Royally Mine: 22 All-New Bad Boy Romance Novellas

by Susan Stoker

  Theo gives me a small frown, but doesn’t correct me.

  “I’d love to hear more,” Mr. White says. “I know you’re busy, but I’d like to invite you to the Kid’s Olympics event we’re having. Downtown. Clubs from the East Coast are all gathering together to compete. It’s tomorrow. I know it’s last minute notice to add to your schedule, but—”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Theo says, and thanks the man again while I grin in satisfaction.

  “Theo,” Blondie hollers from the Maserati. “Can we go now?”

  Theo ignores her, and takes my elbow, directing me to the car. The crazy attraction jumps between us again, making me almost stumble as I navigate the broken pavement to the black Escalade.

  To anyone watching, he’s escorting me to the car like a gentleman, moving his hand to my back to steady me. I feel the press of his fingers outlined on my back, burning like a brand. Like it’s radioactive.

  He puts his lips close to my ear. “What did I just tell you about posing for the press?”

  “I didn’t send him over to you,” I whisper back, ignoring the crazy thumping in my heart. “That was all on Mr. White.” I climb into the car and glance back, hoping to see the Theo who played with those kids. The real Theo, his gaze soft and open.

  Instead he looks hard, shuttered.

  I gulp and take a chance. “He’s right you know. Mr. White. You did a good thing today. I’m sorry if I ruined it with the media.” And I am sorry. I thought the battle was between us and the press. Not between you and me.

  He stares at me so long I almost call his name. Blondie hollers again, and he shakes himself, breaking the spell. Thank God. Any longer and his force field would pull me from the car to jump straight into his arms.

  “This isn’t over,” he warns and shuts the door while I shiver at the promise and the threat.

  ***

  Back at the mansion, I head to my assigned office to check my laptop. There’s an email from Mina with two words. ‘Mission Completed.’ I smile. Mina likes using code words as she executes her hacker genius.

  My phone rings. Evans.

  “I just got orders from Mr. Kensington. He said he’s going to the Kid’s Olympics tomorrow?”

  I grin and thank the heavens above for Mr. White. “I guess so.”

  “He also asked for no extra media presence, but he says he’s going to volunteer all day.”

  I fumble the phone and almost drop it. When I get it back up to my ear, Mr. Evans has continued, “—before flying out to Sweden.”

  “Has he agreed to Sweden?”

  “Not yet.”

  “He will,” I say, and knock on the wood top of my desk. I’ll get him to agree to meet his grandmother the queen if I have to don a bikini and give Theo a lap dance.

  I do not say this out loud to Evans.

  “My men have been monitoring the media. Apparently, more sex tapes starring Pepper Spice have come out. She must have made one of every guy she’s ever slept with. It’s all over the celebrity news shows.”

  Well done, Mina. “That should deflect the attention from Theo somewhat.”

  “That’s what I’m seeing.” Evans clears his throat. “I don’t know how you did it, but keep it up. We might be able to convince the board to give him a second chance, after all.”

  Four hours later, I close my laptop. I have Theo scheduled for an interview on Thursday, and released his statement asking for the press to “respect his privacy.” I’ve nudged a few friends to lean on Pepper Spice, who’s looking less and less like a credible source, and more like an opportunistic slut. I don’t like dishing out dirt to clean up a client’s image, but if Pepper is mud-slinging, the least I can do is turn the camera on her.

  I’ve just finished dinner when my phone rings again.

  “He’s gone,” Evans grunts.

  “Again? I thought you took his keys?”

  “I did. Must’ve taken the Porsche.”

  “The man owns ten cars. When you take his keys, you need to take all of them.” I stalk to the window and push open the shades, as if I expect to see Theo motor down his front drive. “We leave tomorrow at eight. We don’t have time to pull him out of a bar and dry him out. We can’t delay anymore. We’re out of time.”

  “I know. We’re trying to track his phone.”

  I whirl from the window, rubbing my temples. My headache was gone, but I feel it coming back with a vengeance. “Could he just be at the pool with the rest of his posse?”

  “He sent them home. Thought he was headed to his rooms. We’re searching the residence for him now.”

  Dammit. “All right. I’ll help.” I pack up my laptop and head to my room. If I’m going to run down my client, I’m going to do it in Nikes, not Louboutins.

  I growl to myself as I march down the gilded halls. “Goddamn fucking man better keep his fucking dick in his fuck god pants or I will staple it to his—” I open the door to my bedroom and halt in my tracks.

  Across my bedroom, Theo grins at me.

  My phone rings. I answer it.

  “I think he’s still here,” Evans says. “His cell signal is still in the residence—”

  “I found him,” I interrupt. “Call off your search. We’ll see you in the morning.” I hang up before Evans can ask any more questions, and I have to tell him the playboy prince is lying in my bed.

  Chapter Five

  “Miss me?” Theo asks.

  “Shoes off the bed,” I order, and march past him into the bathroom. With great care, I make sure not to slam the door. Then I press myself against it.

  The sight of Theo, all shirtless six foot something of him—plus the ten inches he’s packing in his pants (and thankfully, he is wearing pants) is enough to make my ovaries explode.

  If I survive this night without rubbing myself all over him, I will be very, very surprised.

  Must. Channel. Miss. Mavery.

  I open the door again, half-hoping he’s gone.

  Nope. Still there, reclining on his back, biceps and triceps sleekly outlined against the bedspread as he pillows his head in his hands. He’s kicked off his shoes. Looks like he’s here to stay.

  Some part of me is instantly resigned to him being here, our attraction as final and inexorable as gravity. Some part of me wants to jump his bones.

  The way he’s stretched out, it’d be so easy.

  He transfers his gaze from the ceiling to me, long lashes fanning across his tanned skin.

  How can a man be this pretty? And rich. And smart. And famous.

  It’s not fucking fair.

  “So, Vesper. You gonna ask me why I’m here?”

  “No,” I reply, sifting through my suitcase for the baggiest pair of yoga pants I own. Add to them a giant t-shirt proclaiming ‘I love NYC’ and my Sarah Palin/Tina Fey black framed glasses, and I have the perfect cock-blocking outfit. Not as good as a pantsuit, but it’s all I’ve got.

  “I know what you’re doing,” I continue, rising with clothes in hand to kick off my heels. “You’re making my life difficult. You’ve been doing it since I set foot on your doorstep.”

  “I agreed to do everything you wanted.”

  “Which is why I’m not throwing you out on your ass,” I say. “You need a good night’s sleep before tomorrow, and so do I. It may as well be here, where I can keep an eye on you.”

  “Is that what we’re going to do?” He raises a brow. “Sleep?”

  In answer, I shut the bathroom door. I wash my face and change into my armor. After I set my glasses on my nose, I study my reflection. I have a pretty face. Not as pretty as Theo’s, but my thin build and elfin face get me enough stares on the subway. Add to that my long, thick blonde hair flowing out behind me like a golden flag, and I get more than second looks.

  I’ve had enough attention to last a lifetime. But for some reason, I want Theo to look at me.

  After a long moment, I let down my hair.

  When I exit the bathroom, Theo sits up, and I know lett
ing my hair down was a mistake.

  But his hot gaze on me feels like a win.

  “No, we’re not just going to sleep,” I announce. “We’re going to talk.”

  “Just talk?” Another eyebrow raises.

  “Just talk.” I turn to the dresser to take out my earrings.

  A whisper of fabric, and heat hits my back. Theo’s awesome sexual presence surrounds me.

  “Just talk? Are you sure about that?” he murmurs, wrapping his arm around my waist. A good thing he does, because my legs almost give out.

  He pulls me back against him and my mind goes blank. Something long and very, very hard presses against my bottom.

  “This is sexual harassment,” the Miss Mavery part of me parrots. The rest of me melts into Theo’s giant body.

  “Is it? How so?” He tugs my shirt collar to the side and plants a small kiss on my shoulder.

  It takes everything in me not to whirl around and wrap my arms around his neck. He’s very hard and warm. And... hard. “Um…”

  “Why don’t you tell me all about it.” He steps away and tugs me around. “In bed.”

  He draws me to the bed slowly. I walk very carefully, as if I might accidentally slip and fall and land on his dick.

  Hey, it could happen. Baggy yoga pants non-withstanding.

  But as soon as I get to the bed, I break away and slip under the covers. “No. Just no.” I stop him when he goes to do the same.

  He smirks and lies atop the comforter, propped on his side facing me. “You don’t trust me at all, do you?”

  “Not one bit, Mr. Fuck God. Your reputation precedes you. You made your bed. You can lie in it.”

  “As long as I can lie in it with you.”

  I roll my eyes. “Calm down, Casanova. You’re not going to seduce me tonight.”

  He traces the design on the blanket, his finger straying dangerously close to my boob. “Can you blame me if I try? You’re hot.”

  I give him a look.

  “Oh, come on. Not even those glasses hide it. Though they do give me tons of sexy librarian fantasies.”

  “Your books are overdue, Mr. Kensington,” I say sternly.

  “Fuck me,” he groans, rolling to his back.

  “No. Not gonna happen. I don’t fuck boys who are prettier than me.”

  “I’m not boy. I’m a man.”

  “Then act like one. Skateboarding? Really?”

  “I like it. I won a competition—”

  “When you were a teen. You’re twenty-eight.”

  “How old are you?”

  “None of your business.”

  His eyes glitter. “I can make it my business. I’ll call down to Evans right now—”

  “Twenty-six.”

  “You’re young.”

  “Age is just a number. I’ve got experience.”

  He smirks.

  “As a media specialist,” I clarify. “My last five clients—”

  “I know about your clients. I read your file.”

  “You read?” I snark back, and he makes a face.

  I hit him with a pillow, and he grabs it from me, putting it behind his head.

  This is nice. This is comfortable. At least, as comfortable as we can be with all this sexual tension buzzing between us. The air is charged, like just before a storm.

  “I guess your glasses make you look older. More… experienced.”

  I smile at this.

  “So what made you want to be a fixer?” Theo asked.

  “Everyone has secrets.”

  He tilts his head closer. “You gonna tell me yours?”

  “What do you think?” I pull the sheet up under my chin.

  “If you tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.”

  “Too late for that, Mr. Fuck God. Your dick is all over the internet. You don’t have any secrets.” I plump my own pillow, sink into it with a sigh. “Not that you’ve ever had much privacy. Billionaire, son of a princess. You’ve lived your whole life in the spotlight. Must get old.”

  “It does,” he says softly, and there’s a sad note in his voice, a hint of the man I saw before. Much older and more serious than the usual playboy the world knows. Soft and open, able to be hurt.

  I might be the only one who’s ever seen the real Theo.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he says, and my heart stops. There’s nothing flirtatious about his tone, none of the irresistible charm. He serious, stating a fact. But I am very aware of his hand resting on the bed between us, five inches from my hip. It would take nothing for him to slide it forward, to pull down the covers and find my bare skin under the baggy t-shirt. His touch wouldn’t even be shocking. It wouldn’t be wrong.

  Us, lying together without touching, that is shocking. Being in bed with Theo feels inevitable.

  It doesn’t make it right.

  I press my lips together and stare at the ceiling.

  “When I first saw you, I thought you were, I don’t know,” he shakes his head, “a model or something. A pretty face sent here to sell something. Then you opened your mouth and—”

  “What? Beautiful women can’t be smart?”

  “I don’t usually hang out with women because they’re smart.”

  “Pepper Spice is smart. She turned one night with you into media attention and a book deal.”

  He says nothing.

  “And I am a pretty face sent here to sell something,” I continue. “I’m going to sell the world Theodore Kensington: fine, upstanding citizen. And you know what? It won’t even be a lie.”

  “My whole life is a lie.”

  “What are you talking about? You live in a mansion in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the world. This place is practically a palace.”

  “This? I hate this place. My father built it for my mother. Ten years after she died.” He scoffs. “He never stopped loving her. Never stopped…”

  “Trying to prove himself?”

  “Yeah,” his voice kicks with a mirthless laugh. “I guess so.”

  “So you had a hard childhood. That’s not unusual.”

  “What about you?” He turns that deep gaze on me and I flick my own down. I want to shrink into myself, a hermit crab in a shell. Don’t look at me.

  But he does. There’s no hiding from the dark depths of his gaze.

  “Tell me something about yourself, Vesper Smith. Something real.”

  “Truth or dare?” I joke, and wish I could take it back. Theo lies on his side, his dark gaze soldered to my curves under the blanket. And I’m wet and ready, body just waiting for him to make the first move. At this point, a dare would be very, very dangerous.

  I swallow. “I’m from a small town. Only child.”

  “Parents?” he probes, more intent than I’ve ever seen him. His sexy aura is turned way, way up. This close, it’s overpowering.

  “Just my mom. She worked a lot.”

  “So did my dad.”

  “Yeah, well, at least you weren’t on food stamps.” I grimace at the ceiling.

  “So no modeling career?”

  “No. Pretty girls in my town ended up at the strip club.”

  “What got you out?”

  “Work, desire. A bit of luck. I had a teacher who believed in me. She was the school librarian. I befriended her. I thought all the books were hers. She was nice to me. She told me I could go to college, and I believed her.”

  “Did you go?”

  “Bachelors and masters.”

  “Smart girl. Scholarships?”

  “And loans. I also worked.” I touch my glasses. “Got an internship with a fixer who taught me everything she knew. And here I am.”

  “In bed with me.”

  “This is not going on my resume.”

  He laughs, and I wriggle around to face him. The heat between our bodies is potent. Electricity leaps from his tanned skin to mine. Even covered in a white sheet, I can feel it.

  I lick my lips. “You know what would make me very, very happy?”

>   “I think I can guess.” The devil lurks in his grin.

  I hold up a finger. “One interview. Prime time. I can make a call—”

  “No.” He jerks away from me, only a few inches, but I feel the wall go up between us.

  “All right, then. How about this? The kids you met today, the ones going to the event tomorrow? Comp them some rooms. You own a hotel a few blocks away.”

  Now he’s lying on his back staring at the ceiling and I’m leaning into him.

  “It’d be a great gesture. It’d make their year. I promise not to leak it to the press. Although, it’d be great if you made an appearance. Just show up, make the kids feel special.”

  “Is it really good for these kids to be seen with me? My reputation…”

  “You are not your sex life, although you’ve done a good job trying convince everyone of that. But is that all you want to be? You’re a fucking billionaire. I know it doesn’t mean as much to you because you were born to it, but remember Billy and Kenny? Their mom works double shifts as a waitress at Denny’s. Their father’s in jail. You of all people know what it’s like to have a parent working all the time, and one gone.”

  He flinches.

  “You could make a difference in their lives, if you wanted to. You just have to get over yourself.” I flop onto my back, rant over.

  There’s a long stretch of silence.

  “I don’t mean to ride your ass,” I add. “I want you to realize the good you can do. It doesn’t have to crimp your party life. Or sex life.”

  “You can ride my ass anytime.”

  I give up, rolling away from him and setting the alarm on my phone before turning off the light.

  Behind me Theo shifts, and presses his body against mine, lining it up behind me.

  His arm comes around, wrapping around me over the blanket.

  My body is alive, holding its breath. I wait for him to pull me to him, to kiss me and do all manner of naughty things that would shock a porn star, not to mention Miss Mavery.

  But he doesn’t, so I fall asleep.

  ***

  I jerk awake when my phone buzzes like an angry bee.

  I grab it, squinting to check it. Three a.m.

  “Do you have to keep that thing on?” Theo asks. In sleep he threaded his legs through mine, tangling us together.