I mean, she couldn’t hate me forever, could she? For fuck’s sake, our parents were getting married. Not that I could believe that was happening either. I was just as shocked as she was when I found out last week, but I’d had a bit of time to adjust to the idea, and once I did, I realized that Benjamin was good for my mother.
My father, King Earl, died six years ago after his horse took a bad fall during a jump. He was in a coma for a week before the doctors told us he was brain dead. Mom had the burden of making the decision to take him off life support, ignoring the controversy that was whipping through the country. The media was brutal, especially the trashy rags that made up outrageous accounts of corruption in the Royal Family. Some went so far to suggest that my mother planned his accident herself. Vultures.
That’s why she had insisted that her romance with Benjamin Rose stay quiet for so long. She didn’t want to deal with the headlines and speculation that would undoubtedly occur. The Queen of Sweden with a US Ambassador? The media would eat that up. I understood completely. I had experienced my own run-ins with the press.
But she needed somebody. Don’t most people? Especially when you get older, and she was definitely aging. Sure, Benjamin was ten years younger than her, but she was young at heart and healthy as a horse, she deserved love wherever she could find it. Besides, you don’t choose who you fall in love with.
When she told me who it was, I have to admit, I was a little taken aback at the situation, but then, I had a little fun with the memories. I’d kept tabs on Julia from afar, so I knew who her father was. I knew my new step-sister would be upset that we would be thrown back together, but I was determined to put the past behind us, keep it between us and move on into our new roles in each other’s lives.
That was before I saw her. Holy fuck! She had changed, that was for sure. A whole hell of a lot. And that short slinky red dress, with those curves, that cleavage, those long legs that stretched for miles…hell, I couldn’t help but remember how they felt wrapped around my hips. It’d been years, but some memories don’t fade. Especially the good ones.
When I met her my last year of college, she was just what I had been looking for. I went to America to party, plain and simple. School was just an excuse to get out of the country. Fun was the only priority, and that included all the pussy I could get. But after a while, I realized one thing.
All the girls at Brown were the same.
After an endless streak of over-achieving, spoiled, perfectly formed and groomed blondes, I was aching for something different. Something with a little flavor. Something that would be a little more challenging than the easy lays that had practically jumped into my bed, eager to get a chance at banging a real life Prince.
It was boring, and I quickly lost interest.
Until I saw Julia. She was nothing like her classmates. Her hair was constantly pulled back in a severe ponytail, tightly secured at the nape of her neck. Her cardigans and buttoned-up silk shirts underneath, and those long, wool skirts she wore, only served to stimulate my imagination. She wore thick glasses and it took me two weeks after I’d noticed her just to see what color her eyes were, because she was constantly staring into a book.
I did everything to get her to notice me. Walked in front of her, dropped books in her path, I even tried the direct approach and said hello as she passed me in the hallway once, but she just looked behind her as if I was talking to someone else and scurried past me with her head down.
After a few days of this, I made it my mission to see exactly what was under her nerdy exterior.
I could tell she was beautiful. Her high cheekbones framed her face beautifully, her creamy flawless complexion begged for me to caress it. Before long, I was tortured by sexy librarian fantasies, spending nights alone in bed indulging in images of her loosening her hair and ripping off her glasses before tasting that perfect skin of hers. My cock ached every time I saw her at school, and I hatched a plan to get her attention. I was sure if I could get her to just look at me, for Christ’s sake, I could seduce her.
Then, I saw her pin a flyer on the student bulletin board offering calculus tutoring, and I had the perfect excuse to talk to her. I wasn’t even taking a fucking calculus class, but that didn’t matter.
In the end, it worked. But the way it went down was not what I had planned at all.
But whatever. That was ten years ago. We were grown-ass adults now, and the past was the past. It was time to focus on the here and now.
Now, she’s sitting next to me, with that tight red dress inching up around her creamy thighs as she wiggles around nervously in her seat, and I’ve never seen such a beautiful sight. Gone is the severe hair and glasses. Her auburn waves are cascading around her shoulders, her sparkling green eyes are so vibrant and stunning that I can’t stop staring. Gone is the insecure slouch of her shoulders, the long, lanky limbs replaced by womanly curves that I want to run my hands over so badly I have to put them in my pockets to keep from doing just that. The confident, albeit pissed off, Julia of today could be a fucking supermodel.
My cock twitched anxiously in my pants, perhaps going down its own memory lane. That first night and all the ones that followed had etched themselves into my mind and body, and pushing them to the side was going to be a challenge in and of itself. Now that I had another look at her, to be honest, the idea of pushing anything aside was quickly fading from my mind. I wanted another taste. The only thing I wanted to push aside was her panties.
I’d always been seduced by a challenge, chalking it up to my love for a good game and my competitive spirit.
I mean, really - what’s life, without a little fun and games?
CHAPTER THREE
JEWELS
After practically hyperventilating in the restroom for ten minutes, I finally found my way back to the table in a daze.
“Darling, is everything okay?” my father asked as I sat back down.
“Yes.” I forced a smile and felt the Queen’s eyes on me. I looked down at a plate that was full of food that I was sure would not stay in my belly even if I could get it down.
“We took the liberty of ordering for you,” The Queen, Victoria, Vicky, My Royal Majesty, or Your Highness, or whatever I was supposed to call her, said. “This is my favorite restaurant in Stockholm. My parents used to bring me here when I was a little girl. Of course, they offer every time to have the chef, Rinaldo, come to the palace, but I like the ambiance. Don’t you?”
She paused, and I felt all eyes on me. I cleared my throat, lifting my chin and forcing myself to meet her gaze. She might have been old, but she was sharp. Her eyes were like clear glass - alert, perceptive and demanding. Demanding that I answer.
“Yes, it’s beautiful, ma’am” I admitted. And it was. Fucking magical, is what it was. If only I wasn’t so distracted by the heat pouring from Will’s body…his perfectly chiseled body, that looked the muscles had doubled since I saw him last…then maybe I could focus and hold an actual conversation. As it was, the ambiance of the restaurant was the last thing that was penetrating my muddled brain.
“Please, darling, call me Vicky. Your father tells me you’re a school teacher,” she continued.
“Yes, ma’am…uh - Vicky,” I replied, wishing I was back in my third-grade classroom at Cherry Hill elementary school, instead of here. Everything was so simple with kids. Nothing about this was simple.
“That’s a very admirable profession, Julia,” she replied. “My mother was a teacher.”
I nodded, smiled, spotted my full wine glass and gratefully scooped it up. Anything to take the edge off. I hadn’t looked Will’s way since I sat back down. I was terrified to face him, knowing my every emotion was probably visible.
I should be mad at him. I should hate him. And I do, really I do. But dammit, something about the very chemistry of the man had a way of melting all my resistance, making me submit to anything he wanted.
But no! That was the past. I didn’t have to fall at his feet anymore.
I was a grown woman now. I didn’t need to bow down to anyone, not even the fucking Prince of Sweden. I could slay my own dragons. And if Will was the dragon, so be it.
I hadn’t seen him in person in ten years, and I wasn’t about to let him disrupt my life again.
I’d seen him everywhere else, though. The internet and television loved him. CNN, BBC, The Huffington Post, fucking TMZ and Entertainment Tonight didn’t seem to be able to go a few days without running a story on his excessive playboy ways.
I’d even turned on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last month, and there was Will’s arrogant grin staring back at me, playing the fucking ukelele with Jimmy. He wasn’t even an actor or anything! Just being a Prince was enough for all the attention. All Will had to do was show up, and everyone adored him.
When the person who broke your heart is plastered across every electronic screen you come across, it makes it a little more difficult to forget about them and move on.
I was hoping I could come to Sweden to see my father without running into the one person I didn’t want to see, but apparently my luck is so dreadfully terrible that I couldn’t even get through the first day here without having to face him. Seeing him was bad enough all on its own. But now this? This - this - announcement - that only makes everything even worse than it already was? I have to live with this?
I looked across the table at my father, who had no idea how incredibly fucked up this all was and felt terrible. I’d ruined his one chance at happiness before it even began. And boy, was it ever ruined. As soon as he and Vicky found out about me and Will, the engagement would be over. And so would that smile on my father’s face.
And it would be all my fault.
Because I didn’t say no to Will years ago when I should have. I’d been paying for that mistake for so long already, and now, it appears the price just went way up.
“…and the palace is so much nicer. Wouldn’t that be nice?” Vicky was talking but I was so lost in my panicked thoughts, I had no idea what she was talking about.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
“The castle, darling. I said you should stay with us at Drottningholms slott,” she repeated.
I began nodding without realizing exactly what I was agreeing to. But whatever it was made my father even happier because his grin widened and his eyes sparkled.
“That’s wonderful,” he exclaimed. “You’ll be able to get to know the whole family.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked.
“At the castle. If you’re staying at the castle, you’ll get a chance to meet the whole Royal Family.”
“Oh,” I replied. Did I just agree to stay at a fucking castle? Dammit! “But the hotel…”
“Stay there tonight, darling, since you’ve already checked in. I’ll have Bertolf arrange to have you picked up tomorrow afternoon,” she said.
“Bertolf?”
“Bertolf is a delightful old coot that’s been with our family since I was a tot. He wears many different hats, most of all catering to my every whim,” Will said, with a wink. “You’ll get to know him quite well.”
“I - um,” I was about to argue, to insist that the hotel was fine, but the look on Dad’s face was so hopeful that I closed my mouth as fast as I opened it. “Thank you,” I said quietly, looking back down at my plate.
Salmon. I recognized that. But there was another thing next to it - a bright, golden orange orb that I think might have been some kind of caviar. I took a small bite of the salmon, and my mouth exploded with flavor. It was incredible. Of course, it was delicious because it probably cost about a thousand dollars. I poked at the orange orb with my fork, and it jiggled. What the hell was that?
Caviar. Definitely some kind of fish eggs, I decided, after stabbing it. I was definitely not eating it.
My stomach churned again, half in hunger, and half in revulsion. It was just as confused as my brain was. I was leaving my heart out of the equation completely. Not to mention my shaking knees and quivering center. I hated the way my body responded to stress. At the moment, I hated the way it responded to Will.
As if he could hear my thoughts, or perhaps it killed his attention-seeking soul that he wasn’t getting any attention for the last thirty seconds, either way, it was obvious Will had decided that he wasn’t finished playing his ridiculous games with me. His hand closed over my knee again, and I resisted the urge to jump out of my skin or throw caviar in his eye.
I sighed, reached under the table, grabbed his index finger and pulled back firmly until he released my knee with a quiet gasp. I still hadn’t looked at him. I was proud of myself. I knew he wasn’t appreciating the fact that I wasn’t falling victim to his charms this time, and it brought me great pleasure to know that I was irritating him.
He could try all he wanted. I was a different woman now than I was back in school. I had confidence. A strong sense of who I was. I knew my place in the world. He’d never get to me.
As for my heart, I’d built a cage around it so strong that he would never be able to penetrate it again.
CHAPTER FOUR
WILL
Images of Jewels danced in my head as I lay alone in my bed that night. I’d been anxious to see her. She was a whole new woman than the girl I remembered. A whole lot sexier, smarter, and more confident, which only made me want her even more.
When my mother suggested Jewels stay at the castle, I could have kissed her. Seeing her again had sparked something in me that I hadn’t felt in a long time. Anticipation. Excitement. Unpredictability.
Maybe it was wrong, but I didn’t care. Hell, us Royals were known for marrying across the family lines. It’s not like we were related, not really. And besides, our parents weren’t even married yet.
One more taste of Jewel’s treasure for old time’s sake couldn’t hurt, could it?
My pulsing cock certainly didn’t seem to have any problems with the idea. It had been relentlessly standing at attention since the first moment I laid eyes on the beautiful Jewels again. I’m surprised I managed to make it through dinner without having to retire to the men’s room to find some relief.
Having Jewels around was going to be good for me. I’d been dreadfully bored lately and she was just the spark I needed in my life, I decided on the way home from dinner. Having her in such close quarters - well, as close as could be inside a two hundred and twenty room castle - would be absolutely divine.
Tasting her again? While it might take some work to get her to warm up to the idea, I was sure I could make it happen.
In the meantime, my bed was empty, and my cock had been demanding attention for hours. I gave in, letting my mind take me down memory lane, to take me back to that first night that Jewels and I slept together in America, to the feel of her soft lips on mine, the sound of her sweet moans, the way she lifted her narrow, eager hips, and the thrill that went down my spine when my name escaped from her lips, when she begged me to take her.
CHAPTER FIVE
JEWELS
“Dad, I’m perfectly happy at the hotel,” I protested. We were sitting in the back of a limo Vicky had sent over to retrieve me and my luggage. I’d been begging my father to help me find a way out of this, without telling him exactly why I didn’t want to stay at the castle, which wasn’t going very well, to say the least.
“I don’t understand, Jewels. Obviously, the castle will be much nicer than the hotel. And you already agreed. It would be rude to back out now.”
I silently sulked, staring out the window and avoiding my father’s gaze. Of course he didn’t understand.
“You know, Jewels, your reaction to all of this is quite baffling. I thought you’d be happier for me.”
The sadness in his voice penetrated my selfish heart and I turned in my seat to face him.
“I am happy for you, Dad. It’s just all a little…weird.”
“It is unusual, I know. I never expected anything like this to happen either. But Vicky is really just a regular person, once you
get to know her.”
Vicky - a regular person? The idea was absurd to me, but I let it slide. Why argue with him? He had his own perspective on the situation, and normally, I would have been over the moon that he had finally found someone. But nothing about this was normal.
Nothing about the fact that I was on my way to stay at a castle, with the Queen, that my father was going to marry, for God’s sake, was normal. And it never would be.
I’d hardly slept last night, and I was on edge. I vowed to keep my mouth shut as much as possible, so I wouldn’t do anything rude or say something that might embarrass my father. I had a great deal of respect for him, and nothing would change that. Not even this.
“Have you set a date yet, Dad?” I asked, realizing in all of the chaos and confusion I hadn’t asked that one simple question.
“In the Spring sometime. We were thinking of doing it during Spring Break so you don’t have to take time off from teaching.”
“I see. That’s awfully fast, isn’t it?”
“It would be if we had just met each other. But I’ve known Vicky for years, so why wait when you’re sure?” His eyes were gleaming again, and once again, I felt like a total jerk.
“Right,” I replied, trying to smile, trying to be happy for him, like he deserved. “Why wait?”
He patted my hand and, and as the limo passed through the biggest, shiniest, most golden gate I’d ever seen, I made another vow to myself to do whatever it took to accept my father’s happiness.
Even if it meant being nice to Will. I suppressed a groan at the thought.
After all, the past was the past, right? And there’s nothing I can do to change it, no matter how much I’d love to go back in time and snatch my virginity back from him.
All I could control was the here and now.
The limo slowly pulled up in front of the longest building I’d ever seen and our doors opened. Gloved hands belonging to military soldiers greeted us, helping us out. Standing in front of Drottningholm Palace, the enormity of the structure hit me first. It stretched out to both sides as far as the eye could see.
The Crown Jewels Page 3