“I’ve never seen any rich looking orphans, mother.”

“Don’t talk back to me, Xavier.” Her eyes flashed at me and I turned away from her annoyed.

“Is everything okay?” Lola looked at me, with worried brown eyes and I nodded and reached for her hand. In that moment, I felt guilty. I felt guilty for subjecting her to what I knew was going to be a difficult situation, all because she was getting to my head.

“It’s fine.” I said finally, trying to ignore the way her lips teased me as she licked them quickly.

“Uh huh.” She shook her head slightly and her eyes stared into mine with a question and taunt. She knew that it was not going smoothly.

“Let’s go inside and show Lola her room.” My father, ever the diplomat, spoke up.

“She’s sleeping with me.”

“No.” My mother and Lola gasped out at the same time.

“Of course we are.” I gave my mom a look and then Lola. “We’re engaged.”

“I don’t care if you’re engaged, it’s not the proper thing.” My mother shook her head. “I forbid it.”

“Funny.” I laughed. “You’re forbidding it, mother?”

“James, talk to your son.” My mother gave me a look of disgust and then turned away from me. “I’m going inside. I’ve had a long day.” She nodded her head at Lola and then walked inside.

“You shouldn’t upset your mother, Xavier.” My dad’s eyes were laughing as he spoke to me. “It was a pleasure meeting you, dear Lola.” He picked up Lola’s hand and kissed it. “I better go inside and make sure your mother isn’t too upset. I trust you can show Lola to her room, or whatever room she’s sleeping in.” He turned around and hurried back inside.

“You’ve gone and upset your mother.” Lola’s eyes flashed at me. “Now she’s going to hate me.”

“My mother is a drama queen, Lola.” I shook my head and pulled her towards me. “Trust me, she’ll be fine.”

“I’m not sleeping in the same room as you, by the way. You’ve got to be joking.”

“I never joke about such things.”

“I’m not doing it.” She looked at me obstinately. “I don’t want your parents thinking I’m some sort of low-class tart.”

“What do you care?” I leaned forward and ran my tongue across her trembling lips.

“It’s not proper.” She pulled back from me and I grabbed her around the waist.

“I don’t care about what’s proper.”

“What do you care about, Xavier?” I could feel her breath on my tongue and lips and I froze at her words. Instinctively, I knew I cared about her. There was something about her that affected me more than I liked. She was getting to me. She was making me do stupid things. I didn’t understand it. I didn’t want her getting under my skin any more.

“I care about f**king you whenever I want, where ever I want.” I pulled her body towards me and pressed my hardness into her. “That’s what I care about.”

Chapter Two

The gold trimming covering the bathtub shouldn’t have surprised me, but of course it did. I’d never been around such opulence before. I took a deep breath and sat back on the toilet seat. I wasn’t actually going to the bathroom, but I’d needed to escape from Xavier, and this was the only room I knew he wouldn’t follow me into. Meeting his parents had overwhelmed me. Especially seeing the look in his mother’s eyes. It had unnerved me. I felt really bad for deceiving them, especially as I didn’t even know why Xavier had set up this elaborate story. I didn’t know why he hadn’t just sued the tabloids for defamation or libel or whatever it was that celebrities sued tabloids for.

His mother had looked as I’d expected. Beautiful and cold. She looked aristocratic with her perfectly thin nose and high cheekbones. Her green eyes had pierced through to my soul and she didn’t have one hair out of place. I knew she hadn’t been impressed when she’d surveyed my appearance. I reached up and touched the top of my head. My hair felt dry and I was sure it looked messy as well. I stood up and walked to the mirror. My face looked pale and washed out. I certainly didn’t look like the sort of girl that had the ability to trap a prince. No matter what Tarquin and Xavier said. I was definitely not a Hollywood beauty, though I suppose there was a certain innocent, natural beauty to my looks.

“You alive?” Xavier knocked on the door and I froze.

“I’m fine.” I called back, praying that Xavier wasn’t going to overstep another boundary and walk into the room.

“Do you need anything?”

“I’m fine.”

“No pepto bismol?”

“No.” I shouted out embarrassed. “I’m fine.”

“Well, you’ve been in there a while. I wanted to make sure you didn’t have a scarred stomach.”

“A scarred stomach?” I called out in surprise.

“Okay, maybe not scarred, scared.”

“A scared stomach?” I started giggling.

“I mean an upset stomach.”

“Don’t worry, my stomach’s not scarred, scared, or upset.” I called out and walked to the toilet and flushed it, even though there was nothing in the bowl.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“I’m just going to wash my hands if that’s okay with you.” I called out and turned on the gold-plated faucets. Did they really need this much gold in a bathroom? It seemed ostentatious, but then what did I know? My family barely had enough money to pay the bills and get groceries every month.