Page 34 of Born a Queen

Chapter Twenty

Raina wanted to ask about her parents, demand that Mateo take her back to say goodbye to them. But she knew he would refuse and since Mateo had been in touch with her parents for the past two years, she suspected he would update them on this new development. If not, then she would call them when she landed in Miami. She was relatively certain that Cass would call them and let them know what happened at the bar.

The vehicle started to slow and Raina looked around in confusion. It was close to midnight so she couldn't see anything out of the tinted windows, but it seemed as though they were going to stop on the highway.

And then they did stop on the highway. "Why are we stopping here?"

Mateo didn't answer. As soon as the SUV stopped, he opened the door and got out, walking around to her side. He opened the door and helped her out, though she was tempted to smack his hand when he unbuckled her seatbelt. Enough was enough, she was a grown woman. She slid out of the vehicle, but Mateo didn't back up so she was forced to stand flush against him. He slid his arm around her waist resting his broad hand on her hip. They stood that way for a few seconds then he escorted her to the front of the vehicle.

"Get the plane ready," he told one of his men.

Now Raina was really confused. Plane? But they weren't anywhere near the airport. Their small town supported a tiny airfield that could barely land a Cessna. And that was all the way on the other side of the town. There was no airport around here.

Raina was about to tell Mateo that he was somehow mistaken when she caught sight of an airplane rolling toward them up the highway. It was being driven off a side road that led into a farmer's field. Apparently, they had ditched the aircraft to come and collect her. Mateo never failed to surprise her.

"I was expecting something bigger," she said sarcastically.

She hadn't been expecting anything at all, let alone an airplane out in the middle of nowhere on the highway from which they clearly intended to take off.

"The luxury jet’s in the shop." Mateo's voice was so deadpan that for a second Raina believed him, but then she caught sight of his smirk.

Playing along, Raina said tartly, "Well, this will have to do for now, but in the future, I fully expect the luxury jet to be ready and waiting for me."

As the plane stopped Mateo guided her toward it. "Your wish is my command, princess."

Raina noticed Mateo did that a lot, called her all sorts of endearments. Princess, chica, baby. Was he going to pick one, or continue to rotate them? She wasn't sure how she felt about all the endearments. Sometimes happy, sometimes not. She wondered if he called other women by these endearments. No, that seemed unlikely. She couldn’t picture the super serious Mateo casually calling a woman princess. Not unless he meant it.

He helped her onto the airplane and this time when he reached over to buckle her seatbelt, she smacked his hand. "You do know that I've been buckling my own seatbelts for the last twenty years?"

"Your safety will always be my priority. If I do it for you, then I know it's done right."

He sounded so serious the smile fell from her lips as she stared at him sitting next to her.

"I will never stop wanting to protect you. This is something that you’ll indulge me in without complaint. I’ll accept a lot from you, but not this. If I tell you that something is for your safety, then you will listen, without argument, without hesitation."

Raina was generally an argumentative person. She questioned everything. The government, the police, the media, laws, lawyers, parents, both adoptive and birth, doctors; the list could go on forever. In her opinion, questioning was a sign of intelligence. Blind following was a sign of complacency or fear.

But when Mateo laid down this law, she was more inclined to listen. There was something about him. The tone of his voice, his expression, his earnestness. This was one area that she knew he wouldn't fuck around with.

"You’ve probably noticed by now, but I’m not very good at following orders." When it looked like Mateo was about to further lay down the law, she shook her head and interrupted, "This is the one time that I'll try harder. I believe you. I believe that you have my best interests at heart. So I'll try to listen if it's something that has to do with my safety."

Mateo studied her for second. "Don't try. Just do. If you can’t then I’ll make sure it gets done."

Raina tried to hold onto her temper. She didn't appreciate it when she extended an olive branch toward her "future husband" and he rejected it.

"You know, for someone who professes that he desperately wants to marry me, you don't seem to give two shits about what I think. Or how I feel," she snapped furiously. The plane began to taxi down the highway. "You just tell me where to go and what to do. I don't appreciate being talked to like I'm five years old and don't know how to listen. When I tell you that I’ll try to listen to you about things that concern my safety, I mean it."

"So far you haven't once gone where I wanted you to go or did what I wanted you to do," he said dryly.

"Exactly. And I never will if you keep talking to me this way. Give me a reason to listen to you and I might actually do it."

"I doubt that," he drawled, his gaze outside the window on the ground as the plane lifted off.

His hand tightened on his arm rest. It was so subtle that she might've missed it. Was he afraid of flying? She couldn't exactly ask him because two of his men were in the small airplane with them, one flying and the other… she guessed he was bodyguard.

"My point is, if you expect me to play house with you, then I'll need you to stop being the tough guy all the time. Always telling me what to do and scolding me about every little thing. Happy marriages don't work that way." She crossed her arms tightly over her chest and tried hard to not say anything else. She thought she'd ended on a poignant note. But then she couldn't help herself. "And another thing," she turned to glare at him. "What was that at the bar? You can't go around beating up anyone and everyone that touches me."

He didn't turn and look at her; his gaze was still firmly on the rapidly disappearing ground. "Yes, I can."

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