Page 56 of Waiting for a Prince
Sam shook his head. “Trust me, Mark. I knowexactlyhow he’d react. He’s not reticent on the subject, believe me.” Tremors rippled through him, and Mark knelt up beside the sofa and stroked his back gently until little by little, Sam’s shivers died away. “I had no choice but to say yes. And it was okay, for the first few weeks at least. I didn’t do anything more than kiss her a couple of times, and I could tell she was surprised I didn’t make an attempt to get her into bed.” Sam frowned. “It didn’t seem to bother her, and I thought nothing of it. If anything, I was relieved. I didn’t intend keeping up the façade for long. All I was trying to do was throw my dad off the scent.” He shivered again. “It wasn’t long after that, though, that I started to hear the stories.”
“What stories?”
Sam let out a wry chuckle. “You know how things work on the island, Mark. It’s a very small place. Everyone knows everyone else. And secrets don’tstaysecret for very long.” He winced.
“Is your head okay?” Mark regarded him with concern.
Sam smiled. “You are such a sweet man.” He lifted Mark’s hand and kissed it tenderly, loving the way Mark’s face glowed. “I started to hear rumours that Rebecca had a temper, and the tales appeared to be emanating from some of her ex-boyfriends. Except that saying she had a temper was apparently putting it mildly. One ex complained she’d become violent.”
“What did you do?”
Sam sighed. “I asked her about it. She didn’t react well.ThenI discovered her dad had heard the same stories. Rebecca told me he was trying to get her to attend some anger management course on the mainland.”
Mark snorted. “I take it she didn’t want to go.”
Sam shook his head. “She didn’t think she needed anger management, and she thought her dad was overreacting. But then he started making noises about how she had to attend the course, orhe’dstart thinking about cutting her allowance.” He shuddered. “This is a girl who would die without her credit card. She needed a way to convince him the ex-boyfriends were lying.”
Mark widened his eyes. “Oh,thisis gonna be good.”
“And I was the one who handed her the perfect plan, though not on purpose. The first time Rebecca visited my flat, I ran out of milk, so I popped out to the local supermarket. She said she’d stay there and look at her phone.” Another sigh. “I didn’t think, did I? And when I got back…” Sam slumped into the seat cushion. “She’d used the time to go through my chest of drawers.”
“Of course she had.” Mark scowled. “I’m guessing she found something you didn’t want her knowing about.”
He gazed at Mark, his chest tight. “My gay magazines—and my Fleshjack. Not to mention a few other toys. She didn’t need to be a genius to work it out, right?”
“What happened?”
Sam forced out a bitter laugh. “You know, I was relieved at the time. I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve inadvertently given her a reason to break it off between us. Except that wasn’t how it worked out.” He frowned. “Rebecca had other plans.” He gulped. “She told me we were going to stay together and that I had to somehow convince her dad there was no truth to the stories—or else she would go straight tomydad and tell him his son was gay. She’d spent enough time around him to know exactly how he’d react tothatbombshell.”
Mark tensed. “That bitch. That blackmailing littlebitch!”
Sam’s chin trembled. “I had no choice, Mark. I had to agree to it. So she began arranging meals out with her family, giving her dad plenty of opportunities to see howgreatwe were getting along.” He gave a sardonic laugh. “I must be areallygood actor, because her dad took me aside to tell me how pleased he was that we were together and that I was obviously a good influence on his daughter.”
Mark expelled a long breath.
“Sam, look in the mirror. This is more than Rebecca having a temper. Where will it stop?”
Sam opened his eyes wide. “But ithasstopped. I left her. I couldn’t stay with her after this.”
“What about your dad?”
Sam stiffened. “Can’t do anything about that now. It’s coming. She said as much last night.” He drew a sharp intake of breath. “But I’ve had six months of this shit. No more. To be honest, it only got bad in the last few weeks, when….” He heard the catch in Mark’s breathing, and his heart pounded.
Do you already know what I’m about to say? Have you guessed?
It was too late to stop now.
“When I started to realize I had feelings for someone.”
The words slipped out into the quiet room and Sam met Mark’s gaze.
Mark’s heart gave a leap.Oh God, please….
“Sam, I…”
“Yes?” There was such a hopeful expression on Sam’s face that Mark couldn’t breathe. “Mark?”
Mark laid his hand gently on Sam’s scratched cheek and leaned in close, their lips meeting at last. Sam’s eyes closed and Mark simply gave himself up to the sweet, tender kiss. How long they kissed, Mark had no idea. He lost all concept of time, aware of nothing but the silkiness of Sam’s lips, his sweet breath, the heat radiating from his body. When at last they parted, Mark let out a contented sigh.
