Page 129 of Tall, Royal Hater
Five additional bags later, I’d zigzagged through more than half the market stalls, walked off the lobster burger and wings I’d had for lunch, and bought myself and everyone in my family gifts, except for Mum’s tea.
I couldn’t believe I was saying it, but Shehryar had actually been decent company. We’d only argued once when we’d bought things from the same stall, and he’d tried to pay for my stuff. Otherwise, if we weren’t walking in a comfortable silence, we talked and bantered, and it was…fun.
But now my wrists and hands were hurting where the handles of all the bags dug into my skin, I was bloody hungry, and I wished I’d worn my trainers instead of black boots with my flare jeans.
I winced and lowered my arm back down, sliding the two bags that were digging into my skin under my coat sleeve down into my palm.
Shehryar hissed something under his breath that I didn’t quite catch. His hand latched around my elbow, dragging me to a stop as he glared down at my hands. “Give me the bags.”
I rolled my eyes. “This again? I’m fine, so can we keep going?” I wasn’t fine, but this was part of the shopping experience, and I was used to it.
“Give me the bags,” he growled, low and slow. “Now, Mariyah.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. In arousal, not fear. That was his“I’m Daddy, don’t mess with me”voice, and fuck me, but my body was responding.
I thought about it, then grumbled, “Fine,” and eased the bags to the tips of my fingers.
Shehryar scooped them all out of my hands, then turned to Yunis, standing tall and vigilant two steps away. “Yunis, can you take these to the car, please?”
Wait, this whole time that was a possibility?Fucking Neves, I shouldn’t have been so stubborn.
“I don’t think—” the man started.
“We’ll be fine without you for ten minutes.” He moved towards the man. “We won’t go far, and you have my number already.”
Yunis sighed but took all the bags. “Okay, but please keep an eye on your phone.”
Shehryar smiled. “Thanks, Yunis.”
“Her Highness is never to hear about this.”
I scoffed at the man’s parting words as he headed back through the crowd the way we’d come. Then I glanced up at the giant dickhead. “Thanks,” I said reluctantly.
The line between his brows deepened. “If you hadn’t been so stubborn, I could have taken them from you an hour ago.”
I bristled under his scolding. “You know what? I take my thanks back.”
“You’re to give me all your bags from now on, is that clear?” he said with the authority of a king.
I grunted and shrugged one shoulder. “Fine by me. But don’t complain about it later.”
“What more do you need to buy?”
“Luckily for you, not a lot.” I ticked each item off on my fingers. “Tea for Mum. A couple of postcards for Dad to add to his collection. And some small decoration pieces for the wedding, preferably lanterns if we can find any. Oh, and I’m hungry, so food.”
Shehryar nodded to his left. “There was a tea seller a couple of stalls down.”
“Wait, what?”
We headed back some stalls in the next row and found a man with sacks of loose-leaf tea, some boxed, and some in cellophane bags. He offered us samples to smell as I made up my mind.
“Oh, this one’s good,” I crooned, handing the sample in a small glass cup to Shehryar. “Okay, I think I’ll take a pack of this orange blossom one, and then three of the traditional blend, please.”
The man grinned as he took the cup from Shehryar’s outstretched hand. “Of course. Let me get those packed for you.” I took my purse out while he packed three boxes and one cellophane packet into a brown paper bag with the company logo on it. Then he held it up for me to take. “That’ll be twenty-five sterling and fifty pence, please.”
“Thank you.” I took the bag and opened my purse.
But Shehryar was already handing the man two sterling notes. “Here you go.”
