Prologue
I always thought it would be romantic to be whisked away on a private jet by a handsome man. Only I never expected the man to be my professor. I never expected to be his fake fiancée. And I certainly never expected the games that he would play. Yes, being swept off of my feet is exciting and thrilling. However, it’s not everything I imagined it to be. I’ve always dreamt about meeting my Prince Charming. I just never realized I’d have to tame him before the fairytale could begin.
Chapter One
“Welcome to Romeruis.” Xavier’s voice was light as we stepped out of the private plane. I didn’t bother turning to look at him. His words on the plane had annoyed and thrilled me. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. How had I, Lola Franklin, ended up in this position? “I want you to take this phone.”
“What phone?” I spoke to the wind in-front of me.
“The one I’m holding in my hand.” He sounded short and I ran down the steps a little faster. If he thought I was going to act like everything was fine, he had another thing coming.
“Lola,” his voice rose and I stopped. I didn’t stop because of Xavier though. No, I stopped because the tarmac was filled with about thirty different men dressed up in navy blue and red uniforms and they were all holding guns in the air. I’m pretty sure the guns were rifles with bayonets. There were about three different cars waiting for us as well, with three drivers standing next to each one. As soon as they saw Xavier, a young boy started blowing a trumpet and my mouth fell open. I’d never seen such fanfare at an airport before, but I guess I’m not used to being around royalty.
“Do not run ahead of me, Lola.” Xavier growled into my ear and grabbed my arm. “Take this phone.” His eyes bore into mine with an intense expression as he handed me the phone. I took it reluctantly and placed it into my handbag and watched a wide smile cross his face. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“What’s going on here?” I nodded towards the crowds of people in front of us. “What’s up with all the pomp?”
“My mother wanted to make sure that her firstborn and his fiancée were met with a royal welcome.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” I hissed at him. “This is making me very uncomfortable, Xavier.”
“It shouldn’t. You should be happy. Don’t women like to be fawned over?”
“If it’s real. This isn’t real.”
“I’ll compensate you nicely.”
“I don’t want your money ass**le.” I stopped and glared at him. “And if you mention money to me again or insinuate that I’m a prostitute, I will slap you so hard that you’ll wonder if your face is still a part of your body.”
“It was just a —”
“Do you understand me?” I cut him off and eyed him deliberately. “If I think for a second that you’re associating me to a whore at any moment, I will do something drastic.”
“How drastic?” He smirked at me, his green eyes glowing with humor.
“I’ll cut off your —”
“Xavier, there you are.” A deep voice came running towards us and I looked down to see a handsome man grinning up at us. “We’ve been awaiting your arrival. Your mother is anxious to meet the woman that has stolen your heart.”
My face burned a bright red as I stood there staring at the man. He reached out his hand to me and bowed his head, his blue eyes shining with excitement. “I’m Tarquin.”
“Nice to meet you, Tarquin.” I shook his hand and I could feel Xavier staring at us through the corners of my eyes. “I’m Lola.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” He grinned and then gave Xavier a look. “You nearly gave us a heart attack. Mama thinks that you’ve lost your head. They say that Violeta has gone crazy. She can’t believe it. She’s going to flip a switch when she sees you. She thought that she —”
“Tarquin.” Xavier frowned as he cut him off. “Enough.”
“Oops, sorry.” Tarquin gave me an awkward smile. “You must forgive me. I never expected to see the day when my cousin would get married.”
“You two are cousins?” I was surprised. Tarquin, while cute, didn’t look like Xavier at all with his white blond hair and pale skin.
“Can’t you tell?” Tarquin grinned again, looking carefree and happy, quite unlike Xavier.
“No, not really.” I shook my head and smiled back at him.
“Go ahead, Tarq. I need to talk to Lola now.” Xavier grabbed my arm and frowned. “Stop flirting with my cousin, it’s so common.”
“What?” I rolled my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m telling you to stop coming on to my cousin. You haven’t cut off my balls yet. Tonight, I’ll show you just how different Tarquin and I really are.”
“What does that mean?” I could feel my heart pounding at his words. I tried not to stare at his handsome face and so instead looked at his muscular chest. That was a mistake. Staring at his physique only turned me on more.
“It means that when I f**k you tonight,” he leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “There won’t be any giggling going on.” His tongue entered my ear and I froze. “It also means that when I’m done with you, you’ll never joke about cutting any part of me off. Not when every part of me will be bringing you so much pleasure.”
***
“So Lola, tell me what you do.” Tarquin leaned forward with a curious expression on his face. “And how you met Xavier. The newspapers didn’t really print much.” He paused and looked at Xavier. “Aunt Henrietta is quite upset at you.”
“She’ll get over it.” Xavier shrugged. “She has Sebastian to get it right for her.”
“Sebastian isn’t getting married as well is he?” Tarquin’s eyes widened with glee. “Oh wait until I tell —”
“Tarquin.” Xavier rolled his eyes. “Calm down. You’re overwhelming, Lola.” He shook his head and turned to look at me. “How are you feeling, my dear.”
“Huh?” My jaw dropped. My dear? Really? He was really putting it on. I tried not to laugh in his face as I contemplated telling him just where I wanted him to jump from. I leaned back in the Rolls Royce that was escorting us to the royal palace. Everything felt so surreal. The chauffeur had bowed when he’d seen Xavier and I. He’d actually bowed. And then he’d held the door for me and everyone had waited for me to make my way into the back of the car first. It was so weird. I wasn’t used to that. Guys back home didn’t even hold the door open for me when we went on dates.