The Royal's American Love

by Sophia Lynn

  “You will.”

  Marianna smiled at his certainty, and at how he was so pleased to simply be with her. As they walked back to the house, she wondered what it would be like if this was her real life. What would it be like to simply be with this charming, amazing man for the rest of her life? Simply being with him for a week had been intoxicating.

  By the time they got back to the house, the moon had risen, casting a silvery light over the beach.

  Witchlight, Marianna thought. Magic light.

  When Nikolos made to go inside, she tugged on his hand.

  “Can we stay out here for a little longer? Just a little bit?”

  He nodded, and guided her to one of the benches on the stone deck. It was wide enough for both of them to sit comfortably, but he headed inside the house. While she waited, slightly confused, he returned with a thick, white blanket.

  “Come on. I’ll show you something else that we did.”

  He led her back out to the sand, where he spread the blanket down and beckoned her to lie down with him. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world for her to rest her head on his biceps, her body curled toward his side as he lay on his back.

  “Look up at those stars,” she said softly. “It makes me think of all the people who have lain here just like we are, staring up at those stars, telling each other stories.”

  “I would listen to your stories for the rest of my life,” he said, and there was something serious in his tone that made her look at him.

  “What are you saying to me?” she asked. “Nikolos, I am so…I am so afraid. I don’t know where you stand… I don’t know what is going to happen to us or what we should be doing.”

  She trembled when he rolled to his side to face her. His hand came out to touch her face, stroking the curve of her cheek. There was a soft shiver of pleasure that echoed through her body, remnants of the single night they had spent together that told her how much she wanted him and the pleasure he could give her.

  “My mother once told me something, when I was very small. I was afraid of something that was going to happen. She took me aside, and she said that I couldn’t ever affect what was going to happen, all I could do was think about what I wanted to do in the moment. That was all I could ever control. I couldn’t control the past. I couldn’t control the future.”

  “What do you think I should do?” she asked, her voice soft and tremulous.

  “I think that you should do what you want to do right now,” he said. “Let tomorrow take care of itself. Be who you are and who you want to be right now.”

  He fell silent, but his words echoed in her head and in her heart. Tomorrow could take care of itself. There were things that she wanted right this moment, and oh god, but she wanted it so much.

  Nikolos did not flinch at all when she ran her hand down his chest. His eyes only grew darker and more intense. She could feel his frame shiver a little at her touch, but she knew he would not do a single thing until she gave him a sign.

  So she did.

  She cupped her hand behind his neck, tangling her fingers into the inky strands there. She drew him close, and she kissed him, boldly and deeply in the way she had dreamed about since their night together. The kiss sent a bolt of electricity through her, making her cling to his arms.

  “Please,” she said throatily. “Right now, what I need is you. What I want is you. You are all I can see.”

  The breath from her words fanned across his lips, making him shiver. In response, he dragged her as close to him as she could be. She could feel the tension that strung through his body like violin wire, and then all she wanted to do was pluck the strings.

  Nearly drunk with the pleasure of his body, she tugged at his shirt.

  “Please, take this off, I need to feel you. I need to have your skin next to mine.”

  “Yes, sweetheart, yes, please. You are what I want. You are what I have always wanted.”

  With the consummate grace of a dancer or a fighter, he stripped his shirt over his head before skimming off his shoes, trousers, and underwear. He was bare in the night, as unashamed as a god, and the look on his face was pure hunger. She felt like a sacrifice left for some dark deity, hoping it would convince him to spare her village.

  “Take your clothes off,” he said, an unmistakable note of command in his voice.

  Hurriedly, she stripped off her borrowed dress and then her underwear. Finally, she kicked off her shoes, naked as she never had been before while so completely outside in nature. Despite how vulnerable she was, she had never felt safer. She knew that here in this place. Nikolos held the real authority. Nothing would deny him. Nothing could.

  “I want to give myself to you.”

  She barely knew what she was going to say before she heard the words come out of her mouth. The only indication that Nikolos gave that he heard her was a swift intake of breath.

  “Get up on your hands and knees, just like you were that night,” he growled, his voice rough with sensuality.

  With a shiver, she did as he said. At least that night, she had been wearing her underwear. Now she knew he was able to see her most intimate, sacred flesh. She knew he was looking at her more deeply than any man ever had before.

  “God above, but you are so beautiful…”

  He came to kneel behind her, his hands splayed lightly on her hips. She shivered when he ran his palms from her shoulders to her waist, raising goosebumps along the way. She whimpered, pushing her body against him. Her rear brushed against his leg. She could feel the rough hair there, and when she adjusted her position slightly, she could feel the hardness of his erection against her skin.

  “Do you like the way that feels?” he crooned. “Do you like how it feels when I am so desperate for you?”

  “Yes, yes,” she whimpered. “I want you to…to take me.”

  His grip tightened on her hips. For a moment, she thought she had broken his control. She had a dizzying image of his hands holding her still as he started to plunder her body, thrusting in and out of her, desperate with need.

  After a moment, though, his grasp loosened, but she knew he was still on a precarious edge.

  “I’m not so desperate for you as all that,” he said softly. “I am not so desperate that I would not make you feel good first.”

  She started to ask what he meant, but then he shifted so the smooth head of his cock was sliding against her furrow. She could feel him teasing her opening gently. Every time she thought he was going to enter her fully, he drew back. She didn’t realize she was making any noise at all until she finally groaned with pleasure.

  “Oh, you’re almost there,” he crooned. “You’re so close, but you’re not there yet.”

  He reached around her hip, finding her clit with an almost unerring accuracy. He gave her absolutely no mercy as he manipulated her needy flesh, drawing her pleasure to the surface of her skin and setting her clit on fire.

  The sensation was so intense she started to whine, thrashing and begging and needy. He was far stronger than she, however. He held her in place, his cock tantalizingly close to her entrance, even as his hand worked its magic below.

  “Oh…oh god, please!”

  On the final word, she broke. The fire blazed through her so brilliantly that she wasn’t sure there would be anything left of her after it was over. She trembled, burying her face into her hands. She shook so hard that she knew she would be sore the next day, her muscles were clenched so tightly.

  Finally, finally, she went limp. She managed to stay on all fours where he had placed her, but a stiff breeze could have blown her over.

  Slowly she became aware of Nikolos stroking her back, whispering encouragement and endearments into her ear.

  “So beautiful, so lovely and so mine…”

  She tried to tell him she felt the same way about him, but all that came out was a soft whine. He chuckled in response.

  “Now you’re ready.”

  She felt him gather himself, sliding deep in
to her with a single motion. She was so wet and so ready for him that there was no resistance at all. He groaned with pleasure when he sank into her fully.

  “You feel perfect,” he whispered. “So perfect…”

  When he started to thrust into her, she felt as if she were finally complete. This was perfect. This was what she had needed from the moment she met him. She was a part of him, and he was a part of her.

  She felt his motions speed up, she felt his breath grow rougher. Now she was a vessel for his pleasure, and surprisingly , it increased her pleasure as well. She started to rock back against his body, allowing him to drive deeper and deeper inside her.

  She felt him start to lose rhythm, and then he thrust deep inside her with a deep cry of pleasure. She could feel his release inside her, feel the essence of him flood her body.

  He trembled for a moment, going stock still, and then he let his weight push her down to the blanket until they were resting side by side. There was something primal about the moment. They were doing a thing people had been doing since there were people, and it struck her deep to the heart.

  With a soft grunt, he pulled her close to him as the sweat dried on their bodies. His breath was warm in her ear, and when he kissed her neck, a shiver of pleasure ran through her body. It was a gentle thing, however, more peaceful than passionate.

  She knew tomorrow as waiting. She knew that eventually, they would wake up and have to deal with the things she had found out. Right now, though, she was in his arms, and nothing more mattered.

  They were here. They were together, and the love between them burned as hot as a brand.

  It was enough. It had to be.

  * * *

  The next morning, she woke up before Nikolos did. The first rays of dawn were beaming through the window, bathing the plush bedroom in a golden light. She watched his smooth face for a long time. She felt a deep sadness as she gazed at his restful features. There was a chance she would never be allowed to do this again. The thought tore her heart, but she knew that she had to do what she was going to do.

  Marianna simply knew that she could not live with herself if she did not come forward. What she did not know is whether she would survive the result.

  Nikolos opened his eyes, smiling at her sweetly.

  “Come back to bed, darling. We have the whole day in front of us before we need to go back tomorrow morning.”

  “I can’t,” she said softly. “Please, can I show you something?”

  She could tell he sensed the seriousness of her plea. He sat up immediately, letting the sheet fall down to his hips.

  “What is it, darling?”

  She unlocked her phone and pulled up the files. They were backed up in another location, so she did’t minding handing them to him.

  “Read this, please.”

  Nikolos looked baffled, but he accepted her phone silently. He started to read, his eyes flickering from line to line quickly.

  Marianna realized she could not stand to stay and watch him. Instead, she walked to the living room, taking a seat on the couch and looking out over the ocean. The sun was coming up, turning the water to fire. She simply sat and soaked in the beauty, letting it soothe her as much as she could be soothed.

  She had no idea what was going to happen, but she knew now that it was out of her hands. All she could do was wait.

  In less time that she would have thought, Nikolos appeared in the doorway of the bedroom, wearing only a silk robe wrapped around his body

  “Do you know where I can find the Bhandari family?” he asked. “Any of the people who were driven out?”

  “Why?” she asked. “She told me what she told me while under confidence. She was really risking herself in doing this. I’m not going to give over her information just because you ask.”

  Nikolos looked horrified. “Surely you don’t think I would harm her? Marianna, I had no idea that this happened, but I know who was behind it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Nikolos took a deep breath, coming to sit beside her on the couch. He didn’t reach for her, but she could feel the pain that trembled through his frame.

  “A handful of years ago, I was…going through a rebellious phase, let’s say. I wasn’t interested in attending to my duties at the Aurelian corporation. I spent a lot of time shirking my responsibilities, and people spent more time hunting me down to do my job than they spent doing their own jobs. This was how Bryan Kieferland got his foot in the door.”

  “Kieferland? I didn’t see his name.”

  “You probably wouldn’t have. He moved fast, and he didn’t have the authority for most of what he did. He took over properties quickly and brutally before turning them over for a profit that went directly into his pockets.

  “When I was told about Kieferland and his exploits, I took action immediately, I swear. I got rid of him, I got him deported from the country, and I started paying reparations to the people who were hurt. Many of them ended up working for my family in one way shape or form. That is why I need to talk to Satya. Somehow, it seems as if her family slipped through the cracks.”

  “Why didn’t she know that you were paying reparations?”

  “We honestly wanted to keep it quiet. We thought we were thorough enough when it came to tracking down Kieferland’s victims, but we obviously were not. Please. Let me talk to Satya.”

  In that moment, she saw the truth in his eyes. She threw herself into his arms, tears filling her eyes.

  “You’re real,” she whispered. “You’re real, you’re telling the truth.”

  “Yes, oh god, yes, beloved. I wouldn’t lie about this.”

  She started crying hard then, but they were cleansing tears.

  “Oh god. Sweetheart, do not cry, please, I love you. I love you so much, please don’t cry.”

  His words stunned her.

  “I… You love me?”

  “Very much.”

  His gaze was dark, and he held her close, as if he would never let her go.

  “Please,” he said, and she knew what he wanted without even asking.

  “I love you,” she whispered. “I love you, I love you...”

  Chapter Nine

  Marianna closed the magazine with satisfaction. Four months later, her work on Nikolos had finally been published, and it was exactly what she had wanted it to be. It started with meeting a casual, playful, spoiled prince, and it ended with the discovery of a man who worked hard to make sure that justice was done.

  Now that the article was done, and his family had approved it, she was well on her way to researching the dynasty from which her lover came. The glittering diamond on her finger told of her vested interested in finding new knowledge about Nikolos’s family, because it was now her family as well.

  At the moment, she and his whole family were at Ojo Azul. Her research work, so hard to leave behind, was spread out on the table in front of her. She could look beyond it to the white beach and the blue ocean.

  Her future brother- and sisters-in-law were splashing in the waves. As she watched, Nikolos rose out of the water like a god, shaking salt water from his dark hair.

  As if he could feel her eyes on him, he smiled at her, and she couldn’t resist.

  She stood, stretching out and closing her laptop. She had learned that she could leave the work behind for a bit. It would keep. Objectivity was not always the Holy Grail she had made it out to be.

  She walked out of the house toward the beach, where she knew the love of her life was waiting for her.

  The End!

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  CHAPTER ONE

  Estelle sn
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  The transatlantic flight from New York to Dubai was almost fourteen hours long. She was traveling to the other side of the world, and she barely stopped herself from squirming with happiness.

  I can't believe this is really happening for me. I can't believe that I'm really getting off the ground.

  Out of instinct, she pulled her phone out of her bag to check it and made a wry face at all the messages. Just because she was getting off the ground didn't mean that there weren't some very worried, very concerned people far below her.

  The first message was from her mother, who hoped that she was doing well on her flight, that she had packed everything that she needed, and that she was doing the right thing.

  I hope you have a good time out there, dear, but remember that if anything happens or even if you get just a little bit homesick, it's all right to come home! You know that your dad and I worry, and that if anything happens at all, we'll be waiting for you with open arms.

  Estelle could hear the concern and the love in her mother's message, but she could also hear the worry and the confusion. Her parents had spent their lives working hard, and they saw their move to the suburbs as the end-all, be-all of what life should be. They didn't understand why Estelle had fled to New York City as soon as she was ready for college, and they definitely didn't understand why she had jumped on the job offer from Kalil Enterprises.

  Oh, they had smiled when she told them, and of course they had been impressed when they heard about the standards for what PanVision needed, but at the end, they didn't quite get it.

  Roxy, on the other hand, got it perfectly. Estelle had two older brothers who she loved dearly, but it was her little sister Roxy to whom she felt the closest. They were a year apart in age, but most people thought they were twins. Both sisters were short and voluptuous and had faintly elfin, mischievous features that could make them look years younger than they really were. They both had black hair that was given to frizz and curls, and green eyes. Both had dark freckles across their nose, something they shared with their mother.