Free The Crown Jewels by Honey Palomino

room.
    I didn’t mean to watch her. But because of the way our rooms are situated, if I look straight out of my balcony, I can see into her room. It’s not my fault she didn’t close the curtains.
    At first, I was dismayed to see her packing her things. I didn’t mean to scare her away, I just wanted…well, hell, I don’t know what I wanted. I wanted to kiss her again, to see how it felt, if it was as fucking hot as I remembered it. And it was. For the brief second that it lasted.
    Truth was, I hadn’t thought much further than that. Well, I’d thought about shimmying that dress off her and having my way with her right there in the hallway with the Knights in Arms watching over us, of course I had, but I hadn’t thought any farther than that. When I saw her packing, I almost went to her room to apologize. But then she went out on the balcony, and for fuck’s sake, seeing her standing there on the balcony, with the snow drifting around her while she looked like fucking Rapunzel or something, it just took my breath away. I couldn’t stop watching.
    I smiled and my cock throbbed even harder when I saw her touch her lips. I knew she was thinking about my kiss. I hoped she was thinking about a lot more than that, just as I was. I decided to just let her be, to let things play out naturally.
    Maybe if she got to know me again, maybe we could be friends. Maybe it would grow from there. Maybe I’d get a chance to sink my cock into her once more, too.
    Of course, our parents came out of the dark, giggling like a couple of school kids, and my temporarily insane vision of a future between Jewels and I came crashing to the ground.
    When I looked back up at Jewels, I knew she was thinking the same thing. We both wanted them to be happy.
    But did I want them to be happy more than I wanted to fuck Jewels one more time? I wasn’t entirely convinced that I did.
    And therein lied my problem.
    I tried to comfort myself by remembering that I was a Prince and I could have anything I wanted. Which was mostly true. There was always a way to work things out. We were the Royal Family after all. And rules were made to be broken, weren’t they? The thing was - Jewels just might be the one exception to that rule.
    And if she was the one thing in the world that I couldn’t have, the one rule that I wasn’t supposed to break, then I knew I’d stop at nothing to get her.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    JEWELS
     
    “What about this?” Catherine pushed a shimmering black evening gown against me with a neckline that plunged so low my belly button would have been visible, as we looked in the mirror together.
    “I think that might be a little too sexy,” I replied. Not to mention it costs more than my car , I thought.
    “Nothing wrong with sexy, Julia,” she replied, pulling a deep green velvet dress from the rack. “What about this one? This would be great for the party! Look how it brings out your complexion and makes your eyes pop!”
    She’d taken me to Armani to shop for dresses, and there was no way I was ever going to be able to afford anything here. I loved every dress she pulled out, but I knew I wasn’t going to be leaving with one. I don’t know what I expected, though. It’s not like she was going to take me to Forever 21 or something, right?
    “You know,” I said, taking the green velvet masterpiece and carefully hanging it back up. “I think I’ll just go shopping on my own later. I can’t really afford anything in here. Maybe we should get some lunch or something?”
    I liked Catherine. A lot. I wanted to spend time with her, even when she ran her fingers through her hair when she was really thinking about something, which is the exact same thing Will used to do. She even looked like a long-haired version of him. It wasn’t her fault she reminded me of him so strongly. But she wasn’t him, thank God.
    She was, however, the future Queen, and I’d never be able to afford a lifestyle as luxurious as hers.
    “Don’t be silly!