ROYAL BRIDE (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (5 page)

“What did you do wrong?” he asked, his mouth close to her sex. She could feel the vibrations of his words against her clit, and it drove her even closer to her climax.

“I cursed. Please. I won’t do it again.” She would have promised him anything to make him continue the sweet torment.

He laughed against her clit. “Yes, you will.” It sounded more like a promise than a projection of the future. His tongue swept across her clit, and she sucked in her breath. Gripping the bedding, she clenched her teeth.

“Please, Antonio. I can’t wait much longer. Please.” She moved her feet onto the bed, spreading her thighs even more for him. “Please, I need you.”

He looked up at her. “Not this time, Isabella. This time, you will take the pleasure I’m giving you and accept it.” He slid a third finger into her, stretching her more, and she cried out again. “Come for me like this. With my fingers fucking your tight pussy and you obediently laying there for me.”

His words acted like the fingers probing her core, inching her closer and closer to her release. She didn’t understand it, and at that moment, she didn’t want to analyze it.

“That’s my girl,” he whispered against her clit. “Be my obedient wife.”

“Oh! Please!” She lifted her hips a little, and his fingers went deeper, faster, while his tongue assaulted her clit even harder. “Oh, fuck!” She screamed as her orgasm washed over her. Her thighs trembled, and her muscles tensed as her release increased in intensity. He never left her. His fingers slowed and his lips kissed her, but he didn’t release her until she lay limply on the bed.

She opened her eyes, the red haze in her head bright as she looked down at him. She pulled the strap of her dress back up to cover her breast and started to sit up, but he pushed her back down. “Rest,” he ordered and stood over her. Pulling back the covers, he pointed for her to get under them. “We have a few more hours. Sleep.”

She crawled beneath them, noticing the hard line in his pants. She looked up at him with worry. “Antonio, we’ll never conceive if you don’t—”

He laughed. “Such a greedy little girl you are. And manipulative, too!” He tucked the blanket up to her chin and kissed her forehead. She could smell her own juices drying on his skin. “Sleep. When we get to Chicago, you’ll satisfy every need I have. Don’t worry about that.”

Her brow furrowed with his comment, but he left her alone before she could respond. He liked to have the last word, she realized. Laying back against the pillows, she drifted quickly to sleep. Every muscle that had been tense with worry or anger before he had relaxed.

ANTONIO

The landing at O’Hare airport had, thankfully, been uneventful, and his wife had slept through it completely. He toyed with the idea of waking her up before landing to have his turn with her body, but when he saw how peacefully she slept, he changed his mind.

Isabella responded to his touch with such a natural openness, just thinking about her moans and her pleas made his cock hard for her. The woman was a little hell cat, and a brat to boot, but when he touched her, she melted in his hands. He wondered if she understood how easily he could control her just by his touch, how quickly she relented once his fingers probed and his lips kissed her. If she did realize, she would surely blame him for it and give herself yet another reason to be angry.

When he decided to ask for her hand, he hadn’t counted on how distasteful she would find the idea. At first, he thought he was doing his brotherly duty by sparing his sister the fate of marrying Raphael, Isabella’s older brother. They had been betrothed, but Carmen was truly unhappy at the prospect of becoming his wife.

Antonio knew well enough that although Raphael would never harm Carmen and would do his best to give her a happy life, there were parts of him that Carmen would never understand. In some ways, Raphael and he had much in common. Although their islands were independently ruled by their own monarchs, the string of islands was small. The two men knew each other rather well.

While he was saving his sister from what she feared to be a doomed future, he hadn’t taken into account that Isabella might feel the same way about a life spent with him. During their afternoon adventure on the boat together, he had felt a stirring between them. She had certainly responded well enough to his touch as he fingered her and brought her to pleasure over his knee. And he had thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon of sparring with her wit.

However, now that they were wed, he considered the fact that perhaps he had misjudged the situation with Isabella. The fire he’d seen in her still burned brightly, and he wondered if she truly hadn’t wanted to marry him. He knew among the royal families that arranged marriages were common, and as children, they were raised to accept that they had greater duties to their countries than to their own fanciful dreams. Isabella didn’t seem to have been taught those responsibilities, however. Did she still dream of some romantic love to come and sweep her off of her feet, hand-feeding her chocolates and grapes for the rest of her life? While he ought to love his queen, he had no designs for romance. They would learn to live peacefully together, and if that meant his wayward wife would spend the first few months locked in bedrooms and kept under his thumb, then so be it. They would find a peace together.

“There’s only one room?” Isabella walked into the suite he’d reserved at the Blackstone Hotel overlooking Michigan Avenue.

“One bedroom, yes, but as you can see, there is a living room as well as a small office.” He nodded to Julian to leave them.

“That’s what I meant, only one bedroom. Couldn’t you get a bigger suite?” She dropped her purse on an end table and walked to the window to look at the view.

“This is large enough, since you’ll be sharing my bed every night.” He removed his suit jacket and slipped his tie from the collar. He hated wearing the damn things. Her eyes fixated on his tie as he maneuvered it through his collar and it hung from his hand. The image of having the black fabric wrapped around her eyes—taking away her vision so that she could only feel him—popped into his head, making his pants once again uncomfortable.

Her face flushed, and she turned away abruptly. “It’s a nice hotel. Rafe usually makes us stay at the Four Seasons.” She continued to look out the window, but he could see the soft pink hue on her cheeks.

“I have a dinner meeting this evening. I know you didn’t have a lot of time to pack, so I thought you might like to spend the afternoon shopping?” He saw her chest puff out at his suggestion and wondered how he could have upset her by offering to buy her a new dress.

“Have you heard anything about the woman I saw this morning?” She turned concerned eyes upon him.

“Not yet.”

“They are looking, aren’t they? Your men.” As an accusation, it irritated him.

“I told you it’s being looked into.” He took a steady breath. The idea of bringing her along on his trip had been to get to know her better, to help them find a middle ground. So far, they weren’t making any progress. “I’ll change and then we can go.”

“You’re going to come with me?” Her eyes widened.

“Of course I am. After we find you a suitable dress, we’ll come back here and have that talk I told you about. “

“What talk?” She herself didn’t look convinced by the lying question.

He laughed quietly. “You know which one. The one that addresses your earlier disobedience.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and opened her delicate mouth to begin a defense or protest. He didn’t really care which. He ignored her completely and stalked into the bedroom to change into a more relaxed outfit, one that would stop choking his dick every time he thought about having her naked and writhing beneath him.

***

Isabella had a beautiful laugh. Antonio realized this as the car made its way through the crowded streets of downtown. As many times as he traveled to Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles, he would never get used to the over-abundance of cars and busses. He much preferred the quiet of his country estates.

He glanced over at his wife, who was on her cell phone, talking with a friend who lived in the area. While speaking with that caller, he heard her carefree laugh and witnessed her genuine smile. Antonio was annoyed that Isabella withheld her gentle side from him, only showing him her claws and fangs. Even when he tried to remind himself she had been dragged down the aisle against her wishes, he only managed to build his ire toward her.

He was no monster. She had no reason to be so aggressively against their union. He was beyond wealthy, the heir to the throne, and, as every previous lover he’d had could attest, was quite generous in bed. She could have done a hell of a lot worse than him.

“Of course! I will call you first thing in the morning, and we’ll arrange it.” Isabella’s soft laugh scratched his annoyance as his driver turned into the entrance way of the hotel. “I know! I can’t wait either.” He watched from the corner of his eye as she said goodbye and hung up the phone.

“You will be presented to my main charitable organization tomorrow afternoon,” Antonio informed her as her door was pulled open.

She glanced at him quickly, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “That’s fine. I’ll be unavailable tomorrow evening. I’m having dinner with a friend.” She stepped out of the car before he could respond. Sliding across the seat, he exited the vehicle and caught up to her heeled steps within three long strides.

He caught her watching him as they made their way through the pristine lobby toward the elevators. The heels from her sandals clicked as they walked, and he concentrated on each steady click of them, trying to dampen his sudden irritation.

All in all, the afternoon had gone fairly well. After one very stern warning about not arguing with him in public regarding the length and neckline of her dress, she had found something that pleased them both. She even picked out a few more that would be suitable for the few lunch meetings he had planned over the next few days.

“You did not check with me about dinner plans for tomorrow evening,” he finally bit out when the elevator doors slid shut and they were alone.

She turned to look at him, giving him a small smile. “No, I guess I didn’t.” She unzipped her purse, pretending to look for something before zipping it back up and tucking the clutch under arm.

“If you would like to spend the evening with your friend, I would suggest you invite her to join us tomorrow evening.” He watched her jaw tighten and her nostrils flare slightly, just enough to warn him an outburst was brewing.

“I would rather not. She’s very busy, and I’m working around her schedule. So, she will let me know in the morning the time she’s available.”

“You will give her name to Julian when we arrive in the suite. I would like her background checked before I decide if you will be allowed to dine without me or not.” He knew he was goading her, but couldn’t stop himself. The idea that she found him so repulsive as a husband weighed on him heavily.

The elevator doors slid open and Isabella stepped out, pulling free of his hand when he tried to cup her elbow and escort her. An elderly couple stared at them with curiosity as they watched Antonio walk after his stomping wife.

Once inside the suite, Isabella threw her purse on the couch and marched to the desk. She tore off a piece of paper from the pad, scribbling with a pen. Once she was finished, she folded the piece of paper, stomped past Antonio, giving him a hard look as she did so, and thrust the piece of paper at Julian, who stood guard at the open door. “Here. Please run a check on this woman so that His Highness can rest assured that I will not be accosted while I’m dining with my mother’s goddaughter.”

Julian took the paper from her hands and looked past her to Antonio. “There’s no need,” Antonio remarked with a somber tone. Would any conversation between them hold anything other than hostility? “Julian, we will be leaving for the restaurant at seven o’clock. Please be sure the car is ready.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Julian glanced at Isabella before he reached into the room and pulled the door shut.

Once the door was closed, Antonio brushed past his wife and secured the door. “That wasn’t necessary. If you had told me who you were planning on dining with, I wouldn’t have suggested a security check.”

“It’s not enough that I have a friendly relationship with someone? I need to give you their full lineage so you can decide?”

“It’s my duty to be sure you are safe at all times.”

“My telling you I’m going out with a friend should have been enough to appease your concern,” she snapped at him, her hands fisted on her hips.

“Do you remember the boat?” His hand twitched at his side. The color slightly draining from her face told him she recalled the boat well enough. “If you don’t want another instance of having your bare bottom spanked over my knee, I would suggest you watch your tone and take those hands off your hips. You are a princess and my future queen, not some fisherman’s wife.”

Her cheeks slowly turned a soft shade of pink, and he vowed that at some point soon, her backside would match perfectly. Either for her pleasure or not, she would feel his palm across her ass again.

“I won’t allow you to beat me.” The firmly spoken words were lessened with her obediently dropping her hands and lowering her tone.

“I would never beat you.” He stepped toward her, his voice hard and full of meaning. Never would he raise a hand to her in anger or do anything that harmed her. When she didn’t retreat, he took another step, his gaze fixed on hers as the tip of his leather shoes brushed her open-toed sandals. “But I will not allow you to be disrespectful to yourself, your station, or me.”

With gentle fingers, he dragged the thin straps of her summer dress over her shoulders and down her arms. Her throat convulsed, but her eyes never wavered and she made no move to stop him from proceeding.

“I don’t see how treating me like a child will gain my cooperation with your very old views on the roles of husband and wife.” If she hadn’t licked her lips before speaking, or if her pupils weren’t as large and round as they were, he may have considered her comment to contradict her concession to his touch.