Tall, Royal Hater (Tall & Royal #2)

Prologue

Mariyah

N ever in my life had I thought I’d one day find myself spying on a princess while she was on a date at some fancy-arse restaurant.

I’d also never been more ready in my life to throw hands with her date when the words, “He’s fucking touching her,” rumbled out the mouth of the princess’s bodyguard.

My fingers clenched around silver cutlery as I twisted in my velvet chair in the direction of the princess. I braced to shoot up and launch an attack on her assailant, but when I saw what was actually happening, my shoulders lost their tight hitch, and I locked my teeth together in utter burning frustration.

I thought he’d fucking meant her date was touching her inappropriately or something. The boy was bloody holding her hand on top of the table!

The slow-motion turn and stare down I gave the man opposite me would have made any other person question their own level of intelligence. But, of course, not him.

Not Shehryar Timur.

Crown Princess Esmeralda Ayla of Jahandar’s bodyguard and private secretary.

My best friend. Her. Not him.

But then again, the six-foot-five hunk of a man, blindly stabbing at his venison, wasn’t even looking at me to know what kind of judgement I was showering on him. He was glaring at Esmeralda’s date like he wanted to wrap his jaw around the poor boy’s neck and rip his head from his body.

I supposed that was part of his job, but the anger at such a simple touch was to the extreme. That was exactly the reason she’d begged me to come along as well. I was the shield defending her fun from his overprotective behaviour, ensuring he didn’t ruin anything with his hovering.

I’d agreed, being the good best friend I was. But I’d had a selfish reason to tag along too.

That selfish reason was Shehryar.

The very reason I’d dolled up in a dress that clung to my curves and curled my blonde hair with hope and anticipation pounding through my chest as if I were the one going on a date.

Except, in the hour and a half we’d been at the restaurant, he’d only spared me two glances.

Four years older than me and Esmeralda, he oozed the kind of dark, protective aura that made every woman’s soft, feminine side sigh in utter bliss.

I’d fallen into the same trap from the very first time I met him three months ago during the first week of lectures at university. As first year economics students, Esmeralda and I hit it off by the end of the second day after I’d coincidentally sat next to her for three consecutive lectures.

I wished I could say the same thing about Shehryar. But the only thing that had taken a hit was my hope of him reciprocating the stuttering excitement in my chest whenever I was around him. I could never tell if the stern looks he constantly gave me were a part of his role as Esmeralda’s bodyguard or solely for me.

Basically, Shehryar Timur could not care less about my presence. His existence revolved solely around protecting and supporting Esmeralda. I couldn’t fault him for that, but it sucked that every time I’d tried to make conversation, he’d killed my attempts with one-word replies.

Fuck. Maybe it was all the disappointment from how rubbish the past two hours had been for me, but my patience was wearing thin. And I had a lack of patience to begin with.

“They’re on a date,” I said, a slight clip escaping into my tone. “Of course he’s going to touch her. That’s normally what happens on a date.” You might know if you took me on one.

He finally turned his glare on me. “Esm—Her Highness isn’t normal .”

“Yeah, I know that. She knows that. Everyone knows that.” I gestured to him with my fork. “But don’t you think she’s still allowed to enjoy herself for a few hours without someone controlling every little thing around her? You, most of all, should understand that considering your role in all of it.”

Instead of looking remotely chastened, his piercing stare narrowed even more.

“Look,” I said, setting my cutlery down. “This is her first ever date, Shehryar, and probably her first feel of being a normal girl without the weight of a title on her head—which you know more than I do, exhausts her sometimes. But she isn’t going to be able to experience any relief when you’re glaring daggers at her date because she’s enjoying herself with him.”

Shehryar’s fists settled atop the table as the crease between his brows softened. He glanced past me to Esmeralda. It took a while, but he let out a long, slow exhale through his nose.

“I don’t enjoy the frustration or disappointment she feels when I can’t let her do what she wants or because I have to linger and scrutinise everything,” he said before shifting his focus to me. “But I can’t keep her safe when I don’t know exactly what, how, and when something is going on. I need to know all of that to protect her, and to protect her, I have to be around her. And I would rather her be annoyed with my presence than know she was hurt because I turned my back.”

The unwavering sentiment in his expression wrapped around my heart and squeezed, and for the first time, I felt a little bad for growing annoyed with his obsessive concern for Esmeralda. But that didn’t mean my opinion had changed.

“I respect that,” I said. “But you pretty much planned their date. You can’t say you don’t know the ins and outs of what’s going on.” I scoffed a light laugh. “You handed Esmeralda and Kyle a schedule the moment he arrived outside the house.”

“That was necessary.”

“Then this”—I circled my finger at his torso—“isn’t necessary. You planned everything so she could go on this date, so let her actually be on the date.”

His jaw set firm again, and I nearly growled up at the ceiling in annoyance. He was so fucking stubborn. But so the fuck was I.

I was going to make sure Esmeralda had a good time, and I was going to get my time alone with him too, whether it bloody well killed me.

“How about this, then,” I said and shuffled forward on my seat. “Let’s head out for half an hour.” He jerked upright to argue, but I pushed ahead. “Esmeralda can actually enjoy herself for a bit, and we can grab dessert from somewhere else close by. And you don’t have to worry about her safety because I know you’ve positioned other guards around the restaurant who will tell you the moment something goes wrong.”

It was so subtle, but his gaze stilled, going impassive. I’d been watching him closely enough these past months to know the little change meant he was surprised, and knowing that made me feel damn proud of myself.

I sat taller and smirked. “I saw Peter and Rolo come through the kitchen doors. Not as sly as they thought they were, by the way.” His eyes quickly darted to his left, where I assumed they were sitting somewhere behind me. “Esmeralda’s gonna be pissed if she knows they’re here too.”

He didn’t like me pointing out the other guards, but I loved the dark expression he gave me. It wasn’t scary in the least.

“Relax,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “That wasn’t a threat to tell her. More like…motivation to convince you to get out of here.” His jaw shifted as I leaned towards him. “Come on, Shehryar. Half an hour. Time it if you want.”

He glared at me for so long, I thought we were going to finish our dinner sitting like that.

But then he glanced away, lifted his hand, and called our waiter over.

Relief and accomplishment washed over me as I relaxed back into my chair, smiling without shame.

That is how to kill two birds with one stone.

It was cold outside as per a typical late December night, but even more so as the wind glided across the rocking water of the River Lincon and grazed over my skin. Having not wanted to take away from my outfit, I had skipped the coat and opted for a shawl to match my black velvet dress, which in hindsight had been a fucking mistake.

I was shivering like there was no tomorrow as Shehryar and I stood along the riverside, five minutes from the restaurant. The view of all the high-rises, lit up like clusters of fairy lights across the black sky, on the opposite side of the bank was stunning. And the sweet smells of roasted chestnuts, warm waffles, and hot chocolate mixed with the salty smell of deep-fried chips coming from the winter market stalls were setting the perfect seasonal mood.

The only thing pissing me off was Shehryar.

He’d paid for my chocolate and strawberry crepe from the truck we’d found, and yet he hadn’t said or done anything other than check his phone every three seconds.

In my head, I knew it was because he didn’t want to miss any indication that he needed to go back. But his little stunt of paying for my crepe had bumped up my hope, only to send my heart sinking again into a dark hole of disappointment and jealousy.

It was a pointless endeavour to get his attention. He couldn’t focus on anything other than Esmeralda. On top of that, I felt stupid, immature, and guilty because of the desperate way I was feeling, and those three emotions combined were making me even more annoyed and edgy.

In other words, I hadn’t hit two birds with my stone by getting him to leave the restaurant, but rather bashed myself in the foot.

Eventually though, the atmosphere relaxed between us as we watched a few boats pass by. Shehryar even stopped taking his phone out as often.

“This is your last chance,” I warned him, digging my wooden fork into the last folded piece of crepe, oozing out a big glob of chocolate sauce at the bottom of the paper cone.

He lifted his face up to the night’s sky on a rough sigh. “Mariyah.”

“What?” I angled towards him. “Considering you paid for it, you should at least try some.”

“I didn’t pay for it so I could try it.”

“I didn’t say you did. But you did still pay, so…”

He glared across his shoulder at me. “Why does it matter? You didn’t make a fuss when I paid for our dinner.”

I ignored the way my heart jumped at the fact he said “our dinner” and lifted my chin stubbornly. “That’s different. We both ate, and it was for Esmeralda’s sake. And anyway, she’d already told me you were going to pay.” I gestured at the cone with my fork. “But this was for me, and you paid, but I’m eating by myself. And in my family, when one person eats, everyone eats. You didn’t want a crepe, though, which is fine, but if you had one bite, I’d feel less like a greedy jerk—”

A gasp tore up my throat as I was grabbed by the wrist and yanked towards him. I just about steadied myself on my stiletto heels quickly enough to witness Shehryar lift my hand to his mouth and chomp down on the fork, stealing away the crepe piece. I gawked as he dragged my hand back down towards the cone and chewed aggressively.

“There? Are you satisfied now?” he grumbled with his fingers still latched around my wrist.

I couldn’t speak. I could hardly breathe. My heart had disappeared from its space. I would’ve had to hand out “ Missing ” flyers if it hadn’t suddenly slammed back in, the impact blasting a wave of blood to my face. Gone was the frantic urge to crush something in my hands. It was replaced by a hypersensitive buzz all over my skin as the heat from the pads of his fingers fired sparks through my pulse.

I’d never stood so close to Shehryar before that the sheer breadth and height of him made me feel… small —my three-inch heels put me at six-foot, so that was saying something. Nor had the gentle warmth of his breath ever tickled my lips either, tempting my chin to tilt higher expectantly. Sitting my mouth right under his.

The slight roll in his jaw halted as he swallowed. His short, thick lashes dipped.

My heart tripped over itself as it screamed excitedly. It was certain the bruising weight of his gaze on my parted lips could only mean one thing, and my head spun from the giddying disbelief.

I had craved him for the last two and a half months. His attention. His desire. His lips on mine.

I wanted it so badly the words were on the tip of my tongue.

Kiss me.

But just as I filled my lungs on a moment of reckless bravery, Shehryar tore away.

The abruptness messed with my balance, and I teetered on my heels. He all but threw my hand back at me, and my palm reflexively opened, the wooden fork clattering to the paved path.

I blinked rapidly, trying to ground my mind as the adrenaline had me shaking even more than the cold weather.

What just happened?

Shehryar scrubbed the same hand that had been around my wrist over his mouth, taking a moment to wipe away his scowling expression. His shuffled step back from me dampened my emotions.

“We should go back,” he croaked without looking at me. “It’s been half an hour.”

Wrong. It hadn’t been half an hour yet. But I wasn’t an idiot; I knew when someone was trying to avoid spending time with me with an obvious excuse.

In any other circumstance, I wouldn’t have degraded myself and bothered arguing. I wouldn’t have cared. But there was no denying the heated moment that had occurred between us.

It meant something. It was hope. And I couldn’t just let it go if pursuing it meant a chance with Shehryar.

He turned to walk back the way we had come, and my hand jerked out before my mind had caught up with my heart’s decision. He hadn’t been expecting it, because I tugged, and he staggered towards me. Not as close as before, but still close enough for my body to start tingling again.

“We still have five more minutes, Sher.” I sounded breathier than I wanted to, but I didn’t care.

Something made his brows sink slowly before he sighed and turned his face away. The caution that resonated through my weightless body dragged me back down to the ground.

“It’s never going to happen, Mariyah.”

Clawed fingers of dread and denial wrapped around my middle. “What?”

He set his hard, unmoving stare on me. “This. Whatever you’ve been hoping for from me.”

I almost flinched as the fingers locked inside me, squeezing a rush of embarrassed heat to my face.

He…he knew?

“I know you have a crush on me,” he said as if I’d spoken my thoughts aloud. “But it isn’t going to come to anything. Ever.”

The hand holding on to my sternum twisted and ripped open my pride. And a damaged pride coupled with embarrassment was a recipe for the type of defensive anger I could never quite control.

Yanking my palm back from his forearm, I fortified my shoulders and plastered a careless expression on my face. It was a little harder to force a scoff past my clenched jaw, but I did it. “You’re full of shit if you think I have a crush on you , Shehryar.” I cocked my chin and gave him a disbelieving smirk. “But let’s just say that was true, what makes you so sure I couldn’t win you over?”

It was a stupid question. I never should have asked. But in order to do some damage control I needed to know.

“I don’t like you, Mariyah,” he said with a harsh bite to his voice. “You’re immature and lack any sense of responsibility. I only tolerate you because you’re Princess Esmeralda’s friend.” He leaned into me, his pale eyes piercing my soul. “And dolling up and throwing yourself at me isn’t going to change that. If anything, it just proves my point.”

The hand was so far gone inside me by the time he was finished that I couldn’t find any part of it to grasp onto and pull it out. Even if I had found it, my fingers were shaking too much with hurt and bruised emotions to have had any real strength to grip it. So, I reacted as I felt.

Like a wounded animal, I protected myself in the only way I knew how. By lashing out in fury.

I fell back a step and threw my head up to the sky and laughed. I hated how the high-pitched sound cracked at the end, but that only fanned my anger more. “If you think that I was throwing myself at you, then you’ve clearly never had someone actually do so. Which would be shocking if you weren’t such a self-centred prick. So, I suppose in that case, you deserve the lack of attention. Not that there’s much worth paying attention to in the first place.”

His eyes spat fire, and his anger was sweet against the bitter pain in my chest. I waved my hand carelessly between us. “I’ll admit. I may have been curious about what you were hiding under those clothes.” I let my gaze slip down. “Can’t blame a girl for thinking you might have had a big dick.” I snapped my gaze back up. “But now it’s very clear that you radiate small dick energy, and I have no interest in a mediocre lay.”

Shehryar huffed a cruel sound, though his expression only changed with a slight lift of his brows. “Your assumption that I’d want to take you to bed is astounding.”

“Not as astounding as your assumption that I give two shits about what you think of me.”

“That’s hardly surprising.” He cocked his head as he pushed his hands into his coat pockets. “What rich, spoilt little girl cares about anything other than herself?”

A renewed stab of hurt flashed through me, causing my tongue to swell and my ears to ring. “Ah, so this is a complex thing.” I forced out a stiff chuckle. “Poor boy with no dad needs to criticise the rich girl to make himself feel better. That makes a lot more sense.”

A deadly aura fell over Shehryar as his expression turned cold and murderous. A hard jolt of fear made me realise I had crossed a line, though it didn’t quite dampen my ire and hurt. I was beyond the point of any regret and apologies. At least, right then I was.

“You’re Esmeralda’s friend,” he growled, so low and slow, after a long, tense minute. “But bring up my dad again…” He moved towards me, closing me in against the railing, and it was a mission and a half not to shrink back against it. “And I’ll make your life fucking miserable .” A pulse of alarm pounded through my chest. “I suggest from now on you stay out of my way, Mariyah.”

“Finally,” I managed to bite out, hating how he’d turned me mute for an instant. “Something we can agree on. Glad we had this heart-to-heart to fix your dumbass misunderstanding.”

I shoved him away and charged back in the direction of the restaurant. But the moment my back was to him, the frustrated tears pooled in my eyes. Twisted pain and embarrassment blazed inside me.

Fuck him. Fuck you, Shehryar. The stupid fucking dickhead.

I was done with him.

My stupid crush was fucking over.