Page 213 of Tall, Royal Hater
“Welcome home, baby,” I purred.
“You fucking—” She didn’t finish her sentence as she let the short strap of her handbag slip off the tips of her fingers and charged right for me.
I opened my arms, and she flew into them, cinching herself around my neck as I hugged her soft, damp body tightly and lifted her off the floor. I chuckled in endearment as she locked her legs around my hips and squeezed me tightly, but a hard pang of longing echoed from my soul when I buried my face in the crook of her neck and filled my lungs with her sweet, peachy scent.
Fuck, I’d missed her. I’d missed my little menace beyond words, beyond anything I’d ever thought possible. Shehryar from six months ago would have been horrified if he saw me now, but I couldn’t have been happier finally holding Mariyah in my arms again.
For a long, silent minute, that’s all I did—cradled her as she cradled me—until she pulled back, cupped my face, and slammed her mouth over mine, kissing me like a starved fiend.
I bent her over my arm and kissed her back just as urgently, licking up the sweet taste of toffee from her mouth and relishing the heady fire she filled my veins with. We were both panting for air yet neither of us could seem to stop seeking out one more touch.
“You fucking broke into my apartment again, you dickhead,” she rasped and nipped at my lips.
I smiled breathlessly and pressed a kiss to her swollen bottom lip. “I didn’t.”Kiss. “Your sister gave me the spare key.”Kiss.
Mariyah swung back, her brows reaching her hairline. “She knew?”
“I told your parents yesterday that I was coming to surprise you, and they asked Lily to help me collect the spare key from their house.”
She shook her head slowly in utter disbelief. “You’re such a—” Rather than completing her affectionate insult, she smacked a succession of kisses against my bristly cheek. “I hate you so much, Sheri.”
I chuckled as she forcefully tipped my head the other way and laid another path of kisses all my face all over. “I’m sure you do, little menace,” I said, my skin prickling hot with a bashful blush.
Once her onslaught slowed, I loosened my grip around her waist, attempting to put her down, but like a cat with separation anxiety, she clambered back up me. “Don’t you dare put me down,” she growled.
I met her playful glare with an arched brow. “Ever the demanding brat, aren’t you?”
She smirked, her lashes falling low and seductive, and cocked her chin. “What are you going to do about it,Daddy?”
I swiped my tongue across my bottom lip and curled it between my teeth as a warm coil of desire twisted low in my core. I leaned into her, watching her gaze dip to my mouth. “I’m going to take you to your room, get you out of these damp clothes…and…” I brushed the tip of my nose across hers, lowering my voice to a husky purr. “And put you in the bath.”
She reeled back with a baffled frown. “What?”
I flashed her a laughing smirk before I lurched her body up, throwing her over my shoulder. She squealed and clamped her hands shut around fistfuls of my thin jumper.
“Shehryar,” she snapped.
Chuckling, I headed past the dining table towards the corridor that led to her bedroom and bathroom. “I have an order tonight, little menace, and you’re not getting fucked until I’ve had the pleasure of washing and feeding you. Is that clear?”
Forty minutes later, Mariyah was sat on the grey carpet of her bedroom floor between my legs, while I was on the edge of her bed with a hair dryer in my hand.
Donned in the dark brown hoodie she’d pulled out of my suitcase and her own grey joggers, she looked so fucking adorable and precious with her knees propped up, her pretty painted toes wriggling against the carpet. I’d never seen her so quiet and relaxed, simply lolling her head this way and that as I finger combed her hair, ensuring it mostly dried.
It fed my pride with immense satisfaction that she was letting me care for her in such a simple yet intimate way. I loved running my hands through her hair and listening to her sigh contently. Plus, it was also helping to soothe the nervous racket behind my rib cage.
Because fuck me, but I was nervous.
I’d been thinking about this day for weeks, planning everything I’d say down to the final word. Now that I had Mariyah in front of me, the butterflies swooping around my belly were jumbling up all those rehearsed sentences until they were unrecognisable.
But I’d never wanted something—someonein my life so much before, and I wanted her to understand perfectly what she meant to me.How the fuck was I supposed to do that now?
Mariyah pushed a set of fingers into the back of her blonde locks before pulling it out and giving my knee two taps. I took that as her sign she was happy and turned the hair dryer off. As I placed it down on the duvet next to me, she tipped her head back against the edge of the mattress and smiled sleepily up at me with stars glowing in her eyes.
Shit. Fuck. There wasn’t a word to describe the throbbing flood of fondness, protectiveness, and want she made my every cell and atom drown in.
Actually, there was. And it was exactly what I was so pathetically nervous over.
“You know,” she said as I brushed one lock of hair away from her eyes. “Other than my dad, and maybe a hairdresser, I think you’re the first man who’s ever washed and dried my hair.”
