“There’s more beyond these walls, more beyond this Kingdom,” he dangles in front of me, as if able to read my thoughts. “And if you’re with me, on my side, I’ll make sure that no harm comes to you.”
“And if I’m not with you?” I ask him, pursing my lips in thought. He’s trying to persuade me to join him, to help him, maybe changing his game plan after realizing I wasn’t going to come around with kidnapping and threats. I appreciate him negotiating and trying to get me to willingly be involved in this, but it doesn’t mean I’m going to say yes. I decide to be honest with him.
“I have no plans to marry, Luca. And now you’ve dragged me into this and expect me to just help you. What happens if I don’t? You hurt me? Threaten me? You’re not really giving me much of a choice, are you?”
“I’m giving you a choice right now,” he says to me, jaw tight. He runs his hand though his dark hair and clenches his teeth. “I’m asking you to want to be here. What do you have to go back home to, Valerie? You’re a good person, stuck in a miserable place, and here, you can be so much more. You will want for nothing, and you will have adventure, and excitement, and experience new things every day. I can’t imagine you’re missing your boring office job, or paying bills, or having to worry about food sources. Why do you want to go back to that so badly?”
I consider his words. Why do I want to go home? He’s right on all of those accounts. I only want to go home because I don’t want to be forced to stay here.
I won’t be forced to stay anywhere.
Home might not be the best place in the world, but it’s still my home. It’s where I belong, where I fit in.
It’s where I know.
My safety net.
Safe is boring.
“I won’t marry you,” I repeat.
“Then stay, as my fiancée. We won’t have to actually get married,” he coerces, studying me, yet giving nothing away with his eyes. “Why don’t you give this place a chance? It’s a fresh start, Valerie.”
I hate to admit that I’m torn. I was so hell bent on escaping this place, but what if staying for a while was an option? Would I want to take a gamble and explore? Would I want to spend more time with the enigmatic Prince next to me?
I don’t know if I want to give him the satisfaction of me giving in, of him winning, but that shouldn’t be the only reason I don’t want to stay.
“Let me think about it,” I tell him, my mind a complete mess right now. My world has completely changed with the newfound knowledge that every myth I’ve heard about is in fact reality, and that vampires, and most likely other mythical creatures, truly do exist.
“Okay,” he murmurs, then flashes me a cheeky grin, and reaches out and grabs me by the wrist. In a flash, world spinning, he teleports me to a different location. We’re still outside, but the palace is now in the distance. I do a full circle, taking in the small cottage that’s hidden away by trees and flowers.
Sunflowers are everywhere, so I can’t help but lean forward to smell one. “What is this place? And how about a little warning next time you zap me somewhere?”
“I thought if I told you what I was about to do, you might freak out. Now you won’t be scared the next time I do it,” he replies with a shrug. The bastard has an answer for everything, and I bet he’s the type who is never wrong about anything. I guess as royalty, it’s the truth.
“This is my little getaway,” he continues, pushing aside one of the tall flowers so I can step through. “Whenever I want a little peace, this is where I come. No one other than my brother and Gerald knows that it’s here.”
“Why’d you bring me here then?” I ask, voice filled with suspicion. “You barely know me.”
He opens the front door and holds it open for me to enter. “Maybe I’m trying to get to know you.”
Stepping inside, I take in the quaint, homely looking cottage, and I have to admit that I’m surprised that this place is his escape. I couldn’t imagine a Prince ever wanting to be in a place like this, and I wonder if there’s more to Luca than he gives off. If I’m being honest with myself, I know that there is. Maybe that’s why I’m standing here, not kicking, screaming and crying, because deep down inside there’s something about him that draws me in, and makes me want to stay. I’m usually a woman of logic, however, and I know that liking him any amount isn’t going to end well for me, and I should disregard any type of emotion I have towards him. I’m here because he needs me, and for all I know, he has some sort of power to control my feelings, or perhaps he even knows my thoughts. I can’t underestimate him, or his mind.
“You kidnap a woman and then try and get to know her?”
“Are you ever going to let that go?” he fires back, his light eyes sparkling. It annoys him. “How else should I have done it? Asked you out on a human date, gotten to know you, then ask you if you wanted to perhaps teleport to my Kingdom?”
“I don’t know,” I reply, watching as he dusts off the big cream armchair for me to sit in. “You are obviously used to getting what you want. You just take what you want, and I don’t like that.”
I don’t want to be another tool he uses to get what he wants, and that is the bottom line. I only do what I want to do. I don’t think he’s going to hurt me if he hasn’t already.
He arches his brow. “So, you’re going to take it upon yourself to make sure I don’t get what I want?”
“I’m going to make sure you don’t use me to do so,” I reply, sitting down and glancing up at him. “Your people have to listen to you. You’re their leader, but you aren’t mine and I’m not obligated to you.”
He scrubs a hand down his face, and I notice a masculine ruby ring on one of his fingers. “You’re infuriating, you know that? Fine, you want to go home so badly? I’ll take you back.”
“Really?” I ask him in disbelief. “Just like that, you’re going to take me home?”
He smirks, leaning down over me. “You sound like you aren’t sure if you want to go, Valerie.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Why would I want to stay?” I say to him in return, lifting my chin.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he continues, his smug tone setting me on edge. “Because you’re with the most eligible bachelor in the Kingdom, because the human world sucks and it’s much better here, and because you want some excitement in your life? Because if you go back home, I’m never bringing you back here, and you’ll have to live out your boring existence knowing that you had another option, that there’s something else out there, but you’ll never be able to have a taste of it again.”
Everything he said is my worry, is what is making me unable to commit to getting thrown back into the human world. Still, I don’t want him to know that. “It’s my decision, though.”
“Yes, it is, so hurry up and make it, because right now you’re giving me mixed signals.”
“If I stay, I’m not sharing a bed with you,” I tell him, standing up to face him. “I want my own room.” I pause and then add, “One with windows.”
He nods, waiting for me to finish.
“And I want to know what kind of plan I’m participating in. What it is that they have and we are fighting for with this pretend marriage. Is it even worth it?”
“Who said anything about sharing a bed?” He asks, lip twitching, completely ignoring the rest of what I said. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Valerie.”
My hands curl into fists. He’s out of control. “My mind is where it needs to be, thank you very much, and I’m just setting the boundaries--”
“Of course, you are beautiful, so I wouldn’t say no, but—”
“I have a feeling you don’t say no a lot,” I cut him off, gritting my teeth, ignoring the compliment. He’s royalty, and has his own butler, and leads a damn Kingdom. How many times a day does he get told no?
He opens his mouth to reply, but then stills, and moves to open the window curtain, glancing outside. “Fuck,” he grits out. “We have company.”
&nb
sp; “What kind? Should we make tea or should we be running?” I ask him, moving closer to him.
“It’s the fae, but we don’t need to run, remember,” he says with a smile, reaching out and teleporting me once more.
But this time, we end up in his bedroom.
On his bed.
With me on top of him.
The bastard.
The End… (For now)
*Please note this is the first few chapters of Suck Me. The full-length novel will be released in 2019.
About Chantal Fernando
New York Times, Amazon & USA Today Bestselling Author Chantal Fernando is thirty years old and lives in Western Australia.
Lover of all things romance, Chantal is the author of the bestselling books Dragon's Lair, Maybe This Time and many more.
When not reading, writing or daydreaming she can be found enjoying life with her three sons and family.
Chantal loves to hear from readers and can be found here:
www.authorchantalfernando.com
Also by Chantal Fernando:
Ace of Hearts: books2read.com/u/bQ9Oo6
Knuckle Down: books2read.com/u/mZPOMB
Going Rogue: books2read.com/u/bWzOq1
Chapter 1
A.J.
I’d been surrounded by the world of impossibilities for six years. Superheroes and villains and witches, oh my! It was the life I lived, and I fucking loved it.
Not only was I the macaroni to the Hero Society’s cheese, but I kept the whole operation going—a key player in the system of saving the world. I could hack into any computer I wished, even super-secure systems that maintained national defense. Not too shabby for being purely human among the superhuman.
But with all that under my belt, I’d yet to do the one thing I’d wanted the most.
Find my one.
I’d dated—as best as I could with a whole family of superheroes plus my biological sister up my ass—but no one had proven they could swing it in my world yet, and I wasn’t giving it up.
I’d bulked up since Phillip, the leader of the Hero Society, recruited me. A teenage runaway, my once lanky arms were corded with muscle from training at headquarters with Lilith and Draco, our resident fighting teachers and full-time heroes. Draco was old as dirt. He was born in ancient Greece, but lost his immortality years ago. Good times. Lilith was a hot-as-hell badass, and she sort of took me under her metaphorical phoenix wings. It was annoying at first, but after a while her theatrics grew on me. She loved to crash my dates, claiming that any decent candidate would be able to deal with her. Reasonable or not, her logic started to make sense over time.
I needed a man or woman who could handle my life, crazy surrogate family and all.
“ ’Sup, little brother.” Mina, my actual blood sister, walked over to me, sporting a black, sleeveless dress with a hood. It stopped at her knees, highlighting her rainbow Converse.
She was a character. We both were.
Looking at her was like looking at a twin: blonde hair, green eyes, and punk personalities.
“How’s my little niece doing?” My eyes glanced down at her growing belly, and she gave it a good rub for comfort.
“Just like her sister was—happy to be sitting on my bladder, massaging my intestines, and likes to do gymnastics.” She said it all sarcastically, but the way she looked down at that bump spoke way louder than her words. She was head over heels for that baby in there, as she was with her first one.
“I like Hero Society weddings. They always go the extra mile in some way,” I commented while taking in the festivities in front of me.
Echo and Asher, two of the original members of the Society, had just finished saying their I do’s. Even though they had technically been married for years, his family wanted a traditional witch wedding with the coven involved.
Witches were not like the superheroes from the Greek gods. They were something completely different, made from the earth itself—wild magic. Their powers came from the energies of nature, in all its forms. Asher was the most powerful, and his Hero Society side gig hadn’t sat well with his coven, which tended to stick with their own kind. But now, a peace had settled between the two groups, with the joined hands and blessings of a hero and a witch. Two strong beings from both sides of a powerful coin.
I’d envied them over the years. In fact, I envied all the Hero Society couples that went on to get married, have kids, and make a little world for themselves. They’d found their person, the one who completed their soul.
They also had sex all over headquarters and smiled sweetly at each other. It was enough to drive me mad. But still, I wanted that for myself.
Echo and Asher started doing some dance with ribbons wrapped around their hands, laughing at their own fumbling, devotion in their eyes.
“I’ll be back.”
We were outside, so I couldn’t exactly say I needed some air as an excuse to get away from the love fest in front of me, so I didn’t bother trying to come up with a lie. I wasn’t the kid genius any longer; I was adult A.J. who could go for a walk when he wanted to. Mina gave me a sad smile but kept her lips sealed. She knew that all I wanted was my own love story, but like with any story I had to wait until it was my turn.
The woods were quiet, as if all of nature was watching the wedding behind me.
“I’m ready for my book now,” I announced to the wind. Maybe it would carry my words to some higher being, and my wish would be granted.
“You’re a writer? I would have pegged you for a Hollywood bad boy. You’ve got that whole I don’t care what other people think of me vibe going on.”
The voice caught me off guard, but I remained calm and followed the sound to my right, where a woman was casually perched on top of a fallen tree trunk.
The moon wasn’t bright enough for me to see her features, only that her skin was pale and flawless. Her hair was dark as the nightscape behind her, and her body was petite.
“I’m not a writer or a Hollywood bad boy.” My feet stopped moving, fully rooting into the dirt beneath my black boots.
“My bad. I could have helped inspire your next story. I’m quite the muse.” She sounded haughty, and my lips tilted up into a smirk. Whoever this woman was, she had spunk. I liked spunk.
“I’m sure you would have given me a best seller.”
I could play along with her. Wasn’t like I had anything else to do at the moment, and something about this mystery woman intrigued me.
“You have no idea.” Her voice was low, just a whisper, but I felt the words caress my skin like the softness of a female hand.
She stood and walked to me with purpose in her step.
I wasn’t fucking moving one inch, determined to see what she was going to do.
She reached her delicate yet strong hand around my neck and pulled my lips down to hers.
Chapter 2
Lana
Maybe it was just the hellion in me, or maybe it was something else. But my feet were on the move before I could even register what was happening, my hands feeling the softness of his blond hair and those strong neck muscles as he let me pull his lips down to mine.
Then I felt it.
The blending of core energies through the clashing of our lips.
The spark.
My chest felt heavy, and my knees began to wobble from the realization of what was happening. Thankfully his strong arms were there to hold me close. Every breath he took, I soaked in. He smelled like cherries and toothpaste mint—an odd combination, but the scent had me moaning for more. I wanted to be drenched in him, completely surrounded.
“Fucking hell.” I swallowed down his groan greedily, feasting on his lips and the sensations coursing through me.
Chills ran down my body, perking my nipples to attention, while my hands gripped onto him harder.
I normally wasn’t one for a hookup as soon as I met a guy, but this man wasn’t just someone. I don’t know the hows or whys, but he lit my world ablaze, and I was gonna
burn to cinders against his kiss.
“A.J.!” A woman was calling into the woods, and my mystery man groaned at the sound. Pulling back to look at his expression, I hoped I didn’t see a guilty look. If he was with someone else, this would be a disaster.
“Is that your girlfriend?” The words may have come out like a purr, but my stomach felt knotted, making me nauseous at the thought.
His fingers came up to brush against my swollen lip, as if he was trying to see if it was real. The tingling current of energy that ran from his finger through my lips almost brought me to my knees. Oh, for the love of Pete, please say you don’t have a girlfriend.
“That’s my sister. I don’t have a significant other.” His voice seemed far away, carried off with the wind, but I saw the adoration in his eyes. Did he feel the spark too? I needed to find out more about this A.J. before I announced that we were mates.
Was he a witch? One of the Greek heroes? I didn’t feel any particular power flowing from him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t good at hiding it.
“Let’s get you back to the party then. Can’t have you walking all alone in these woods, never know what could happen behind these dark trees.”
My smile grew, and I winked. I just happened behind one of these dark trees. My core clenched, thinking about being against that scratchy bark with him between my legs.
Such Violent Delights: A Holiday Paranormal Romance Anthology Page 11