Page 107 of Royal Mistake
Big estate. Bigger budget. Ginormous risks.
Three days until our wedding. Three little days until I was to become Mrs. Valerio Royal.
I still couldn’t believe it.
Pushing the laptop away, I toyed with drinking another mug of coffee, but I’d had enough I was already wired. The day had dawned as usual with blue skies and a calm ocean. High tide was later in the day, making everything serene. I enjoyed this time of morning more than any other.
I headed toward the kitchen door, sliding it wide open to catch the morning breeze and the scent of the ocean. As I breathed in, I leaned against the doorjamb. So much had changed in such a short period of time, it also seemed as if the earth had stopped turning on its axis.
With all the crumbs Valerio had tossed out on a red carpet, the last few days had been deathly quiet. Too quiet. Eerily so. Had it given us both time to continue getting to know each other, to go through files and learn more about the business? Yes. Were we any closer to discovering the blackmail artist?
No.
He or she had gone into the darkness as well. It was like a vicious game of cat and mouse and at this point, we were the mice.
I moved to the railing, gripping the cool iron and stretching my back as I glanced at the sun just starting to shimmer across the ocean.
Feeling his presence, I tingled all over. Even my naked toes were curling and I was breathless. He’d barely slept more than a few hours at a time but after we’d succumbed to two delicious rounds of passion, he’d finally fallen asleep with his arm around me. I’d watched him for over an hour until the light had begun to peek over the horizon.
Valerio had been so deep in sleep that he hadn’t realized I’d left the bed or the room, something he’d forbidden me from doing. He’d told me it was a needed caution. I’d known it was simply because he was intent on dominating me in every way.
Which I had to admit I did enjoy more than I’d cared to acknowledge.
“And how is my very bad girl on this beautiful morning?” he asked as he very lightly brushed the tips of his fingers down my arms, also cupping my shoulder with his soft lips.
“Mmm… I can’t complain. And how is my sexy, arrogant, and misogynistic hunk of a man today?”
His immediate answer was biting down on my shoulder. The pain was glorious since the night had been filled with passion and not anguish. He’d been right in that I did enjoy a hint of agony with my ecstasy.
Damn the man. It always seemed he was right.
“Arrogant? Misogynistic? My, aren’t we in a mood this morning? Perhaps because you disobeyed me and left our bed.” He swirled his tongue around the bruised area before grinding his groin back and forth across my bottom.
He did so know how to turn a woman on first thing in the morning.
“It’s not our bed until we’re married.”
“Oh, yes. Formalities.” He continued his seductive tactics, scrunching my hair in his hand, yanking back on my head so he could capture my mouth.
Yes, I adored his dominant side more than I ever would have imagined. As he thrust his tongue inside, I did what I could to take control, sucking on it until he was the one who growled into the kiss.
After regaining control, he took his time exploring. But when he pulled back, he fisted the hem of my robe with one hand, daring to untie the sash with the other.
“You did say you wanted a huge wedding with all the bells and whistles,” I breathed before dragging the tip of my tongue across my bottom lip. He tasted of spearmint, which I happened to adore.
“What does that entail on this fine day?”
“A final dress fitting and lunch with my two bridesmaids.” I couldn’t invent friends and he really didn’t have any other than his two brothers so the numbers on both sides had equaled out nicely.
“Perhaps I’ll meet you at the bridal shop.” He cupped and squeezed my breast as he was rolling his finger up and down the crack of my ass. I could easily tell what the powerful man had on his mind.
I quivered, my pussy throbbing intently.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” I mused. “This may be a fake marriage but there still will some traditions maintained, or we will have bad luck the entire time we’re forced to be hitched.” I felt strangely awkward about what I’d just said, even sucking in my breath.
We were closer than a lot of couples I’d heard or read about. Even those in romance books had rough patches and we were getting along very well. Okay, I was no fool. We barely knew each other after less than three weeks or had it been four? But what I had learned I didn’t just like.
I loved.