Page 59 of Regally Binding

“Beatrice, can I have a moment?” Marianne crowed as they walked through the corridor. “It’s about the wedding.”

Beatrice’s eyes narrowed as she spoke. “I’m showing Liss where the bathroom is, although I want to talk to you about the King. I’m worried about his health. He’s deteriorating too quickly. Isn’t there any treatment available for him?”

Marianne swiped the question away with her hand. “The man is dying.”

Liss cocked her head. “But didn’t—”

“Run along to the toilets, Felicity. You look like you’ll be sick, which is hardly the behaviour of royalty. Drink too much of the champagne, did we? I suppose you’re not used to such fine pleasures. It’s that way.” Marianne pointed to a corridor.

“I’ll catch you up,” Beatrice said softly, her eyes crinkling in care. She squeezed her hand before Liss tottered down the corridor. Beatrice’s comment to Marianne made her pause. “Don’t you speak to her like that. She’s part of our family now.”

“Don’t forget who you’re speaking to, Beatrice. I will be your Queen before the end of the year, and I will have your respect,” Marianne snapped.

Liss pressed her fingers against her mouth and waited, but the voices disappeared. They must have walked towards the ballroom.

Liss turned the corner. There were stairs here. An open window blasted fresh air, and she gulped it down. After a few minutes, the vomit subsided, and a joyous, easy feeling replaced it. Liss walked up the stairs until a grunt behind her made her turn.

A grumpy Bear tapped at his leg and occasionally touched his earpiece.

“What do you want now?” she huffed, fighting the attraction that made her mouth dry and a heat rise between her legs. Alcohol always made her horny, or maybe it increased herconfidence and freed her. Bear continued to inspect her as if she was under his microscope.

He handed her an open bottle of water. “Drink this.” She dropped her bag and downed the water, rolling her eyes at him. “I need to get you out of here.”

“Why? I haven’t eaten dinner yet.” She attempted to walk down the stairs towards him but toppled against his body. She pressed her hands against his solid chest, and he held her arms, keeping her safe. Muscles rippled against her fingers.

“You’re very strong,” she said, staring at his mouth. She licked her lips slowly.

“We have to go. Strike will bring the other three, including Steve, who’s been whispering in your ear and trying to touch you all night,” he said. His eye twitched, and his jaw moved as if he was chewing gum. “You could do better, by the way.”

“Someone like you?” Liss’s hands slid down his chest as she winked at him suggestively. “You’re not even my type.”

“I didn’t mean me.” He rolled his eyes. His chest rumbled against her hands, and she squeezed gently.

Liss pushed against him and righted herself.

“It doesn’t bother me. I’m not into princesses.” He shrugged, but his eyes grazed her body as he spoke. “So Steve is your type?”

Liss thrust her hands to her hips. “No.” Did he smile? “I like slim men, but not skinny.” Her words were jumbled. “I like swimmer bodies and men without bulk.”

Bear bristled, and he continued to chew. “I can outrun any guy in that room and any swimmer jock you’ve been with. I could easily outrun Steve.”

“I don’t care about that. That’s not why I like them.”

He smelt of fresh mint. Liss’s eyes dropped, and she licked her lips again. Her hands returned to stroke his chest as she professed she didn’t want a body like his.

His urgency disappeared. “Then enlighten me. What is it about?”

Liss cleared her throat as she grabbed Bear’s hips. The stairs cancelled their height difference, and her body flushed at the opportunity to be at eye and mouth height with him. She dropped her voice, forcing him closer. “Because I’m tiny and can’t straddle big men.”

Her vision swam, but the way his eyes locked onto hers was unmistakable. His heat filled her, yet goose pimples covered her arms as he replied, “I guarantee you’d have no problems wrapping your legs around me. And if it didn’t risk everything Strike and I worked for, and if you weren’t drunker than a student at fresher’s week, I’d insist on lifting you, pushing you against the wall, and proving it right here.”

“But someone could walk past?” She gripped his waist tighter. He was like a wall of fire, and she wanted to combust in him.

“I’d give you the fuck of your life right here, and I wouldn’t care who saw. Maybe I’d want them to watch how I own your pleasure when you scream my name. And I can finally admit that because you won’t remember what I said in the morning.” But she never forgot the things she heard when drunk. It was her superpower. Bear tucked a wave of hair behind her ear and brushed her forehead with his lips. “Now we need to get you out of here and then get you to bed with water and paracetamol, Princess.”

“Stop calling me that.” She pushed against him again and fell back to sit on the stairs. She wasn’t acting like a princess, and she didn’t care what people thought. Fuck everyone who wanted to judge her. Liss folded her arms and glared at him.

“Stop pouting. Somehow, it makes you even sexier. And like it or not, you’re a princess, and I have a job to do.” His gaze flicked around the stairway. “My instincts tell me we don’t want to stay here much longer, so let’s grab your bag and go.”

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