The Royals: Alexander and Clara: Volume One (The Royals Saga)

by Geneva Lee

  “I couldn’t stay away,” he murmured against my neck. “I need you, poppet.”

  The words hung between us, our mutual need building. I crushed my lips to his hungrily. Our tongues tangled along with our bodies as we struggled for more contact. Want devoured and consumed us, and no matter how forcefully we pressed together, it wasn’t enough to subdue our longing. Alexander flipped me to my stomach and licked the length of my spine before standing and pulling my hips to the edge of the bed.

  A primal rumble vibrated through his chest, and he grasped my ass with strong hands, yanking me to him until I hovered over his cock. His thick crown jabbed against my swollen cleft. I ached for him, not only physically but emotionally. I couldn’t exorcise the ghosts of his past, but I could hold them at bay. I submitted to his will, rolling my hips and coating his tip with my wetness. Alexander needed control over his life. That was impossible, but I was prepared to give him control over me.

  “Take me,” I pleaded. “Take what you need, X.”

  He slammed into me with a force that stole my breath, sheathing his cock to the root. A whimper spilled from my lips.

  “That’s right. I want to hear you,” he ordered, rolling his hips savagely. My hands fisted in the sheets and I held on as he plunged inside me again. Deep. Impossibly deep. My brain switched off, lost to his needs and the visceral reactions of my body. Every movement vibrated through my skin: a flick of the wrist, his fingers digging into the flesh of my hips, the pulse of his cock inside me.

  “Don’t stop,” I begged. In that moment I needed him as much as he needed me. I needed the reassurance of his dominance. My body yearned to submit to him, desperate to be freed and to free.

  His cock thrust into me, carrying me off my feet. I dangled off the bed, my body pinned to Alexander as he pumped relentlessly inside me. He was my center. My core. I was his sanctuary. His home.

  “Fuck,” he cried, burying his shaft to the hilt as he erupted. A hand hooked around me as he released and pinched my clit, splintering me and I burst against him, crying his name.

  My body slackened, my channel still pulsing around him. He stayed behind me for a moment, tracing the curve of my tailbone before he withdrew his cock. The emptiness yawned through me, and as if he sensed it, he clasped me against him, urging me back onto the bed. Alexander propped himself against the headboard and reached for me. His blue eyes had calmed, but the desire for connection was palpable between us. I crawled over him, lowering myself gently toward his lap as he directed his still rigid shaft toward my tender entrance. He cradled my back as I sank onto him. His cock pierced me to the core and I moaned as I clung to him. We didn’t move. We only held each other as our breathing returned to normal.

  When Alexander finally spoke, his words numbed me. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

  “It never has been,” I said cautiously. Part of me wanted to run before it was too late, but his hold on me was too strong. I was his willing captive and he was my ruler.

  “My father has asked me to attend meetings out of country.”

  My blood ran cold. Alexander was being sent away again, coerced into exile for a crime he didn’t commit. The distance didn’t terrify me nearly as much as the possibility that he would return to me broken—that we’d be forced to once again pick up the pieces.

  “How long?” I asked, focusing on the details so I wouldn’t have to cope with the reality.

  “Days. Weeks. I don’t know,” he admitted.

  I traced the lines of his face, committing them to memory, already feeling the gaping weight of separation. It was worse not knowing how long we would be kept apart, which made this time more precious. Love doesn’t run on clocks, I reminded myself. It was easier to believe that while we were together. But right now he didn’t need my fear, he needed my faith. Entwined together, I had no doubt that we could overcome this, too.

  Alexander stared into my eyes, and I met his gaze, unflinching. There were a million things we needed to say to one another before this trial began. A million decisions that needed to be made. But I couldn’t find the words, so I swiveled my hips and rolled my sex against his hard groin, communicating in the only way I knew. He answered, rocking into me, driving us together. Our bodies spoke for us, and as my limbs contracted and I spilled over, he found the only answer we needed.

  “I love you, Clara.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  My eyes landed on the calendar pinned to the wall above my desk. Two weeks. There were letters from him punctuated by long bouts of silence. The only constant was a single red rose delivered to work each morning with a two word note penned by the florist.

  For Monday.

  For Tuesday.

  For Wednesday.

  I tried to shrug off this morning’s missing rose. I told myself the florist was sick.

  I took to following the news of his travels to fill in the gaps. The one contact I could count on was the pictures that appeared in the daily papers and online. But even as he continued his exile, the rumors swirled around him. Pepper wouldn’t be silenced. She sought out anyone who would listen and plenty of people were eager to lend her an ear. Today found her plastered on the homepage of the London Guardian, calling for the inquest Alexander’s family was desperate to avoid. I knew the truth about what happened that evening, but I also knew it would be impossible to prove his innocence if it came to an investigation. Jonathan hadn’t come forward yet with his version of events. It seemed unlikely he ever would.

  I tapped my keyboard, vanquishing her face from my screen. I couldn’t blame her for making a mistake that night. I’d made plenty of my own. But I could blame her for trying to ruin Alexander now.

  I dialed his number absently, not realizing who I was calling until it was too late to chicken out.

  “Miss Bishop,” Edward answered brightly. “You’re alive.”

  “I’ve been busy with work.” A child could see past my lie, but Edward was too much the gentleman to call me on it.

  “I miss you.”

  His confession caught me off-guard, and I realized that I missed him, too. Not simply because he was a tangible connection to the piece of me that was absent, but because I needed a friend. I’d fallen too easily into my old habits, trying to work through the time I was forced to spend without Alexander. “Me, too. Have you heard anything?” I forced the question across my dry tongue, feeling a slight twinge of guilt for asking. I didn’t want Edward to think he was only a source of information.

  “Pepper refuses to speak to any member of the Royal family,” Edward sighed. His frustration with the situation mirrored my own.

  So, Pepper preferred to spread her toxic version of events to the media instead of facing those she was accusing. It hurt that I had to find this out from someone other than Alexander

  “Are you okay? I could meet you for lunch.” Edward broke the silence that had overtaken the call.

  “No, I’m fine, but let’s get together this weekend. I could use the company,” I admitted.

  “I’ll clear my schedule. We can watch sappy movies and drink too much wine.”

  I smiled. It was the mark of a true friend that despite his current happiness, he was willing to drown my sorrows with me. “It’s a date.”

  “Clara,” he said, his voice filling with concern, “if you need me, I’m here. Anytime. Any place.”

  “I know,” I whispered. It was hard to stay strong when someone else recognized my weakness, but giving in now would only mean Albert had succeeded in breaking my resolve.

  I hung up the phone and stared at the wall. I’d stayed out of things as Alexander had wished, allowing him to handle the private matters that threatened to destroy our relationship. That had to end. Right now.

  Standing, I made my way to Bennett’s office. I braced myself, half expecting to interrupt a tender moment between him and Tori, but he was alone. He glanced up from his desk and his eyes narrowed in concern as he waved me inside. I took a seat, squirming anxiously. />
  “Spit it out,” Bennett ordered.

  “I want to take a long lunch.”

  Bennett paused, obviously confused by my request. “Of course,” he agreed slowly. “You don’t have to ask. I’m fairly certain you’ve worked through enough lunch hours to earn a week long lunch break if you wanted.”

  “I know,” I said quickly, “but I might not come back.”

  “Ever?” His brown eyes crinkled at the edges with barely contained laughter.

  I relaxed a little and shook my head. “Today. There’s someone I need to see, and I’m not sure it’s going to be easy.”

  “Take the time you need.” Bennett leaned forward in his chair. “I don’t want to pry. I know you have a lot going on right now, but you know what you’re doing, right?”

  I nodded, knowing it was a lie. I had no idea what I was doing. This was about instinct.

  “I’ll see you this afternoon then.” He settled back to his work.

  As I left the office, I made the phone call. Belle picked up on the first ring.

  “I need some backup,” I told her before she had a chance to say hello.

  “Tell me where to meet you.”

  I rattled off the address I’d found online. She didn’t ask any questions.

  I had friends and it was time I stopped avoiding them. Strength alone wasn’t going to see me through this, but I knew they could.

  I arrived in Kensington, after giving the temporary bodyguard Alexander had left the slip. Belle had obviously taken the concept of backup to the nth degree. She was clad in tight black leggings and an oversized black sweater with her blonde hair knotted tightly at the back of her neck.

  “You look like you’re about to commit espionage,” I said with a laugh.

  “Hmph.” She eyed me over a pair of wide-rimmed black sunglasses. “First you call and ask for backup, then you send me to a random address. I came prepared for anything.”

  “Then let’s go, James Bond.” But before I could take a step toward the door, she caught my wrist, stopping me in my tracks.

  “What’s up, Clara? Why am I here?” she asked.

  No matter my answer, I knew she was one hundred percent on my side. There was no reason to keep it from her any longer. “So you can stop me if I try to kill her.”

  “Who?” Belle yelped.

  “Pepper Spray,” I answered, my eyes darting to the door.

  “Do you think that’s a good idea? One paparazzi shot and you’re going to be on every news feed in the country.”

  My lips twisted into a rueful smile. “That’s what I’m counting on.”

  I knocked on the door. Belle flanked me, putting on her best tough girl act, which was surpassingly effective. I may not have always made good choices in men, but my taste in best friends was unerring. No one answered and my resolve faltered. I hadn’t come all this way to not get this done. My fist banged against the door. It cracked open and two familiar eyes peeked out at me, rounding into circles when they saw the cause of the disturbance.

  “We need to talk.” I pushed open the door before she could slam it shut in my face.

  “How did you find me?” she asked, shock flitting across her perfect face.

  “I have my sources.” I didn’t tell her that it didn’t take a genius to know she’d have gone to the closest relative she had in the London area. The girl lived to be plastered across tabloid covers. She should know that her private life was anything but. If she didn’t know, she did now.

  Pepper crossed her thin arms over her chest, her eyes darting nervously to Belle. I definitely owed my best friend a drink later. “I have nothing to say to you.”

  “That’s fine.” I crossed the length of the foyer and picked up a picture frame. In the photo Pepper was smiling with her arms wrapped around an older version of herself. I hated to admit that if she took after her aunt, she’d be stunning even in her forties. “I’m not interested in what you have to say. I came here to explain how this is going to work.”

  Her eyes narrowed to slits. “If you think I’m interested in making a deal with you now—”

  “The time for deals has passed. I don’t operate like they do.” Planting my hands on my hips, I glared at her. “Starting right now, you have no connection to Alexander or his family. You will not go near them. You will not talk about them. You will not sell their stories to the tabloids.”

  “And why am I going to do that? You’re nothing to them. I don’t have to listen to you,” she hissed.

  “Because I’m pretty sure that your father wouldn’t be pleased to find out his daughter has been fucking the king,” I spat back. Belle’s cool composure slipped at this bombshell and she slid her sunglasses off, her mouth hanging open in surprise.

  The color drained from her fake-baked skin. “You wouldn’t.”

  I’d found her edge, now I only had to fray it.

  “Try. Me.” I annunciated each word clearly, not wanting either of them to go over her vapid head. “Do you know what I do at Peters & Clarkwell? I write press releases. Now, I’ve never written a story to send to a tabloid, but I’m going to guess it’s not all that different.”

  Pepper clutched the strand of pearls draping elegantly around her neck. “This is blackmail.”

  “I know. I got the idea from you,” I pointed out. Was it possible for her to be any more stupid? It was a wonder she’d come up with the idea in the first place. “I’ve already thought of a few headlines to suggest. Salt and Pepper: The King’s Much Younger Mistress.”

  “Oh, I like that,” Belle interjected smugly. “Definitely gets that May/December romance vibe across.”

  “But is it sensational enough?” I asked her, pretending to ignore the growing horror on Pepper’s face. “What about: How Long Has Sarah’s Best Friend Been Shagging The King?”

  Belle tapped a finger thoughtfully on her chin. “Less clever, but more to the point. Honestly, I don’t think you can go wrong with either one.”

  “And they’ll need more than one,” I pointed out. “I don’t think any paper is going to want to pass this story up.”

  “Get out,” Pepper shrieked. She flew to the door and threw it open.

  “Not until we have an understanding that you will leave this family alone. Your relationship with them died with Sarah,” I said coldly.

  Pepper fumed as Belle and I sauntered past her and out the door.

  “You’ll never be one of them,” she called after me.

  I showed her exactly how much I cared about that with a casual flip of my middle finger.

  As soon as we were around the corner, Belle bombarded me. “What the hell was that? Is it true? And what the hell have you done with my best friend?”

  “It’s true,” I said with a shrug. “She should have seen it coming.”

  “Seen what coming?”

  “Me,” I murmured fiercely. “She should have known that I protect what belongs to me.”

  We grabbed a bite on the way back to the office after I discovered that revenge made a girl hungry. I felt lighter than I had since Switzerland. Confronting Pepper had reaffirmed my faith that I was strong enough to see both myself and Alexander through this mess. If she’d taken my threat seriously, she’d fade from the media spotlight along with the demands for an inquest into Sarah’s death. Now I just needed him to come home.

  When I finally returned to work, Tori’s head popped up over the top of my cubicle. “Your phone has been ringing off the hook.”

  “I’m sorry.” I checked my desk for messages, but found none.

  “As soon as anyone answers, they hang up,” she informed me. “Someone only wants to talk to you.”

  Tori’s voice grew faint as panic roared through my blood, drowning out everything but fear. Daniel knew where I worked. He’d been here before. With the chaos surrounding Alexander, I’d chosen to avoid any further news about my ex-boyfriend’s upcoming trial. If he’d been released, I would have been informed. As long as he was behind bars, I was safe
. But I couldn’t ignore the chill Tori’s information produced. I had no proof that Daniel had called her before, just a gut instinct that the mysterious calls I’d received this summer were from him. I hadn’t known to be scared then, I knew better than to not be now.

  My desk phone rang shrilly and Tori tilted her head toward it before disappearing back to her own work. I reached for it, fingers fumbling as I lifted the receiver. He’d hung up on my co-workers, because he wanted to talk to me.

  “Hello?”

  “Clara.” The voice on the other end sent warmth flooding through me. It turned to fire in my veins.

  “God, X.” I exhaled with relief, but the sensation was short-lived. “Have you been calling me this afternoon?”

  “Yes,” he confirmed.

  “Normal people would have left a message instead of hanging up on whoever answered.” Why was I lecturing him? Who cared if he hung up on every person in my building? Hearing him had closed some of the distance between us.

  “I’m hardly your average guy,” he said dryly.

  “Never said you were, X.”

  I relaxed into my chair, relishing the banter almost as much as the sound of his voice.

  “Norris will pick you up after work.”

  I sat up straight and clutched the phone. Norris had gone with Alexander. If Norris was picking me up…

  “He’ll be there at half past five,” he continued when I didn’t respond.

  “You’re home?” I whispered the question, afraid to hope that it could be true.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “Will I see you?”

  “Yes. There are matters to…discuss. I apologize I can’t talk right now.” He said something in a muffled voice and I realized he’d covered the speaker.

  I chose to believe that the distance echoing in his voice was the result of distraction. He was traveling. There would be people around him. But I couldn’t quite sell that story to myself. Still it was too painful to consider the alternative.