Prince's Proposal (The Exiled Royals 1) (7 page)

After their kiss four nights earlier, she’d barely been around. No matter how early he rose, she was already out.

He’d tried waiting up for her until four or five a.m. when she got off her shift at
The Lucky Seven
, but he’d nod off eventually and miss her. That woman had the kind of stealth that ninja masters would kill for, apparently.

All he knew was that when he stumbled into the kitchen that morning, there was a sign written out in looping cursive pink in
k
– with a glitter pen, no les
s
– that told him to be at the county fairgrounds at four p.m. and to be dressed for carnival games and rides.

Knowing Mel’s recent penchant for ruining his expensive clothes, Ray wore jeans and a plain white t-shirt. He’d even done the unthinkable and gone to Wal-Mart to get them since he knew they were destined for the trash. It was just the way things went with Mel these days.

It was hot under the Nevada sun and sweat poured down his forehead in liberal streaks. Ray checked his watch again and groaned.

Melissa was over ninety minutes late.

When she finally did show up ten minutes later, he silently vowed to find the crappy thrift shop where she’d been buying her man-repelling clothes and burn it down.

Melissa made her way toward him through the crowd. She was wearing a large, wide-brimmed straw hat, the kind that older women wore for gardening, another pair of those terrible acid wash jeans circa 1986, and a green and yellow plaid short-sleeved button up shirt.

She was a gorgeous woman, especially with that pouty mouth that he couldn’t help but fantasize about being wrapped around his cock. But she was doing a masterful job of making herself look like the biggest yokel in Nevada.

“Oh, love muffin,” she cooed, her voice reaching a shrill pitch that would make dogs bark and squirm. “I thought I said six and was early. Were you waiting for long?”

His immediate reaction was to throw up his hands and shake his head at her. His nose was peeling, he was saturated with sweat from the desert sun, and he was starving. The best thing she had offered was essentially “my bad.”

Instead he took in a deep breath and remembered the kiss from a few days ago as well as Gregory’s encouragement. This was all about playing out the long game. Melissa thought that she held all the cards, but it was the other way around. As long as he never gave in to his frustrations or expressed his honest reactions, then he could win; he could break down those walls.

Recalling her warm and wriggling in his lap, Ray took another deep breath and forced his annoyance away.

Two can play at this game.

He smiled brightly for her and hugged her tightly, shifting a little around the fanny pack at her waist. “No worries. It gave me time to think about something I want to do with you.”

She blinked and, for a moment, he was sure he spied frustration marring her formerly unwrinkled brow. “You’re not pissed?”

“Why would I be? In fact, I have a great idea. I know you’re excited about buying a house with the money from our deal.”

“I…sure,” she said, her pitch more its sultry and normal low than before. Good, his actual Melissa was working her way to the fore. “That’s exactly what I signed up for.”

“Then this weekend…hell,
tomorrow
, we should work together on house hunting. I know some great enclaves. I know you said a modest home, but that’s all a matter of definition, isn’t it?”

“You don’t have to do that, uh, snuggle britches.”

He smiled, knowing damn well it was a smile that had loosened the panties of the most frigid debutantes out there. Mel licked her lips and then shook her head. Perfect. He pressed his advantage: “I want to,” he said, kissing her cheek.

When she spoke again, her voice sounded more like Minnie Mouse on helium. “Maybe, we’ll see, honey bunny, but right now? We need to go on the rides!”

This would not end well, Ray knew.

“Ugh, I’m going to die,” she said, hanging her head between her hands and accepting the back rubs from her husband.

“Here,” he said, his voice commanding and gentle and, damn her, even Mel knew she was falling in love with that voice and that she’d miss him when he was finally gone. “You need some hydration, get some water into you.”

She looked up and grimaced at the too small novelty t-shirt, the “I Got Lucky at the Nevada State Fair” monstrosity in bright purple in front of her. Melissa had followed Brandy’s plan to the tee. See, the most important thing about the county fair was that it served corn dogs. And funnel cake. And cotton candy. And fried Oreos.

Basically, it was a purveyor of all the junk food of a carbohydrate addict’s fondest fantasies.

It also had rides. Spinning rides, whirling rides, rides that bumped, and cars you could race. She’d demanded to go on the Tilt-a-Whirl after scarfing down a truly appalling amount of sugary and cheesy goodness. After all, she had a plan to see through.

Once she slouched off the ride with her head spinning wildly, she’d realized that she didn’t have the heart to complete her plan. Some things were better in theory than in actual practice, also far less gross or cruel. But certain events were already in motion and Mother Nature couldn’t be staved off any longer.

As Ray was leading her toward a bench, she opened wide and vomited all over him.

Which was the reason she was now slowly sipping water and trying to feel human again, and why Ray was wearing the first shirt he was able to buy. His white t-shirt was at the bottom of a trashcan. It was a shame. That other tee had been practically made for him. The way the cloth hugged his muscles made her thirsty in so many ways. 

Still, she felt awful. He’d been nothing but kind to her, and was even now rubbing wide, gentle circles on her back. She hadn’t felt this loved and protected in…wait, had she
ever
felt this protected?

She thought back to her mother’s constant nights out as she trolled the bars for the next man to bring home; of the always-empty house she’d grown up in. Once, she’d thought she’d had that kind of love with her first love in high school – her only love, damn it, but she had been wrong. Falling again wasn’t a luxury she’d allow herself.

“I’m so sorry you’re sick,” he said, his tone gentle as if she were a scared colt or rabbit.

Maybe she was.

Melissa felt as if she were on a razor’s edge and it was hard to resist the urge to run. Maybe he was wise to keep approaching her with caution.

“I never should have indulged so much,” she admitted, her voice flat.

She no longer had the energy to keep up the charade. Frankly, she no longer even wanted to drive him off. After her vomit fountain, it would be a perfectly reasonable thing to do, and what any sane man would do. Hell, she’d run too if their situations were reversed.

And yet…she wanted to be loved and had forgotten how amazing letting someone actually care for her could be.

Haven’t I been independent long enough?

Ray grinned and kissed her temple; Mel leaned into the embrace and relaxed into the feel of him. His scent, a distinct mix of his aftershave and the spearmint gum he loved to chew, flooded her nostrils. He even smelled divine. “You’re going to be okay. We all make mistakes.”

She blushed. “Like marrying someone you barely know in Vegas?”

Blue eyes, as blue as the open sky, focused on her. “I’m an exiled prince, Melissa. I’ve lost so many things, wasted so much time on one-night stands. No matter how everything ends up with us, this will never be a mistake.”

“Then what is this? What are we?” she croaked out, forcing herself to continue gazing back into those intense blue eyes.

“We’re what I like to think of as a happy accident, if you’d let us be. You’re something I never knew I wanted until I found you.”

She sighed and drained her bottle, tossing it into the black metal barrel next to her. She stood and started to head toward the exit and their waiting cars. God, maybe he could drive her today and she’d get a cab out tomorrow. Her head was spinning so badly with the vertigo that she wasn’t sure she could really walk, let alone drive.

A strong hand was on her shoulder and she desperately wanted to know what those fingers would feel like grasping at other places.

Ray shook his head and stroked her long, brown hair back from her face. “Can you take one more ride with me? Would you mind?”

“Maybe we shouldn’t.”

“Oh, believe me. This one’s different.”

She’s radiant
.

It was funny; his first thought at meeting her was that she was beautiful, but that was such an insignificant word for all that Melissa was. Right now, her eyes were wide and she was smiling at the carnival lights below them.

The sun had mostly set and the fairgrounds were awash in the glimmer of twinkle lights and the neon from the various rides and booths. Sitting next to him in the Ferris Wheel, Melissa couldn’t stop expressing her amazement.

“I’ve never ridden one of these things before.”

“Really, why not?”

“Well, when would
you
have? Don’t royalty play polo or something?”

“My family was invited to the inaugural ride on the London Eye. I’ve had an affinity for these things ever since.”

“So only exclusive Ferris Wheels,” she said, her tone amused. He loved the way her lips quirked up just a little as she fought back laughter. “I just…when I was a kid, there wasn’t time for fun things, and my town was pretty small back in Idaho. We only had one carnival a year and money was so tight. I’d rather have food than win a gold fish at a game of chance, you know?”

“You grew up poor?”

“Dirt poor,” she amended. “Mom wasn’t ever around much, and I never knew my father. I never had time for kid’s stuff.”

“Everyone has time for kid’s stuff.”

“Not me. It’s okay. I had a goal – just get out. When I graduated high school, Mom wanted me out. I got a fake I.D., the cash I’d collected working at Dairy Queen, and set off for Vegas. Never regretted it.”

There was a pride there, and he respected her. She’d had the real experience of being cut off. He’d thought he had it bad because he had to let his staff go and give up first class dining and amenities. It hurt to be cut off from the family he loved. But Mel? She’d never had a loving family and had built herself from the ground up; even gotten a well-paying job she shouldn’t have been able to get because of her age. 

It all came down to her personal strength and resourcefulness.

She’d make a fine queen
.

It was the oddest thought, but it was no less true.

But he wasn’t a prince, not right then.

“You’re so amazing,” he breathed, as they looped closer to the ground.

She snorted and looked back out at the horizon. In those few seconds he already missed being able to stare into those deep, doe eyes of hers.

“I’m not. I’m just a girl like any other. There a hundreds of ex-pats and runaways in Vegas. It’s the kind of town where you can come and be anything you wan
t
– something better.”

He put his hand over hers on the railing of their cart. “And is that what you feel? That you’re better.”

“I feel less lost, most of the time. That has to be a good thing, right?”

“I know the feeling. It’s scary, not sure what your path is in life.” The Ferris Wheel started another turn and they both fell quiet for a moment, taking in the incredible views. 

When it reached the top, Ray said, “Look, I know all about your trying to get me to dump you so that you can keep your house but not have to live out the full month.” 

She looked at him and swallowed hard. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, you do. It’s not that subtle, Melissa, unless you really do have Multiple Personality Disorder.”

“I don’t.”

“Good, then there is no other explanation for all of this.”

“I guess not,” she said, swiping at her eyes. “I don’t want to love you, but I do.”

“I love you too. Why is that such a bad thing?”

Large brown eyes, brimming with unshed tears looked back up at him. “Because the people I love always leave.”

Ray kissed her, long and lingering. “I never will.”

His hands felt like heaven on her body.

Melissa wasn’t even sure how they got here. On the ride home, she’d snuggled up against Ray like a teenager, like the girl she hadn’t been in years. It had been worth leaving her car behind in order to be this near to him, to lie close to his chest and feel the beat of his heart under her cheek.

They passed into the mansion quickly, practically racing each other to Ray’s bedroom. Now she was standing before him, her clothes shed, clad only in her plain cotton bra and panties. Ray ran his hands over her shoulders, her neck, even the soft tops of her breasts peeking out over the boundaries of her bra cups.

They were magic fingers, light yet strong with their touch. Leaning down, Ray began his ministrations in earnest, using his hands to cup her breasts, knead the ample flesh there. At the same time, he used his tongue to trace curlicues and other patterns in the crook of her neck and at the hollow of her throat.

Mel ran her hands through the soft expanse of his midnight-colored locks. She’d been dying to do that since she’d first woken up next to him and seen his hair splayed out like raven’s feathers against his pillow.

Now, with one hand getting a feel for the silky waves of black hair on his head, she moved her other hand to his chest, enjoying the feel of his rippling abs and the muscles beneath her palm. His skin was supple, almost like soft leather, and she leaned in closer to him and mewled when he reached behind her back and freed her breasts.

She grinned up at him and felt wetness flood her panties. He grinned back.

Mel knew she wasn’t the first woman to find herself melting at that smile and, wedding ring or not, she was terrified she wouldn’t be the last. Screw it.

It was worth it.

It was worth risking all the hurt to embrace the passion bubbling between them. Of that, she was certain.

Ray’s voracious tongue found her left nipple, and he began to flick a rapid tattoo against it. She moaned and trailed her left hand lower to the happy trail of wispy hair leading up from the line of his boxer-briefs. Her
husband
shuddered at her touch and let out a low rumble.

“God, the things you do to me!” he urged.

Mel grinned and reached for the waistband of his briefs. Pushing them down, even as she shivered under the creative tricks of Ray’s tongue on her breast, Mel eyed his enormous cock. It was erect and nestled in a thatch of jet-black hair. Her fingers trailed over his length, and he moaned again.

“What do you want,” he asked, his eyes wide and beautiful.

“I want to make you feel good, to taste you,” she confessed. “But first? First, I need you inside of me.”

He nodded and swept her into his arms like the bridal carry they couldn’t actually remember. Ray was incredibly gentle as he laid her on the soft silk sheets. Looking up, Melissa licked her lips at seeing him kneeling before her, his cock glistening with precum, gloriously bobbing in the moonlight spilling through the windows.

God, she wanted to know what the girth of him would feel like inside of her.

“Please,” she demanded, wriggling out of her panties. “I need you.”

“I’ll be there, Princess,” he replied, but not before he fumbled quickly with his nightstand. She heard the tear of foil and waited, less than patiently, as he slipped the condom on. “Are you ready?” he asked, even as he leaned over her, and the weight of him was reassuring and real against her.

“Now, Raymond,” she moaned.

He plunged in and she hissed at the heat of him as he entered her channel, the way he sunk balls deep into her and practically filled her to her core. She angled herself up a bit and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Ray began to move, and she moved with him the rhythm building up a frantic heat and sizzle through their bodies. Her clit was throbbing between them, and all she could do was give into the sensations all around her – the smooth cool silk against her skin, the scent of his eucalyptus aftershave, and the girth of him hammering into her.

After so long, she assumed that they’d start with soft lovemaking, but it wasn’t that.

There was a frantic, animal need that drove them forward, and she couldn’t resist anymore. The heat was stoking higher between them and then he hit the correct angle, caught her g-pot the right way, and the heat went from intense to blinding supernova. She came then, her nerves on fire and her clit pounding with a ferociousness she didn’t think could be normal.

Sex had never been like this, not with anyone.

As she was winding down, scraping his back with her nails, he came too, screaming her name like a perverse litany.

Eventually, they curled side by side on the mattress, and she felt safe and secure for the first time in her life with Ray’s strong arms around her.

“Forever, Princess,” he whispered in her ears. “I promise you that.”

***

Ray slipped from his bed early that morning, about seven. Some annoying beeping had caught his attention, and he begrudgingly slipped from his wife’s warm embrace in order to find out who had called him at ass o’clock in the morning. Slipping out of the bedroom and down to the first floor balcony, he slid the door shut behind him and hit his voice mail:

Raymond, my liege, you have to call me right now. It’s Gregory and the situation has changed
.

His heart sank.

They were finally getting through their issues. Mel was opening her heart to him, but Ray wasn’t sure that if she had an out, that if Gregory had found an early parole loophole, that she might not take it. Still, as hard as his heart was hammering, it was crucial that he knew everything. It would help him figure out how best to broach everything with his love. He dialed Gregory and waited impatiently for his friend to answer.

“Raymond, thank God!”

“What’s going on? Is my family okay?”

“Yes, definitely. It’s more than that.”

“There’s more than exile? What? Yagovia doesn’t have a space program; it’s not like they can shoot me into space.”

“No, but they can call you home.”

He blinked, confused. He must have misheard his friend. Of all people, he was the ultimate persona non grata of his homeland. “I don’t understand.”

“Check
USA Today
. There was a leak of pictures of you and Melissa at some fair. Moved fast, but they’re there. They could see the rings on her finger in the picture. The order is for both of you to return to Yagovia.
Now
.”