“And you're off,” the producer called and got out of the way.
I was still getting used to the scrutiny of the cameras.
Being in the public eye was one thing. I was used to reporters, paparazzi, and photographers, but constantly being filmed with the ongoing cameras with live action was something I was going to have to get used to.
Cringing, I hoped they didn’t use footage of where I made that awful joke about Ziggy earlier.
“Here we go,” Leo said, and since we were the only two people hanging off the side of a fake pyramid, I assumed he meant me. It wasn’t possible to avoid him anymore, so I glanced over and gave him a nervous smile.
As we took our first few steps, I mumbled to myself, repeating the directions from the instructor.
After a few minutes, it felt like I was developing something of a rhythm. There was something about the slight kicking away from the structure that was fun.
If you didn't think about being four hundred feet off the ground, there was something kinda fun about being supported in mid-air. Almost like you were playing Peter Pan in a play and flying all over the stage. I’d always wanted to do that! When I was a young girl, I’d seen that and thought it had to be the coolest role in the world.
And now I was doing something similar.
Being a Barnes had definitely added adventure to my life.
The wind gusted and sent me reeling to one side.
“Damn!” Leo had been knocked up against the wall. Slowly, he righted himself.
“You all right?” I called to him.
He gave me the thumbs up, and we kept going.
Strands of hair sprang free from my ponytail, and the wind whipped them against my face.
The sun beat down on my back, and the desert went on as far as the eye could see. Beige and tan dunes swirling in patterns offset by the bright blue sky.
It was really beautiful here. Maybe this whole honeymoon thing would actually be an enjoyable experience. A time for me to try things I’d never tried before. A chance for personal growth and…
“It's not so bad as long as you don't look down.” Leo interrupted my thoughts.
Without thinking, I looked down.
Almost immediately, the world below seemed to shake beneath me. I couldn’t help but realize how far up I was. Heart in my throat, I clutched the rope and planted my legs against the structure that felt a lot more like rock than foam.
“Oh my God, Honoré! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean— Deep breaths. Take some deep breaths,” Leo called, and I could hear the concern in his voice. “Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.”
When he said that, I realized I was hyperventilating.
Leo's voice broke through my wall of panic, and I tried to focus on my breathing.
“That’s it, Honoré. Keep breathing just like that. You’re fine, but you have to breathe. Everything is going to be fine.”
With my eyes squeezed shut, I breathed.
My heart felt like it was going to pop right out of my chest, and my legs felt so weak that I was afraid they’d give way at any moment. What would happen if they did?
Oh my God! I would fall to the bottom of this…
No. I needed to get a handle on myself and deal with the situation.
“Honoré, open your eyes and look at me.”
I wasn't ready to open my eyes, but his voice did have a soothing effect on me.
“Try to relax.”
I loosened my death grip on the ropes just a little.
“Please, Honoré. I’m here for you. Nothing is going to happen to you, I promise. Just open your eyes and look at me. I promise I will help you get through this.”
That made me curious more than anything. What was he going to do to save me from myself and my stupidity to agree to this craziness in the first place?
Eyes still squeezed shut, I angled my head toward Leo and said, “You were right. We should've never done this. I was stupid to go along with it.”
Leo laughed. It was a warm, friendly sound, and I opened my eyes despite myself to look at him.
I wanted to see the way his eyes crinkled ever so slightly when he laughed. The way his whole face lit up.
“Are you serious? I was just going to tell you the same thing—that you were right, and I was the stupid one. This is going to be fine, Honoré. We’re going to rappel down the rest of this pyramid, and it's going to be fun. When it’s all over, we can have a stiff drink. What do you say?”
“I think I’d like that drink now,” I said and accidentally looked down again.
“Stop doing that!” he chided.
“I’m sorry!” I squeezed my eyes shut again, turning my face to the heavens.
“How about this? You look at me the whole rest of the way down, okay? I mean, I may not be as pretty as the scenery, but I’ll get you through it.”
My brows came together. “Hey, that's my husband you're talking about.”
“And she's back!” Leo laughed. “Now, let's just go down another step. Take it easy. We’ll go slow, but we’ll get there.”
Ever so slowly, I allowed myself to go through the physical motions, even while my heart was racing.
Fortunately, after progressing several feet, I started to feel comfortable again.
So comfortable that I was kinda frustrated with myself for having lost it.
“Hey, I'm sorry about a minute ago. I shouldn’t have looked down. That was a mistake.”
“No problem. That's what husbands are for. You're actually doing a great job. And this is way more fun than I thought it would be.”
When we got to the bottom, as soon as Leo’s feet touched the ground, he came over to help me down, holding out a hand to help me with that last step.
Such a gentleman.
Once I was happily on terra firma again, he held up his hands to give me a double high-five. I reached up and when my hands touched his, he entwined his fingers through mine and pulled me into an embrace.
“You were amazing up there,” he said.
“No, you were the one who was great. You saved my life up there.”
He bent down and gave me a kiss.
His lips were tender, and I was thrilled to get lost in him.
In us.
The kiss was so sweet that when he pulled away and whispered, “For the cameras,” a little piece inside me died.
But I refused to let him know.
“Of course,” I said, lifting my chin defiantly as if I’d known that all along.
9
Leo
That night at dinner, I gave Honoré a tip. “We can get the camera stuff done first, while we pretend to eat, then when they’ve gotten some footage, we can really eat our meal.”
“Without mics and cameras?”
I nodded.
“But this morning—we really ate our food on camera. Was that bad?”
She looked horrified.
“No. Sometimes there’s not time for both, like this morning. But after the day we’ve had—I think we can get the work part out of the way so we can relax.”
She looked around at the many crew members who had followed us to a private dining room at a local Egyptian restaurant. Lighting, camera, and makeup crews were all present, along with an assistant producer to make notes for things we might want to discuss in our “confessionals” when we spoke directly to the camera and commented on shit that went down.
“Do you think they will mind?”
I shrugged. “Nah, I mean, they’ve got to eat too.”
Honoré stretched her arms over her head, a gleeful grin settling on her face. “It will be so nice to have some privacy again.”
I considered this. She was right.
Simple things like eating without an audience or a camera crew were almost foreign to me.
For the first time, I realized what a significant sacrifice my new wife was making in giving up her privacy. As a royal, she led a more public life than most, but life on reality
TV took it to a new level.
During our camera time, we kept the conversation light, talked about our adventure that day, and we sampled a variety of Egyptian food, including kushari, ful medames, and a fried, thin pastry stuffed with cheese that I loved called a sambousek.
I’d never had any of them before, but I thought they were good. Honoré had eaten most of them, and she knew a lot about the history of some of the dishes. My appreciation for her sharp mind and worldly experiences deepened the more time we spent together.
Honoré put a bite of food in her mouth, and I watched her relish it.
She was definitely a sensual girl.
My mind traveled back to that night that had gotten us into so much trouble.
The feel of her body against me, slick and supple floating in the water, the way she felt when I entered her—so fucking tight. She felt so fucking good. It would have been a beautiful night had we not been interrupted by her goons and the whole thing turned into a forced union.
But still there had been something there between us from the beginning.
“May I take that for you?” A server eyed the empty plate in front of me.
“What? Oh yes.”
When the server was gone, I apologized to Honoré. “I’m sorry. Guess I was hungrier than I thought.”
Her plate was still half full, so I made a throat slash gesture to the crew. “Let’s call it a wrap, guys.”
There were no complaints from the crew. They’d had a long day too.
After they got all their gear out of the way, leaving Honoré and I alone at the table, I said, “Hey, now that all the eavesdroppers are gone…”
She smiled a warm, inviting smile, so I continued.
“That night when we,” I paused, trying to find the best way to say this without offending her, “were interrupted, I was really into you.”
Her cheeks turned a shade pinker, and while she looked slightly uncomfortable, I could tell she liked where I was going.
“This may sound awkward, but I mean, all that got us into the situation so I figure I might as well ask.”
“What? What do you want to ask?”
I couldn't tell if she was just being polite, or if she really was willing to have this conversation. But there was only one way to find out, so I pressed forward. “Was that really your first time?”
I looked around to make sure no one else was listening then continued.
Her face was red now, but she stammered, “Y-yes.”
“Hey, I'm really sorry. I had no idea. If I had known—”
“If you’d known, then what?” Her voice rose.
Crap. It wasn’t my intention to piss her off.
Suddenly, I felt like I was tiptoeing through a minefield.
Any missed step here could get me murdered.
“Then I probably wouldn't have done that where we could've gotten caught out there in the open. Look, I don't want you to think I'm just some insensitive ass. I can be a good guy. I just thought you were down for that.”
“I was.” She squared her shoulders, and I didn’t know who she was trying to convince—herself or me.
“Okay. Sorry. I'm not trying to make you feel bad, it's just that if I would've known, I would have tried to make that first time more special.”
Her eyes widened. “How would you do that?”
If I didn't know better, I would've thought she was coming on to me.
The princess made me both nervous and excited at the same time, and it had been years since a girl affected me like that.
I considered her question for a moment. Then I raised a brow and said, “Let me show you.”
10
Honoré
After Leo promised to show me what he meant by a proper de-flowering, we made our excuses to the production staff, who were dining in another part of the restaurant. Though it wasn’t our intention to have them see us leave hand in hand, it was probably good since we were supposed to be newlyweds.
On the ride back to the hotel, we couldn't keep our hands off each other. We made out like teenagers in the backseat of the limo. At least that was what teenagers did in movies.
I’d never made out with anyone in the back of my parents’ car. It was one of the typical youth experiences you didn’t have when your parents were a king and queen.
Once he started kissing me, I couldn’t get enough of Leo. Electricity crackled between us, and I got the feeling that if he hadn't been so intent on showing me a more appropriate way to give me a good “first time,” he would have lifted my dress and taken me right there in the limo.
But I sensed he was holding back, truly wanting me to have a better experience. Once inside the hotel, we hurried to the back elevator and rode it all the way up to the penthouse.
While in the elevator, we forced ourselves apart. No doubt a camera caught our every move, and we didn’t want to give them a free show. But once those doors opened, we stumbled across the hall, panting between kisses until we got to the door.
Leo fumbled with the key, and I thought he was never going to get that thing open, when I heard a click, and we entered his room.
Our room. The room I would share with him tonight.
Inside, he locked the door behind us then stopped and extended his hands on my shoulders, holding me at arms’ length while he stared at me deeply, intently. “Now, are you sure this is what you want?”
“Well, I lost my virginity to you, and now you're my husband, so if there's anybody that I should be losing my virginity to all over again, it would probably be you.”
I purposely skipped over the part where we’d agreed not to consummate the marriage so we could easily get an annulment.
The grin that spread across his face screamed sex, and he looked so proud of himself for having been the one to do that to me.
My stomach did a flip.
I was glad that he’d been the one to take my virginity as well.
In fact, I couldn't imagine being with anyone else.
He drew me into his arms and nuzzled the sensitive place just below my ear as he reached behind my back and began to pull my top over my head.
Wanting to be helpful, I brought my hands over my head to make it easier for him to remove.
With a flip of his hand, he tossed the garment aside.
Next I slipped off my pants so that I stood there in my bra and underwear.
Not wanting to be the only one naked, I fumbled with the buttons on his pants and finally got them unfastened.
Then I peeled his pants back, revealing a massive bulge in his underwear.
His pants dropped to the ground, and he kicked them off as he started to unbutton his shirt.
Meanwhile, my eyes remained transfixed on his crotch as I watched his erection grow and thicken beneath the fabric of his underwear.
I had never been around a man in underwear like this before, especially one whose member was pointing directly at me. It was both bizarre and fascinating. And it made my mouth water.
“I should have called ahead and had them fill the room with candles. Maybe some champagne, rose petals,” Leo apologized.
Shaking my head, I licked my lips. “This is perfect.”
Reaching behind my back, I unhooked my bra and let it fall to the floor.
Then I shimmied out of my panties and took a step closer to him.
It was impossible to miss the gleam in his eye as he took in my nakedness, and when he got rid of that last bit of clothing standing between us, I was left staring at his erect cock.
“God, you’re even more beautiful than I remembered.”
I tried to swallow, but my throat was so parched, I squeaked, “Dry.”
“Yeah, you were pretty wet then,” he chuckled.
“No. My mouth.” Realizing that I confused him, I pointed to the mini fridge in the corner.
“Oh!” He rushed over to it, bent down, and started rummaging to get me something to drink.
I could have kicked myself for making thi
s so awkward.
Here we were, minutes from copulating, and I had to go and say something stupid.
His ass, bent over like that, called to me, and I crossed the room where he held a small can of juice and a mini bottle of champagne.
“Either of these?” he asked.
I took the juice from his hand, popped it open, and took a big gulp.
“Thanks.”
Then I stepped into his muscular arms and placed my head on his shoulder.
“No, really. I mean it. Thanks.”
“It’s okay. It’s just juice.” He chuckled, giving me a squeeze.
“No.” I leaned back and looked him in the eye. “It’s more than that. I got you into this mess, and you were a good enough sport to marry me. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Hey, you know I’m getting something out of this too, right? My freedom from my contract with my mom.”
“Right, but you still didn’t have to marry me. You could have found another way out of that, I’m sure. She’s your mother.”
Leo rolled his eyes. “I see you don’t know her very well. But anyway, it takes two to tango. I’m responsible for what happened between us, not just you. You shouldn’t have to deal with it alone.”
“Except that you didn’t know who I was. You probably just thought I was another groupie. Because that’s how I presented myself.”
He shrugged.
“It wasn’t fair to you for me to put you in that position,” I persisted.
“I think it was more unfair of you not to tell me you were a virgin.” He pursed his lips in mock accusation.
Damn, he was adorable.
“Okay, that’s true too,” I began, but his hand reached around the back of my neck, and he started to rub my tense muscles.
My shoulders relaxed, and I forgot what I was saying.
Then he pulled me to him, and his lips brushed mine tentatively.
“That’s why I want you to give me a second chance,” he whispered.
I didn’t trust myself to speak, and my knees were feeling weak, so when he scooped me up into his arms and carried me to the bedroom. I molded my body to his and felt like a fairy princess being whisked away by the most handsome prince ever.
Royal Wrecker: Barnes Family Romances Book 4 Page 6