Taming My Prince Charming (Finding My Prince Charming #2)(3)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“Yes, my dear.” Xavier leaned back and ran his hands through his hair. “Just wanted to make sure you were still excited.”

“I’m not excited.” I leaned over and whispered in his ear. “We need to talk when you’re ready. And when I say ‘when you’re ready’, I mean as soon as we’re in private. I’m not about to just sit here and —”

“Oh Lola.” He turned his head, grabbed my face and kissed me hard. His lips pressed down onto mine, shutting me up as his tongue entered my mouth. I sucked on it eagerly as if I’d been in some sort of drought. His fingers made their way into my hair and he massaged my scalp as he sucked on my tongue. My body reacted swiftly and I felt myself relaxing as feelings of passion overwhelmed me.

“Get a room you two.” Tarquin’s laugh brought me back to reality and I pulled back from Xavier, feeling slightly ashamed.

“I’m sorry.” I turned to him with a red face. “I forgot you were there.”

“It’s fine.” He shrugged, good-naturedly. “It happens to me all the time.”

“Oh.” I bit my lower lip, wanting him to clarify his response. Did it happen to him all the time generally? Or did it happen all the time, when he was with Xavier? Did Xavier have a habit of making out with women when he was around? Not that I doubted that was true, but it made me feel incredibly sad and jealous. It was hard being the fake-fiancée of a handsome bachelor.

“So what do you do, Lola? Are you excited to be in Romerius? Are you excited to meet Xavier’s parents? What did your parents think of your engagement to Xavier? Did they think it was fast? Did they—”

“Enough, Tarquin.” Xavier’s voice was authoritative. “That’s enough. You can ask Lola more questions tomorrow.”

“Or in a week.” I said sweetly, while wondering how in the hell we were going to extricate ourselves from this fake engagement in one week. I could already see the look of disappointment on Tarquin’s face when we ‘broke up’. I really wasn’t sure why Xavier was having us go along with this plan. It made no sense. I know he’d said he was doing this to help me from ruining my reputation with the tabloids, but I didn’t really care what they had to say. It seemed like a huge over-exaggeration and I was slightly worried that a week with Xavier was going to be too much for me. Playing his fiancée would make everything seem real and I wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. Anna would go crazy of course. She’d be excited for me and then she’d panic. Part of me wondered what Sebastian was thinking. He’d think it was weird, I’m sure. He didn’t know that I knew his brother before the class and he knew that I couldn’t stand Xavier. We both joked about how pompous he was and what an arrogant jerk he could be. He’d think I’d gone crazy. I cringed as I realized that he might think I was some sort of gold digger. That made me feel sad. I really hoped he realized that there was more to the story than he knew.

“Very funny, Lola.” Xavier stared at me for a few seconds and then he slowly brushed something off of my cheek. “Get ready, you’re about to meet my parents. My mother is very astute and can be difficult. Don’t let her overwhelm you.”

“I won’t dear fiancé.” I smiled at him sweetly.

“I do believe you’re enjoying this.” He shook his head and stared at me with surprised eyes. “I thought you’d feel out of your element.”

“You don’t know me very well then.” I grinned at him and winked. “You don’t know me at all.”

“Why do I think that’s the truth?” The car stopped then and he jumped out of the door and reached a hand in to guide me out. “Welcome to my home, Lola. Welcome to the Royal Palace of Romerius.”

“Don’t you mean our home, Xavier?” My eyes laughed at him as I made my way out of the car. “Isn’t this to become my home as well?” I slid out of the back seat and gasped as I stared at the palace in front of me. It was even grander than I’d thought when I’d been looking at it through the window. There were trees and ponds framing the front of the building and every inch of grass was perfectly manicured. There were statues at the entrance to the palace and I wanted to run over and study them in more detail. Then I noticed two figures coming out of the tall black doors that made up the entrance to the palace. I knew right away that it was Xavier’s parents and it was in that moment that it suddenly hit me. I was going to be lying to a King and Queen. A King and Queen of an entire country. Oh my god, what had I got myself into this time?

“Ready, darling?” Xavier grabbed my hand and led me towards his parents. My throat dried up and I didn’t respond. I had no smart response this time. Who could ever be ready for this?

***

His View

Lola’s hands felt clammy as we walked towards my parents. I knew that it had finally hit her. There were no more jokes coming fast and furious from her mouth. She realized the magnanimity of the situation. I would have laughed, if I wasn’t feeling so hot under the collar myself. I stared at my parents in front of me and I saw Tarquin running towards them excitedly. I’d underestimated how serious the family would take news of my engagement. I was angry at myself. I hadn’t thought this through properly. There would have been better ways to whisk Lola off to have some alone time with her. This seemed like a very complicated way to get some hot sex out of her. I wasn’t even sure why I cared so much. I’d already had her. And I was pretty sure I could have her again. There wasn’t a woman alive that would turn me down.

“Xavier.” My mother’s face lit up as we came face-to-face.

“Mother.” I let go of Lola’s hand and stepped forward to kiss my mother. “You’re looking well, as per usual.”

“This is Lola?” She turned towards Lola and looked surprised. I knew that she hadn’t expected to see a young girl, with unfashionable clothes and slightly frizzy hair. I’d thought about taking Lola shopping to get some new outfits before we came, but I wasn’t sure how she would have taken it.

“Yes, mama.”

“Oh.” She looked back at me with a disappointed expression. “Why did we have to learn about Lola from the newspapers.”

“Mama, I was going to tell you.” I started and I could see Lola frowning at me. I knew that she wasn’t happy with the lies. I was starting to feel uncomfortable with them as well. “Anyway, let us not argue. This is Lola Franklin.”