by Nikki Ash
“I warned you this would happen,” Stephanie says again, her tone condescending. “She is an embarrassment to this family and country.”
“Enough,” I snap.
“No,” she argues back. “You need to hear it… see what her being here is going to do to this family, to your credibility. She needs to leave before she destroys everything. How are you going to explain to the entire country that the woman you had a baby with is a prostitute? Huh?” Stephanie taunts. “Prostitution is illegal here!”
“She wasn’t a prostitute when I was with her,” I point out, my mind racing. Not because of what they’ll think or say, but because it will all be aimed at Natalie. She worked so hard to put her past behind her and now, this… I wasn’t thinking about how this would affect her. How badly she could be hurt.
“It’s okay,” Mom says, placing a hand on my bicep. “We’ll get through this together as a family.” I relax slightly at her words, grateful to have my mom on my side.
“She needs to leave,” Stephanie says. “Both she and that child need to go.”
“Stephanie,” Mom tuts.
“She’s right,” I tell her, making my mom’s brows furrow. “Natalie and Jasmine need to leave. It’s for the best.”
Stephanie’s chin lifts, and I glare at her. “Not for good,” I add. “Just until all of this calms down.” I look at my mom. “I don’t want her to read or hear any of this.” I point to the iPad. “It will hurt her.”
“What are you going to do?” Mom asks. “Send them back to Florence?”
“No, there’s no way I’m letting either of them out of my sight.” I turn to Lawrence, who’s been quiet. “What are your thoughts?”
“Sir, I think it would be best to spin it. Explain what happened to her as a child and focus on how rough her life was. Tell them you met and fell in love but lost touch and you found your way back to each other.”
Mom smiles warmly. “Like a modern-day fairy tale.”
“Only the prince didn’t save her,” I tell them, my thoughts going to Jasmine’s book. “She saved herself.”
“She saves herself…” Lawrence muses out loud. Then his face lights up. “We could start a charity, in honor of abandoned children, to help them go to University.”
“I like it, and I bet Natalie will too.”
“That’s perfect,” Mom agrees.
“Paul,” I say to another one of my advisors, who deals with the media. “Schedule a news conference and invite everyone. After I type up what I plan to say, I’ll email it to you to approve. I’m going to address the people, and then I’m going to take Natalie and Jasmine away while the fires are put out, so they’re not here to see and hear it all, and hopefully while we’re away, I’ll convince her to marry me.”
Mom grins at the same time Stephanie gasps. “You can’t marry her! What are you thinking?” She shrieks. “After everything I did—” She quickly closes her mouth, and I’m about to ask her what she means by that, when Flynn, another one of my advisors walks in.
“Your Majesty,” he says, addressing me.
“Flynn.”
“There’s something you need to see, sir.” He hands me a file and I open it. Inside are grainy pictures, but still clear enough to make out what they’re of. I glance up at him, not wanting to believe what I’m seeing. I flip through the pages of pictures and emails that were printed, everything becoming clearer by the second.
When I’ve had enough, I close the file and look at Stephanie. “Care to finish your statement from a moment ago?”
“Wh-What are you talking about?” she mutters.
“I’m talking about the fact that you had Natalie investigated and then sold the story to The Lexenburg Gossip!” I bark, tossing the file across the table at her.
My mom gasps. “No, Stephanie…”
“I can explain,” she begins, as Harold enters.
“Miss Natalie and Miss Jasmine are gone, sir.”
My blood runs cold. “What do you mean, they’re gone?”
“Jasmine was tired and wanted to ask for a kiss before her nap. She came in here and Natalie followed. I went up to check on them and they were gone. Their luggage is gone too. I spoke to security and they said they walked right off the grounds.
I close my eyes and take a calming breath. They came up here… which means Natalie heard us talking about her. Who knows what part of the conversation she walked in on.
“They left?” Mom asks.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“William,” she says. “If they left, they had to have been bombarded by the paparazzi.
Damn it, I didn’t even think about that. “I need to find them,” I say, heading to the door. I stop before I exit, remembering something. “Stephanie, you’re fired,” I tell her, before turning my attention to Flynn. “Flynn, tell security she is to be escorted to gather her belongings and then removed from the premises.”
I don’t wait for a response before I rush out. Harold is waiting for me by the car with the door already open. “Any word?” I ask, jumping in.
“According to my friend with The Post, several reporters swarmed them,” he says once he’s inside and driving. “They verbally attacked them and Jasmine started crying…”
“Damn it.” I can’t believe this is happening. I should’ve paid more attention to what Stephanie was doing. I knew she’s had a crush on me for years and that she was upset about Natalie and Jasmine. But I never thought she would sell Natalie’s story to the biggest, sleaziest gossip rag in Lexenburg.
“The last he saw, they got into a car,” he says, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“The airport.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
The entire drive there I text and call Natalie, leaving her voicemails and messages to please call me, but she doesn’t answer. I have to hope that the flight she’s catching will be late enough I can get there before they take off. I text my other guards, letting them know where we’re going, and they let me know they’re already ahead of and behind us.
When we arrive, we go straight to the only airline that flies into Italy. My guards are on top of it, keeping everyone back as I jog through the airport, straight to the terminal. When I arrive, I stop and glance around, not seeing either of my girls. When I ask a woman to please check the women’s restroom, she comes out a minute later and tells me nobody is in there.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” I tell Harold, out of breath and confused as hell.
“Maybe they—” His words are cut off at the sound of the sweetest voice I’ve ever heard.
“Daddy!” Jasmine yells, running over to me. Her arms open and I lift her into my own. I take a second to inhale her sweet scent, then shift her to my side, so I can see over her head.
Natalie is standing several feet away, holding both their luggage. Her eyes are glassy and her cheeks are stained from her tears. She’s chewing on her bottom lip and staring at me.
“Baby,” I breathe, stepping over to her.
“Why did you come after us?” she asks, her voice cold, devoid of all emotions.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“You told them we needed to leave.” I was right. She heard a piece of the conversation, but not all of it.
“Did you also hear the part where I said, after I addressed the people, I would go away with both of you?”
Her eyes widen. “I-I heard you say that us leaving would be for the best, so I left…”
“I also said I wouldn’t let either of you out of my sight. That we would go away together.” There was also the mention of my plan to propose, but I don’t bring that up.
“You don’t want us to go?” she murmurs, fresh tears pricking her eyes. “But everyone knows… Stephanie warned me I would embarrass you and she was right.”
Fucking Stephanie. I’m going to speak to my attorney and see about suing her. She can’t get away with what she’s done.
“No, baby. I don’t want you to go anywhere. St
ephanie is the one who leaked everything to the media, and I’ve fired her.” I shift Jasmine slightly, so I can pull Natalie toward me with my hand that’s not holding my daughter. “I’m so sorry for what she did.”
I run my knuckles down her cheek. “Please don’t go. We’ll get through this together. My team has a plan. Trust me to handle this. And then I’ll take you both anywhere you want to go, so we can spend some time together while it blows over.”
A single tear slides down Natalie’s cheek and Jasmine reaches over and wipes it. “Don’t cry, Mommy,” she says, her tiny, sad voice piercing my heart.
“I already lost you once,” I tell her. “I can’t lose you again. Please.”
“Okay,” she finally says. “We’ll stay.”
“Yay!” Jasmine cheers. “I get to go back to my princess room!”
“Thank you.” I press my mouth to hers. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she murmurs against my lips. “Let’s go home.”
Epilogue
Five Months Later
Natalie
“Mommy!” Jasmine exclaims, running over to me.
“Hey, sweet girl!” I bend at the waist and she flies into my arms. “Did you have a good day at school?” Unlike the other royal children, who were homeschooled for pre-primary and primary school and then sent away to boarding school for secondary, I insisted Jasmine be placed in school here. Because of who she is, she couldn’t be sent to a state-funded school, but Liam agreed to send her to a private pre-primary school in town.
“I did! I painted the most beautiful picture.” She pulls the paper out of her backpack and hands it to me. “Melissa said it’s her favorite.”
Melissa is Jasmine’s best friend. I was worried after everything that went down Jasmine would have trouble making friends, but I was right to trust Liam. He and his team handled my story and spun it in a positive way. By the time Jasmine started school, the majority of the country was supportive of us being together. It probably helps that he opened a charity in my honor called The Fairy Tale Organization. Its purpose is to help mothers who don’t have the means, receive an education. He donated a significant amount to it and while Jasmine is in school, I’m helping to run it. Had my mom had something like this, maybe she wouldn’t have resorted to what she did… and maybe I wouldn’t have ended up homeless and on the streets.
“It is beautiful,” I agree, looking at the photo. It’s of me and Liam in the church, standing before the priest, saying our vows. I know what it’s of because she drew the colorful windows in front of us. We were married three months ago, and on that day, Liam also signed Jasmine’s birth certificate, making him her father legally. It was a good thing we married when we did because a few weeks later, Liam got his way and the pregnancy test I took, after throwing up three days in a row, came out positive.
When we arrive at home, the first thing Jasmine does is run through the house to find her dad. He makes it a point not to schedule any meetings between one and two o’clock, so he can spend time with her. He pulls her into his arms and she spends the next thirty minutes, while Sandra brings them an afternoon snack, telling him all about her day.
After they’re done, it’s time for Jasmine’s nap. School kicks her little butt and by the time two o’clock rolls around, she’s wiped out and doesn’t fight going to sleep.
Wanting to relax for a few minutes, I head into our en suite bathroom and run myself a nice, hot bubble bath. I peel off my clothes, which are now slightly too tight, noting to buy some maternity clothes online, and strip out of my bra and panties. I’m about to step inside the tub, when a strong pair of arms wrap around me from behind.
“Mmm,” Liam says, “I love feeling you like this.”
I laugh. “You’re not even inside me.”
He turns me around and backs me up against the wall. “I mean… like this.” He drops to his knees and kisses the center of my belly. “Your belly swollen with my baby inside.” He glances up at me and the love shining through his eyes sends a zap of electricity through my veins.
He peppers kisses along my flesh, planting a soft kiss to each of my hipbones, before he parts my legs and gently pushes two fingers inside me.
“Jesus, you’re soaked.”
“You’re touching me.”
He smiles, liking that answer, and stands, lifting me onto the edge of the sink. He spreads my legs apart and drops back down between my thighs. He sucks on my clit until I’m coming apart under his touch and then he’s back up and sliding into me. His mouth, which now tastes like me, crashes against my own while he thrusts slow and deep in and out of me, coaxing another orgasm from me.
After we both climax, he kisses me hard, then whispers, “Thank you.”
I giggle at his words. “No need to thank me.” I wink. “You did most of the work.”
He laughs. “I wasn’t thanking you for the sex… although, I am thankful for that.” He smirks playfully. “Thank you for agreeing to go out to dinner with me all those years ago.”
“I should be the one thanking you. After all, it was you who saved me.”
“No.” He shakes his head. “That was all you. I might be your Prince Charming, but you never needed to be saved.”
And they lived happily ever after.
If you enjoyed Finding Prince Charming and want more from this world, you can check out Aria and Giovanni’s story: Finding Beauty in the Darkness
Quarterback Keeper by Lacey Black
Prologue
Ashtyn
“I got the job!” I bellow the moment I’m through the door of my twin brother’s condo. “Alex?” My bliss practically carries me into his living room on a cloud of excitement and anticipation, but the moment I’m through the doorway, it’s not my brother’s face I see. “Oh, sorry,” I mumble the moment my eyes land on the sexy man sprawled out on my brother’s couch.
“Hey, Ashtyn,” he replies in that deep, intoxicating drawl that does dangerous things to panties all over the world. His arm is thrown over his head casually, displaying a large tattoo on the underside of his bicep, and his strong, muscular legs span the entire length of the couch. He’s wearing a T-shirt that hugs his arms and chest and a pair of basketball shorts that seem to do nothing to hide an impressive bulge between his legs. His hazel eyes are darker than I remember and his hair a little messy, as if he just got out of bed. Not to mention the totally irresistible dimple in his chin. He’s pure sex, and the problem is he knows it.
Tate Steele, quarterback for the St. Louis Fire professional football team and my brother’s best friend.
Even if he’s not my type at all, I can still appreciate the glory only created by God himself that is Tate freaking Steele.
But what’s he doing at my brother’s place?
That’s when I notice the ice pack on his knee. “What happened?” I ask, instantly taking a few steps his way.
Big mistake. The moment I do, I catch a whiff of clean, earthy shampoo and pheromone-producing body wash. It makes my nipples prickle with delight.
“A linebacker got a little overzealous in practice the other day. I’m out for another week to rest my knee,” he tells me, his eyes lazily roaming my body from head to toe.
I quickly glance down, realizing in my excitement, I didn’t even change my clothes. I’m still in the pair of small cotton shorts and tank top I was wearing to clean my apartment before the phone call came that changed the course of my future. Well, at least I’m wearing a bra. My eyes meet his as I try to comprehend what he just said.
Tate chuckles, slow and gravelly, and things start to tingle between my legs. “Football, Sweetness. It happened at practice on Wednesday. Thank fuck it’s still early in the preseason, though, I’m not too thrilled with being sidelined for the next week. Fucking second-string QB has had a hard-on for my spot since they signed his ass last year.”
“Oh, uh, well, I’m sorry you’re hurt,” I tell him, glancing around for Alex.
“He’s not here.
Got called into work for some big client he’s trying to sign. Said he’d probably be gone all evening, taking him and his family to dinner to grease the wheels.”
My brother is a recruiter and coach and loves his job. He played football growing up and eventually went to Notre Dame, where he met Tate. They were roommates and shared a love for the game. When it was time to graduate, Alex left the game behind and with his bachelor’s degree in sports management started working for Notre Dame as an assistant for the sports program, while Tate, a Heisman Trophy winner, signed a contract with the St. Louis Fire for an obscenely large amount of money. Alex has worked hard, clawing his way up the ranks from the lowest-paid position on the team to being their head recruiter and assistant coach in just six short years.
“Oh,” I mumble, dropping down in the chair with a plop.
“What’s this about a new job?” Tate asks, removing the ice from his knee and tossing it on the coffee table. He turns his large body to face me as if giving me his full attention.
“Um, well, I got a new job at a large library. It’s kind of a big deal,” I tell him, intentionally vague about the position. Tate Steele doesn’t care about books, and I’m pretty sure the only time he ever set foot in a library was to make out in the back.
His hazel eyes hold my gaze for a few extra seconds and something that looks a lot like pride flashes through them. “Wow, congrats, Ash. When do you start?”
“Next month,” I reply, leaving out the part that involves relocating to an entirely different state. With this job comes a lot of change, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.
“Alex will be excited for you,” he insists, giving me a genuine smile. Not one of those cocky, conceited smirks he flashes on television that makes women everywhere take off their panties.