Royals Saga 3 Crown Me Read Online Free

commanded, and while I couldn’t deny I’d come to crave that in his bed, I wasn’t about to put up with it now. “Now you want to talk? Did something happen that you couldn’t coordinate behind my back?”
    “Poppet.”
    “I need to get to lunch.”
    And I needed to avoid a screaming match in the office.
    “That’s why I’m here.” Alexander moved closer, brushing a finger along my arm. My reaction was instantaneous. A ripple of longing shivered from the point of contact and up my neck. My body curved, lured toward him with the same instinctual magnetism that had drawn us together since the moment we’d first met.
    But I refused to roll over that easily. “I had a lunch date, remember?”
    “And it was cancelled,” he said, shrugging his broad shoulders in a far too innocent gesture.
    “Un-fucking-believable.” Snatching my purse up, I beelined for the lift, but before I could reach it, he was at my side. His arm slipped through mine, claiming me, as we waited for the lift.
    “Do you have this whole place bugged?” I hissed, unable to contain myself and hoping none of my co-workers would hear.
    Alexander was more patient, exhibiting an almost supernatural control that drove me crazy. When the lift doors slid open, he released his hold and gestured for me to enter. My simmering annoyance had reached full-blown fuming as he calmly pressed the down button. “I am made aware if your schedule changes.”
    “Do you even hear how crazy that sounds?” I exploded.
    “It’s a safety precaution. Your life might be in danger.” The evenness of his voice only made me angrier.
    “Might! It might be! You also might be driving me crazy!” I’d gone along with the initial security precautions following Daniel’s attack, because I was as desperate to feel safe as he was to protect me. Maybe I was approaching this the wrong way though. Alexander could be reasonable. I just needed to be logical. “You weren’t honest with me. I accepted the security so that you would feel better. I thought we’d both be able to relax soon, but instead I find out that there’s actually been a real threat the whole time. How would you feel if every moment of your life was watched, recorded, and reported on without you even knowing why?”
    But he only cocked an eyebrow. “Every moment of my life has been exactly that.”
    “Right.” I sank against the cool metal wall of the lift for support. Of course it had been. It still was. This was entirely normal to him, which meant the expectation was that it would be normal for me as well. I didn’t move when we reached the ground floor.
    Alexander’s hand closed gently over my upper arm, urging me into the lobby. This time he didn’t try to loop arms, instead he guided me in silence until we were on the sidewalk. The bustle of London foot traffic afforded more privacy than the quiet office building, but even with the anonymity, I couldn’t find words.
    “I should have been more honest with you,” he admitted. “We can discuss that over lunch, but right now I need to see you eat something.”
    My purse strap slipped and I shouldered it with determination before pointing to a bistro a few buildings down. I’d been there before and knew it was frequented by businessmen too preoccupied with their own deals and conversations to care about us. Alexander caught my hand as we crossed the street, purposefully placing himself on the side of oncoming traffic. But the street was relatively quiet and a few moments later, he held open the brass door to the restaurant. The low hum of a dozen conversations filled the room accompanied by soft music. The bistro itself sat in the shadow of several of the larger financial buildings, dimming the room considerably for the lunch hour.
    “Two,” Alexander informed the hostess, who was in the process of stacking menus. She glanced up and her mouth fell open.
    “Of course,” she chirped, her fingers trembling as she checked the seating