Prince With Benefits: A Billionaire Royal Romance (11 page)

My knees wobble when we finally stand up, right after Victor announces a special Q and A session from His Highness, and a guest.
King of All Things
plays, a shortened version of the anthem, and then it's go time.

We're hit with what seems like a hundred different cameras when we stand up. Flashing. Beaming. Blinding.

All of them wanting answers.

There's no going back. I'm about to introduce myself to a few million people I know next to nothing about.

And then, once it's over, I'm going to shut myself up and scream, as long and as loudly as I can.

I
t's
our time to shine, and I'm getting pissed.

Maybe it's the frustration that sets in every time I have to face these gutter feeding reporters, drooling over their next slice of red meat.

Or maybe it's the fact that I know she's brushing off Serena's bitchiness. I fucking knew my press secretary would make this harder the second she stepped in, and looked at me like I'd lost my damned mind for introducing my pretend fiancee.

Mostly, I'm fuming because I can barely see Erin's ass underneath that hundred year old thing she's wearing, and that's a brutal shame. She's in front of me, at the podium, trying her damnedest to follow my lead.

I want to take my bare hands and start tearing through every layer, then lay her out in front of me, naked as the day she was born.

Christ. I need to fuck this girl. However wrong, however complicated, however self-destructive, I don't care. My cock can't even try to give a shit.

I look into the closest camera and smile, calm and cool as I humanly can. “Ladies, gentleman, and friends of the kingdom. This is a very special day for our people, our family, and for me, especially. You'll recognize the special guest at my side as Erin Warwick, daughter of Tom, the journalist from the United States. We're not up here to discuss her dad's health, or book a follow-up, so don't get any crazy ideas.”

A couple laughs ripple through the crowd. I'm going to tease the assholes as long as I can, before I hit them between the eyes, and leave them running around like headless hens.

“Those of you who've followed me for years know I'm all about the unexpected. Miss Warwick tumbling into my arms is the happiest surprise I've ever had the pleasure of receiving.” I pause, wanting to snort at my own prim and proper bullshit.

The press laps it up, of course. They love the Jekyll and Hyde split in my ego. One more contrast between buttoned up heir to the throne in public and the shameless playboy who gives them infinite drama when his private life leaks.

“Sire?” Vic mouths it from the side of the room, letting me know I've let my mind wander too long.

“Yes, well, this world's full of shocks. Some of them very ugly, like the time I found out my father had gone down with his yacht, lost to the sea forever. Some surprises, however, are quite beautiful. I walked into that interview with the Warwick Report expecting a slew of pointed questions. I didn't expect him to collapse on this very stage, and wind up leaving our kingdom for the best care a man can receive for his condition. I'm pleased to be a part of that treatment, whatever it takes to save the life of a world renowned journalist.”

Next to me, Erin's face has turned visibly somber. I've said enough to play the kind, charitable Prince. I'm not going to dwell on her dear old dad's health a second longer than I need to.

“What I didn't expect, ladies and gentleman, was to find something wonderful in that public tragedy. You're all wondering why she's here, at my side, today. I won't leave you in suspense any longer. I've gotten to know her better than I ever imagined since the last day the cameras landed on us. Erin?” I turn to her, pull her closer, taking her hand.

She's squeezing me tight, but we can do better than that. I lace my fingers through hers and take her tighter, owning her fingers the way I want to claim the rest of her body.

“I wasn't looking at the time, but I can't deny what's right in front of me, precious and pure. I'm pleased to announce I've found my future wife, and the kingdom's next Princess.” I wait for stunned murmurs to whisper through the crowd before I continue. “Erin Warwick and I are engaged. We're due to be wed this winter, shortly before Christmas.”

I see Erin in my peripheral vision. Her eyes are huge.

We are?
She knows I've just taken a piss on grandmom's conditions, setting a firm date nobody else knows about.

The room explodes. Every reporter jumps up, going completely apeshit. The next time I speak into the mic, I have to raise my voice, watching as Serena scrambles desperately through the rows of press, trying to restore some order with threats about throwing them out.

My guards have closed in, prepped for trouble, however unlikely.

“I'll be taking your questions for the next few minutes, once you're ready to quiet down.”

That does it. Slowly, haltingly, the wild animals get back in their seats and shut the fuck up. That is, until the first one stands up, practically jumping out of her heels to flag me down.

“Your Highness! Isn't this happening very fast? How could you decide to marry her after only knowing her for a few days?”

“Prince Silas – over here! Does the Queen know and approve? What's she said about all this?”

“Prince, Prince, Prince! Does Miss Warwick know the first thing about this kingdom, or what she's getting herself into? She's barely been here a week, for Christ's sake!”

“Please, please. One at a time.” I hold my hands up patiently like I'm talking to excitable children. “It's true this is happening very fast. There's no good explanation, except for the fact that faith and love move in mysterious ways. I've had a better kindred spirit in Erin this past week than I've ever had in anyone else. There's only one answer I can give. When a man meets his soulmate, he just knows.”

I look at her. She's red as a damned beet from all the attention. Seeing her nervous expression, the way she sucks her little lip, douses the fire in my dick with kerosene.

I can't hold back. I snatch her hand, bring it to my lips, and kiss it like I'm sucking her face.

A couple dozen phones and cameras fire like machine guns for the next thirty seconds. When I finally pull away, she's shaking. I put one arm around her, bringing her closer, steadying her.

“Erin? Why don't you take the next question, love? The one about the Queen...”

She shakes her head, but I push her toward the mic. Time to do her part, and show me I haven't made a giant mistake.

My hand drifts down her back, trying to calm her, stopping just shy of that sweet, round ass hiding beneath the dress.

“The Queen knows, and she agrees, ladies and gentleman,” she says very softly.

“Louder.” I whisper in her ear, letting my lips graze her skin when I pull back.

Fuck, she's burning up. Like a fever. Tempting me to make her body blaze a hundred degrees hotter.

“Her Majesty approves!” she says, this time louder, shouting over the commotion. “And I think I deserve a little more credit than you're giving me. It's true that I'm not a subject of Saint Moore's by birth, but I've been reading about this island and the royal family for years. Coming here was a dream, whatever else happened with my father. It's been a bigger dream than anything I could've imagined, meeting my future husband, the love of my life. I'm going to marry this man next to me, His Royal Highness, and I don't care if anybody wants to question it. They'll see the truth, in time.”

“Very bold.” I whisper in her ear again, this time more loudly, while the journalists break into another mad bout of jeering questions and cheers.

This time, the guards move in. A reporter from outside the capital shoves a man wearing a French tricolor on his press badge, and all hell starts breaking loose.

It only takes one brief flash of a taser to make the rest of them settle the fuck down. All eight guards in my personal entourage, plus several more palace security members, patrol each row like sheepdogs, herding the journalists into their seats.

“This is what you wanted a career in?” I ask, quirking an eyebrow.

“Oh, shut up.” She's careful to lean away from the mic, elbowing me in the stomach softly.

I'm so ripped I barely even feel it. Technically, she's just committed assault on her royal fiance, and I don't even care.

It just makes my dick throb harder. I lean in, wrapping one arm around her waist, bringing her into me.

I see her reflection in the teleprompter next to us. I never even use the fucking thing, but it's there for notes when formal speeches happen up here.

Right now, it gives me a perfect view of her face.

She's smiling through her nervousness. The redness has settled into her cheeks, painting them with a rosy hue – the kind I imagine she wears after she's come herself breathless.

“Miss Warwick! Prince Silas!” A bitch I recognize stands up. It's Eva Patina, an award winning shit stirrer from Ireland, notorious for giving celebrities hell across the continent. “I want to know one thing – what's
really
going on here? You can't expect the whole world to believe in this love at first sight charade. She looks like she's barely into this – barely into
you
, Your Highness. How much did you pay her?”

Fuck.
Eva smiles her world eating grin, flashing her overly perfect teeth, framed in expensive ruby lipstick. She has an uncanny knack for seeing right through me, and everybody else unlucky enough to take her stupid questions.

“How much?” I step up to the mic, tightening my hold on Erin. “How about this much?”

Time to fight fire with fire, and give my own dick a little relief before it burns through my pants.

Erin gasps a little as I tip her back, grab her neck, and bring her into my kiss. Feeling her lips on mine makes me see white.

Goddamn, she tastes good. Everything I've imagined is there, tasting her. They're naked, raw, and perfect. She isn't wearing anything over them, a refreshing change from the glammed up whores and low swinging royalty I've had since my balls dropped.

This kiss is pure.

This kiss tastes like sugar and whiskey begging to slide down my throat.

This kiss slams my cock into a whole new universe of desire.

Here, now, there's just Erin and me. All the screaming, frenzied fights in the press corps, people climbing over each other like cats, fighting for the best angle to get our kiss on film forever fades away.

Three seconds in, she moans into my mouth. Her lips go slack, and she stops fighting.

She's giving in, surrendering her mouth to mine, giving into me. My hands roam up her back, while the digits on my other hand squeeze her neck gently. Every cell in my body wants to show her what's coming if she just opens up, surrenders a little more.

And fuck, she does. Her lips part, perfectly and irresistibly for my tongue.

Her tits crush flush against my chest. I can practically feel her nipples there behind the fabric, hard as stones, begging to be sucked soft.

I wonder what it'd feel like to slide my oiled cock between her tits and shoot off in her mouth.

The same warm, sweet mouth that's pulsing underneath mine. My tongue sinks past her lips, anchors against hers, and takes control. Both our bodies twitch when the intimate kiss deepens, sending lightning through us.

I don't know how long we're up there, in front of the entire kingdom. Lips and tongues locked and moving like two horny teenagers. I don't know, and I don't fucking care.

All I'm thinking about is moving my hand down to her breast, and putting the other on her ass, squeezing them both at once.

I'm going to, when the earpiece I'm wearing chirps loudly.

Vic cuts in, ruining our first kiss. “Sire! The situation has become too unruly out here. The full security apparatus is coming to reinforce us, but we can't guarantee your safety. We have to move.”

Damn it.
I'm growling as I break away, catching Erin's soft eyes, suddenly as surprised as mine.

I'm holding her as I take a good, long look around.

Fucking hell. The press conference has collapsed into complete chaos. Half my entourage is on the floor, wrestling with reporters, while several angry bastards hurl loud insults at each other. A couple pick up the closest chairs, and let them fly.

I turn my back, using my body to shield Erin, in case anyone loses their mind and starts throwing shit at the stage. “Come on. Victor isn't kidding about this situation. Let's move.”

It's a complete shit show on the way out. Several reporters have broken rank in the commotion, climbed over the ropes they're never supposed to cross. Somewhere behind me, I hear Serena arguing loudly with a woman.

Three crazed reporters stand between us and the door. I stop and stand up, looking them dead in the eye.

“Move, or I'm going to flatten all your asses.”

“Your Highness, please, just a few more questions!”

They can't be fucking serious. They're all foreigners, wearing flags from other countries on their badges, so my royal aura has little effect on them.

I don't know where Victor or any of my guards have gone. I tell Erin to hold on tight while I charge through the three greedy bastards blocking our exit, standing in front of the door backstage, their arms out.

My body blows them down like bowling pins. Erin's racing behind me, doing her best not to trip in those clogs, looking desperately over her shoulder. Several more assholes are chasing us.

She stops, spins around, and slams the door shut as hard as she can. I look back and nod, motioning with my hand.

“Can you run?” I yell.

“In this thing? Are you
kidding
me?” she looks down, eyes big and scared. The outfit has become a damned prison.

Without saying anything, I rush over, scoop her up in my arms, and go. Behind us, there's something huge and heavy hitting the metal door.

They're using a goddamned battering ram.

It's only going to be a matter of time until they break through.

I'm transported back to the fields outside Kandahar. I remember my last mission, when three good men got themselves killed. They started shelling us as soon as we landed, destroying our transport chopper.

We were stranded. Pinned down. Running on nothing except the basest survival instinct.

The very same instinct kicks in now. Except, this is different because I'm carrying a woman who's clinging to me, a woman I want to fuck, seed, and own in the most carnal ways.

Charging through the nearest exit outside, I hope to find more guards waiting with our SUV down below. I see it – only, it's hiding behind a huge throng of assholes pouring in from downtown.