Page 164 of Tall, Royal Hater
His exhausted chuckle was music to my ears that I wanted to listen to for a very,verylong time.
Shehryar poked a finger into my cheek. “Don’t fall asleep,” he rasped against my forehead.
I grumbled and blindly swatted his hand away. “Shush. I’m tired,” I moaned, snuggling closer to his wide, half-naked body under the freshly changed duvet.
My head was on his chest, my leg tucked over and between his. His arm was around me, fingers teasing over the edges of my hair and around my ear. Other than the hairs on his chest tickling my nose once or twice, he was like a heated pillow, and it was blissful. I was all sexed out, and the comfort of his firm gripwas lulling me into what I already knew was going to be the best sleep.
“Don’t you want to shower?” he asked, tracing a slow finger over the shell of my ear.
“No. We wiped down in the bathroom. That’s enough. Shower in the morning.”
“Okay.” He pressed a long kiss to my forehead. “But don’t fall asleep yet.”
“Sheri,” I whined with a tired little sob. Annoyed, I forced my heavy lids open and tilted my face up. “Why won’t you let me sleep?”
The playful smile on his lips faded away until not a glimmer of it was visible on his stiff expression. “Will you come with me tomorrow?”
“Where?”
“To my half…” His brows knotted as he chewed over his words like they tasted wrong in his mouth. “Toherbirthday party. My father’s daughter.”
My lashes lifted in surprise. “You decided to go?” Then his previous question sank over me, and I raised my head from his chest. “Wait—you want me to go with you?”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I’d rather not go alone,” he muttered. “I want you to come with me.Please. If you don’t mind attending an eighteen-year-old’s birthday party.”
I’d never heard him sound so unsure before, and it kind of fucking hurt. In a good way and bad way.
Bad because that uncertainty wasn’t him, and I hated that his own fucking father had reduced him to it even if they were technically trying to work things out.
But good because he’d trusted me with that vulnerability, and that meant something big.
“Of course I’ll come,” I said, moulding my palm to his bristly jaw. He leaned into my hand, the tension in his eyes meltingaway. I stretched up and pressed a weighted kiss to his cheek. “You never have to plead with me for something like that, idiot. I’m there if you need me to be.”
I flashed a big, impish smirk. “We’re gonna show up in style and make this party count.”
Chapter 39
Mariyah
Ithanked the doorman who opened the passenger seat door as I climbed out of the car into the cold night air the next evening. Pinching the black shawl I’d borrowed from Katiya tighter around my shoulders, I rounded the car to Shehryar. He handed the valet lady the keys and turned to me as she climbed into the driver’s seat.
I was wearing the brown silk dress I’d worn to Kai’s birthday party with the silver bracelet I’d been gifted the previous day, and Shehryar was dressed in a tailored black suit without the tie and waistcoat. He looked handsome but far from relaxed.Standing as stiff as a rod, the tension was rolling off his shoulders in murky waves, and his expression was tight-lipped and blank.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I handed him over the little gift bag in my hand.
“I’m fine,” he said dully, wrapping his other fingers around mine.
“Shehryar.” I strengthened my grip on his hand, keeping him still. “Don’t lie to me.”
He let out a breath. “I’m not lying. I am fine. I’m not comfortable, but I’m not intimidated or scared. I’d rather not be here, but I don’t yet regret coming.” He gave my hand a squeeze. “I’m glad you’re by my side, but I can’t pretend my defences aren’t rising and making it hard to keep an open mind.”
His raw honesty pinched at my heart. “I can’t say I knowexactlyhow you feel, but I get it,” I said. “Just remember no one has to know who you are if you don’t want them to, and this doesn’t give your father or his family any power over you.” I fiddled with the second button of his white shirt. “This is just a meeting to see if the potential for reconciliation is really there. Plus, I’ve got your back, Sheri. You best believe I won’t let any bitch-ass rich rat say shit to you.”
He scoffed, and a slight smile touched his mouth. I grinned back. Dropping his head, he pressed a firm, quick kiss to my lips. “Thank you.”
My heart did a summersault, but I shook my head. “Yeah, well, now you’ve got red lipstick on your mouth, idiot.”
I brushed my thumb across his bottom lip, rubbing the touch of red away. But as I did, his eyes took on that heavy, heated look that made my breath stutter. “What?” I managed to get out.
