Page 104 of Bastian

“Where did you get that from?”

“Daddy.” She shrugs as if her father’s word is the law. I guess to her, it is.

“Your daddy is not a villain, baby. He is just a butthead sometimes.” I grin when she giggles at my use of the word butt to describe her father.

“Dad said he is the villain, and you are the hero who saved him, so I want that. I want to save a villain like you saved daddy.”

Okay…. I am about to press her for more information when a rough voice interrupts me. “Time for bed, moonshine.”

Ella lifts her body off the couch and turns to Shaw. I rise from the sofa and give him a look that has him narrowing his eyes back at me. I sometimes wish I could call the guy some of my favorite insults, but thoughts of Ella stop me every time. She won’t like it if I give the moody asshole a piece of my mind, but that doesn’t mean I don’t call him every cuss word known to man at his back or under my breath.

“Five more minutes.” Ella negotiates with a grin his way.

His eyes leave mine and look down at her, softening. “That’s what you said an hour ago. No more minutes.” He says, but since I love pissing idiots more, I tell my girl while looking at his reaction.

“Ten more minutes, and we go to sleep, yes?”

Ella sighs and jumps into my arms and gives me all the kisses while I look at a pissed-off Shaw and offer him a big triumphant smile with a silent and very satisfying…fuck you.

BASTIAN

ROYALTY

“I can’t afford love.” — A

Three weeks later…

“She will be pissed, you know that, right?” Banning says from where he is standing next to the Oval Office’s window. “Now more so after your corny ass confessed your eternal and undying love for her on national TV. She has been stalked by the press every day since. You have lost your mind, motherfucker.” My head of security breaks the peaceful silence I’ve been enjoying for the past three hours while I’ve been going over a few documents Baron left for me this morning.

Now, Benjamin has joined me to test my patience and sour my mood because he is bored.

The overdramatic idiot.

Do I text, call, and message her hourly? Yes.

Do I show up at her place uninvited to tell her good morning and that I love her? Again, yes.

Do I send flowers, candy, and gifts to her place of work and home? Yes.

Since when did courting the woman you love become stalking? And people say romance is dead.

Sighing, “Do you have anything useful to say to me, Banning? If not, there’s the door.” I mumble, ignoring his last comment. So I told the world who Arianna is to me. I did it and I don’t regret it for a second. Let them know she is mine because make no mistake that is what she is. Mine as much as I am hers. Besides, they’ve been whispering and speculating about her for weeks, years even, now they know not to fuck with her. I partly did it for that purpose. Everyone needed to know she isn’t just anybody, and she’s not to be fuck with.

“Now, now, don’t get your panties in a twist, boss.” He laughs, then walks towards my desk but doesn’t take a seat. Instead, he looks at me like a creepy fucker. I feel his stare until he speaks up. “Thank you.” Looking up from some legal documents that have been sitting on my desk for far too long, I ask. “For?”

Banning looks me straight in the eye. “For making her smile again.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that.” Leaning back on the leather seat, I say. “Because I don’t plan on ever stopping.”

“Good because if you do…” I grin, waiting for him to finish his threat. “She’ll cut out your balls and keep them for herself.”

Chuckling, I rise from my seat and button my suit jacket. “She already has them, Banning. That is nothing new.” It is the truth, and what is the point in denying it? She not only has my heart, mind, and soul in her hands, but my damn balls too. And the proof is in the way she has consumed my every thought since the second I laid eyes on her. Now all I do, every decision I make, I have not only my daughter in mind but Arianna as well. “Is everything handled?” I ask, moving towards the door, itching to get to her. We haven’t had a moment alone since our night in Greece on the beach. Fuck, I can still hear her soft moans and feel her long nails scratching my back as I drove in and out of her. From the second I saw her naked body, I haven’t stopped seeing it since.

I can’t unsee her.

Whether it is her crazy perfect naked body under mine, her stunning face looking up at me with tears in her eyes, or her crooked smile when she tells me off.

All of it.

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