Page 108 of Twisted Royals

“Is there an X-thingy?”

“Yes, I have that as well as a thoroughly stocked implement cabinet. I have no doubt I’ll be strapping you to any one of the wide variety of spanking benches far more often than you’d like.”

She arched up to kiss me. “We’ll see about that. Oh, and by the way, I never really hated you. I’ve loved you my entire life too.”

“Then there is not an army in this world that can stop us,” I assured her, feeling love fill me like never before.

“Let’s just hope that includes a king and queen,” she murmured, but gave a shaky smile and nodded. “Let’s get to it.”

CHAPTER 10

Mia

It was maybe twenty-five feet from the truck to the door I’d taped, but it felt like a mile. Every click of my heels on the concrete served as advance warning of our whereabouts. When I’d suggested removing them in the car, Max had nixed the idea.

“Nothing screams guilty more than a young woman, heels in hand, trying to appear invisible. And, let’s be real. That’s why the coat stays in the truck. A guest who has nothing to hide would stroll right inside.”

“The side door?” I’d quipped.

“Um, maybe not, but it’s an advantage no soldier would ignore.”

When we made it to the door without a hoard descending on us, I began to relax. “Is it locked?”

Max turned the knob and I thanked the fates when the door opened a bit. “We’re good.” He smiled as he dropped my hand he’d been holding and splayed his fingers at the small of my back.

I could feel the heat of his skin through the silk and it helped ground me. He pulled the door open enough to guide me inside and then paused.

“What’s wrong?”

“No reason to leave tape with your DNA on it.”

“Oh, good thinking.” I could see him running his hand along the edge of the door. “Max?”

“It’s not here.”

I was aware that he was speaking in a softer voice. “It has to be. The door opened. Maybe it just slipped off a bit but we can’t see it in the dark?” I was about to drop to the floor to look for it when that darkness suddenly disappeared. Blinding light burst over us, so bright I had to shield my eyes. When the order of “freeze” was shouted, that is how they found us. With my face buried against Max’s chest, my entire body shaking, every shred of bravery I’d garnered evaporating when I heard a familiar voice.

“Get your fucking hands off my daughter!”

Instead of obeying, Max wrapped his arms around me as if providing a shield. “Stop shouting and get those lights out of our eyes.”

Whereas I was pretty sure I would have begun making apologies, this man was giving orders in a steady, calm voice. His Dom voice. The shudder that ran through me this time had nothing to do with fear. I turned my face from his chest to see not only my father, but most of my entire family crowded into the hallway behind a whole bunch of policemen and women.

“I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but if you don’t step away from my daughter, I’ll bloody shoot you myself!”

“Don’t!” It took two tries to get Max’s arms to loosen enough to allow me to turn around to face our foes. “Father, I can explain–”

“I’m not addressing you, young lady?—”

“And you won’t ever address her again using that tone,” Max growled. “Now, before someone’s finger gets a bit too itchy, I suggest we take this somewhere more private?”

“Not until they’ve slapped handcuffs on you!”

Whoa! I knew my father could be stern and all he normally had to do was raise his voice and all my sisters and I would start backpedaling as fast as possible, apologizing for real and imagined transgressions the entire time. But, this was the first time I’d ever heard him curse or speak so coarsely. It was the first time I’d ever witnessed him standing mano a mano and frankly, it was as amazing as it was frightening.

With a single swipe of his finger, officers began to slowly approach us and when I heard the door opening, I realized they’d piled in behind Max as well. Seeing the gleam of satisfaction in my father’s eyes, I did something I’d never before imagined doing.

Sticking my arms out with my wrists crossed, I stared at him while speaking to everybody in the hallway. “If you cuff him, you cuff me as well, and then you can bet your crowns that I will stand before every reporter in this hotel and inform them that when the future King of Doran tried to protect me from any embarrassment or retribution I might encounter for choosing to spend my twenty-first birthday with the very man you chose to be my future husband, you had him arrested.” I paused as the onlookers began to gasp and my sisters began to chitter. I ignored it all. It wasn’t my father’s glower that almost undid me, it was my mother’s nod when I shifted my gaze from him to her. The hand Max pressed to my lower back grounded me enough to finish my stand. “If you’d prefer not to have the King and Queen of Doran see their son’s mug shot and our family’s business splattered over the front page of every newspaper in the world, I suggest you thank all those looking for me for their efforts and donate generously to whatever fund honors their work. As for me and my fiancé, unless you put those handcuffs on us yourself, we will meet you…” I was going to say in the suite upstairs, but if everyone attended, and I was positive not a single one of my sisters would be willing to miss out on this little tête-à-tête, it would be far too crowded.

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