My jaw dropped.
“They held their posts valiantly, but...” He shrugged.
“But you’re stronger than two guards.”
“Basically.”
I felt my lips pull into a smile, my heart starting to beat quicker inside my chest.
“I can’t believe it’s you.”
“I can’t believe how messy your escape passage is,” he growled. “It’s a death trap back there.”
“It’s my second closet.”
He raised a single amused brow. “A royal princess without enough proper closet space?”
“No, a royal princess with entirely too many clothes.”
I bit my lip, looking up into his eyes. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I couldn’t leave, not after earlier.” His jaw tensed, his eyes blazing into mine. “What happened earlier, Isla—”
My heart sank a little. This was why he was back, to tell me it couldn’t happen again. Or to tell me it was just something casual for him. And for a second, I hated myself for being naive enough not to see that as an obvious outcome from us coming together like that.
“I understand,” I said stiffly, putting on my bravest face. “It’s fine, you didn’t have to come up here just to tell me—”
“That I’m in love with you?”
Time froze.
“Yeah, Princess, I think I did.”
I blinked, my lips moving without words and my head slowly shaking from side to side.
“What?”
“I love you, Isla,” he said softly. “I love you suddenly, fiercely, and without even knowing where you came from. You hit my world so hard the second I walked in here tonight. But I knew the minute I saw you. I knew the minute my hands touched you for that dance, and it was sealed beyond reproach the instant your lips touched mine.”
His hands moved to circle me, pulling me tight against his body.
“You bring a light back into my world I never thought I’d see again. You make the beast inside quiet, and bring back the man I was.”
His eyes burned into mine as my heart threatened to pound through my chest.
“I love you, with everything I have, Isla,” he said fiercely.
“You love me…”
I said it in a daze, my heart going nuts inside my breast and an indescribable feeling of just glowy warmth spreading through my whole body.
“Now, always, and forever. I’m not interested in courting you,” he growled. “I have no interest in taking this slow, or ‘seeing where it goes.’ I want you,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion and tinged with a growl. “I want you as mine, always.”
I gaped at him, my eyes wide and blinking, like I couldn’t even fathom what to say in response to that.
“Say yes, Princess,” he said softly. “Say yes, or I’m going to go ahead and take you anyways,” he growled. “Say yes before I—”
I didn’t let him respond. I just grabbed him by the shirt collar, pulled him down, and kissed him as hard as I could.
He came alive, his huge, powerful hands pulling me tight, his groan vibrating through me.
“I love—”
“Princess Isla!”
There was the sound of a bellowing voice at my door, a hand pounding on it.
Shit.
“Crap,” I hissed, whirling towards the noise.
“Princess Isla! Respond or we’re going to break the door in!”
Logan tensed next to me, snarling as his hands closed into fists. “I’d like to see them fucking try—”
I placed a hand on his arm. “Just the guards. I called them when I heard you in the passageway.”
“You called the guards on me?” he said with an amused grin.
“I thought you were… I don’t know!”
“A monster?” he said with a wink. “A beast.”
I blushed. “No, of course not—”
“Oh but I am,” he growled, making me gasp as he suddenly pulled me into him entirely, his lips brushing against my ear.
“I’m no monster,” he purred. “But I am a beast, and being around you brings it out in me in ways I can barely contain.”
I whimpered as his hands slid down to my ass, cupping and squeezing me possessively.
“I can barely keep in control around you, Isla.”
“Princess! We’re coming in now—”
“Hold on!” I managed to croak out, lost in Logan’s eyes.
“It’s okay! I’m okay! I hit the button by accident.”
There was a pause, before I heard my father’s captain call out. “How are the flowers tonight?”
I smiled. My mother had set this up years ago — a “secret code” of sorts to make sure family members really were out of danger when they said they were.
“The flowers smell lovely tonight,” I called back.
“Have a good night, Princess Isla.”
I grinned as I heard the guards outside my door shuffling and stomping away back down the stairs.
“Smart,” Logan murmured, moving behind me. “Secret code?”
I nodded.
“And are you safe, Princess?” he growled into my ear.
I shivered, feeling the forbidden heat blaze through my body. I could feel my nipples hardening to points under my flimsy nightgown, my pussy tingling and growing wet and warm between my legs.
“Am I?”
“I’ll protect you always,” he said softly. “Always. I’ll stop anything from getting to you.”