by Mia Carson
“Well, then, if you know all of that, why did you kiss me last night, my lady?” he shot back.
Her mouth fell open to argue it was all his fault but clamped shut again. What the hell was wrong with her? How dare he act like this after what he did to her, what he made her feel every time he looked her way? Daphne wanted to look away, but his slate eyes forced hers to remain locked on his.
“No reply?” he asked quietly. “I’m surprised.”
“Get out of my bedroom,” she muttered.
“Not until I see you eat something, my lady,” he said, and his tone softened enough for her to lift a brow at it.
He cared, she felt it, so why did he keep pushing her away? She took the scone from him and ate it quickly. When she swallowed the last mouthful, he handed her the coffee mug and with a bow of his head left the room. He was at the door when she called him back.
“Yes, my lady?”
She held the warm mug securely in her hands while she mulled over whether she should say what she was about to. “Tonight, Jeremiah is on watch again. If you happen to be awake around midnight, I wouldn’t mind your company. If you want to join me,” she said nervously.
Matt’s jaw clenched, but it was the rest of his body she saw relax at her request. He bowed his head again and left her alone, closing the door so she could dress in peace.
“Maybe it won’t be an easier day,” she muttered to herself as she stood, walking around her room and sipping her coffee. Her feet took her to the windows overlooking the city, and she pressed her hand against the glass.
If she had been any other girl, Matt would’ve had her already.
Had you and used you up, she thought bitterly. He still might if you let him get too close.
Did she want a one night stand with the man meant to guard her with his life? Having sex with Matt would be extraordinary if his kissing was anything to go by and a dangerous risk for them both—more so for her—but she was tired of being trapped in a life she had no real control over.
Her eyes slid closed, remembering his heated touch on her ass and the way her breasts had grown heavy as his lips moved over hers with a demanding she hadn’t experienced before. Her nipples hardened beneath her thin t-shirt and heat grew between her legs. In her dreams, he’d pinned her up against a wall and languidly kissed her neck and her shoulder. He removed each piece of clothing with great care, exposing her bare body to his hungry gaze. Those strong fingers found her most tender places, massaging and teasing with a feather touch that promised so much more to come.
Without realizing it, her free hand slipped between her legs. Imagining his hand there instead, she gasped at the strength of the sensation. The mug fell from her hand, shattering against the stone floor.
“Princess Daphne?” Matt asked as he rushed into her bedroom.
Daphne, her face flushed and breathing ragged, turned to face him. “I just dropped my mug,” she mumbled. “I’m fine, you can… You can go.”
He studied her closely, his eyes ranging from her face to her nipples, hard as pebbles and easily visible through her shirt. He moved farther into the room, a promise in his eyes, and Daphne staggered backwards into the wall as her nerves frayed.
“The glass,” he growled, quickly moving to her side. “You’ll hurt your feet, my lady.”
She glanced down to see where it was safe to step when he scooped her up in his arms and carried her across the room. “Thank you,” she whispered, but he didn’t set her down right away. “Matt?”
His grip grew firmer around her as he growled, “Do you have any idea what you do to me, woman?”
His arms shifted, and she slid down his body, slowly, every inch of her touching him intimately. The warring emotions on his face matched those raging in her mind, and she tried to force herself away from him, but her dreams returned to the forefront of her mind again. Whatever he saw on her face tore a ragged curse from his mouth, and his hands dug into her hips as his lips slanted over hers.
Daphne couldn’t stop the moan elicited from his touch. They should fight it… She should do everything she could to make this stop, but her body refused to listen and her heart cared little for consequences anymore.
“What were you thinking?” he whispered against her lips.
“When?”
“Your face was bright red when I walked in,” he said and leaned back. “What were you thinking about?”
She chewed her lip. He was a womanizer, a player, a man who never settled down, she told herself, and she shouldn’t expect anything from him, so why was she doing this? Because you see what he’s hiding, she thought quietly. He’s there, the man he used to be. He just needs to be reminded of it.
“You,” she said as her fingers twisted into his shirt front. “I was thinking of you in my dreams last night.”
If she thought he was demanding of her earlier, when his lips found hers again, Daphne wasn’t sure they’d be able to stop. His tongue explored the depths of her mouth as his hands slipped up under her t-shirt and his bare palms found her breasts. She pushed them into his hands, desperate for his touch to consume her and take her away from all of this, if only for a few minutes.
“What did you dream about?” he whispered. “Tell me, princess.”
But she couldn’t get the words out, was too lost in his intense touch, his fingers tugging at her nipples until she ground her hips against his.
“All the ways I would take you, princess?” he growled in her ear. “The things I would do to you until you cried out my name?” One of his hands slid down her body and cupped intimately through her thin sweats. His fingers massaged and pressed until Daphne gasped, moving with him. “Is that what you want?”
“For once in my life, I want to choose what I get to do,” she said fiercely.
“You’re a princess,” he argued. “You can always choose.”
“No, I can’t. I’m trapped,” she muttered bitterly. “Always doing what everyone else expects me to do.”
As they stood in her rooms, Matt’s erection pressed against her, she wanted to do what no one would ever think of her doing. She wanted Matt to take her until she begged him for more. All sense of responsibility, of sanity, vanished from her mind as she stared at the tall man before her with so much mystery hidden behind his nonchalant mask. She wanted to bust through it and see what was beneath and hear him cry out her name.
“Daphne,” he said softly, running his hands through her hair. A second later, the moment was gone. He stepped quickly away from her and bowed his head. “The king and queen will be expecting you soon. You shouldn’t keep them waiting.”
Rankled by the easy dismissal, she threw back her shoulders and marched to the bathroom. At the door, she turned back and glared. “If you keep kissing me like that, sooner or later, you’ll have to carry out the promises in the kiss.”
“I have made no promises to you, my lady,” he said gruffly.
“No? That’s not what your body says—nor your eyes,” she added and slammed the door in his face. Her entire body shook with need, and she twisted the knobs on the shower, filling the large marbled room with steam.
Why was he afraid of giving in to what they both clearly wanted? If he was truly the womanizer, why hadn’t he taken her? Or on the rooftop last night?
Maybe he isn’t that man, she realized as she quickly stripped and stepped under the burning hot spray. You called him out on it already. He wears a mask, just like you do.
Her thoughts whirled, and her eyes pictured him standing in front of her, wondering how those tense muscles would feel if bared for her touch. As her loins clenched with need, Daphne’s hands cupped her breasts, her fingers tugging at her already hardened nipples, but it wasn’t her touch she felt on her body. One of her hands moved lower, cupping her intimate parts as his had so recently. She wasn’t a stranger to pleasing herself every now and then, but when her fingers moved as she knew his would have if there had been no barrier, she gasped at the harsh pleasure building in he
r body as she imagined Matt in the shower with her.
She bit her lip hard as her fingers moved against her folds, slick with want for a man she had never been so desperate to have. A man who saw past the smile and positive speeches to the woman underneath, the fighter who neglected her personal needs.
Needs he could take care of for her, she knew, in ways that would leave her gasping for air.
Hardly a minute later, that was exactly what she was doing as the water poured over her shoulders, teasing her sensitive nipples. Gently, her fingers massaged her folds and clit, pinching it and tugging as he had in her dreams. When it slipped inside, her hand moved faster, driving her over the edge. Her body shook with the brief orgasm, a glimpse into what would happen if they ever came together. She leaned against the wall of the shower until her knees quit shaking, and she managed to wash herself and her hair while her body continued to throb with unquenched desires.
No matter what Matt told her, she was going to find a way to convince him it would be worth it for both of them. One night in each other’s arms, that was all she wanted.
You really think you both can stop after just one night?
The reality hit her hard, but she refused to answer her own question. The answer was in front of her already. When the time came to push him away, she wouldn’t stand a chance.
***
Matt escorted Daphne to the king and queen out in the courtyard. Several other guards circled them, and he joined their ranks, trying to stop his hands from twitching and his eyes from admiring the way her ass moved when she walked.
Damn the man who invented high heels.
He should’ve been used to such sights—and worse—from his nights of seeing women barely covered in crop tops and miniskirts, but none of them compared to Daphne. No one ever would again. She was so much more to him than his princess; she was the one woman who might actually be able to calm his raw nerves when they were on edge. Keep him from lashing out when the world around him was shattered by vivid memories that continually dragged him back to his days as a sniper. That moment in her bedroom, he would have taken her, and he imagined her beneath him as he plunged deep inside of her until she cried out with pleasure.
His thoughts shifted, and he realized what else he wanted to hear from this damn woman. Laughter—genuine laughter as he had briefly heard the other night on the roof. Her real laugh was full of life and the strength she used to fight for her people. It was certainly not the laugh she used while speaking with her parents.
Sadly, he was too far away to hear much, so he contented himself with studying her face instead. Her lips supported a smile, but it didn’t reach her light blue eyes. Instead, they held a calculating look bordering on suspicion and… irritation, perhaps? Matt frowned as his gaze lowered, taking in the mole on her cheek and the gentle curves of her face he wanted to hold again as his lips claimed hers in a long, languid kiss. Her hair was pulled severely back from her face, but instead of making her appear hard, it only gave her the look of a strong royal determined to do whatever she needed to see the job completed. Again, he was reminded of the men he had fought beside.
If Daphne had been in the military, she would’ve gone far. Maybe even advanced to commanding others, but as she’d told him, she was trapped in this life. It didn’t look it from the outside, but watching her with her parents, seeing the way her eyes darkened as the conversation lengthened, made him realize how little he really knew of her life.
Not as if she knows much about your life, either, he mused.
The details of his past remained close to his chest, rarely revealing them to anyone. Even the women he used to sleep with only knew his name. That had been enough to get him through a night, but never any further.
If they learned what he’d done, they would not want to see him again, let alone become a part of his life. Matt tried to accept his fate of being alone for the rest of his life, but Daphne had walked into his life and all his hardened emotions unraveled around him. Part of him wanted to fall apart with her, let her see the real man beneath the nightmares and glares, but at the same time, he wondered if she could really handle a man like him when she appeared to barely be hanging on by a thread. Even sitting with her parents, having a simple conversation, put a strain on her face. Lines appeared at her eyes and forehead while that smile stayed in place. Years of practice, that’s what it would take to have a look like that never falter.
“Ah, Matthias,” Ambrose said as he strode towards him. “Let us walk for a minute.”
“The princess?”
“Their lunch will last a bit longer, I’m sure,” he said. “Come, I want to inform you of a few matters.”
Matt shot one more look towards Daphne, and when her gaze flickered to his, his hands tightened at his sides until he turned and followed Ambrose through the courtyard. “Is there a threat to her life I should be concerned with?” he asked stiffly.
“No, nothing of the sort,” Ambrose told him. “However, there is something I would like you to keep an eye on for me while going about your duties.”
“Of course.”
“Her cousin, Dion Eridian—you met him, I assume?”
Matt nodded. “A brief meeting.”
“What was your initial impression of the young man?”
Matt didn’t answer right away, and his hands clasped behind his back to hide their sudden twitching. He did not like Dion, and after what he had heard from the others about him, the man was a threat to Daphne in his eyes, no questions asked.
Ambrose smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “You can be honest, Matthias. It is only us.”
“I fear he may cause problems for Daphne later,” he admitted. “His mother, too. I don’t like the way he speaks to her about how she may or may not rule one day.”
Ambrose sighed, and Matt heard the worry in it. “I need you to keep a close eye on him when he’s in the palace, and especially when he’s near Daphne. A few years ago, he had no issue with her taking over the throne, as is her birthright. Now, however, I fear his mind has been corrupted by Agnes, his mother.”
“What do you think he’ll do?”
“Right now, we’re not sure, but his dealings at the docks are being investigated,” Ambrose told him. “Did the others give you any details on such matters?”
“Only that his business might not be as clean as he claims.”
Ambrose nodded to another path and they moved down it, out of sight of the other guards and the royal family. “There has been a steady increase in drugs being sold in the city and in the outlying coastal towns,” he said quietly, his eyes darting about.
Matt’s did the same as he frowned. “You think Dion is bringing them into Apostolos?”
“It’s the rumor, but so far, we can’t prove nor disprove it,” he said. “Dion is rich. Hard to get the facts straight when he bribes everyone at the docks and those bringing in the shipments to begin with.”
“What is it you want me to do exactly, sir?”
“If Dion asks to speak with Daphne again, do not let her sit with him alone. Inform me of everything they speak of,” he ordered. “I would prefer if they did not speak at all, but she is the princess, and I have no control over whom she agrees to have dinner with.”
Matt frowned at the contradiction to what Daphne was able to do with her life but didn’t comment on it. “Of course, sir. I will do what I can.”
“Good man. If anything seems off, let me know straight away. I want this matter dealt with before it gets out of hand and Dion becomes a real threat to the throne. This kingdom would not last if he or his mother took control.”
Matt nodded his agreement, and Ambrose looked ready to dismiss him though he didn’t tell Matt to return to his post quite yet. “Was there anything else, sir?”
“How are you and Princess Daphne getting on? She had a good relationship with Ralph, and I want to ensure she isn’t stressing you out or vice versa.”
“No, not at all,” he replied quickly and cle
ared his throat when Ambrose raised his brow. “She causes me no stress, and I believe she is happy enough with me as her bodyguard.”
“That’s good to hear,” he announced. “As long as the princess is well cared for, I have no worries. I knew we picked the perfect man for the job. You may return to your post now. I’m sure their talk will be over shortly. She’ll be ready to return to her other business for the day.”
Matt nodded and hurried back the way they’d come. He hadn’t liked Dion the first time he met the royal cousin, but now, he wanted that man to stay far away from Daphne. Would Daphne listen to him if he told her about trouble Dion might be in? Maybe it would be enough to convince her to leave him alone for a while, just until the drug issues were sorted through.
When he returned to the other guards, Daphne was standing, speaking with her mother, but her face was drawn and the smile had vanished. With a raised voice, she snapped, “Why? There’s no reason for her to be against them. She’s part of our educational board.”
“She’s going to try, sweetie. Unless you can find a way to legally stop her from putting a permanent spoke in the reforms. So far, she has three heads of parliament on her side, claiming the kingdom can’t afford your plan, that it will cripple our economy.”
Daphne rubbed her forehead. “It won’t. I know it won’t. I’ve been working on these reforms for two years, Mother. Where did she get her information?”
“Several highly renowned economists,” the queen told her.
“From outside the kingdom? Why would people listen to them over their own?” Matt’s jaw clenched as Daphne’s face fell even more and she tugged hard at her ear. She was watching all her hard work possibly disappear. Matt knew that feeling of hard work meaning nothing. It was always a hard slap to the face. “She only needs a few more on her side and she can kill the reforms,” Daphne muttered. “I can’t believe they would listen to her.”
“And I’m afraid it’s going to work,” the queen said. “Our hands are tied in this matter.”
“But we’re in charge. Why can’t you just simply tell her it won’t happen?”