Jessica was back in her room, washing off her makeup and glaring at her reflection in the mirror. Situations like this aren’t the cause of one bad decision. No, it takes a string of them to bring a person to this place.
I could have asked more questions about the conference before agreeing to attend. I could have walked out with all the smart women who refused to hand their phones over.
I didn’t have to agree to everything I was asked to do.
I could have kept my mouth shut when I was with the king. If I’m honest, I only called his son sex-crazed because I was jealous that Ballasare might be kissing every woman he met.
I let myself be swayed by his beautiful eyes, his intensity, and the way my body goes full throttle when I’m around him. Crazy as it seems, I think I bring out a side of him he hides from others.
Or is it my imagination? I need to focus on the reality of my situation. I’m locked in a hotel room by a prince who thinks I’m a virgin. It would be funny if it weren’t so fucking scary.
I should have just told him I’m not a virgin anymore. I had the perfect opportunity.
Marrying a virgin is our law.
Oh, then, excuse me, I should say now that I slept with someone already. It was a bad experience so I don’t like to think about it, but considering you can’t marry someone who isn’t a virgin and I’m not one—looks like my time here is done.
So, why didn’t I say it? I alluded to it. I said I wasn’t the woman I was a year ago. He might draw the truth from that.
I should tell Simone.
Hey, Simone, I fucked a dude last year, but I didn’t write about it in my blog. My bad, I had no idea that not mentioning it would someday get me held against my will in a foreign land. No one saw that coming.
Jessica braced herself on the sink counter as she leaned closer to her reflection. This is all going to work out. Just because I told them to kill me doesn’t mean they will. We’re not back in the dark ages. I’ll mention my “condition” and they’ll let me go.
She saw the disappointment in her own expression. Don’t go there. This is a good thing. Having slept with that married douchebag will actually save me. I don’t belong here, married to an arrogant prince, forced to obey him, submitting my body to his night after night, again and again. Giving myself over to his pleasure, his kiss, those strong hands of his.
Why does that sound so good?
She closed her eyes and swallowed hard.
Because I’ve spent so much of my life dreaming of having a man look at me the way he does.
There was a knock on her hotel door. Simone? Jessica groaned because she wasn’t ready to talk to her. Simone would try to put a good spin on a situation that clearly had no up side. Slowly, Jessica made her way to the door. It wasn’t as if Simone would go away. She’d simply let herself in.
Jessica opened the door slowly. “I’d really rather not—”
Ballasare held something out to her. It took her a moment to realize it was her phone. “It’s time to return this to you.”
She took it from him with a nod. “You’re sending me home.”
“No, I’m asking you to stay.” He met her eyes, and the desire she saw in his lit an instant craving within her.
“Asking?” Jessica peered out of the door. The guards were gone.
“Stay because you want to, because you want to see the island, meet my people. Stay and climb down a cliff with me to the most beautiful beach in the world. Let me show you how good it can be here.”
This is the moment when I should just blurt out the truth. Get it over with. Like removing a Band-Aid, it’s best done quickly.
She opened her mouth to do just that when he bent and gave her a kiss full of tender promise. She dropped her phone to the floor as her hands sought the powerful muscles of his chest. It was an entirely different kiss than the one they’d shared the day before. This time his tongue teased her lips to open. This wasn’t a plundering or a claiming, it was an invitation.
One she didn’t have the strength to turn down. His hands went to her waist, holding her to him as he slowly explored and worshipped her mouth. Her mind might be buzzing with doubts, but her body knew what it wanted. Each tease of his tongue against hers sent a flutter of desire through her. There was no rush, and she could have spent a lifetime in that moment. He kissed his way across her cheek and down her neck. It was even better than she’d imagined. She arched her neck to allow him greater access and gave herself over to the pleasure. Don’t stop. Please. This is what I want.
When he finally raised his head, he pulled her flush against him and tucked her beneath his chin. His heart beat loudly in her ear. His chest rose and fell raggedly against her cheek. His excitement pulsed against her stomach.
After a lifetime of only dreaming of strong arms wrapping around her, she wasn’t in a hurry to end the experience. What was the harm of letting it go on for just a few more minutes?
The man she’d slept with hadn’t held her this way. He hadn’t made her feel both safe and wanton at the same time. Sex with him had been a quickly executed mistake with nothing but an awkward departure on his part.
A mistake that stands between me and any chance with Ballasare. Why do I have to feel this way for a man who would think of me as a whore for being with one other man?
It’s an archaic double standard.
So wrong.
But I wish I had saved myself for him.
Jessica blinked back tears. “I can’t stay,” she said thickly.
He raised her chin with his hand until she was forced to meet his eyes. “I don’t believe in the word can’t.”
A prince wouldn’t.
“I’m not the woman for you.”
He kissed her forehead. “Why don’t you let me decide that?”
Here goes. “I’m not a—”
Her words were lost in his next kiss which was bolder, deeper. It was a demonstration of how she made him feel, and that realization was dizzying. I want him. I don’t want to, but I do. And more surprisingly, he wants me.
Every dateless weekend, every dance she’d attended alone, every night she’d hugged her pillow to her and cried herself to sleep—they all faded away until there was only Ballasare and the euphoria of being in his arms.
“Maybe this is forever. Maybe we won’t make it that far, but I can’t imagine letting you go right now. I won’t force you to stay. It’s up to you, Jessica. Do you have the courage to see where this takes us?”
Ballasare hadn’t expected his request to cause her pain, but the torment in her eyes was real. He hated that his callous behavior might be the cause of her unhappiness. He knew he could be single-minded, and that at times it blinded him to the feelings of others, but he hadn’t meant to hurt her.
Her hands fisted against his chest. “I don’t know if I do or if I have the right to.”
He kissed her lips lightly. “I grant you that right. Princes can do things like that.”
She gave him a funny look. “I want to stay, but—”
He kissed her again. “It’s settled then. Come, let’s go outside before we end up doing something that would better be left for our wedding night.” He’d felt lust before, but this was deeper. Her fire, her touch, was addictive. Never before had he understood how one woman could be enough, but he couldn’t remember the face of anyone before her nor imagine wanting another as desperately as he wanted her.
She shivered against him. “You haven’t asked, and I haven’t said yes.”
“True, but I don’t see this turning out any other way, do you?”
She stepped out of his embrace. “I need a minute to think.”
Just then Simone came around the corner. “Oh, good, you’ve made up. I knew you would, so I brought the most perfect chaperones.” Just then three children bounded up behind her. The youngest looked to be around three. The two older boys were both under the age of ten.
Jessica smiled and stepped past Ballasare. She pointed at the eldest boy and said, “Let me guess, you’re Philip.” She pointed at the second boy. “That would make you Henry.” Then she bent before the little girl. “And you must be Danielle. I see you brought Mr. Fluffmonster with you.” The girl held up her white toy bunny and giggled.
All three of the children were smiling, pleased with her greeting. Ballasare looked on with pride. Warm. Welcoming. She’ll make a fine queen.
Once the children spotted him, Ballasare opened his arms and the three ran to him for a tight hug that lifted the children off their feet and deposited them all laughing. There were times when such informality would be frowned upon, but this wasn’t one of them. Although Ballasare had been looking forward to spending time alone with Jessica, he was never sorry to see his young cousins.
“Your generosity will one day be repaid to you,” Ballasare said to Simone with a wink.
Simone smiled brightly. “I hope so.”
“Could you take us to the gardens, Balla? Please?” Danielle pleaded. “I want to swing.”
“I hear there is a playroom in the bottom of a castle on the east side.”
Still smiling, Simone ruffled the hair of her granddaughter. “Ballasare is joking, sweetie. Don’t go there.” She glanced at Jessica. “I don’t suggest you go either.”
“Why? What’s really there?” Jessica asked.
Caught in the lightness of the mood, Ballasare wiggled his eyebrows. “The old dungeon.”
Jessica’s mouth dropped and she looked so adorably shocked he would have pulled her back into his arms and kissed her had they been alone.
“A real dungeon? Take us there. We’ve seen the gardens a thousand times,” Philip said.
Ballasare turned and picked up Jessica’s phone from just inside the doorway. “Your grandmother has said no, Philip, I must respect that.”
The boy made a face. “If I were the crown prince, I wouldn’t listen to anyone. I would do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.”
“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.” Ballasare repeated the words Jessica had thrown at him earlier as he handed her phone back to her. Jessica’s eyes flew to his, and he was rewarded with a smile so beautiful it stole the breath from him.
She was not an easy woman to impress, and she would hold his feet to the fire when he disappointed her, but there was a goodness in her that brought out a goodness in him. “Come, it’s a beautiful day, and I believe I can beat all of you to the elevator.”
“You’re on,” Henry and Philip said in unison.
Danielle tugged on his hand. “Carry me, Balla. I want to win.”
He bent, allowing her to climb up onto his back as she’d done many times before then bent in preparation. Before announcing the start of the race, he glanced across at Jessica. She was smiling and laughing with Simone. Yes, that’s how it should be.
He called, “Go!” and took off down the hall, easily matching his stride to his young cousins, reaching the elevator all together. Ballasare and his brothers had been raised to not see each other as competition. One might become king, but all were responsible for the survival of Rubare Virgina. He intended to pass the same philosophy down to his own children one day.
Jessica had passed every test he’d thrown at her and had come out the other side glowing—in true royal style. He’d given himself a week to make the decision, but it was a mere formality.
From the moment he’d spotted her in the crowd at the conference, no other woman had compared. She was meant to stay and rule with him. The rightness of it was clear to him.
Now all he had to do was convince her.