Page 9 of Tall, Royal Hater
King Kareem—I meantKareem—and Esmeralda were no doubt siblings, and yet somehow the same features they’dinherited from their father looked distinctively different on their faces.
His golden skin tone had pretty much the same warmth as Esmeralda’s, but it was altered by the darker shade of his chocolate-brown hair cut short and in gentle waves. Straight eyebrows sat above rich brown eyes, different to Esmeralda’s, but they were still mesmerising and warm. All tied together with a straight nose and a shaven jaw that had a stern set to it.
The plains of his face didn’t hold the harshness Esmeralda had once spoken of. And considering the summary she had given me after the Peace Celebrations, the man didn’t look so worn out either. He looked healthy, happy.Light. Though he did look a few years older than his age of thirty-one. But not in a bad way. More in a sexy, classy, “Can I call you Daddy?”way.
“Well then,Kareem,” I said, emphasising his name, as I walked towards him. “Are you at the end of your workout, or can you stick around and help me train?”
Both Kareem and I jumped in our own skins when a loud metal clank shattered through the conversation. I whipped around and Shehryar stood by the deadlift bar as it rocked gently between his feet. One end was missing the plates.
The butter-fingered dickhead stared down his nose at me, all ice-cold flames. He held the two circular weights in his massive hands like they weighed nothing. “His Majesty can’t stick around,” he said, setting them on the angled rack of different sized plates. “He has an early breakfast today so that he can leave on time for a meeting with the head councillors in government.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks for the info, Sheri, but I wasn’t talking to you.” Then to Kareem, I said, “Is that okay? We can do some cardio if you’re finishing up.”
Kareem rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly. “Well…”
“If your intention was only to come here and harass His Majesty, then you need to leave. Now.”
Oh my—why wasthis dickheadsticking his nose in something that had nothing to do with him?
Steam shot through my body, heating up my cheeks and flooding out my ears. But I plastered a sickly-sweet smile on my mouth and cocked my hip. “Again, I don’t remember asking for your useless opinion, but since you mentioned it,askingsomeone isn’t harassment. And if that’s what you’re being told when you approach women, then it’s clearly ayouproblem.”
The choked sound that bounced off the gym walls didn’t come from Shehryar or me.
“You have a warped idea of asking if it includes making someone uncomfortable,” the dickhead said, placing the other weighted plates on the rack with a careless shove of his hands.
“Uncomfortable?” I scoffed. “I wasn’t aware you were a mind reader.”
His lips tugged up in a smirk so slight. To anyone else it wouldn’t have been noticeable.I noticed. And it sent a raging tornado twisting through my middle.
“I don’t need to be a mind reader to see it written all over His Majesty’s face.”
I stretched to my full height, but I didn’t let the smile waver from my face even though I wanted to snarl at him. “Oh, is that what you think? How about we just ask him?”
I swivelled on the balls of my feet to Kareem, and his frozen gaze settled on me. He looked like a deer facing headlights on one side and a hunter on the other, startled to the point of confusion.
That wasn’t how I wanted him to look at me. It was all Shehryar’s bloody fault. But it was too late to back down. I couldn’t when my pride was at stake.
“Kareem. Am I making you uncomfortable?”
The king’s eyes froze wide. “Uh…no?”
My shoulders fell. Forget someone with fully functioning hearing, even a deaf person would have caught how unconvincing his answer was.
Shehryar scoffed, and the sound taunted me on repeat. I gritted my teeth over the sting of blood in my cheeks and the tips of my ears. It was made worse by the fact no retort came to mind quick enough. All I could do was roll my hands into fists to stop myself from strangling Shehryar as he picked up the weighted bar in one hand.
“No. No, Shehryar,” Kareem quickly said. “Mariyah was right. She wasn’t making me uncomfortable. I just…” He glanced between me and Shehryar. “I’m a little surprised. Esmeralda never mentioned the animosity between you two.”
Shehryar slammed the bar down on a stacked rack next to the plate weights. “There’s nothing to mention.”
At the same time, I rolled my eyes and said, “As if I’d waste an ounce of my energy on him.”
There were a couple of beats of silence. “Of course.” Kareem cleared his throat. “Um, what were you going to train again?”
I perked up instantly. “Does that mean you’ll stick around for a bit?”
“Yes. I can for ten, fifteen minutes.”
“Well, it’s leg day today, and I could do with a spot while I squat…” I lifted my brows and widened my eyes, knowing the sweet look of hope it portrayed. “If you don’t mind, of course.”
