Page 4 of Knot your Princess
“Cain?” I spit out, infuriated. “He is a pig!”
Okay, now my slightly lilting, soft, half Irish, half Italian accent has turned with my emotions, and now I sound more like my mother. My hands have also gone flying in a dramatic gesture. She grabs them and kisses them.
“He is a good protector. And that is what your father requires of him tomorrow,” she states with absolute finality. I have a sneaky suspicion that this request came fromherand not my father.
“Grrr.” I growl, and she chuckles at my poor attempt, but I’m not happy. Cain likes to dip his wick. I’ve seen the skanks he takes up to the lake. I have little else to do with my time but to watch and learn. It’s why I know something shady is going down tomorrow that my father, and possibly now my mother, is involved in.
Unfortunately, I have two options. Allow Cain to escort me tomorrow, or not go. I know better than to fight both of my parents, and it’s obvious my mother is adamant. Not going is cutting my nose off to spite my face. Just because Cain is a man-whore, doesn’t mean he will get into my knickers.
“Fine,” I grouse, knowing I’m defeated.
“Good girl,” she purrs and strokes my hair.
It’s soothing, and it’s meant to be a distraction. But I don’t care. I let it wash over me, and it calms me.
“I’m going to go for a swim in the pool,” I murmur.
“Good idea,” she agrees. “I will see you at dinner.”
I nod as she leaves, and strip off my stretchy pink jersey dress and underwear. I pull my black bikini out of the dresser's top drawer and slip it on, grabbing my pool towel on the way out of my bedroom.
Our quarters are at the back of the main compound building. It consists of a living room, four bedrooms, my dad’s office, a dining room and a kitchen, plus three bathrooms and my favourite place, the indoor swimming pool. It is a fair size, big enough to swim laps in and feel like you’ve had a workout. I place my towel at the shallow end and walk around to the deep end to dive in.
The cool water rushes over my skin, invigorating me, and making me feel alive. I start to swim laps.
Five. Ten. Twenty.
At thirty-one, I stop and stand up in the shallow end, pushing my wet hair out of my face and wiping the water from my eyes. Placing my hands on the side of the pool, I haul my body out of the water and reach for my towel.
“Sophia.”
I jump a mile when a man’s rough voice says my name.
I turn, flicking water out of my hair and into the speaker’s face.
Drawing in a deep breath, the scent of rain hitting the parched earth on a summer’s day fills my senses.
Ugh.
I take in the handsome, but annoying face, of Cain, pack Enforcer. He is dressed in blue jeans, and a black tee that shows off his stupid tattoos that he thinks are so hot.
“Whatare you doing in here?” I spit out.
“It’s okay,” he says, hands up. “Your mother said I could come in and speak to you about the plan for tomorrow.”
Clenching my jaw so tightly, I give myself a headache. I get the distinct impression that Francesca Quinn is pushing this arsehole alpha onto me. But why?
I have to wonder if my dad knows he’s in our residence, in the pool room with me standing here dripping wet in a tiny black bikini, that my nipples are currently pressed against like two pebbles in the chill.
Suddenly, I pull the towel up and hold it against me so he can’t see my body. I don’t want to be giving him any ideas, after all.
“Go and wait in the kitchen,” I order him imperiously. “I need to go and change.” I lift my chin higher and stalk past him, feeling his gaze on my arse. Leaving the pool room, I scamper down the hallway, determined to yell at my mother for the ambush after I’ve dealt with Mr-I’m-so-Hot and sent him packing.
Deep inside, a small part of me, uncurls, though, happy to have some company inside these walls, even if it is Cain.
ChapterFive
Sugar
