Royally Bad (Royally Wrong Book 1)

air is charged, like just before a storm.
“I guess your glasses make you look older. More... experienced.”
I smile at this.
“So what made you want to be a fixer?” Theo asked.
“Everyone has secrets.”
He tilts his head closer. “You gonna tell me yours?”
“What do you think?” I pull the sheet up under my chin.
“If you tell me yours, I’ll tell you mine.”
“Too late for that, Mr. Fuck God. Your dick is all over the internet. You don’t have any secrets.” I plump my own pillow, sink into it with a sigh. “Not that you’ve ever had much privacy. Billionaire, son of a princess. You’ve lived your whole life in the spotlight. Must get old.”
“It does,” he says softly, and there’s a sad note in his voice, a hint of the man I saw before. Much older and more serious than the usual playboy the world knows. Soft and open, able to be hurt.
I might be the only one who’s ever seen the real Theo.
“You’re so beautiful,” he says, and my heart stops. There’s nothing flirtatious about his tone, none of the irresistible charm. He serious, stating a fact. But I am very aware of his hand resting on the bed between us, five inches from my hip. It would take nothing for him to slide it forward, to pull down the covers and find my bare skin under the baggy t-shirt. His touch wouldn’t even be shocking. It wouldn’t be wrong.
Us, lying together without touching, that is shocking. Being in bed with Theo feels inevitable.
It doesn’t make it right.
I press my lips together and stare at the ceiling.
“When I first saw you, I thought you were, I don’t know”, he shakes his head, “a model or something. A pretty face sent here to sell something. Then you opened your mouth and—”
“What? Beautiful women can’t be smart?”
“I don’t usually hang out with women because they’re smart.”
“Pepper Spice is smart. She turned one night with you into media attention and a book deal.”
He says nothing.
“And I am a pretty face sent here to sell something,” I continue. “I’m going to sell the world Theodore Kensington: fine, upstanding citizen. And you know what? It won’t even be a lie.”
“My whole life is a lie.”
“What are you talking about? You live in a mansion in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the world. This place is practically a palace.”
“This? I hate this place. My father built it for my mother. Ten years after she died.” He scoffs. “He never stopped loving her. Never stopped…”
“Trying to prove himself?”
“Yeah,” his voice kicks with a mirthless laugh. “I guess so.”
“So you had a hard childhood. That’s not unusual.”
“What about you?” He turns that deep gaze on me and I flick my own down. I want to shrink into myself, a hermit crab in a shell. Don’t look at me.
But he does. There’s no hiding from the dark blue depths of his gaze.
“Tell me something about yourself, Vesper Smith. Something real.”
“Truth or dare?” I joke, and wish I could take it back. Theo lies on his side, his dark gaze soldered to my curves under the blanket. And I’m wet and ready, body just waiting for him to make the first move. At this point, a dare would be very, very dangerous.
I swallow. “I’m from a small town. Only child.”
“Parents?” he probes, more intent than I’ve ever seen him. His sexy aura is turned way, way up. This close, it’s overpowering.
“Just my mom. She worked a lot.”
“So did my dad.”
“Yeah, well, at least you weren’t on food stamps.” I grimace at the ceiling.
“So no modeling career?”
“No. Pretty girls in my town ended up at the strip club.”
“What got you out?”
“Work, desire. A bit of luck. I had a teacher who believed in me. She was the school librarian. I befriended her. I thought all the books were hers. She was nice to me. She told me I could go to college, and I believed her.”
“Did you go?”
“Bachelors and masters.”
“Smart girl. Scholarships?”
“And loans. I also worked.” I touch my glasses. “Got an internship with a fixer who taught me everything she knew. And here I am.”
“In bed with me.”
“This is not going on my resume.”
He laughs, and I wriggle around to face him. The heat between our bodies is potent. Electricity leaps from his tanned skin to mine. Even covered in a white sheet, I can feel it.
I lick my lips. “You know what would make me very, very happy?”
“I think I can guess.” The devil lurks in his grin.
I hold up a finger. “One interview. Prime time. I can make a call—”
“No.” He jerks away from me, only a few inches, but I feel the wall go up between us.
“All right, then. How about this? The kids you met today, the ones going to the event tomorrow? Comp them some rooms. You own a hotel a few blocks away.”
Now he’s lying on his back staring at the ceiling and I’m leaning into him.
“It’d be a great gesture. It’d make their year. I promise not to leak it to the press. Although, it’d be great if you made an appearance. Just show up, make the kids feel special.”
“Is it really good for these kids to be seen with me? My reputation…”
“You are not your sex life, although you’ve done a good job trying convince everyone that. But is that all you want to be? You’re a fucking billionaire. I know it doesn’t mean as much to you because you were born to it, but remember Billy and Kenny? Their mom works double shifts as a waitress at Denny’s. Their father’s in jail. You of all people know what it’s like to have a parent working all the time, and one gone.”
He flinches.
“You could make a difference in their lives, if you wanted to. You just have to get over yourself.” I flop onto my back, rant over.
There’s a long stretch of silence.
“I don’t mean to ride your ass,” I add. “I want you to realize the good you can do.