King of Slaves (Jenna's Story) (The Slave Series Book 5) (13 page)

He kept his arm outstretched and locked eyes with her. “No woman
that beautiful
should doubt herself, I see it as my male duty to let her know she is pretty.” He took a step closer and like two basketball players they were bending their legs and moving from side to side. “You know I can take that phone from you anytime, right?” he said in a playful tone and couldn’t remember the last time he had done something this juvenile. Erin was laughing from the other side of the car.

Jenna narrowed her eyes but couldn’t hide her smile. “And how would you do that without touching me? I was told that it’s rude for a man to touch a woman he isn’t related to or married to.”

Zurry straightened up and seemed to remember his manners. “You’re right, I apologize.”

Jenna had a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, as if she had just outwitted him.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said and patted his upper arm. “It’s better that she doesn’t know.”

A grin grew on his face. “You just touched me, now I can touch you too.” 

Jenna moved back a little. “You might be big, but I’m quick,” she warned before she tried to get around him.

Zurry reacted swiftly – he lifted Jenna in the air and turned her upside down.

She was squealing with laughter. “Put me down. Put me down.” 

“Only if you promise to write your sister,” Zurry demanded and held on to her wriggling body.

“Okay, okay… just put me down.”

He gently put her feet back on the ground and watched her tug her long bangs behind her ears and smooth her blouse. With her bright red cheeks and the grin on her face, Jenna reminded him of his own sister after one of their many pretend fights.

“I’ll do it later, okay…? Alex is still sleeping, it’s only five in the morning in Chicago.”

“All right.” He smiled at her.

“Thank you for taking us today,” Erin called out to him.

“My pleasure. Enjoy your afternoon, ladies.”

He turned and walked in the opposite direction to find Kioni as he had promised.

Zurry was smiling and thinking about Alex and her beautiful mane of red hair – deciding that if Jenna was pretty, her sister was gorgeous – when a burning sensation made him look up. Kioni stood in his office looking out the window, his eyes locked on Zurry, and he had murder written on his face.

CHAPTER 11

Hands Off

Kioni

“Come in.”

Kioni stood up and waited for Zurry to move from the door to the chair in front of his desk. His entire body was tense with suppressed anger.

“Do you want to do a walk and talk instead of stewing in here…? It’s a beautiful day outside,” Zurry suggested.

“No, this is going to be a very short conversation, and I’m meeting with a candidate in ten minutes,” Kioni muttered.

“Finally! Which one?” Zurry asked, sat down, and casually rested both arms on the sides of the large leather chair. It annoyed Kioni that Zurry looked so downright comfortable when he himself was agitated and angry. He moved some papers around and tried to get his anger under control when he muttered: “Coun Lukas Molpino’s daughter, Tahita.”

“Why her?” Zurry asked. “Why not Aisha?”

Kioni’s head snapped up. “I don’t have to explain myself to you.” And then he cooled down a bit and spoke in a calmer voice. “Tahita is my mother’s preferred candidate.”

“I know.”

“Think of the bright side. If I choose Tahita, you can pursue Aisha for yourself… unless” – Kioni folded his arms over his chest – “you already have your eyes on someone else.”

Zurry shrugged and Kioni knew he was holding something back. 

“Are you
bonding
with someone?”

Zurry looked away.

Yes, he’s definitely hiding something,
Kioni concluded and narrowed his eyes, trying to control the anger in his voice when he spoke, but it still came out like a sneer. “I saw you with Jenna.”

Zurry frowned. “So?”

“You were throwing her around and grinning. Is there something you want to tell me?”

Zurry wrinkled his forehead and returned Kioni’s intense glare. “I know she’s not your favorite person, but honestly she’s not a complete bitch. I think I might actually like her; she was good company today.”

Kioni’s reaction was explosive – in a split second he had jumped up from his seat and aggressively slammed down both hands on the desk between them.

“If you want good female company then go fuck one of the pleasers. Just stay the hell away from Jenna Davis.”

Zurry gaped at him. “What the hell?”

“It’s not up for discussion.”

“So I can’t talk to Jenna?”

Kioni closed his eyes, trying to find his reasonable normal self. “Talking is fine, but
no touching
. You are disgracing our guest.”

“Relax, she’s American. She won’t be ruined for other men, just because I’ve touched her. Besides, she touched me first.”

“I saw that,” Kioni sneered.

“Why are you so pissed about it? I don’t understand what the problem is.”

“There is no problem, as long as you
don’t touch her
.”

“Why are you acting like an overprotective father all of a sudden?”

“I can assure you I have no fatherly emotions toward Jenna.”

“Then what is this about?”

There was a knock on the door, and Kioni was grateful for it.

“Come in,” he called out.

His mother entered and offered warm smiles to both men.

“Our guests have arrived,” she announced and signaled for Kioni to join her.

“We’ll talk more about this,“ Zurry muttered when Kioni stepped around his desk.

Kioni shot him a curt nod and looked to his mother. She stood tall and elegant in a lovely golden-colored silk dress as she eyed them both. His mother was intelligent and would know there was tension in the room, but she would never challenge two men and comment on it.

The fact that she was wearing her finest set of jewelry told him how much she wanted this meeting to go well. His mother dreamed of grandchildren and was eager to find the right bride for him.

The diamonds sparkled around her neck and her eyes were focused in on him. “Are you ready?” she asked with a hint of uncertainty.

Kioni gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Wish him luck, Zurry,” she said. “Hopefully he’s about to meet his wife for the first time.”

“Good luck,” Zurry said but Kioni didn’t turn around to respond; he was too busy reminding himself of all the reasons he was doing this.
An heir, I need an heir.

   Fifteen minutes later formal introductions had been made and Kioni took in the shy sixteen-year-old girl sitting on the sofa between her parents. She was as pretty as in her picture, with glossy black hair, a straight nose, and full lips. Her clothes were of high quality, and complimented her petite figure.

Lukas Molpino, her father, was a member of the royal council and he had no problem shamelessly bragging about her virtues, her beauty, her modesty, and the fertility that ran in their family. He boldly guaranteed Kioni a son, if he were to pick Tahita as his wife.

Lucas and Kioni had grown up together so Kioni knew the man well. Like Kioni, Lukas was thirty-six, but had gotten married right out of school to his wife, Mallika, who had been thirteen at the time.

Kioni studied Mallika, who had to be close to thirty now. She was an older version of Tahita and still very beautiful. As he sat and studied the two women it struck him that he would actually prefer to take the mother to bed instead of the daughter.

“Kioni, why don’t you show Tahita our lovely park?” his mother suggested, obviously trying to give them some time alone.

He stood up and offered a hand to her. The nature of their meeting allowed for the intimate gesture. The shy girl kept her glance down as she got up, and soon they were walking outside with her little hand hooked under his arm.

“So tell me about yourself,” he encouraged. “What do you like to do?”

She giggled shyly. “I like to talk to my girlfriends, and I like to go shopping.”

“Okay, and what else?”

“We like to get our nails done, and sometimes we have parties.”

He arched a brow. Her father had strongly emphasized that Tahita was still a virgin. “What kind of parties?”

“Movie nights and slumber parties. It’s really fun.”

“Do boys attend these parties?”

“Nooo,” she said and giggled again.

Kioni and Tahita walked around for ten minutes. He asked her questions and she answered, but she never asked him anything or showed interest in him as a person. He was beginning to find the conversation tiresome but knew it would be an insult to both the girl and her parents if he were to return her to them so soon. His mother would think he wasn’t really trying at all.

“Do you play any instruments?” he asked after a long awkward pause in the conversation.

She lit up. “I play the piano.”

“Wonderful – would you play something for me?”

“I would love to.”

Kioni steered her back into the palace and up to the music room. On the way she told him about how her parents had forced her to play, and how she had always hated how strict her music teacher was. He was tired of listening to her complaints when the elevator reached the fourth floor.

“It’s right this way.” He gently tucked her hand under his arm again.

“Sounds like someone is already playing,” she said.

“My brother, Prince Kalen, spends most of his time playing the piano,” Kioni explained.

Tahita wrinkled her nose. “He’s not very good at it.”

Kioni was just about to tell her she was wrong when he heard the music playing. She was right, it wasn’t very good – it couldn’t be his brother.

As they entered the room, the mystery was quickly solved, when Kioni found Jenna playing the piano with Kalen sitting next to her.

He spoke up. “Hello.”

The music stopped and both Kalen and Jenna looked up. Kioni’s heart started racing at the sight of Jenna, but he remembered his manners and spoke in English.

“Tahita, this is my brother Prince Kalen, and Jenna Davis is a guest here at the palace.”

“Allow me to introduce you to Ms. Tahita Molpino, who has offered to play a piece on the piano.”

Kalen was already up and moving towards Tahita, who looked shocked when he burst right into her personal space and started touching her hands, face, and hair.

She pulled back and almost slapped Kalen’s hands away, before she seemed to remember that she needed to impress the king.

“I’m sorry about that, Kalen means no harm. Why don’t you play for us a bit?” Kioni encouraged, and waved a hand towards the piano.

“Here you go.” Jenna smiled at Tahita and moved away from the piano stool. Kioni’s eyes were locked on Jenna, but she didn’t spare him a glance.

Kalen wanted to sit next to Tahita, but from the way she kept skootching away from him and ended up on the corner, it was clear she didn’t appreciate his company.

Kioni tried to tell Kalen to come sit with him on the sofa but his brother wouldn’t listen. He tried the usual threats but Kalen didn’t budge, and for a moment he feared Kalen would go into one of his infantile fits and make him look like an idiot in front of both women.

That was when Jenna did something that astonished Kioni. She got up without a word and went calmly to Kalen; gently placing her hands on his shoulders she leaned in and whispered his name loud enough for Kioni to hear.  Kalen looked up at her with interest and she gave him a warm smile and reached for his hand. He followed her like a hypnotized person, more docile than Kioni had ever seen him.

From the piano, music started flowing. Tahita played well, and he was happy to have her giggles and complaints replaced by a classical piece by Bach.

He tried to keep his eyes on Tahita, but his eyes seemed to have a mind of their own and kept shifting to Jenna, who sat quietly listening to the music with Kalen’s hand in hers. Kalen too was focused on the music, but as always, when he wasn’t playing the piano, his body moved with involuntary twitches and jerks.

Jenna looked completely at peace next to Kalen. Even when he leaned in and placed his head on her shoulder, she only reacted by leaning her head toward him. Kioni watched them sitting closely together, holding hands, and leaning against each other. The sight made him green with envy.

When Tahita ended the melody, she stood up and received their applause. Kalen ran to hug her, and Kioni caught an expression of disgust on her face before she flashed Kioni a brilliant smile.

“I hope you liked it, Your Majesty.”

“You played very well, thank you.” Kioni turned to Jenna, who was still on the sofa. “Thank you for allowing us to disrupt your music session.” For once Jenna returned his gaze and gave him a small smile. He was horrified that it took nothing more than that for blood to rush to his groin. He wanted to turn around and walk away… acting like he couldn’t care less about her… but he couldn’t help himself.

“May I have a word with you later, Ms. Davis?”

“What about, Your Majesty?”

He frowned. The right answer would have been
Certainly, Your Majesty
but this was Jenna and so he kept calm.

“I have a few concerns about the project that I would like to discuss with you.”

“I’ll be happy to meet with you tomorrow,” she answered.

He arched a brow, putting on his most authoritarian voice. “It won’t take long, and I would like to do it tonight.”

“Tomorrow,” she repeated slowly.

Tahita gasped and Kioni felt provoked by Jenna’s lack of respect for him.

“You’ll have to excuse our American guest, Miss Tahita. Women over there believe they are equal to men, and Ms. Davis here has taken it a step further. She believes she is above all men, even a king.”

Tahita looked shocked and lowered her head, showing how a real lady was supposed to behave around a powerful man.

Kioni knew Jenna was watching as he lifted Tahita’s face with the light touch of a finger under her chin and slowly leaned in, almost kissing her. “And that is why I appreciate Spirimian women so much,” he said softly.

Tahita giggled and batted her eyes at him. Jenna, on the other hand, rolled her eyes and left. It made his blood boil that she left without asking for permission or at least excusing herself before leaving. The woman had absolutely no manners.