“Look too eager?” I repeated confused.
“Don’t look too impressed,” he said slowly. “Don’t look like you want to go and pawn the silver and the gold.”
“Pawn the silver!” My jaw dropped and my eyes narrowed. “How dare you?”
“I’m not saying you will,” he paused and looked over at me, “but if you do get that idea, try and hide it.”
“You’re such a jerk.” I shook my head. “I couldn’t care less about a couple pieces of silver cutlery.” I shifted my body away from him and frowned. He was such a jerk. He always knew how to get my back up, just as I thought we were getting along.
I took a couple of deep breaths to stop myself from starting an argument and looked out the window. The French countryside was lush and green, and we passed field after field of beautiful flowers. I tried to tell myself that the trip was going to be fine, though a part of me had no idea what I was doing. A part of me was scared that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. If I was honest with myself, I knew that I was falling for Xavier. How could I not? He was handsome, sexy, and he was interested in me. Plain old me. I was a nobody, yet he seemed to have some attraction to me. It felt wrong and it felt crazy, but ultimately it felt amazing. Being with Xavier set my heart on fire. He made me feel like I was a sexy hot woman, and aside from some of his comments, I loved the power that I felt inside of me when I was with him.
***
The sky was a gorgeous hue of orange as we landed in Romerius. I stared out of the window eagerly, wanting to see everything I could of his country as early as I could. From what I could tell, it was pretty small and it was very green.
“What’s the capital of Romerius?” I turned to look at Xavier, who was reading a newspaper.
“Atlantis.” He looked up at me.
“Oh, wow.” I was taken aback by the expression in his green eyes.
“Not that exciting, is it?” His eyes crinkled and he smiled, the serious expression gone.
“No, just unexpected.”
“We’ll likely be put up in the same room,” he started, and I interrupted him.
“That’s terribly progressive of your parents, isn’t it?” I frowned. “I don’t know that many families would allow two non-wed people to share a room.”
“We’re a couple, aren’t we?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, but still ...” I paused as I stared at the front of his paper. I grabbed it from his hands and I could feel my face turning white. “What’s this?” My voice rose as I read an article announcing our engagement. “We’re not engaged.”
“Keep your voice down, Lola.” He frowned at me, his eyes narrowed.
“What’s going on here?” I could feel my heart beating from a million miles away. “Why does the newspaper say we’re engaged?”
“For this week, we are.” He shrugged and reached down to his suitcase.
“But we’re not engaged.” I exclaimed again, unable to get over my shock.
“This week you are mine, Lola.” He reached forward and grabbed my hands. “You will do as I say and please.”
“Are you crazy?” I shook my head. “You can’t make me do anything.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, my dear.” His lips curled up and his face moved closer to mine. “I can do whatever I want. We’re in my country now.”
“What are you going to do?” I whispered against his lips, my throat dry and my heart beating fast.”
“Whatever I want.” His eyes glittered like gems before he kissed me, hard, and I melted against him, running my hands through his hair as he sucked on my tongue. The plane came to a stop, but he continued to kiss me hard and fast. My heart was racing and I was starting to feel giddy inside. A part of me was flying high inside. Maybe he really did like me? Maybe he really was my Prince Charming. I didn’t know what was going to end up happening.
“What do you want?” I pulled away from him and looked into his eyes, searching for an answer. I held my breath as I waited for him to respond. I was hoping that he was going to say something romantic, something sweet, something that would let me know it was okay that I was falling in love with him.
“I want to possess your body. I want to own you. I want every inch of you to want every inch of me.” His voice was soft and precise as he looked at me with intense eyes and ran a finger down my neck. “And then, that will be enough. I will have had my fill of you. Then you can leave, my dear Lola. I will have had enough of you then.”
***
His View
Her eyes showed her hurt and shock at my words. I also knew she was in awe. She knew my power now. I wasn’t somebody to be toyed with. Whether she was doing it on purpose or not, she had injected herself into my body like a virus. I knew that the only way for me to rid myself of her was to consume her, to take so much of her into me that I no longer craved her. Even now, with my fingers on her soft skin, I wanted more. I needed more. I felt feverish touching her. I needed to have my fill of her. Then everything would be fine in my world again. I’d enjoyed my life before. The power, the women, the ability to do what I wanted, when I wanted. I didn’t want to think about her. I had to have her and then leave her. I ignored the tingle inside of me as I looked down at the newspaper. Lola was my fiancée for a week. I smiled to myself at the thought. She was my fiancée to do what I wanted with. I was going to enjoy every second of making her mine. I ignored the warning bells that went off in my head. The game I was playing was starting to feel dangerously real, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this was the beginning of the end or the beginning of ever after.
The End