“It’s just like the paintings. He captured the essence so brilliantly.” I nodded, not looking away. “Look at the lily pads.” I pointed into the pond. “It feels almost magical being here after seeing the photos so many times.”

“Being with you feels magical.” His arm slid around my waist and we just stood there taking it all in.

“Thank you for bringing me here, even if it was due to a lie.” I smiled up at him. “This is really wonderful. And I’m sorry about the paparazzi. I’m sorry they got the wrong impression of us.”

“Don’t be sorry.” He grabbed my face and tilted it up to look at him. “Everything happens for a reason.” He leaned down and kissed me hard and I kissed him back. I lifted my arms up as he pulled my t-shirt off and then we fell to the ground. He undid my bra and I grabbed the front of his shirt.

“I’m going to make love to you in the fields.” He groaned as he kissed down my neck. “Are you okay with that?”

“I don’t have any ...” I gasped as his teeth bit down on my nipple.

“I have protection.” He grinned at me as he looked up and switched over to the other nipple. He bit down again and I cried out. His lips moved quickly to my shorts and he pulled them down swiftly. I felt the cool breeze against my naked skin and shivered. “I’ll keep you warm, Lola.” Xavier sat up and pulled his shirt off and then his pants. I stared at his manhood, hard and bulging and then reached out and grabbed him.

“I’m looking forward to you keeping me warm.” I laughed as he groaned and pushed me back down on the grass. His face immediately fell between my legs and his tongue explored my folds while he lips sucked on my clit. I felt my wetness against his face and I squirmed beneath him.

“What are you doing?” I moaned as he lifted my legs up and his tongue slid from my clit down to my other hole.

“Relax.” He groaned as he licked my anus. I felt the tip of his tongue enter me slightly and I bucked against his face in shock. “Close your eyes and relax.” He chuckled, still holding my legs up as he tongue moved back to my clit. I groaned as his tongue entered me and moved back and forth inside of me. I felt my orgasm come hard and fast and he licked me up eagerly as I came.

“Get on your knees,” he groaned and pulled me up. He then pushed my arms forward so that my ass was up in the air. I felt him up against me and the tip of his cock was at my entry. “Have you ever done anal?” He moved his cock up and my body stilled.

“No.” My voice was shocked and I reached behind me to push him away.

“Don’t worry,” he laughed. “All my lessons don’t come in one day.” He moved his cock back down and slowly entered me. “Oh fuck, you feel good.” He groaned as he entered me. I fell forward slightly as he started moving faster and faster. “You’re so wet, Lola. You’ve been dying for me to fill you up since this morning, haven’t you?”

I moaned as I felt his cock inside of me, hard and deep. This time wasn’t for my pleasure. This time was for him. I could feel it with every thrust and the way his hands gripped my hips. Xavier was ready to come, and even though he was rougher than before, I loved it. I closed my eyes and gripped the grass beneath me as he fucked me senseless.

“Oh shit,” he groaned. “I’m going to come.” He pulled my butt back into him hard and I felt his whole body trembling against me as he erupted inside of me. He pulled out after a few seconds and I watched as he flung the semen-filled condom on the ground.

We lay back in the grass, naked and hot under the midday sun. My body was still trembling from our passionate lovemaking, and I stared at him as he played with the grass.

“That was fun, wasn’t it?” he asked softly, his expression impenetrable.

“It was definitely an experience.” I nodded, unsure of what to say.

“I want to give you more experiences like this. I want to take you on journeys that you’ve never been on before. I want to learn the landscape of your body inch by inch, so that I could paint you from memory.” He leaned down and kissed my breasts softly.

“Do you think that Monet ever made love out here?” I wrapped my arms around his neck and closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of being wanted.

“I don’t know, but if he didn’t, he sure missed out.” Xavier’s voice was hoarse and I opened my eyes and looked down at him. He was staring at me with such a strange expression that I didn’t know what to think. “Let’s get our clothes on,” he pulled me up off of the ground. “We should leave now.”

“I was having fun.” I sighed, sad that we were leaving already.

“We shouldn’t allow this to become more than it is.” He spoke to me, but I felt like he was really talking to himself.

“I thought Paris was the other way?” I frowned as I stared out of the window and looked at the green fields as we drove past them in the back of the Bentley Xavier had conjured up out of thin air.

“We’re going to the airport.”

“Why?”

“We’re flying to Romerius.” He shrugged.

“Oh. I didn’t know. I could have booked the flights.”

“The royal plane will take us.”

“You have your own plane?”

“Doesn’t every royal family?” His eyes were light with mischief. “Try not to be overwhelmed.”

“That’s not going to be easy.”

“Try not to look too eager, either. That will turn my parents off.”

“Look too eager?” I repeated confused.

“Don’t look too impressed,” he said slowly. “Don’t look like you want to go and pawn the silver and the gold.”

“Pawn the silver!” My jaw dropped and my eyes narrowed. “How dare you?”

“I’m not saying you will,” he paused and looked over at me, “but if you do get that idea, try and hide it.”

“You’re such a jerk.” I shook my head. “I couldn’t care less about a couple pieces of silver cutlery.” I shifted my body away from him and frowned. He was such a jerk. He always knew how to get my back up, just as I thought we were getting along.

I took a couple of deep breaths to stop myself from starting an argument and looked out the window. The French countryside was lush and green, and we passed field after field of beautiful flowers. I tried to tell myself that the trip was going to be fine, though a part of me had no idea what I was doing. A part of me was scared that I was making the biggest mistake of my life. If I was honest with myself, I knew that I was falling for Xavier. How could I not? He was handsome, sexy, and he was interested in me. Plain old me. I was a nobody, yet he seemed to have some attraction to me. It felt wrong and it felt crazy, but ultimately it felt amazing. Being with Xavier set my heart on fire. He made me feel like I was a sexy hot woman, and aside from some of his comments, I loved the power that I felt inside of me when I was with him.

The sky was a gorgeous hue of orange as we landed in Romerius. I stared out of the window eagerly, wanting to see everything I could of his country as early as I could. From what I could tell, it was pretty small and it was very green.

“What’s the capital of Romerius?” I turned to look at Xavier, who was reading a newspaper.

“Atlantis.” He looked up at me.

“Oh, wow.” I was taken aback by the expression in his green eyes.

“Not that exciting, is it?” His eyes crinkled and he smiled, the serious expression gone.

“No, just unexpected.”

“We’ll likely be put up in the same room,” he started, and I interrupted him.

“That’s terribly progressive of your parents, isn’t it?” I frowned. “I don’t know that many families would allow two non-wed people to share a room.”

“We’re a couple, aren’t we?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, but still ...” I paused as I stared at the front of his paper. I grabbed it from his hands and I could feel my face turning white. “What’s this?” My voice rose as I read an article announcing our engagement. “We’re not engaged.”