He watched her walk away and tried not to think too much of the seductive sway of her hips. She was halfway to the garden beds when she suddenly turned around, asking uncertainly, “Is it really okay…that I’m coming here? I don’t want to intrude on your privacy—-”
The sheikh shook his head. “You are free to visit this place anytime.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
The sheikh rolled his eyes at the way she took exaggerated care with her curtsy. “Go on, brat.” As Aurora knelt down to resume work on the garden beds, Mik’hail took his phone out of his pocket and sent a message to his betrothed.
Mik’hail: Will you be back by tomorrow?
Aretha: We have been invited to stay over the weekend. I fear it would be offensive if we didn’t accept.
His lips twisted. As the future queen of Layla, she could do anything she wanted, and no one would dare disagree.
Mikhail: Come back tomorrow. It is time we set a date for our wedding.
Aretha: This again, Michael? What’s wrong with you?
A loaded question, considering they both knew the answer to it.
The sheikh was no fool. Neither of them had been virgins when they first slept together, and he knew that Aretha continued to play around even now. But Aretha also knew that once they spoke of vows, Mik’hail meant for both of them to honor it, and between the two of them, it appeared Aretha was less prepared to handle a monogamous future.
The sheikh was about to command Aretha to come back to the palace first thing tomorrow when he heard Aurora cry out.
“What is it?” Mik’hail was by her side in a second.
Aurora shook her head quickly when the sheikh started to kneel. “No, don’t, you’ll get yourself dirty—-”
A silly protest, which the sheikh naturally ignored as he crouched down and gently reached for her hand. “What happened?”
“It’s my fault,” she confessed sheepishly, “for being an idiot. I thought I had cut off all the thorns when I pulled the rose out.” She pointed to her index finger, which had a speck of blood in it.
He loathed the sight – there was something about knowing she was hurt that did not sit well with the sheikh at all. Without thinking, he reached for her finger and brought it to his lips. He licked the blood away—-
Aurora said faintly, “Your Highness?”
Fuck.
What the fuck was he doing, with another girl’s finger in his mouth – a girl who also happened to be his intended’s younger sister?
He released her hand right away and bit out an apology.
“It’s fine.” Aurora’s tone was a little too cheerful, her cheeks a flaming shade of red. “You thought to kiss it better because you still think of me as a child.” She made a face. “But just to be clear, akh: I’m not a child.”
No, she damn well wasn’t, and that was the fucking problem. She was eighteen, an adult in the eyes of law, and that meant she was old enough to have consensual sex if she wanted to.
And goddammit, he wanted that.
Aurora was staring at him oddly. “Why do you look so angry?”
Because I want to fuck you, and I can’t.
But since he couldn’t say that, he racked his mind for a way to distract her. “Briar,” Mik’hail heard himself say finally.
She blinked up at him in bemusement. “Briar?”
“You remind me of the fairy tale,” the sheikh heard himself say, “the girl who pricked her finger with a needle. That Briar.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh. Sleeping Beauty.”
He watched her lick her wounded finger absently as she spoke, and the sight had him thinking of what else she could lick. Fuck. She was so damn close, so goddamn close that he had to tightly clench his fists against the urge to yank her down so he could feed her mouth with his cock.
“I like it,” Aurora said after a moment.
When she made a move to stand, the sheikh swiftly rose to her feet and offered his hand to help her up. “You are done for the day then?” Mik’hail asked.
“If you don’t mind me leaving first?”
“Of course.”
“I’m bad at handling pain,” Aurora admitted with a grimace. “This tiny prick alone makes me want to cry.”
If that were the case, then she might end up fainting once his cock claimed her virginal cunt.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.