Page 94 of Tall, Royal Hater
“It’s your choice, Shehryar,” he said with a shrug of one shoulder. “And I’m sure you already know, but your mother will support you no matter what you choose. And if you’re okay with it, I will too.”
My shoulders eased on a slow exhale. “Thank you.”
“Always.”
I felt a touch lighter as the shop assistant returned with two flat and wide glass boxes in his arms, followed by a young girl holding two more.
That was one thing checked off my conscience. The next was dealing with Mariyah.
Chapter 23
Shehryar
We returned to the palace that evening after dining out in a restaurant of Prince Arsh’s choice, by which point Mariyah’s constant side-glances of annoyance had set my next move in stone.
I was going to sneak into her room the way she’d snuck into mine and corner her.
Not only because she deserved a taste of her own medicine, but because it seemed to be the only way I’d successfully be able to talk to her without third-party interference or her getting away.
So, once I’d brushed my teeth, showered, and changed into a sweatshirt and pyjama bottoms, I switched the light off in my room and left.
Unlike me, Mariyah had locked her bedroom door, but I wouldn’t have been a very good bodyguard to Esmeralda if I couldn’t pick a simple lock. It was a necessary skill to know.
Most of the bedrooms in Chaukham Palace had old-style locks. There was a keyhole on the outside, but inside the room, it turned with a little knob. Mariyah’s was just the same. And while it wasn’t easy to always carry a lockpick set everywhere I went, I made sure I kept a few hairpins in my coat or trouser pockets, pre-bent to fit as a lever and pick.
I’d been tempted to use them last night when Mariyah had locked herself in, but I’d allowed her the privacy, knowing how intense everything prior had been.
That time for privacy was now over.
With the two pins I grabbed from my coat pocket, it was quick work picking the lock on Mariyah’s bedroom door. I shoved them into one pyjama pocket and swiftly pressed on the handle just in case she’d heard the lock turn. Once inside, I silently closed the door behind me and locked it again.
A black material that looked like a silk shirt was strewn on the duvet, but Mariyah wasn’t there. Instead, a soft hummed tune filtered out of the open doorway of the walk-in wardrobe.
Taking advantage of her cluelessness, I swaggered over to the velvet chaise at the end of her bed and sat myself down. Right opposite the dressing room. I hung my hands between my legs and waited.
A hand gripped the side of the door, and her luscious figure came around from behind it.
Mariyah’s blue eyes flew wide, and she visibly jumped in her skin as she stuttered to a stop at the threshold, a sharp gasp skittering through the air.
My gaze dropped. A rush of flames engulfed me, melding my muscles in place.
Fuck…
She was naked.
Clad in nothing but black lace shorts that climbed high up on her ill-contained arse.
The rest of her was on full display. Every gorgeous curve and dip of hers. Her thick thighs, her rounded hips, the slight softness of her belly, the hourglass dip of her waist. Her pretty, painted toes. Her towel-dried blonde locks hung around her shoulders, pert breasts lifted and fell with her rapid breaths, and her rose-pink nipples were already tight buds waiting to be sucked on.
But what had my dick sapping all the blood from my veins like a starved vampire were the scattering of pink and red marks all over her pale olive skin.
My marks.From the previous night.
It spurred some base and primal claim in me. Something I had no business feeling for the damned menace, but a sultry excitement licked over my neck, making my eyes feel hot and heavy. Yet I was hyperfixated on her. Zoned in and ready to pounce again. My teeth ached and my mouth salivated to trace those marks.My. Marks.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?” she suddenly snapped, throwing one arm across her chest.
I dragged my gaze back up, shamelessly drinking her in until I found her eyes. She was spitting fire, outrage colouring her skin all down her neck. With the way she was trying to cover herself up too, there was something so adorable about her appearance, all flustered, angry, and embarrassed.
