Tamed: A Kinky Adult Fairy Tale (Bedding the Bad Girl Book 2) (7 page)

These are the questions on the Kingdom’s mind as we tune in to episode after episode, hungry for clues that will give us the final verdict on the former Queen of Mean. Is Katarina de Barden—now using her maiden name of Masterson—going to show her true colors before the final challenge? Will we finally be certain she deserved her early release from the dungeon? And will she win a proposal from one of the eligible kings judging the competition?

Luckily for the show’s producers, the Kingdom can’t seem to get enough of king catching, or of the unlikely star of this reality blockbuster, Katarina de Barden.

****

Serge

Life was good, almost
too
good.

Serge had a blockbuster show on his hands, two more in the works, money flowing in hand over fist, and a gorgeous woman in his bed. He had managed to keep his identity a secret from the rest of the contestants, keep his relationship with Kat between the two of them, and made sure
Catch a King
proceeded without the slightest hint of scandal.

He should be content, relaxed, satisfied.

Instead, he was sitting on the couch in the corner of his bedroom, watching the sun come up, struggling to understand the feeling of dread that had awoken him in the middle of the night. He didn’t do dread and had never let that ugly stepchild of fear affect his life or his decisions.

But here he was, awash in the unfamiliar feeling and losing sleep for the first time in fifteen years.

The first rays of daylight spilled through the twelfth-story window of his apartment, creeping onto the bed where they found the red hair spilled across his white pillowcases, setting it aflame. Kat was beautiful in the morning, her face soft and makeup-free. Another unfamiliar emotion washed over him as she shifted in her sleep and one small but perfectly shaped breast slipped from under the covers. Then she started to snore, a feminine snuffle that made him want to laugh every time he heard it.

You think her snoring is cute. You’re done for.

He vaulted from the couch, running anxious fingers though his hair, and turned to watch the city come to life. How many times had he stood here, looking out at Kingdom City, filled with the silent determination to do whatever it took to rise to the top? His goals had been clearly outlined, simple, and achievable.

But now…

“You’re up early. Couldn’t sleep?” Her voice was husky, sexy, sleepy, and enough to make his cock thicken before he even turned around.

“I couldn’t seem to quit thinking,” he said, telling her the truth without thinking twice about it. The tension in his chest built, making it hard to draw a long breath. When had intimacy grown so easy and the thought of hiding from Kat so hard?

“I told you not to eat the entire box of truffles. Too much caffeine.”

“I had to keep my energy up.”

“I think you’re addicted to Quinn truffles.” Grinning, she propped up on one elbow, letting the sheet slip down to her waist, baring her breasts. “Do your friends know you have a womanly love for chocolate?”

“No, and I’m trusting you to keep my secret.” He returned her smile, unable to help himself. Even in the midst of the anxiety that plagued him this morning, he couldn’t look at that grin and be unaffected. Katarina was beautiful no matter what expression graced her face, but when she smiled, she was enough to make a man sell his soul.

“And what if I don’t? Will I be punished?” Her grin turned wicked as she crawled from beneath the covers to the edge of the bed. “I hope not, since my wrists are still sore.”

“Say it isn’t so,” he said, taking her wrists in his hands and lifting each to his mouth for a kiss. They were a bit chafed, but he knew she wasn’t in pain and that she loved the games they played together.

He’d never come as hard as he had with Kat, never felt like his entire being would dissolve from the strength of his passion. If he was addicted to anything…

Well, it certainly wasn’t chocolates.

“I’m fine, I just have sensitive skin.” She looped her arms around his neck and hugged him closer, until her bare skin was pressed against his chest and his erection threatened to burst through his thin pajama pants.

“Why did you put these on?” She tugged at the tie at his waist, easing the pants down over his throbbing cock. “You knew we’d just be taking them off again.”

“I was standing at the window.”

“Worried about Peeping Toms?” She kissed a trail down his chest, over his stomach and further down until he felt her breath hot against his shaft. “I thought you enjoyed the thrill of possible discovery.”

He groaned at the memory her words inspired. “That’s only when I’m having sex.”

They’d had sex in the shower at the gym, the dressing room at his favorite clothing store, and she’d given him a blowjob in the garden of one of the castles they’d visited on a shoot. He had never been into risking getting caught before, but with Kat it made him insanely hot.

“And only when I’m having sex with you,” he added softly.

“Because I’m your girl?” She followed the words with a swirl of her tongue across the head of his cock.

“Yes, because you’re my girl.” The words were affectionate, but the hand he fisted in her hair wasn’t gentle. “Now open your mouth.”

“Why?” She teased him, licking up his shaft before he tightened his grip at the base of her neck.

“Open your mouth, Kat. Now.”

She obliged, parting her lips and taking him deep into her wet heat with a moan. He sucked in a breath against the pressure building in his balls, determined to make this last longer than it had the last time.

“Harder,” he commanded, urging her on with gentle pressure at the back of her neck, managing to maintain control for a few more delicious thrusts. Soon, however, the sight of her bottom in the air—her hips squirming as her excitement built—was too much to resist.

He pulled out and spun her around, tugging her knees off the edge of the bed. She arched as he drove into her already slick pussy, crying out in pleasure. He tried to go slow, but soon he was pounding into her with abandon, fingers digging into her hips.

“This is mine. You are mine,” he said, voice rough. He accompanied the words with a stinging slap to the pale flesh of her ass. “Tell me, Katarina.”

“I’m yours,” she cried.

Almost immediately he felt her begin to pulse around him. She ground back against him as she came, her hot juices coating his cock, easing the way for him to move faster, harder. In seconds he joined her, groaning her name as he came.

They rolled onto the bed together and he pulled her to his chest, muttering things in his mother tongue he was glad she couldn’t understand.

“I love mornings that start like that.” She sighed against his chest, snuggling closer.

“I love everything I do with you.” He kissed the top of her head, his heart pounding faster as her breathing slowed and she drifted back to sleep.

Love.
He’d said it, and what’s more…he’d meant it.

He couldn’t deny it any longer. He was in love with her. He was in love with a woman he wasn’t even sure he knew, at least not completely.

Kat was so many different people. She was the charming contestant who had won over the crew and the Kingdom, the feisty, smart-mouthed hellion who handed him his tail when he stepped over the line, the generous lover, and the companion who touched his heart like no one else. She had let him see the scared, vulnerable woman behind her mask, the woman who regretted her mistakes so deeply, and he loved her for it.

But those mistakes…

Such big mistakes.

He wasn’t proud of it, but he’d finally read the file Matthew had compiled after Katarina was signed to the project. He hadn’t bothered before. In his mind, there was no reason to know every detail of her past. He had known what the public knew and that was enough.

At least it had been until he started thinking about Kat in ways that weren’t purely professional, and imagining a future for them that went beyond a reality television show.

He had heard the stories, of course. She’d hired a woodsman—who also happened to be her pixie dust dealer—to kill her husband’s lover, but had later called off the hit. Her second thoughts had kept Snow White from death and Katarina from a life sentence in the dungeon. But what Serge hadn’t known was that Kat had been a pixie dust abuser for years. No one except the dungeon doctors knew that Kat had almost died from withdrawal during her first month as an inmate.

Not even her late husband—who had passed away while Kat was in the second year of her sentence—seemed to have had a clue about the severity of his wife’s addiction, though they’d had magic mirrors in every room of their home. Magic mirrors were the only way pixie dust could be transformed into its highly addictive liquid form. The man must have been a fool not to see the connection.

Still, Serge had to give the king the benefit of the doubt. He hadn’t thought it possible for such a strong woman to succumb to addiction. Learning Kat’s secret had made him want to change the way he ran his businesses. He had stopped selling pixie dust, and made plans to sell the dance clubs in the near future.

He was tired of being known for his seedier endeavors. He was ready to clean up his act and start fresh.

That, of course, was where his problem lay. Katarina was an unknown. He had never been intimate with an addict, let alone one who had once been in deep enough to allow her addiction to cloud her judgment so profoundly. She had tried to kill another human being; there was no way to sugarcoat it. And though he believed in second chances, what he’d read in the file had raised questions he didn’t want to answer.

Kat had been in and out of treatment facilities since her eighteenth birthday. She had given in to her addiction again and again. Sure she’d been clean for five years, but how much of that was simply due to the fact that she’d been in the dungeon where pixie dust was hard to come by? How long would she be able to resist the temptation to fall back into old habits? She had only been free for a little under eight months. It wasn’t long enough to know if she could go the distance.

Could he build a family with a woman like Kat? Could he deal with his children being known as the ex-con’s kids? It would be bad enough being the offspring of a seedy strip club owner, but having a seedy strip club owner and a would-be murderess for parents would doom his kids from the cradle.

It was the kind of stuff that could ruin a person’s life before they even got started.

He ought to know. He’d gone through hell trying to fix his parents’ mistakes, finally choosing to immigrate when he couldn’t break free of the mob life he had been born into. It had been hard those first years, but he had succeeded, and built his own empire here in sprawling Kingdom City. Sergei Sokolnokov came from a long line of losers and hustlers, but he’d made something of himself within the confines of the law.

Was he willing to risk all of that for a woman, even a woman he loved more than any other he could remember? Was he willing to jeopardize his own security, the very thing he’d worked so hard to achieve, in order to make a life with someone he wasn’t sure he could trust?

Was he willing to gamble the welfare of his future children?

No. He wasn’t.

He had to end things with Kat; even if telling her goodbye would tear him up inside.

He hugged her warm, sleeping body closer, fighting back the lump in his throat. Giving Kat up would leave him less of a person than he’d been before she came into his life. It would break his heart. But he would survive.

That’s what Sergei did. He survived.

It was all he knew how to do, for better or for worse.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Two weeks later

Kat

Kat struggled to hold on to her signature smile—the calm yet excited, earnest yet playful, competitive yet good sportsmanlike grin that had made her one of the final two contestants on
Real-Life Rules to Catch a King
.

She had a chance of winning, but the victory would be a hollow one.

Who cared about winning a stupid reality show when you were nursing your second broken heart?

“All right, Kingdom City, the moment you’ve been waiting for is only seconds away. Who will be declared the new Queen of reality television? Who will walk away with the million-dollar grand prize, and maybe even a proposal from one of our eligible judges? Find out when we return for the thrilling finale of
Real-Life Rules to Catch a King
!”

Kat sighed. Geez, the host was annoying.

It made her want to throw up—preferably on reality show stooge, Brian Withers—but she managed to restrain herself. It was almost over. The votes were tallied. All that remained was the final announcement of the “big winner.” Surely they would get around to that after this last commercial break.

The producers had drawn out the season finale for two hours already. Kat and her opponent, Maria del Gato, were on a stage in front of a studio audience of thousands, forcing smiles while the season was recapped in tedious detail on a big screen behind them.

Kat watched herself win eight out of the ten challenges, indifferent to the fact that she’d worked so hard for nothing. Normally it would have infuriated her, but she couldn’t seem to care. She shouldn’t have been surprised, really. The producers had said there would be a twist.