There was no way I was becoming some breeder for this royal asshole.

There was just no way. I didn’t come out to Starkland just to become Trip’s wife or whatever he wanted. That was just absolutely insane.

We didn’t know each other. Sure, he didn’t actually say that it was his idea, but he also wasn’t acting as if the whole thing was crazy.

It was crazy, though. Absolutely, definitely, totally insane.

As I sat down on my enormous bed, I was so furious and humiliated. That was why there were so many important people invited to that dinner. They all wanted to get a glimpse at the foreigner who might become the new queen of Starkland.

And I was betting that everyone knew but me. Everyone in that room had been talking and looking at me because everyone knew why I was really there. Meanwhile, I’d been sitting at that table like an idiot, totally unaware of what was happening around me.

Trip wanted to marry me. More than that, he wanted to get me pregnant. I pictured him pressing his hard, muscular body against mine, his lips grazing my neck as he pressed my hands behind my back. Trip would take me however he wanted, because that was the kind of man Trip was.

I shook my head, dispelling that thought. It wasn’t the time to fantasize about the king. I was angry, not excited, although my wet underwear begged to differ.

I clenched my jaw and got changed out of my dress. The only thing I wanted was to get out of Starkland as fast as possible. I wanted to get on the first flight home and never, ever think about Trip, the king who wanted to knock me up and lock me away in some tower.

Once I was changed, I flopped down on my bed and resumed my internet research. I went through page after page about Trip, most of it in Starklandian and a lot of it poorly translated. I cobbled together as much information about him as I could, but none of it gave me a clearer picture.

He was a player and a bad boy. He had also served time in the military and apparently had seen real fighting. According to one article, he had been awarded one of Starkland’s most prestigious medals for bravery when he saved his entire platoon. I tried to figure out if that was real or just some crap made up by the royal publicist, but there was no more information out there about it.

I fell deep down the Trip rabbit hole. Page after page of his boyish, smiling eyes, his shadowy stubble, his perfect jaw, his dark hair. Page after page of him shirtless by the pool, dark tattoos covering his body.

Until finally someone knocked on my door.

I sat up, quickly shutting the laptop’s lid. “Who’s there?” I called out.

“It’s me.”

Lucy. I got out of bed and opened the door. She was still wearing her evening clothes, and I guessed they were just getting back.

“Where did you go?” she asked me. “People were wondering. King Christophe covered for you, but I wasn’t buying it.”

I clenched my jaw. “I had to get out of there.”

“Why?” She stepped into my room and shut the door. “It was extremely rude of you. First you slap the man, and then you leave his party out of nowhere.” She shook her head with disappointment.

“Do you know why we’re here?” I asked her.

The pause and the look on her face told me everything. “What do you mean?” she asked, trying to cover herself.

“Don’t lie to me,” I said to her slowly. “I can tell you know something. Trip told me. That’s why I left.”

She sighed. “They told us earlier, after we left you in your room.”

“Dad knows too?”

“Yes, he does.”

I was absolutely furious. “And you two let me go to that dinner?”

“We didn’t see the harm. If you didn’t know, what did it matter?”

“They were all staring at me like I was a piece of meat,” I said, angry beyond words. “Hell, to them I probably was.”

“It’s not like that,” Lucy said. “Yes, they want you to marry him; and yes, they want you to bear his children. But they’re not monsters here, Bryce. They’ll treat you very, very well. You’ll have influence, power.”

“I’ll be some foreign queen brought in to make the king look better.”

“You’ll have a comfortable life. Your children will be royalty.”

“And what will I be?” I asked her, turning away. “I’ll be nothing.”

“Don’t talk that way,” Lucy said. “Do you know how many people would give anything for this opportunity?”

“They can have it,” I said. “I’m not interested.”

“Stay and hear them out. Get to know the king. Who knows, maybe you’ll like him.”

“I won’t. He’s an arrogant ass. I want to get out of here.”

“Too bad,” she said.

I turned back to her and gaped. “What?”

“I said, too bad. Your father and I already decided that we’re staying and seeing this through.”

I didn’t bother saying a word to her. I simply walked past her, out the door, and down to their room. I knocked until my father opened up and let me inside.

Their place was as lavish as mine was, but I didn’t take the time to really pay much attention to the details.

“Tell me it isn’t true,” I said to him.

He frowned. “I take it Lucy told you about the marriage thing.”

“Dad, how could you?”

“Hold on now. I’m not actually marrying you off or anything like that. All I said was we’d see what you thought.”

“Lucy tells me we’re staying.”

He sighed. “Well, part of the deal is we have to stay for these two weeks before you can decide. If we leave now, you lose your chance forever.”

“So then I lose it.”

He shook his head. “No. You’re staying.”

“What?”

“Listen to me, Bryce. Maybe you don’t want this after two weeks, and that’s fine. We’ll leave. But this is an incredible opportunity for you.”

“How can you say that?”

“Because it’s true.” He sighed, taking off his tie. “I want what’s best for you.”

“What’s best for me is leaving.”

“I think you’re wrong.”

I turned and stormed out of the room. Lucy was in the hallway and tried to speak, but I glared at her. She was smart enough to shut her mouth. I unlocked my room’s door with my palm print and then slammed it behind me.

I threw myself onto the bed, not sure if I wanted to scream or to cry.

Here I was, stuck in a foreign country, and the king wanted to make me his bride. Maybe that didn’t sound so bad, but to me it was like a death sentence.

I wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to work with people, to help them. I wanted to be my own person, not some figurehead queen that only needed to pump out babies for his royal asshole.

And everyone knew it but me.

As I went to settle into my bed, I heard another knock at my door. Wondering when the hell this night was going to end, I got up and angrily pulled the door open.

Nobody was there. Alone on the ground was a box wrapped like a present. I looked up and down the hall, but nobody was there.

Curious, I picked it up and carried it inside. I sat down on the couch and slowly unwrapped the box. The paper was thick and expensive, and the ribbon was beautiful and soft.

Inside was a plain white box. I slowly lifted off the lid and sifted through the white tissue paper.

I bit my lip at what I saw. Sitting in the box was a pair of boxing gloves and a pair of black lace panties.

That asshole. He thought this was so funny. I nearly threw the box across the room, but there was a card at the bottom. I grabbed it and turned it over, reading it.

“Bryce, sorry if I shocked you. Here’s a little token of my friendship. Trip.”

I was angry, I was humiliated, and I was strangely excited.

I didn’t understand it. I was angry and wanted to leave, but I also couldn’t stop thinking about Trip and his cocky smile. I wondered if he had picked the panties out himself, and if he had pictured me wearing them when he put them in the box. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, he was handsome as hell, by far the best-looking man I’d ever met.

But that wasn’t enough. Funny gift or not, I wasn’t going to be some breeding cow for him. Maybe I was stuck for two weeks, but that didn’t matter.

The king was never going to have me.