there."

"This has been nice," I admitted, sipping my wine.

"Good. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

"You're not so bad when you're not being a dick."

He laughed, grinning at me. "That's what I like about you, Bryce. Not afraid to speak your mind."

"I guess you're not used to that."

"That's true. Not a lot of people will say whatever they want to the king."

"Well, you're not my king."

"No. Not yet at least." He smiled dangerously at me. "But I want to be.  I'd love to see you on your knees, calling me ‘Your Highness.'"

I sighed, looking away, but I felt a thrill run through me. "There it is. You had to ruin it."

"Listen," he said, sitting back. "I have an idea. You were saying how  democracy is better than monarchy earlier, but I want to show you  otherwise."

"That's not exactly what I said."

"Well, either way, I want to show you my city. I want you to see the good we do."

I frowned. "Is it safe?"

"Of course. You'll be with the king. It'll be the safest you could ever be."

"I read that there were rebels in Stehen."

"Some maybe, but we have it under control."

"Okay," I said. "I'll do it."

"Good. I'll send for you tomorrow morning."

I stood up, putting my glass down on the coffee table. "I should get going."

"You don't need to run off. There's plenty more wine, and besides, I haven't seen you in those panties yet."

"Maybe another time."

"You forgot to add ‘Your Highness' at the end."

I smiled, trying to suppress the sudden and overwhelming desire to throw myself at him.

"You'll never hear me say that."

"I think I will." He stood up and stepped close to me. "And sooner than you think."

I shook my head and quickly turned away. I walked across the room and opened the door.

"Good night, Bryce."

I glanced back at him, at his cocky grin, at his beautiful body, his devilishly handsome face, and then left.

I had to get out of there. I could feel my willpower crumbling. Because  the truth was, I did want to get on my knees in front of him, though I  didn't want to do much talking.

Trip brought the worst out in me. He made me dream of dirty things. He made my pussy dripping wet, my mouth hungry for his.

I should keep away, but I knew I wasn't going to.





12





TRIP





It was a bright, beautiful morning in Stehen. I stood next to my  favorite black BMW while the security detail went about their  preparations.

I was excited, though I wasn't entirely sure why. I was taking an  American girl out on a tour of the city. That in itself wasn't anything  special at all, and it was supposed to be below the fucking king. Still,  I was looking forward to it more than anything lately.

Finally, I saw Bryce emerge from the castle's interior. I smiled at her  as she waved at me. She was wearing a cute as fucking hell blue  sundress. I loved the way her legs looked in it, and I couldn't help but  glance at her full breasts. The girl was absolutely gorgeous.

"Nice morning," she said as she got to me.

"It is," I agreed.

"How's this going to work? Are these guys going to drive us around?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I expressly forbade them. You'll be with me."

"Really? I'm shocked."

"Scandalous, I know. Unfortunately, they'll be ahead and behind us the whole time."

"Good. I was worried for a second."

I laughed and then got into the car. She went around to the passenger's  side and climbed in herself. We waited a minute for the security detail  to get themselves situated, and then finally we were ready.

I fired up the engine. "I love this car," I said.

"Really? It's nice, but it's not what I'd imagine a king would drive."

"Like I said last night, sometimes I like to put all that king shit behind me."

She gave me a look as we pulled out into the heavy morning Stehen traffic.

The city was laid out in a simple grid. The castle was in the very  center of the grid, and the city stretched out all around it. We were  headed into north Stehen, which was also known as historic Stehen. This  was the oldest part of the town and was where most tourists wound up.







"Historic Stehen," I said as we pulled onto an old cobblestone street.

"Very nice," she said. "I love this architecture."

"Beautiful, no? We try very, very hard not to update everything too  much. If something old falls apart, we rebuild it as close as possible  to the original, though of course with modern amenities. We're old on  the outside, but we're very young on the inside."

"I like that," she said.

"Good." I pointed out some local landmarks, statues, and famous shops as  we drove through the streets. We began to make our way toward west  Stehen, which was really what I wanted to show her.

"This is my favorite part of the city," I said to her as we pulled down a narrow street.

West Stehen was not as nice as north Stehen. In fact, it was probably  the worst part of the city. Most of the poor congregated there, near the  waterways, but it was the liveliest part of the whole town.

We pulled over in front of a squat, gray building. I turned off the engine.

"Beautiful," she said. "Really nice."

I laughed. "This isn't an architecture tour."

"What is it then?"

"Watch."

We sat there together in silence for a few minutes before finally the  doors to the building opened up. People spilled out of them, people of  all shapes and sizes and ages and races.

"This is one of the many Stehen food banks," I said. "If you live in  Stehen and you're hungry, we will feed you. There are hundreds of these  all over the city."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really. We pay for it out of the royal treasury. Any citizen is  eligible, though we prefer that people use it only if they need it."

"That's very nice," she said.

"In Stehen, we have food banks, free clinics, and even free lodging for  the poorest of the poor. We take care of our people here."

"We have this back in America too, you know," she said.

"You do," I agreed, "but not like here. Nobody is turned away, ever. If  every single person in this city showed up here in the next hour, every  single person would be fed. Every single day, three meals a day."

"That's amazing," she said.

"And the clinics offer as much free medical care as possible," I said.  "Our country has universal healthcare, and I truly believe that  healthcare is a right for all people."

"Very progressive," she said.

I laughed. "I'm not telling you this to impress you," I said, "though I  don't mind it if you're impressed. I want you to understand that just  because we aren't a democracy, that doesn't mean we're tyrants."

"You don't seem like a tyrant," she said. "But shouldn't the people have a say in who rules them?"

"Maybe," I agreed. "Maybe they do. But right now, they're fed and  healthy and almost all of them have a place to sleep at night. Things  are good here."

"Except for the rebels."

I sighed. "Yes, except for them." I pulled back out into traffic and we resumed our tour.

I pointed out the historic bread bakery, an old hotel that was rebuilt  hundreds of times over the years because they kept insisting on leaving  candles burning all night long, and many other places.

Finally, we pulled down a narrow alley. "I have one last thing to show you," I said, "but I want a little privacy."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Instead of answering, I swung the wheel hard to the right.

The tires screeched as I accelerated down the side alley. The front  security car slammed on their brakes, but it was too late. The following  car stayed behind me.

I came to the end of the alley and wove through traffic, speeding up.  The big security truck had a hard time keeping up in the narrow streets.  We came to a red light, but I blew through it, blaring the horn.

"What are you doing?" Bryce called out, but I just laughed. We made it  through the intersection no problem, and the following truck had to  stop.

I made a quick series of turns and then finally slowed down. "I think we lost them," I said.

"Are you crazy?"

"Maybe," I admitted, laughing. "But, man, that was fun."

"You scared the hell out of me. Tell me if you're going to do something insane next time."

"Why? It was more fun my way." I smirked at her and drove for a few more minutes before finally coming to a stop.