A Bodyguard For The Princess (A Bad Boy Romance) (11 page)

He hesitated and turned away from her.

“Matt, please,” she whispered. “What’s going on outside these walls? What aren’t they telling me?”

“I don’t think this is a conversation for your room,” he said quietly, and the catch in his voice forced her to her feet to pace madly around her room. “Princess, please, there is no need to stress like this.”

“And why not? My aunt seems so sure I’m not fit to rule! Why? Tell me, damn it!” She clapped a hand over her mouth so fast it hurt, and she winced at the sharp pain. Matt got to his feet, reaching out for her, but she held up her hand. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”

He ignored her protests to stay away and took her hand. Instantly, a calmness spread through her and she sucked in a few deep breaths until the panic ebbed.

“Daphne,” he whispered. “I’ll tell you everything tonight on the roof. Trust me?”

“With my life,” she sighed. “Fine, the roof. Don’t be late.”

He didn’t smile, but his eyes lightened enough for her to see the pleasure it gave him to know he would see her later. His hand was still securely closed around hers when Jeremiah reappeared in the doorway. Immediately, Daphne pulled away, but Jeremiah’s raised brow told her he had seen it.

“Your aunt is gone, my lady,” he said. “I believe we will retire for the evening. Theodore will be in the halls tonight as per usual.”

“Of course. Thank you, Jeremiah, and you, Matthias,” Daphne said formally.

They bowed their heads and left her alone. Daphne blew out a breath as she tugged at her ear on the way to her bedroom to change. If Jeremiah let slip what he saw to anyone, Matt would be removed from the palace at once. She was not allowed any contact like that unless it was with someone courting her and if approved by her parents. They would never allow her to get so close to a bodyguard.

And you’re going to do it anyway,
she thought with a smirk.
I think it’s about time we rebelled a little
.

She would meet Matt on the roof and get answers to the hundreds of questions filling her mind. Then she would see where the night took them both.

***

Matt walked down the hall beside Jeremiah. “I’m sorry for giving you an order earlier,” he told Jeremiah. “It wasn’t my place. Afraid my old habits took over.”

“No,” Jeremiah said with a laugh. “Think nothing of it. That woman drives us all crazy, the princess especially. If I had any say, she and Dion would be banned from entering on a whim. I should never have let her in.”

“I don’t think you could’ve stopped her unless you tackled her,” Matt grumbled.

“Probably not.”

The rest of the walk to their quarters was silent, but when Matt took a step to continue down to his room, Jeremiah’s hand fell on his arm. “What’s wrong?”

Jeremiah took his com out of his ear and motioned for Matt to do the same. His eyes darted down the corridor both ways before he leaned in and asked, “Are you and Daphne sleeping together?”

Matt’s face was blank, though his fingers twitched painfully at his sides. “No, absolutely not.”

“Are you sure? I saw how you two looked at each other before she jumped backwards,” he said with a grin. “Listen, I wanted to tell you that if you are or have any sort of… connection with her, I’ll cover for you.”

There wasn’t an easy way out of this, and Matt should’ve shut his mouth and walked away, but he had to know. “If I was, and I’m not admitting anything,” he whispered, “why would you do that? I barely know you.”

“I didn’t say I would do it for you, necessarily.”

“For the princess?”

Jeremiah glanced up when a door opened close by and motioned Matt down another hall. “Listen, I’ve known Daphne for years. I grew up here. My dad was a bodyguard. Never, in all the years I’ve been around her, have I seen a single real smile cross her face. Not until you showed up.” He grinned and shrugged. “If you’re the reason for the smile, I don’t care what you two are doing as long as she’s able to find some happiness in her life.”

“She means a lot to you, doesn’t she?” Matt asked as a strange sense of pride filled him.

Princess Daphne was known for her radiant smile amongst the people but considered a shut-in. Agnes had been right in her words earlier. Yet here was a man loyal to a fault to the real princess no one knew outside the palace walls.

“One day, everything will change for her,” Jeremiah said. “The people will see her and know what she did to change this kingdom, but until that day, she’s trapped. Just make sure, whatever you do—or don’t do,” he added with a wink, “keep it secret.”

Matt nodded. “Understood.”

“I hope so. If anyone catches wind of this, you’d be out on your ass and she’ll have handed Agnes a reason for her parents not to give her the throne.” He wished Matt a good night and walked down the corridor, tucking his com back in his ear.

Matt did the same and walked slowly to his room. If they were caught doing anything, it would be over for them both. This job was better than the one he had before, but that wasn’t what he worried about losing. He didn’t want to lose Daphne. As he told himself he needed to keep his distance, he was constantly drawn to her. Hearing Agnes yell at her earlier brought out the old anger he used to cling to during his days abroad.

And since he’d left her alone, his chest was tight and his hands twitched against his thighs. He couldn’t get them to stop, but he knew the instant he was with Daphne again, he’d find the control she managed to grant him. As he entered his room and changed out of his suit, he realized no matter what happened between him and Daphne in the future, it would be worth it.

Every last second would be well worth it, no matter the consequences.

***

Daphne told herself to slow down as she rushed from her room a little before midnight, darted through the palace, and climbed up the trellis to the rooftop. The second the sea breeze hit her face and she inhaled the salty tang of it, her body relaxed, muscle by muscle. She tugged her light cardigan around her body and stared out over the city streets, absorbing the lights and the music echoing up to her.

Agnes’s words hit her again, and she took a step away from the edge of the roof and the city, the people she held so high in regard. Did they really think so little of her after all these years? Her rule hadn’t even officially started, and they doubted her.

“Daphne,” Matt said from the other end of the roof.

She turned slowly to look at him, enjoying how his t-shirt clung to his muscled arms and shoulders, giving a clear view of his chest as well. His jeans hung low on his hips, and her dreams of him holding her, kissing her, snuck into her mind. She licked her lips and watched his heated gaze slip to them. He stepped towards her and reached for her hands slowly as if expecting her to pull away, but she didn’t want to pull away. Not from him.

At first, she wasn’t sure what to say. So much had happened that day that finding the right place to start seemed too hard, but she wanted to know who he was. That was the first order of business. His hands warm in hers, she tugged him to her usual spot and they sat down, their legs hanging over the edge of the stone roof.

“Your hands,” she said quietly after a while. “They twitch a lot.”

He frowned down at her. “And? You tug on your ear more than any woman I’ve ever seen. Careful, it might come off one of these days.”

She smirked. “Did you just make a joke?”

“I can make jokes,” he muttered. “I just choose not to most days.”

“Would that have anything to do with why your military record is pretty much blacked out?” she asked carefully.

His whole body stiffened against her arm, and she expected him to climb to his feet and storm off. Instead, he exhaled loudly through his nose. “Are you sure you want to know about me, Daphne?”

“I know I may not like what I see.”

“No one else ever has,” he muttered darkly. “Is that really what you want to know? What about what your aunt said?”

Her hand reached across for his, and she marveled at how easily their hands fit together. “I want to know both. Can we do that? I am the princess, after all,” she added sarcastically. “Not that it means anything anymore.”

“It will if you believe it does,” he argued.

“Then tell me what’s going on in the city. Please, Matt, I have a right to know what everyone really thinks of me.”

His jaw clenched and he looked away, but he told her. With each word, Daphne’s anger rose. “You were six when Marietta was killed in that accident? Afterwards, the king and queen tucked you away behind the walls of the palace. You were hardly seen before, but after the accident, it was almost like you didn’t exist.”

“But I was still here. I saw people at festivals,” she insisted.

“Yes, and everyone saw your smiling face, but then you were tucked away again. Now that you’re older, rumors have started that you’re a shut-in, maybe even not right in the head,” he muttered, sounding as irritated as she felt. “Hell, I believed them before I met you.”

Daphne didn’t understand how it was possible. When her sister died, it hurt her, but she had moved past it. She had no choice. She was a princess, and there were duties to carry out. “The people… What do they think I do?”

He shrugged. “It varies. Some think you’re depressed all the time, hiding in your rooms. A few think you’re nothing more than a spoiled child who does nothing worthwhile.”

“And Aunt Agnes has been pushing for Dion to take over because the people believe I’m nothing more than a depressed shut-in?” She jumped to her feet, tottering towards the edge of the roof, but she caught herself and shoved Matt’s hands away as she stormed across the roof. “As if everything wasn’t already terrible, now they all think I’m useless! How am I supposed to prove anything to my people if they don’t even know what I’m already capable of?”

Matt cut off her pacing and gripped her shoulders. “You have to prove to them you’re worth following,” he said sternly. “You have to show them.”

“How? I can’t leave the damn palace walls!”

“When I was in the military, I commanded men,” he told her, each word sounding forced. “I had to prove to them I was a confident leader, that they could trust me to get them home alive.” He sucked in a shaky breath, and his hands twitched against her shoulders. “They had to know I would hit my targets without fail.”

Daphne’s hands reached up and covered his, holding them steady. “Targets. You were an assassin?”

His lips twitched, but he didn’t smile. He never smiled, at least not with his mouth. “Close enough. I was a sniper.” A ghost of guilt and pain crossed his face and he tried to move away, but Daphne didn’t let him. She gripped his hands tighter, pressing them against her shoulders to keep him there. “I killed people, Daphne. It was my job, and I did it without a second thought,” he whispered bitterly.

“Here I am, worried about what people might think of me, and you’re dealing with something so much worse,” she whispered and brushed her fingers gently across his furrowed brow. “Is that why you never smile? You’re carrying around all this guilt for doing what you had to do?”

His mouth fell open, but he didn’t speak. Daphne moved her hand down his face, tracing the harsh lines of his cheekbones and jaw. Slowly, his face relaxed until his hand reached up to catch hers.

“You never smile either,” he said roughly. “Not really.”

“Not much to smile about when you’re trapped, but I guess you’d know all about that.”

His face darkened as his eyes locked on hers. Daphne’s breath caught in her throat, and the next second, his arms wrapped around her body, pulling her up so his lips covered hers hotly. She sighed against his kiss as it deepened, his tongue demanding entrance, and all she could do was allow him in. His arms held her close until her breasts were pushed against his chest. She wanted him desperately, needed to feel his naked skin beneath her hands so she could chase away the ghost in his eyes.

“Matt,” she whispered when she came up for air, her whole body crying out for his touch.

“Yes, princess?” he growled, and that fierce gaze pierced hers as he glanced down. His eyes slid lower to her cleavage, and his erection pressed hard against her stomach.

She shivered when she felt him through the thin fabric of her clothes, and her hands dug into his back. The words wouldn’t come so she told him the best she could, with her eyes and her kiss, exactly what she wanted. When his lips claimed hers again, she knew he understood the message loud and clear.

“I’ll have to sneak you back into my room,” she whispered, moaning when his hands cupped her needy breasts. His lips kissed her neck, his tongue soothing each nip as he went until his beard scruff from the day rubbed against the mounds of her breasts. “Or we could just do it here. The roof is good.”

“No,” he growled and guided her to the trellis. “You will not have your first time with me on a roof.”

“First time ever, you mean,” she added breathily.

His eyes darkened more, and Daphne groaned when he crushed her to his body again, holding her so close she wasn’t sure where she ended and he began. “Are you sure about this? With me? I’m not a good man, Daphne.”