Page 34

Carys stared at the remnants of her sofa, stunned and…horrified? Scared? Furious?

All of the above! “Why?” she muttered.

That’s when she remembered the security cameras that she’d installed. Rushing over to them, she picked one up, relieved to find they were still working. But the videos weren’t stored in the camera. The images were sent to her email.

Quickly, she pulled her phone out, wondering how long it would be until Andi arrived. Her best friend might be dating the man she’d fallen in love with, but that wasn’t Andi’s fault. Plus, Andi would be here when she needed help.

She pulled up the app on her phone, fast forwarding through the video of herself getting home from work. She scrolled to the next video. A woman slipped into the apartment only fifteen minutes after Carys left for work. The image made her stomach churn. What if Carys had been running late?

That’s when she remembered having seen Beth sitting in her minivan in the parking lot yesterday.

Beth must have been parked there again this morning, waiting for Carys to leave.

So, she hit the play button, watching as Beth systematically went through every item in her apartment, slicing through the pillows, the sofa cushions, dragging the tip of the knife across her coffee table and the end table.

She took the handle of the knife and smashed the light bulbs in her lamps.

Then she went off camera, but the noises indicated that Beth had gone into the kitchen and thrown all of her bowls, plates and glasses onto the floor.

Beth briefly re-entered the camera’s range as she headed for Carys’s bedroom.

Carys wasn’t aware of the tears streaming down her cheeks.

But she was aware of a rage unlike anything she’d ever felt before and that emotion overwhelmed her sadness.

Before, Carys hadn’t wanted to go to the police because she didn’t think she’d be taken seriously.

But this was breaking and entering as well as vandalism.

The “earth mom” who had seemed so demure and sweet, baking bread and bragging about the crunchy crust, had destroyed everything she owned.

The woman had to pay! The police would definitely take Carys seriously now!

Carefully, she saved the video to her phone, then emailed a copy of the video to her personal email account, just in case. This was definitely a file she didn’t want to lose.

She was just turning around when she heard a sound behind her. Spinning, she faced the intruder and…!

Screamed!

Rafi was walking into her apartment followed closely by another man that looked exactly like him. Carys screamed again, too devastated by the chaos of her ransacked apartment to process the fact that there were two identical men coming toward her.

“Carys!” Rafi said, reaching for her. “He’s my brother. We’re twins! You knew I have a brother.”

Carys stopped screaming, but her thoughts were spinning too quickly to settle. Two men. Identical men.

No, that couldn’t be right. She looked at one man, then the other. Then her eyes landed on Andi. Her former best friend.

“Identical twins, Carys,” Andi said in a soft voice. “You saw me kissing Laith on Saturday, didn’t you?”

Carys looked at Rafi and…yes, she could tell the man closest to her was Rafi. There was just something…different about him, although Carys couldn’t name specifics about their differences. Her senses just knew that this one was Rafi.

“You’re…?” she whispered, still glancing back and forth between the two men.

Rafi moved closer, shaking his head. “No, Carys, I didn’t kiss your best friend on Saturday.” He moved even closer, taking the phone from her and tossing it onto the destroyed sofa. “I would never do that to you.” He pulled her closer and Carys whimpered, her hands clutching at his.

“You didn’t…?” she asked, her eyes pleading with him to explain.

“No, Carys. I haven’t kissed anyone. I want only you,” he told her. “I love you. I want to marry you and prove to you that I will never leave you.” He kissed her softly. “I want only you,” he whispered, kissing her again.

Carys’s head spun with everything that had happened over the past few days. Her world had been shattered, then ripped open, and now…this man that she adored to distraction wanted her! Rafi hadn’t cheated on her! He hadn’t kissed Andi!

“I…I don’t know what to say!” she sobbed, allowing Rafi to enfold her in a hug.

With his strong arms wrapped around her, Carys burst into tears.

“I fell in love with you, you big jerk!” she said, punching his arm, but since he had her pressed against his chest, there was no force behind her jab.

Rafi only kissed her forehead again as Carys pressed herself harder against him. “I don’t want to love you!”

“Too late,” he said and Carys heard the smile in his tone.

She pulled back to glare at him. “It’s not too late,” she snapped. “I don’t have to love you!”

He grinned. The bastard actually grinned! When she tried to pull away, Rafi merely tightened his grip. “Accept it, Carys,” he said with a grin. “You love me and you’re going to marry me.”

He glanced over his shoulder at the other couple.

Laith knew exactly what was coming next.

But instead of slipping away and giving him and Carys some privacy, Laith grinned, leaning a shoulder against the wall.

“Hey, I wanted to see how an expert gives her the news. Because trust me, just blurting it out wasn’t the best way to go. ”

Carys looked at the other man, then at Andi’s eye roll. Her friend even huffed as if she were put out by something. Finally, Carys turned back to look at Rafi.

“Okay, I’ve had a few issues rock my world,” she said with a tone of exasperation.

“My father’s wife trashed my apartment, I thought I’d lost the man of my dreams and my best friend, thought someone was stalking me and…

!” she paused, looking at the two men who were looking similarly confused.

She looked up at Rafi. “Okay, I’m ready for whatever comes next.

” She braced herself. “Tell me what? What are you hiding from me now?”

Rafi glanced around at the room, finally noticing the torn cushions. “Your…step mother did this?”

“Yeah. I think she’s insane.” She rubbed a hand over the bridge of her nose. “But I have her on surveillance video, so…at least I’ve figured out one mystery.” She looked up at him. “So hit me with it.”

Rafi pulled his eyes away from the destruction, taking both of her hands in his. He tightened his grip when she tried to pull away, chuckling at her stubborn expression.

“Now, don’t get angry with me. But this next bit of news is going to be almost as difficult to explain as the twin thing.” He took her hands in his, almost as if he needed to keep her steady.

Carys’s shoulders stiffened. “The ‘twin thing’?” she snapped back. “You say that like it’s just a funny issue when, in reality, it nearly ruined my life!”

Rafi’s smile widened at that piece of news. “Well, that’s…uh…good to hear.” He laughed when she smacked his shoulder.

“I’m a prince.”

Carys stared at him without a word.

“A royal prince.”

Carys shrugged. “Okay.”

“After we marry, you will become a royal princess. And our children,” he rested a hand against her stomach, “hopefully very soon, will be princes and princesses.”

Carys’s hand dropped to cover his. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m Prince Rafi Al-Sintra of Lativa.” He jerked his head toward his brother.

“That’s Prince Laith Al-Sintra. My father is Prince Joran Al-Sintra.

My uncle is Sheik Khal Al-Sintra, ruler of Lativa.

I have several cousins, and one of them is Crown Prince Zayn Al-Sintra of Lativa, heir to the throne. ”

“So…you’re…?”

“A prince. And when we marry,” his gaze turned stern, “which will happen soon, by the way, you will become Princess Carys Al-Sintra.”

There was a long silence, but she vaguely heard the door to her apartment close. All she could say was, “Oh!” in a small, timid voice that annoyed her.

“But…” Carys licked her lips. “Do you…actually care for me?” she asked.

His gaze softened, and so did his grip on her wrist. His touch was softer, sweeter now.

“Carys, you have rocked my world from the first moment I saw you. I love you more than I’d thought it possible to love a human being.

” He kissed her softly. “When you didn’t show up on Saturday, I was out of my mind, worrying about you.

” He kissed her again. “Then you slipped away from your security detail this morning and I was ready to kill someone.”

Carys had been kissing him back, eager for more. But at the words “your security detail”, she pulled back, blinking at him. “What do you mean? What security detail?”

He paused only long enough to turn to his brother.

“Go away,” he muttered, ignoring Laith’s good humored chuckle.

When they were finally alone, albeit surrounded by the shredded mess of her apartment, he pulled Carys closer.

“I was so concerned when my bodyguards couldn’t find you over the weekend that I asked my lead bodyguard to assign someone to watch out for you.

I knew something was going on, but I didn’t know what that could be.

I just…needed to know that you were safe. ”

Her eyes narrowed, her temper starting to sizzle. “Was it the man following me to the deli during my lunch break?” she hissed, pressing against his shoulders.

Rafi nodded, grinning down at her. He didn’t let her push him back.

Instead, he gripped her wrists and pinned her arms over her head against the wall behind her.

“Yes. You gave your security detail the slip.” He kissed the corner of her mouth.

“And you have to promise never to do that again. As a future princess and a member of a very powerful family, you will be guarded every moment of your life.”

Carys moaned, the sweet kisses making her mind turn to mush. “What if I don’t want that?”

“Too bad!” he snarled, then reached down to lift her into his arms. “In exchange for the best sex of your entire life, you’ll also have to deal with the downside of becoming my wife.” He nibbled at her neck until she moaned and he tossed her onto the destroyed bed.

Rafi kissed and teased her neck until her fingers tightened in his hair and she moaned in delight.

But that wasn’t enough for him. After days apart, he needed to feel her explode around him.

He needed Carys to know that he was the only man for her.

He needed her to need him as much as he needed her!

So he kissed her, licked her skin, found every pulse point as he slowly stripped her clothes away. When she was naked, he stood up and stripped off his clothes, staring down at her soft, beautiful curves. “You’re my fantasy, Carys,” he admitted.

When he came down to her, he lifted her legs, tossing one over his shoulder and wrapping the other around his waist so she was open and vulnerable.

“You’re everything to me. I can’t breathe without you.

” He kissed her inner thigh. “You make me smile,” he kissed her hip, smiling at her frustration.

“And you make me ache to hold you in my arms.”

When she tried to wiggle away from him, he held her still. It would be a challenge to get away because the mattress was sliced and all of her blankets and sheets had been cut in half. But this was Carys. When he made love to her, the rest of the world didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but Carys.

“Rafi!” she screamed when his tongue flicked against that sensitive nub.

“Hold still!” he ordered, then chuckled when she lifted her head to glare at him.

She tried to pull away, but he was stronger and had the high ground.

He held her in place and he shifted, sucking on that nub while he slid a finger into her heat.

Carys writhed underneath him, groaning with delight and frustration.

“Don’t tease me, Rafi,” she begged. “Not today.”

He smiled, but ignored her, sucking harder, but right before she was going to climax, he pulled away. “You are absolutely delicious.”

Carys rolled her eyes and, out of frustration, she wiggled away from him.

When he started to reach for her, she grabbed his hands and pushed him back.

“No, today, I need to be in control.” She swung a leg over his hips, straddling him, still holding his wrists.

“Today, you’re mine.” And with careful determination, she sank down on top of him, taking all of him into her body.

Together they groaned with the rush of sensations, and Carys sighed with happiness.

Then she guided his hands, placing one on each breast, shifting his fingers, silently demanding that he tease her nipples.

When he understood, his fingers went to work, stroking over her hardened tips, pinching then soothing, then pinching again until Carys was nearly crazy.

She rode him, sliding up and down along his shaft, rolling her hips so that the nub he’d so recently teased would rub against his abdomen exactly how she needed it.

She started to object when he took one of his hands away from her breast, but he only pinched the other nipple, silencing her protest. Carys had no objections when his thumb reached down, pressing against that nub, helping her over the top.

Moments later, she was screaming out his name, shifting against him as her pleasure swept her away.

Then, Rafi flipped their positions, taking control. Carys didn’t mind as she held onto his broad, muscular shoulders, laughing when she felt another ripple of pleasure hit her just at the same moment that he groaned with his own orgasm.

Afterwards, he pulled her into his arms, cradling her against his chest. Their bodies were at an odd angle on the bed since the sheets and blankets were shredded, but neither complained.