Page 36 of The Spare (The King Dynasty #2)

We're silent for a bite while we take turns eating with the spoon and fork.

She puts the spoon down and then turns her head towards me.

Her eyes are big in her face, and it looks like it takes everything in her to hold my eye contact.

"Mason, you don't have to marry me just because we…

" she trails off, obviously embarrassed.

"Had sex. We had sex Melody."

She averts her eyes. A part of me is pleased she's so shy and timid regarding intimacy. I want to break her walls down brick by brick, baring parts of her to me that no one else has ever gotten to see.

"And besides, a wedding is non-negotiable, baby," I say, leaning forward to kiss her forehead.

I stand up, grabbing her tray and then motioning to her dress and underwear at the foot of the bed.

"I took the liberty of picking this out for you; I thought you'd be comfortable in it.

I have to go work in the study, but I'll be back out at lunch.

Daniel's going to make poached salmon and creamed spinach. Your favorite."

"Who's Daniel?" she asks, blinking up at me, still clutching that damn sheet to her breasts.

"Our chef. He comes at breakfast, stays half the day and makes our lunch and dinner. If you want to adjust the menu, please speak with him. I'm not picky and will eat just about anything." I lean down and press my lips to hers firmly.

I pull away and go to walk around the bed to head to the door with the tray, but her next question stops me.

"Do we have a maid?" she asks, raising both her brows.

"No," I say, turning back around to face her. "I normally clean. It's relaxing." I refuse to share with her that it's what I filled my days up with while I waited for her. "Why, would you like a maid?" I tilt my head waiting patiently.

She shakes her head no.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

I take another step closer, making her arch her head further to look up at me. "If you would like one in the future, please let me know, okay?"

"Okay," she says quietly, her eyes flicking between mine.

I turn and head out of the bedroom, disposing of the tray in the kitchen and rinsing the dishes quickly, putting them in the dishwasher and going back to work.

***

Four hours later we've had lunch and are driving to a wedding boutique in Manhattan.

The traffic is abysmal, and my temper is slightly high as the stock numbers were just not in my favor today.

My hand is on her thigh, and I'm looking out the window, waiting for the light to change when she brings up another subject that causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.

"I need to get on birth control," she says, keeping her eyes nailed to the car in front of us.

I pull off slowly, clearing my throat. "You're not on it already?" I ask, keeping my tone level.

I have not a fucking clue why I didn't think to ask.

"No. There was no need to," she says in a small voice.

I think back to her journal, how every boyfriend she'd ever gotten involved with ended up disappearing. I grunt, thinking about the hundreds of thousands of dollars of my inheritance I'd sunk into bribing those men to leave the city, leave her, and never return.

"I need you to make an OBGYN appointment and get on birth control, baby. I don't want you pregnant at twenty years old." I peek over at her and see her squinting out the windshield. "Can you do that by the end of the week?"

"I'll try," she says.

I leave it alone, not wanting to agitate her.

Turning down a street, following the gps. I find a spot and park across the street from the boutique she'd picked. Thankfully it's a street over from the jeweler I'd been eying.

"You don't have a driver?" she asks, unbuckling her seatbelt.

"Nah, I'm not a pretentious fuck like Hendrix," I quip. Pulling out my wallet I pick out the credit card I'd opened for her and hand it to her. "Here, this is yours."

"Oh," she says, getting a confused look on her face. "I was just going to use the card King and Isobel let me use. "

I curl my lip. "Let me see it?" Melody digs around in her clutch, pulling it out and handing it to me.

"You don't need to spend their money any more.

We've got our own." I shove it in my pocket, holding my card out to her again.

She takes it slowly, our fingers caressing as she slides it out of my hand.

"Uhm, how much am I allowed to spend?"

I slide my eyes to her. Four years around my family and it still hasn't sunk in. "How much did you ever put on that card they gave you?"

I'll quadruple the amount just on principle alone.

She shrugs her shoulders looking nonplussed. I'd get a Starbucks coffee with it every once in a while, maybe buy a new workout outfit. Go to dinner with my friends, that sort of thing."

Okay, so quadruple times a million. Got it.

I hold my annoyed sigh in. "However much your dream wedding dress is, sweetheart. Whatever you want."

She nods. "Do you want to come with me to pick it out?"

My brows rise in surprise at her question, and I can't help the smile that spreads across my face. "I'd rather you surprise me when you walk down the aisle. If that's okay. Besides, I have my own errands to run."

"Oh," she says, scrunching her nose. "Of course you do, sorry."

I frown, seeing she's retreating into herself again like she's beating herself up for inviting me.

"I have my own surprise for you," I say, leaning forward I grab the nape of her neck and spend several long seconds kissing her. Trying to get her to relax. "Meet me back here in a couple hours?"

"Yeah." She smiles.

I get out of the car and open her door for her, escorting her across the street and into the boutique where I leave her and go to the jewelers, picking up her wedding band I'd bought the night of the charity event .

Two hours later, I meet her at the boutique and carry the heavy garment bag across the street, laying a three thousand dollar wedding dress carefully in the backseat of my car. She'll learn. Or maybe she won't.

Either way, I'll love her regardless.