Page 128 of Tall, Royal and Grumpy

For the first time, the cold droplets landed like spikes of ice against my bare skin and damp clothes. “What?”

A bitter, ghost of a smile touched his mouth, ironically displaying that beautiful dimple of his. “She enjoyed making me miserable while we were dating, and she still does. Since our breakup, she has tried endlessly to hurt me for her own satisfaction.”

My heart ripped in two, but fury screamed through me at the same time. “How many times?”

“My family only know about the first time it happened, but she’s attempted to defame me multiple times,” he answered quietly, and the scream grew ten times louder. “I brushed it under the carpet, sometimes by myself, sometimes with Trevor’s help, because I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of thinking that she had gotten to me, that she still had control over me.

“But I realise now that I only let her get away with it all, and now she has taken it too far. She made the biggest mistake of her life the moment she asked Sylvie to bug my room. She hurt you in the process of trying to hurt me and I cannot—I will not let her get away with it.”

Pressing his palm to the back of my wet hair, he tucked me into a tight hug against him. I silently curled my arm around his neck and squeezed him back.

The beautiful, precious man had decided by himself that he was going to protect me and fight his own battle too. My Kai was a softie, but on this, I already knew nothing I could say would make him change his mind. He sounded stubbornly determined.

But there was no way I could let him do that. After what he’d just told me? No fucking way. I didn’t want him facing that narcissistic bitch all on his own. He was more than capable of doing so, that I had no doubt of, but I wanted to fight by his side.

With him. For him.

“Aren’t you cold?” I whispered into the warm dampness of his cheek.

“No.” He kissed my temple. “I have you to keep me warm.”

I nuzzled against him. “Have you slept?”

“I can’t sleep without you, Babble. And the thought of sleeping in the room it happened in makes me sick to my stomach. I can just about go in there to get a change of clothes.”

And just like that the thought solidified inside me.

I was going with him tomorrow whether he liked it or not.

“Let’s go to bed, Kai.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

ESMERALDA

Kai slept with me in my room that night. Tucked around me with his face buried between my breasts as I cradled him close. I eventually fell asleep too listening to his gentle breaths.

I awoke when the pillow sunk under my head and a succession of heavy kisses landed on my forehead. “It’s time to wake up, Babble,” a deep voice purred against my skin.

I reluctantly blinked my eyes open and was rewarded with the sight of perfect, naked man-chest before Kai leaned back and flashed me a gentle smile. “Good morning,” he whispered.

“Morning,” I croaked.

He pressed a long-second peck on my lips, and it dully occurred to me that the scratch of stubble on his jaw was gone. He stood, giving me a full view of his tall, deliciously naked body and I forget entirely what stubble even was. The only thing he was wearing was black boxers as he lifted the white towel in his hand and scrubbed his wet hair. I couldn’t take my eyes off his perfectly full arse as he walked away to the clothes draped over the velvet chaise between the windows.

“You already showered?” I asked, rolling onto my side to watch him pull on charcoal grey trousers.

He turned around just as his butt slipped inside the waistband, and I didn’t know where to look. His hands pulling at the zip and button or his refreshed face. “Hmm. I went to the gym, but you were still asleep when I returned, so I asked Michael to bring my clothes and toiletries here.”

I spotted the black bottle of his cologne, among other things, sitting on the vanity alongside my stuff. As much as I liked the sight of our things together, watching him change was only reminding me of what he had planned today.

“Esmeralda?” He adjusted his thermal undershirt, walking towards me.

“Are you going to see her now?”

“No,” he said and sat down at the edge of the bed. “I’ll be going after lunch when her father is there too. But there is nothing to worry about. It will be fine.”

Of course, it was going to be fine. I was going to be there with him to make sure it was.

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