Chapter 11
Staring out the window, Mila was unaware of the goose bumps forming on her arms from the air conditioning. She couldn’t feel much of anything at the moment. Inside, she was numb. Numb with fear. Pain. Betrayal. And so many other reasons.
It was probably for the best, she thought. Being numb meant that she wouldn’t feel the revulsion at the prospect of marrying a man she didn’t know. A man that wasn’t Har…Tavon. Under other circumstances, she might have laughed at herself for using the man’s fake name. But nothing in her world was funny now. Everything was…wrong. Bad.
Numb.
A harsh knock on the door to her suite interrupted her pity party and she turned. Mila was just about to give permission to enter when the door swung open. The harsh reprimand was already on her lips when Tavon stepped through the door.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, crossing her arms over her stomach, unconsciously protecting herself from any new accusations he might throw at her. She realized once again that she was marrying Tavon’s brother. She would be living in this palace. So would Tavon. Oh, he’d travel a great deal, just as she used to do, but…he’d come home for the holidays and to visit his parents. He lived here. This was his home base.
The thought of seeing him throughout the year, never knowing when she might run into him, made her tremble. How was she going to do this? How was she going to sit with him at family dinners and…have another man’s child? See him and know that she could never be in his arms again?
The sob doubled her over and she would have fallen to her knees with the force of it. But Tavon pulled her into his arms, holding her steady and Mila buried her face in his chest, needing his warmth. “I can’t do it! I just can’t do it, Tavon!” she whispered with heart-felt vehemence.
“What can’t you do?”
“I can’t marry your brother! But I can’t let everyone down either. I’m stuck and either way I go, something bad will happen.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked, leading her over to one of the sofas. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap, holding her close. Mila wrapped her arms around his neck and cried, desperate for a solution. Usually, she was the one who figured out a solution that could make everyone happy. But in this instance, she was lost. Completely lost!
For several long moments, she stayed just like that, absorbing the warmth of his body and the strength in his arms. When the tears subsided, she sighed, turning slightly as she stared at the wall, still snuggled in his arms.
Slowly, she started talking, explaining the tears and her frustration. “After years of listening to every side of an issue, I can’t figure out how to get out of my own predicament. I can’t figure it out and it’s killing me!” His strong hands soothed against her back, but nothing could soothe her now. Burying her face against his neck, the tears started once again. “I can’t let him touch me, Tavon. Not the way you touch me! I can’t!”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t! You don’t know what it’s like to be pulled in two different directions. I love you so much and yet, my father is forcing me to marry your brother! Not just another man, but your brother! How can either of us have a future together? I don’t love your brother!”
“I know. You love me.”
“I do! I love you so much!” And tears continued to slide down her cheeks, soaking the front of his shirt. “Perhaps if I’d never met you. If I hadn’t gone to the zoo that afternoon, I could get through a marriage to a man I don’t love. But I did go to the zoo and you were horrible and wonderful and I can’t believe you turned my attack around on me so easily, and you found my knife!” She gasped and pulled out of his arms, staring at him in shock and horror. “You forced me to drop my knife! No one has been able to best me like that!”
“And you liked it,” he asserted arrogantly, teasing her.
“No! I hated you!”
He chuckled, his thumb reaching up to wipe away a tear. “And yet, you walked with me throughout the rest of the afternoon.”
A weak smile formed on her trembling lips. “Yeah, you turned charming after that.”
“You took off your hat.”
She leaned back, staring into his eyes, unaware of how her mascara was streaming down her face. “My hat? What was wrong with my hat?”
“I hated that hat. It was awful. But,” he moved his hand to her cheeks, his thumbs rubbing away more tears, “that hat is what caught my attention in the first place.” He chuckled as he hesitated, thinking back to that afternoon. “No, that’s not really true. It was your ass.”
She shifted on his lap, her mouth open in a gasp of horror. “My butt? You were looking at my butt?”
“Hell yes!” He leaned forward and kissed her, his hands moving lower to cup her bottom. “I love this part of you. And yeah, that’s what caught my attention at first.” He kissed her again. “Then your hat.”
Mila blinked again, knowing she should pull out of his arms but he just felt too good! “What was wrong with my hat?”
He shrugged and the movement tilted her closer to his body. Not that she minded. “It was ugly. You weren’t. The two didn’t match.”
She thought back to that first day, trying to remember. “I thought it was the way I walked and my clothing that didn’t match.”
His lips quirked upwards slightly. “That too.”
Mila rolled her eyes and slipped off his lap. Now that her crying binge was over, she felt slightly better. Perhaps the stress of the day had been intensified because she’d been holding everything inside. “Well, regardless, I’m still stuck. And I don’t know how I’m going to deal with all of this mess.”
“You’re not marrying my brother,” Tavon announced, and all of that arrogance she’d seen in him those first few days was right there. Mila realized that it hadn’t disappeared, he’d just been hiding it from her for a while.
Turning away from him, she wrapped her arms around her waist. “I have to marry your brother.”
He stood up as well and walked over to her, but thankfully, he didn’t touch her. “Not happening, Mila.”
“You don’t understand.” She looked out the window, trying to find the words. “My father…he threatened me and–”
“No,” Tavon interrupted and turned her around, his strong hands gently holding her upper arms as he looked down at her. “You don’t understand. First of all, you’re in love with me. And I love you too. There’s absolutely no way I would let you marry my brother, not when we feel the way we do about each other.”
“Yes, but…!”
“No, Mila. Not happening. Besides, Jaffri is in love with someone else. Some woman named Giselle and…”
Mila pulled back. “Giselle? The event coordinator?”
He stopped, looking at her curiously. “Do you know this woman?”
“Yes. Your sister and mother arranged for Giselle to help with a series of events over the next several weeks. The three of us are traveling around Altair and Sidoon, discussing women’s issues, promoting education, women’s health, safety, and a few other topics.”
Tavon was silent for a long moment, then grinned. “So that’s the plan?”
“Plan?”
“Yes. Sada mentioned something about countering the announcement yesterday. That’s how she’s going to do it.”
Mila shook her head. “You don’t understand. My father threatened to reverse several important laws if I didn’t marry Prince Jaffri. He wants the connection to Altair and he wants me married.”
Tavon pulled her in closer, kissing the top of her head. “Well, then he’s just going to have to accept that his connection is through me instead of my brother. He’ll deal with it, because you’re not marrying my brother, even if he was willing to marry you.”
“Tavon…!”
“No, Mila. Just…stop arguing.”
Mila stopped, but only because she didn’t want to argue any longer and, in her experience, there was no point. She didn’t know how to get through to him how stubborn her father could be. “My father is leaving this evening for Sidoon.”
“You’re staying here.”
She sniffed, burying her nose against the warmth of his neck. “He wants me to stay and get to know Jaffri.”
She stiffened when she felt his hands slide under her blouse. “I think I’m going to encourage you to get to know me a bit better,” he teased.
Mila laughed, starting to pull out of his arms. “Technically, I’m still engaged to Jaffri,” she told him.
He shook his head. “No Mila. You were never engaged to my brother. Just because your father joined your hands and blessed the imaginary union, doesn’t mean anything.”
“You know that it does,” she argued, pulling out of his arms and backing away.
But he wasn’t letting her get too far away from him. He stalked her as she moved. “Mila, Jaffri is pretty much engaged to that other woman…what’s her name?”
“Giselle.”
“Right. I really should get to know my future sister-in-law,” he joked. “And besides, when Jaffri sets his mind to something, he doesn’t mess around. I’m guessing that his wedding will take place quickly. I also think that the seminars and lecture series on women’s issues is brilliant, even though I don’t like giving credit to my baby sister for anything.” He chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her back into his arms.
“What’s wrong with giving your sister credit?”
He laughed as he lifted her into his arms. “She’s a brat and too young to have come up with a plan that brilliant.”
“So you’re…”
“I’m going to offer you a proposal, Mila.”
He laid her on the bed, where she sat back on her elbows, watching him as he stripped off his clothes. Mila knew that she should object, that she should tell him to stop, to leave until everything was resolved. But she didn’t want to. And Mila was so tired of doing everything she was supposed to do. Tavon helped her to do the things she wanted to do.
“What’s this proposal?”
He shrugged out of his shirt, tossing it behind him before starting on the buckle of his slacks. “I propose that you go to all the events Sada suggested. Speak out about all of the issues and get the groups into the headlines. It will connect all of the groups, give them more support and a louder voice. Give women more of a chance to speak out, show them that their issues and concerns aren’t isolated. Think about the #MeToo movement. All those women knew that others were dealing with the same issues, but once their voice and issues grew into a larger movement, there was more attention to it and they were able to get more results. Men were fired, forced out of the jobs where they were abusing their power. It worked, Mila. The events over the next week will help raise women’s issues, give everyone a voice.”
“You really think so?” She asked, thinking it through. He was right, she thought, watching as he dumped his shirt onto the floor.
“Yes. Just don’t answer any questions about your supposed engagement to my brother.” He’d already toed off his shoes. A moment later, his slacks and boxers were gone. He stood at the side of the bed, gloriously naked. “You show the world your perspective, speak out and keep on talking. Your father can rescind any rules that he wants,” he offered, reaching down and taking her shoes off, tossing them away. “And he probably will do that. But you’ve done an excellent job in Sidoon of educating women, giving them a voice. They aren’t going to let that die out. Just keep on doing it.”
“But…”
“Mila, if you give in to your father’s blackmail, then you’re doing exactly what you’ve been fighting against for so long. Giving in to his pressure means that a man is still in control.”
She thought about that for a long moment before nodding in agreement. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought about it that way.”
“Besides, you’ll be interviewed repeatedly when we announce our wedding plans,” and her slacks were pulled off, dumped unceremoniously onto the floor right next to his shirt. “You’ll have a very strong voice to help your people. I propose that you don’t give in.”
The realization of how right on target he was stunned her. She’d been doing exactly what he’d said! Her father had demanded something that he wanted and the rest of the world, specifically his daughter, be damned!
“I can’t believe I almost gave in to his manipulations!” she muttered, stunned but then Tavon grabbed her ankles and spread her legs.
“I’m also formally proposing,” he announced, moving between her legs and settling his huge body against hers. He held his weight on his elbows, but she was well and truly trapped in this position.
“You’re proposing to me?” she gasped, but Mila wasn’t sure if the reaction was because of the feel of his body against hers, or because he was proposing marriage.
“Yes. I’m proposing. I’m formally proposing marriage. I want to marry you.” He shifted against her as his hands slid under her blouse. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Her blouse hit the floor. He didn’t even bother to undo the buttons. He just pulled it off and immediately started on her lacy bra, tossing that onto the floor too. Shifting to the side so that he was leaning only on one arm, but with his hips still pressing between her legs, his fingers cupped her breast, tweaking the hardened tip. “I want to have lots and lots of kids with you.”
“Lots?” she breathed, not sure what he was talking about. Kids. Right. Lots. His thumb circled her nipple and she groaned. “How many is ‘lots’?”
He lowered his head, chuckling softly. “Needing to get all of the details before you commit to my proposal?”
“Yes!” she cried out, mostly in response of Tavon’s tongue laving her nipple. “Yes!”
“Yes, you need the details?” he asked, moving to her other nipple. “Or yes, you like what I’m doing?”
“Tavon, you’re not…this isn’t the best time to…” she couldn’t finish her admonition because he shifted against her, grinding against that spot low on her body that felt too good. She wanted more and arched her hips.
“I’m not what?” he teased, giving her what she wanted. “I’m proposing to you, Mila. Are you going to answer me?”
“Yes!”
He moved his mouth back to the first nipple, teasing it once again. When she tried to wiggle away, he held her close, but lifted his head. “I’m taking that as a formal agreement to my proposal, Mila.” He kissed her then, deeply and thoroughly. When he lifted his head again, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. “And that’s how engagements are made. Not by someone telling two strangers that they are getting married. But by…”
“Sexually teasing someone until they’ll agree to anything?” she asked, shifting her hips again, but this time, it was to tease him and she beamed when it worked. The spark in his eyes shifted from tormentor to tormented.
Moments later, the mattress shifted and she knew that he was grabbing a condom. Sighing with relief, she reached down, her fingers wrapping around his erection.
“Mila,” he growled in warning.
She didn’t stop, only smiling when he fumbled as he tried to open the foil packet. When he stopped his efforts and closed his eyes, she grew bolder. After having spent so much time in bed with him, she was starting to get a feel for what he liked. Her fingers squeezed, rubbing up and down his length and she loved the hard feel of him, the power in that part of his anatomy that gave her so much pleasure.
“No more!” he snapped, taking her hands and lifting them over her head. “If you keep that up, I won’t be any use to you,” he told her as he rolled the condom down over his shaft. When he was fully sheathed, he shifted once more, pressing between her legs and, in anticipation, she bent her knees, wrapping her legs around his hips.
“Now, Tavon,” she whispered. “Please, now!”
He didn’t disappoint! He never did and she sighed with relief when he pressed into her. Deeper and deeper, he filled her up completely. Mila shifted slightly, relaxing her muscles to take all of him as her hands moved around his neck, tilting her hips to take him even deeper.
When he started shifting, thrusting, she arched into him, wanting every part of him. Wanting all of him! “More!” she sobbed, tightening her arms around his neck. Sure enough, with her request, he sped up, moving faster, thrusting harder. His hand moved down her body, cupping her bottom as he lifted her hips up to meet each of his thrusts.
“Now, Mila!” he groaned. A moment later, she felt her body shudder as her climax hit her hard and just kept going. Vaguely, she felt him moving faster and knew that he would find his own satisfaction moments later, but all she could do was hold onto him, know that he wouldn’t let her go.
A long time later, she sighed, relaxing her arms from around his neck as her body slowly came down.
“Thank you,” she whispered, shivering with a smile when she felt his lips nuzzle the sensitive skin of her neck. “I love you!”
She felt him shudder again and tightened her legs around his waist.
“I love you too, Mila. And we’re getting married.”
She smiled. “I love the way you propose, Tavon.”
He rolled over. “Oh, I’m going to give you so many things to love about me, woman!”
She could only laugh because he was tickling her now. But she didn’t care. She loved him. She wasn’t sure how they were going to deal with her father, but right now, she didn’t care. She was with him and he’d given her the most perfect proposal a woman could want!