My mind feels foggy as my eyes flutter open. I try to move, but arms tighten around me. I look down to see strong, tanned arms wrapped around my body, holding me possessively. My heart is beating like crazy. I look around the room, trying to remember where I am, but nothing in this room is familiar. Nothing about how I got here is coming to me.

My legs are tangled with the mystery man wrapped around me, and I have to move a little to free myself. I don’t feel any soreness between my thighs. I would be sore if I had sex, right? I shift again and hear the man whisper my name. I glance back down at the arm again, and it shifts so his hand comes into view.

My heart stops cold when I see a wedding band on his finger. I close my eyes tightly and open them again, thinking maybe this is all a bad dream. Nope, I’m still here.

“What have you done?” I whisper to myself.

I have to get out of here. Slowly I try to work my way out of his arms, but they only tighten further. His face comes to my neck as he starts to kiss me on my bare shoulder. It’s then I realize I’m naked. I move just a fraction and am relieved when I can feel that I have underwear on. At least there’s that. I’m trying to find one positive thing to grasp. I’m pretty sure I didn’t have sex last night.

“Let me go,” I whisper, but the man doesn’t. In fact, his hold becomes impossibly tighter.

“Never,” he growls into my ear before going back to kissing my neck.

I hate how my body tingles at his touch, and I even tilt my head so that he can reach more of my skin. As I close my eyes and feel the soft press of his lips on me, I think about his voice. It sounds familiar, and things start fluttering back through my mind.

“Romy?” I say his name, but he doesn’t stop kissing me. Instead, he latches even more, sucking me into his mouth.

“Wife,” he finally responds between kisses, and my head really spins.

I lift my hand to see a wedding ring on my finger. The night before floods back. I went to his brother Carlos’s wedding last night. It was amazing there. I spent most of the night watching the bride and the groom. They were so in love, and it was beautiful to watch. I wanted that. A love that was like nothing else. A love like my own parents had until my mom was taken from my dad and me.

Like always, whenever Romy and I were at the same event, he’d seek me out and drive me crazy. I’d had a crush on him for what felt like forever, but everyone knew he had a reputation, that he jumped from one bed to another, so I’d always tried to keep my distance. Romy has heartbreak written all over him.

I’m looking for my one true love, but I guess the same could be said about him. I’m always in the newspapers and magazines with headline drama. They talk about who I’m dating and what I’m doing, but they’re mostly lies. I don’t go through men because it’s something that I like or want to do. I’m looking for my one true love. But I can never seem to get past the first date. So the media brands me a serial dater and gives me a reputation I didn’t even have fun earning.

Now I’m married.

A lump forms in my throat. I’m married. Married to a man who won’t be able to love me like I want. I know his type. Or at least I think I do. He’ll have mistresses in different cities.

There’s no going back. Divorce isn’t allowed. I’m a princess, after all. Whoever I marry will take over the throne for my father. I’m an only child, and I sealed my fate without seeking my father’s approval. This is bigger than marriage.

A tear slides down my cheek as I think about what my father is going to say. My parents have always been so proud of me. They’ve always known I wanted true love like they found. My mother used to tell me stories about their romance, about how my father almost gave up his title to have her, but at the last minute they had the rules changed. She wasn’t a princess and didn’t come from royal blood, but like me, my father was looking for love. He didn’t care what it would cost to have it. That’s why he said he would never arrange a marriage for me and that I was to fall in love on my own.

Romy turns me on my back, and he comes over my body, looming over me. His eyes search mine before me leans down and kisses away the single tear.

“Did I hurt you?” His hold on me eases, and I can see the concern on his face. His eyes grow soft.

Why does he always have to be so sweet? Hell, why does he have to be so freaking handsome? It’s been hard fighting off his advances for the past year. He’s always so charming, and when I try to ignore him, he makes me laugh with his cocky remarks. He also makes me want to smack him and kiss him at the same time.

“What did we do?” I ask him. His eyes search my face, then fill with sadness. It’s a look I’ve never seen on him before. He’s always been happy Romy to me.

I remember drinking a little too much champagne while watching the happy couple together at the reception. Then I remember dancing. God, I think I danced most of the night with Romy. Images of us laughing float through my mind. I remember him twirling me around the ballroom. In fact, I know he saved me from a terrible date I’d been on.

“Why am I naked?” I add, wanting more of my memory to come back, but it’s not happening.

Romy drops his forehead to mine, a pained expression crossing his face.

“After we got married we came back to my room, where you stripped your dress off,” he tells me, and then I remember doing it. I also remember doing a little dance while I did it, as Romy’s eyes raked over my body.

“I tried to get you to put on my shirt, but…” He trails off, and I remember that, too. He’d made me lie down in bed. I kept trying to get him to do more, but he kept telling me no, wrapping his body around me to cuddle. Nothing more.

“I…” I can’t find any words to say. “I’m in your room? In your bed?” I finally get out.

“Yes,” he says simply. For some reason, anger grows within me, and I don’t know what to do with it. Or where to direct it. God knows how many women he’s had in this bed. I’m not even special.

I’m never going to know love.

Maybe that isn’t true. Romy could easily make me fall in love with him. But I don’t know that he could give me the marriage I’ve always dreamed of.

What have I done?