Vicious Prince (Royal Elite #5)(58)

I wonder how he does it, how he hides so much and can be this happy to see me.

“You haven’t answered my texts, trésor.”

“That’s because you didn’t send them.”

“Of course I did.” He brings out his phone then his brows furrow. “Ah, fuck. I sent them to the group chat. Those bastards won’t let me live this down.”

I chuckle; I can’t help imagining their replies to Ronan’s consecutive messages. Deep down, I allow myself a moment of relief. He didn’t actually ignore me over the weekend.

“What are you laughing at? You like my misery?”

“No.” I snort out laughter.

“Okay, I’ve been called a pussy in five hundred ways.” He shoves his phone back in his pocket. “This is all your fault, ma belle. How are you going to make it up to me?”

“Why would I?” I fold my arms, no longer laughing. “I’m the one who’s mad at you, remember?”

“I’m not apologising for that. Cole needed to know you belong to me so he’ll keep his claws to himself. Not sorry.”

“It’s not that.” My voice is so small, pathetic.

His brows furrow. “Then why the fuck did you walk out on me?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Teal,” he warns, gripping my arm in a tight hold. “Don’t make me use force.”

“Aren’t you already?”

“This is only a preview. My actual force includes not giving you an orgasm.”

I narrow my eyes at him.

“Tell. Me,” he insists. “Or Lars won’t give you any more dark chocolate. I’m the one who sends them over, you know.”

“You…are?”

“Of course. How would Lars know, genius?” He inches closer. “Now, tell me why you left.”

“It’s stupid, okay?”

“Let me be the judge of that.”

“I…” I trail off, staring at an invisible point at my side. “I didn’t want to have sex in that position. I wanted to look at you, and you didn’t listen.”

Silence stakes a claim in the room, and I chance a peek at him. Ronan watches with an intense focus that almost makes me squirm.

“Ronan…?”

“You wanted to look at me,” he repeats, as if not believing the words.

It’s not a question, but I nod anyway.

He pulls me to him by the arm he’s holding and wraps me up in a tight embrace. The same embrace I wanted to give him after I listened to his conversation with his bastard uncle.

“You’re fucking me up, Teal,” he whispers against my head, his hot breaths tickling my hair.

“Not as much as you are me.” There’s so much vulnerability in my voice, so much surrender, and for some reason, I don’t hate it.

“I’m glad you’re here, my crazy but beautiful belle.”

For the first time in my life, I wrap my arms around someone. I feel his heartbeat against my chest and his breaths in my hair and his arms squeezing me too tight.

I do the same.

My nails dig into the cloth of his shirt and sink in there, soaking in the warmth.

The belonging.

The care.

I never allowed myself addictions before, because addictions screw you up and mess with your logic and your head.

But as I hug Ronan, I know I have no choice in this addiction. It’s the type you just surrender to. You fall into it and let yourself float.

So I do just that, confessing in a soft voice, “I’m glad you’re here too, Ronan.”





25





Teal





For the following week, Ronan doesn’t leave my side.

He’s there in the morning to pick me up. He’s there to drive me back home, and sometimes, he kicks everyone out of the Meet Up so we can spend the night.

Those nights and afternoons are my favourites. Not only does he bring each and every one of my fantasies to reality, he goes a step beyond. He chases me around the cottage and the lake, making me feel like I can escape him just to pounce on me then fuck me in all positions possible.

I never thought I’d crave sex with someone as much as I do with Ronan. It’s not only about the joining of our bodies, but also about what leads to that. It’s about the emotions he shows when he’s owning my body.

I might not understand them that well — emotions, I mean — but I can see the meaning in the glint in his brown eyes. I can feel it in the way he touches me and hugs me like he wants to shield me from the world.

He’s been having some sort of a battle against the world lately. He made it his job to announce I’m his fiancée all over RES, and he’s been plotting to ruin Cole’s books every day since the garden incident. It’s strange to see Ronan act so territorial after he did everything to get rid of me.

In doing that, he’s been slowly but surely carving himself a cosy place in my heart. At some point in my life, I honestly believed I didn’t have a heart, or if I did, it only served its anatomical function.

But now, whenever Ronan is around, that organ goes in and out of sync. Everything he does moves me one way or another. It can be as small as smiling genuinely each time he sees me or how he keeps winking at me when we spend time with Charlotte. Or perhaps it’s how he brings me a bar of dark chocolate every day as if it’s become his ritual.