The Crown Jewels (16 page)

She was the most self-assured person I’d ever met. Every step she took, she did so with the utmost confidence that she was right.

As she walked out of my room, she’d never been more wrong.

Will put his arm around me. I’d forgotten he was there. Stunned, confused and bewildered, I stood rooted in place, my brain trying to put facts together into some neat little puzzle that was never going to fit.

“I don’t get it,” I muttered, shaking my head.

“Me, either,” Will said. His voice sounded like it was a million miles away. Or perhaps, I was a million miles away. I wanted to disappear, and I looked up at the Prince Charming at my side.

My heart sank when I saw that he appeared to be just as lost and bewildered as I was. I knew then that he’d never be able to save me.

It was time for me to slay my own dragons.

“Will, I need to be alone,” I said, pulling out of his embrace.

“Jewels, listen —,” he began.

“—there’s nothing to say! Someone’s trying to set me up. I didn’t even know that safe was there. Let the police handle it. I just need to lie down. This is all too much for me,” my voice cracked and I sat on the bed.

“Hjärtat, come here,” he said, sitting next to me. I pushed him away again.

“No, please go, Will,” I said. “I need to be alone.”

He stood up, his large frame towering over me. Nervously, he ran his fingers through his hair and looked over at Bertolf. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he rocked back on his heels.

“Alright, Jewels, whatever you need,” he muttered. “Bertolf, get her whatever she needs!

“Of course, My Lord.” Bertolf replied, nodding solemnly.

Will walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. Bertolf stood staring at me, the door of the safe flung open behind him.

I sighed, and walked over to the window and opened the curtains. The paparazzi had thinned out a little but there were still at least two dozen people out there. When they spotted me in the window, they began pointing and taking pictures.

I stepped back quickly.

“Is there anything I can do for you, Madam Rose?” Bertolf asked. I looked into his eyes and burst into tears.

Bertolf stiffened and then awkwardly patted me on the back, which only made me cry more.

I’d held it together until now. I’d endured all this emotional shit, all while keeping my chin up and not breaking down. Sure, I’d had my moments of giving into Will’s irresistible temptations, but I’d done my best to remain calm - after finding out my father was marrying the fucking Queen of Sweden, seeing Will, being plastered all over television with my tits practically hanging out and slapping a Prince and then being accused of taking the jewels in the first place. I’d stayed upright through all of that.

But to be set up? This was personal. This meant someone was out for me.

And for some reason, that’s what broke me. I fell to Bertolf’s feet like a rag doll. He stood there stoically, let me cry against his shiny black tuxedo pants, my tears falling over his patent leather shoes and disappearing into the Italian rug.

After a moment, I pulled myself together, wiping my face with the back of my hand.

“As My Lord stated, Madam Rose, everything is going to be alright.” He patted the top of my head softly. “Is there anything else I can do, miss?”

“Yes, Bertolf,” I said. “I need a ride to the airport.”

WILL

Bertolf entered my room, Willy in tow.

“The Dog has had been fed dinner, My Lord,” he said. I always laughed when Bertolf referred to Willy as The Dog. He’d been unable to hide his disgust when I brought the three-month old puppy home from America. But Willy loved Bertolf right away, once he figured out that he was the one that retrieved the food from the kitchen. He followed him everywhere. Bertolf warmed up to him eventually, training him and making sure he had the best diet and exercising him when I wasn’t around. I could tell he loved him, even if he’d never admit it.

Willy was the only thing that had kept me grounded these last few years. The only thing in my life that was constant, and always there for me, and the only thing that actually brought me any comfort.

He wiggled over to me and jumped on the bed, his black velvety ears flopping around as he rubbed himself all over the duvet. Bertolf wrinkled his brow. We’d had many arguments over whether The Dog was allowed on the bed or not, but I was in no mood to listen to him today. As far as I was concerned, Willy was a part of the family and could go wherever he pleased.

“Thank you for feeding him,” I said.

“Sir, your company has been requested by Madam Rose. She asked me to pass along the message.” Bertolf went around my room drawing the curtains. The sun was just beginning to set, the orange and red rays of the last moments of this awful day finally fading away.

“Thank you, Bertolf,” I said, my mind a million miles away. Jewels wanted to see me. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. If I had to speculate, things didn’t work out in my favor. She was entirely too anxious to get rid of me earlier. If she wanted to see me now, I was pretty sure it wasn’t to fuck my brains out.

I felt like an ass thinking about fucking her now, but whatever. You can’t take the toad out of the Prince.

“Is there anything else, My Lord?” Bertolf asked.

“Yeah,” I replied, my cock coming to life in my pants. “Walk Willy before bed tonight. Bring me a bottle of champagne. Make that two. And bring me my condoms.”

Bertolf stopped short at the door and turned to raise an eyebrow at me.

“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t think —,”

“—just do what I say. I don’t need a lecture. Champagne. Condoms. Got it?”

“Yes, My Lord,” he replied, backing out of the room.

“Thank you, Bertolf,” I said, as the door closed behind him.

***

I knocked on Jewel’s door quietly. The soft sound of her feet padding across the door to open it made me smile. I heard the lock slide open and then her beautiful face was staring up at me.

“I learned how to lock the door,” she said sullenly.

“Hey,” I said, holding up the bottles of champagne and two crystal flutes. “Maybe this will help?”

“That sounds good,” she replied, nodding. “Thanks for coming.”

“Just ask, and your prince appears, My Lady,” I said, tipping my imaginary hat. She looked miserable and I wanted nothing more than to put a smile back on her face. It almost worked, but instead of a smile, one corner of her mouth just subtly turned up.

This was going to take some work
, I thought. I was used to making girls smile. It was easy, and I was fluent at it, their tinkling laughter serving as some kind of validation of my manliness. That, and of course, my skilled cock.

But at the rate things were fucking up around here, I was starting to think my cock wasn’t ever going to get close to Jewels. Making her laugh was the only thing I had left.

The door closed behind us, and the intimacy of being alone wrapped around us like a blanket we couldn’t shake. I couldn’t look at her without yearning for her. By the look on her face, she felt the same way.

And yet everything was against us.

“Will —,”

“Jewels —,”

“Ladies first,” I said.

She nodded, her face serious, her lips pursed together, which only made me want to pry them apart with my tongue.

“I’ve decided to leave. I’m going home tomorrow.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. It’s best I go home. I’ve done nothing but cause trouble since I arrived.”

“That’s not how I see it.”

“That’s how your mother sees it,” she replied, her green eyes flashing in the light from the fireplace.

“My mother is wrong.”

“She doesn’t seem like the kind of lady to admit she’s wrong. Did you see the way she looked at me, Will? I kept expecting her to order me hanged or banished to the dungeon!”

I smirked, closing the distance between us. I put my arms around her, pulling her in as close as she would let me.

“You’re so dramatic. Listen, I don’t know what’s going on,” I began. “Someone is obviously trying to fuck with us, but we’ll figure it out. I know you didn’t take the crown, because I saw you leave the vault on the tapes. We’ll just let the police handle it. They’ll figure it out, they’re very good. They came to take fingerprints today, right?”

“Yes,” she replied. Her voice was muffled against my arms. I pulled back a little, putting my hand under her chin and lifting her beautiful face to me. “Stop worrying. I promise, everything is going to be just fine. There’s no need to leave town. It’s almost your birthday. Your father would be devastated if you left.” I didn't tell her that I would be too. There were some things she probably wasn't ready to hear.

“I could use a glass of that champagne,” she muttered.

I laughed, and turned away, opening the bottle with a loud pop. The golden liquid foamed and fizzled, spilling out onto the floor. She giggled lightly and my smile widened. Now we were getting somewhere.

“Let’s sit down,” I offered, gesturing to the long sofa in front of the fireplace. We settled in next to each other, looking at the flickering flames dance in the fireplace.

“I have to tell you something, Will,” she whispered, turning to me. Her voice took on a sense of urgency and she stared into my eyes. “It’s important.”

“Alright, hjärtat, what is it?”

“It’s about our past, Will. I wasn’t entirely honest with you. I should have called you. I should have told you,” her words were rushed, jittery, and I put a hand on hers to calm her. “But I was so hurt, so upset.”

“What, Jewels? Tell me.”

“Three days after you left, I got my period,” she said, biting her lip. “I was never pregnant, Will.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Well, that’s delightful!”

“It is?” she replied, a flash of pain in her eyes.

“No, hjärtat, that’s not what I mean. I mean, that means you didn’t have to go through with a painful procedure, or whatever you would have felt afterwards.”

“Yes, I agree. I was relieved. But all these years, I’ve felt terrible for not telling you.”

“That’s okay, love, I’m just glad it all worked out.”

“There’s one more thing…”

“What’s that, hjärtat?”

“The money. Sally and I used it to go to Hawaii for Spring Break,” she said.

I burst out laughing.

“That’s perfect! I love it! That’s exactly what I would have done.”

“I should have told you, Will, I’m sorry,” she said. Her eyes filled with tears, and I stopped laughing.

“Jewels, you don’t owe me an apology. If anything, I’m the one who can never apologize enough. I left you all alone, like a total asshole. I could spend the rest of my life making it up to you now, though,” I said, my eyes raking down to her full thick lips. I’d never wanted to lick them so badly in my life than right now. I watched as she sipped her champagne and found myself mesmerized as I watched the tip of her tongue lick a bead of champagne from her lips.

“I have something to confess to you, too,” I said.

“You do?”

“Yes. I was never enrolled in calculus.”

“What!”

“I know. It was all a ruse to get to know you. I noticed you in the library and I watched you until I found an opening. When I saw you put up the flyer, I’d found my chance. I wasn’t taking calculus, or physics, so I lied.”

“Wow. No wonder you were so awful at it,” she whispered. We laughed together, the tension gone from the air.

My cock ached painfully. Her eyes shot down towards my lap and she groaned.

“How did we get here, Will? What are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, caressing her hand. “But I do know three things.”

She blinked slowly, her lips parting seductively as she listened.

“One,” I said, reaching up and putting a finger to her lips, “there’s nobody here but you and I. We can do whatever we want, and I’m pretty sure we both want the same thing right now.” Her lips parted wider, her tongue darting out, stinging it.

“Two,” I continued, my cock raging now between my legs, “our parents aren’t married yet. That means that this is only as taboo as you want to think it is. Personally, I don’t give a fuck, married or not. But that seems to be a sticking point for you. But right now? Tonight? We’re just two consenting adults, with no commitments and no rules.”

She gasped, and I smiled as I watched as a slow familiar blush crept up her neck. My eyes darted down to her nipples, the hard pebbles that greeted me only causing my cock to swell even more.

“Three,” I said, running my finger over her lips seductively, watching with hunger as they moved under my touch, “I know you want to see them again.”

“See what?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

“The Crown Jewels.”

Her laughter peeled through the room, echoing off the ancient brick walls like the most beautiful music I’d ever heard.

Success. I’d made her laugh. Her shoulders relaxed, and I watched as her breathing returned to normal. She turned away, looking into the fire before turning back to me with a smile.

“You were always good at that,” she whispered.

“Good at what?” I asked.

“Making me laugh. Making me forget everything else existed except for you and me and whatever we were laughing about,” she said, growing quiet. “I miss that,” she whispered.

“That’s not the only thing I’ve missed,” I growled, pulling her to me and kissing her passionately. I couldn’t hold back any longer. Her lips. Those eyes.

This time, there was no resistance. No question. No hesitancy. We melted into each other’s arms, our lips and hands free to explore, free to make up for all the lost years between us.

Gently, I pushed her back until I was lying on top of her, my body begging me to sink myself into her as fast as I could, but my mind telling me to slow down.

We had all night and I intended to make sure I explored every last inch of her incredible body, but restraint was something I was running very short on.