Spank me! Master

                                              PART I

                                           ************

1

                                     *******

***BRIDGET***

“Spank me! Master, spank me!”

I stifled a laugh at my bodyguard Booth’s face as Leather

the parrot squawked in his cage. The parrot’s name said all

you needed to know about its previous owner’s sex life, and

while some found him amusing, Booth did not. He hated

birds. He said they reminded him of giant flying rats.

“One day, he and Leather are going to get into it.” Emma,

the director of Wags & Whiskers, clucked her tongue. “Poor

Booth.”

I held back another laugh even as I felt a small pang in my

heart. “Probably not. Booth’s leaving soon.”

I tried not to think about it. Booth had been with me for

four years, but he was leaving for paternity leave next week

and staying in Eldorra after to be closer to his wife and

newborn. I was happy for him, but I would miss him. He was

not only my bodyguard but a friend, and I could only hope

his replacement and I had the same rapport.

“Ah, yes, I forgot.” Emma’s face softened. She was in her

early sixties, with short, gray-streaked hair and warm brown

eyes. “Lots of changes for you in a short time, my dear.”

She knew how much I hated goodbyes.

I’d been volunteering at Wags & Whiskers, a local pet

rescue shelter, since my sophomore year of college, and

Emma had become a close friend and mentor. Unfortunately,

she, too, was leaving. She’d still be in Hazelburg, but she was

retiring as the shelter director, which meant I would no

longer see her every week.

“One of them doesn’t have to happen,

” I said, only halfjoking. “You could stay.”

She shook her head. “I’ve run the shelter for almost a

decade, and it’s time for new blood. Someone who can clean

the cages without her back and hips acting up.”

“That’s what volunteers are for.” I gestured toward

myself. I was belaboring the point, but I couldn’t help it.

Between Emma, Booth, and my impending graduation from

Thayer University, where I was majoring in international

relations—as expected of a princess—I had enough

goodbyes to last me for the next five years.

“You are a sweetheart. Don’t tell the others, but…” She

lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “You’re my

favorite volunteer. It’s rare to find someone of your stature

who does charity because she wants to, not because she’s

putting on a show for the cameras.”

My cheeks tinted pink at the compliment. “It’s my

pleasure. I adore animals.” I took after my mother in that

regard. It was one of the few pieces of her I had left.

In another life, I would’ve been a veterinarian, but in this

life? My path had been laid out for me since before I was

born.

“You would make a great queen.” Emma stepped aside to

allow a staff member with a wriggling puppy in his arms to

pass. “Truly.”

I laughed at the thought. “Thank you, but I have no

interest in being queen. Even if I did, the chances of me

wearing the crown are slim.”

As the princess of Eldorra, a small European kingdom, I

came closer to ruling than most people. My parents died

when I was a kid—my mother at childbirth, my father in a

car accident a few years later—so I was second in line to the

throne. My brother Nikolai, who was four years my senior,

had been training to take over for our grandfather King

Edvard since he was old enough to walk. Once Nikolai had

children, I would be bumped further down the line of

succession, something I had zero complaints about. I wanted

to be queen as much as I wanted to bathe in a vat of acid.

Emma frowned in disappointment. “Ah, well, the

sentiment is the same.”

“Emma!” one of the other staff members called out.

“We’ve got a situation with the cats.”

She sighed. “It’s always the cats,

” she muttered.

“Anyway, I wanted to tell you about my retirement before

you heard it from anyone else. I’ll still be here until the end

of next week, so I’ll see you on Tuesday.”

“Sounds good.” I hugged her goodbye and watched her

rush off to deal with a literal catfight, the pang in my chest

growing.

I was glad Emma hadn’t told me about her retirement

until the end of my shift, or it would’ve been in my head the

whole time.

“Are you ready, Your Highness?” Booth asked, clearly

eager to get away from Leather.

“Yes. Let’s go.”

“Yes, let’s go!” Leather squawked as we exited. “Spank

me!”

My laugh finally broke free at Booth’s grimace. “I’ll miss

you, and so will Leather.” I stuffed my hands in my coat

pockets to protect them against the sharp autumn chill. “Tell

me about the new bodyguard. What’s he like?”

The leaves crunched beneath my boots as we walked

toward my off-campus house, which was only fifteen

minutes away. I adored fall and everything that came with it

—the cozy clothes, the riot of earthy colors on the trees, the

hint of cinnamon and smoke in the air.

In Athenberg, I wouldn’t be able to walk down the street

without getting mobbed, but that was the great thing about

Thayer. Its student population boasted so many royals and

celebrity offspring, a princess was no big deal. I could live

my life like a relatively normal college girl.

“I don’t know much about the new guard,

” Booth

admitted. “He’s a contractor.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Really?”

The Crown sometimes hired private security contractors

to serve alongside the Royal Guard, but it was rare. In my

twenty-one years, I’d never had a bodyguard who was a

contractor.

“He’s supposed to be the best,

” Booth said, mistaking my

surprise for wariness. “Ex-Navy SEAL, top-notch

recommendations, experience guarding high-profile

personalities. He’s his company’s most sought-after

professional.”

“Hmm.” An American guard. Interesting. “I do hope we get

along.”

When two people were around each other twenty-fourseven, compatibility mattered. A lot. I knew people who

hadn’t meshed with their security details, and those

arrangements never lasted long.

“I’m sure you will. You’re easy to get along with, Your

Highness.”

“You’re only saying that because I’m your boss.”

Booth grinned. “Technically, the Director of the Royal

Guard is my boss.”

I wagged a playful finger at him. “Backtalking already?

I’m disappointed.”

He laughed. Despite his insistence on calling me Your

Highness, we’d settled into a casual camaraderie over the

years that I appreciated. Excessive formality exhausted me.

We chatted about Booth’s impending fatherhood and

move back to Eldorra for the rest of our walk. He was near

bursting with pride over his unborn child, and I couldn’t

help a small stab of envy. I was nowhere near ready for

marriage and kids, but I wanted what Booth and his wife

had.

Love. Passion. Choice. Things no amount of money could

buy.

A sardonic smile touched my lips. No doubt I’d sound like

an ungrateful brat to anyone who could hear my thoughts. I

could get any material thing I desired with a snap of my

fingers, and I was whining about love.

But people were people, no matter their title, and some

desires were universal. Unfortunately, the ability to fulfill

them was not.

Maybe I would fall in love with a prince who’d sweep me

off my feet, but I doubted it. Most likely, I’d end up in a

boring, socially acceptable marriage with a boring, socially

acceptable man who only had sex missionary style and

vacationed in the same two places every year.

I pushed the depressing thought aside. I had a long way to

go before I even thought about marriage, and I’d cross that

bridge when I got there.

My house came into sight, and my eyes latched onto the

unfamiliar black BMW idling in the driveway. I assumed it

belonged to my new bodyguard.

“He’s early.” Booth raised a surprised brow. “He’s not

supposed to arrive until five.”

“Punctuality is a good sign, I suppose.” Though half an

hour early might be overkill.

The car door opened, and a large black boot planted itself

on the driveway. A second later, the biggest man I’d ever

seen in real life unfolded himself from the front seat, and my

mouth turned bone dry.

Holy. Hotness.

*******

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