Page 9 of Club Royal: Calendar Collection

As the man he loved rounded the table to wait for those kids who would decorate eggs with them, Kieren followed and dropped a kiss on his lips before heading to where the volunteers were waiting for him.

Why they had put him in charge, he didn’t know, but he didn’t fight it too hard, knowing this event was something Patrick wanted to do.

The children began to trickle in, spreading out to the various tables they’d set up. He loved watching them because they weren’t bothered by the royal family’s supposed station. Only the adults seemed to have an opinion, be it good or bad.

Something tugged at his trousers, and he glanced down. “Can I look for eggs, please?”

A well-mannered, cute as a button, possibly five-year-old child looked up at him with shining eyes.

He crouched down. “Of course we can. Do you want a basket to collect them in?” He reached behind him and presented a wicker basket, and the child smiled and nodded, wrapping their small hand around the handle.

“We just need to wait for a couple more children, and then we can go.”

“Okay.”

Kieren stood again, and the child’s hand gripped his trouser leg, making it impossible to walk away without dragging the child with him.

He met Patrick’s gaze from across the room, his fiancé smiling at him before being distracted by another child.

Patrick would make an amazing father, but something was stopping him from admitting it.

Or wanting it. It was a conversation they needed to have since neither had brought the subject up after they’d both agreed near the beginning of their relationship that it was too soon.

When several children had joined them, they started heading out of the ballroom and into the hotel proper. The first child stayed close to Kieren, and he made sure to keep talking, as they seemed a little unsure.

“So you have to keep your eyes open for anything that might look like an egg or like something that might be able to hide an egg,” he said to them all.

“There!” one child said, racing over to the enormous plant pot with an egg resting in the soil.

“And here!” another one said, sending cushions flying from the chairs when they spotted an egg between them. Luckily, several of their team were on cleanup, which meant they followed along and tidied anything that had been left a mess, so the hotel didn’t have to worry about it.

Kieren crouched beside the child nearest to him and whispered. “Do you see one?” The child shook their head. “What about something yellow near the window?”

The child’s gaze scanned the area, widening when they spotted it. “I see it!”

“Go get it then,” he encouraged.

They raced off and knelt on a chair to reach the egg nestled next to another plant pot on the windowsill.

Their group wandered around a little longer, the numbers growing as they did.

Kieren lost count of how many eggs were found and how many were still to be found, but as he’d told Patrick, there was no hope of him remembering where they all were, not only because he hadn’t hidden them all himself.

They headed back into the ballroom, and the children ran off to their parents, who were enjoying a hot drink.

“That seemed to go well,” Damon said, breaking free from his and Freddie’s table where they were making hats and decorating flower pots.

“It did. They found quite a few, but there’s still loads left.” He shoved his hands in his back pockets. “How’s the decorating going?”

“Good. Even some parents joined in, to begin with.”

The morning flew by, and before he knew it, the event ended, and they were left with the cleanup.

Despite what most people thought, they never left their “servants,” as they were once called, to clean up after them when they could pitch in.

It was something Kieren had assumed happened before he’d started working for them, but it was quickly disabused after the first event.

Many hands made light work is something he remembered being told once.

When they finally separated and headed in their different directions, Kieren threaded his fingers through Patrick’s and rested them on his lap while their driver took them home.

It was something he’d had to get used to as well.

He could drive them places, but in order to guard Patrick, he had to have his hands available, and driving impeded that.

Although he was no longer officially guarding him, he would always put his safety first.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Surprisingly energetic.”

Kieren raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

Patrick’s cheeks flushed, and they laughed. Kieren slid his arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer, pressing his lips against his temple and breathing him in.

“How about we head back to our room when we get back?” Kieren murmured.

Patrick closed his eyes. “I love that idea.”

They strode through the corridors of Bagshot Park, laughing when one or the other stumbled in their haste.

As they came upon the door, an idea sprung into his mind, and knowing there was no one else in the building other than staff, he pulled Patrick to a stop.

Slipping his arms around his waist, Kieren nuzzled into his neck, skimming his nose along the column and up to his ear.

“I think you need to run and hide, Mr Sutcliffe,” he murmured.

Patrick’s breath caught. “What?”

Kieren nibbled on his earlobe, bringing more noises from his fiancé. “Run, little rabbit.”

Patrick stared at him for a long second and then pulled free and stepped backwards.

Kieren leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for the moment Patrick turned and ran.

His heart raced when he did, watching and hearing his retreat.

Every instinct told him to run after him and keep him safe, but they needed this place to be a safe place for them.

Somewhere they didn’t have to always look over their shoulder in case someone was there who shouldn’t be.

If they couldn’t relax their guard in their home, where else could they?

Patrick turned a corner, and Kieren closed his eyes, slowly counting to fifty before he wandered in the same direction.

There were far too many places for Patrick to hide, but he had some ideas of where to look.

Patrick’s music room was too obvious, but he would check it, anyway.

It would be just his luck that Patrick had the same thought, but then turned it around and decided he’d hide there because it was too obvious.

He followed the hallway around and found Patrick’s jacket hanging on the music room door.

Kieren smiled and picked it up. He entered, knowing he wouldn’t be in there, but checked every cupboard and behind every piece of furniture that could hold a grown man.

The jacket he rested on the back of a chair for them to recover later.

Exiting the room, he continued down the hallway, listening for any sounds that might give him away.

He couldn’t afford to miss a room, so he went into each one he passed he knew Patrick would consider—obviously, his parents’ room he wouldn’t hide in, so Kieren bypassed that, too.

While he wandered, he thought of what he would do to the man when he found him.

His cock had been rock hard since the idea had popped into his head, and he needed relief—soon.

Picking up his speed, he started jogging between rooms, maybe not checking each one as religiously as he should, but the need burnt through him.

He wanted Patrick and was regretting his decision to play with his meal.

He rounded a corner and found Patrick’s tie hanging from another door handle. His man was teasing him, and Kieren’s blood heated as images of what he was going to do to him when he found him flooded his mind.

“When I find you…” he muttered.

Room after room held the scent of Patrick but no body, and Kieren went faster.

It was only when he realised where he was heading that he grinned and jogged again, not bothering with any other room than the one he focused on.

Opening the door of their suite, he saw Patrick’s shirt on the sofa, his belt draped over a table and his trousers by the bedroom door.

He snorted when he saw a sock hanging from the door handle.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

He wasn’t fooled. No way was Patrick in their bedroom.

He studied their living room, acknowledging three places Patrick would fit.

Behind the floor-length curtains was viable, but unlikely, but he wandered to each one to check, just in case.

Beneath the table covered with a floor-length tablecloth was another, but after lifting the cloth, he wasn’t there.

As quietly as he could, he crept towards the small cupboard in the corner of the room.

It usually held things they didn’t need often, like spare tablecloths, cushion covers and other bits and pieces, but there was space for a grown man to fit in.

Pausing with his hand on the handle, he yanked it open quickly with a grin on his face.

Which dropped right off when Patrick wasn’t there.

“Where the hell…?” he muttered.

He studied the room again, but nothing jumped out as a space to hide in.

Aiming for the bedroom, after all, he entered and checked the bathroom first. Nope.

His gaze scanned the bedroom for clues, but he had no idea.

Other than the large wardrobe, there wasn’t anywhere he could hide.

Had Patrick fooled him completely, and he wasn’t even in their suite?