Hey, guys, I'm back! Sorry for the super late update. These last few months have been hectic. Thank you to all of the people who have stuck with this story even though the updates are very slow. As a reward for all my readers patience I have made this chapter longer than all of my previous chapters. I would like to dedicate this chapter to NinjaSukie Advanced Forever4.0! I appreciate your commitment and that you took the time to PM me and get my ass in gear to finish this chapter. Thank you! Here's chapter 3 of Winters Love. Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rowan, Meghan, or any of the other characters in this story except for the ones I may or may not make up in the future. The rest of the characters belong to the very creative and talented Julie Kagawa.
The bathing suit store that Rowan had decided to take me to was not the most modest place to buy bathing suits. In fact almost all of the suits were skimpy little two pieces that showed off way more skin than I was comfortable showing. I could feel Rowan's impatience with me grow. We had been at the store for an hour and I still hadn't been able to find a halfway decent swim suit. Rowan huffed in annoyance as I flicked through a rack of suits.
"Would you hurry the fuck up! We've been here for an hour already and you still haven't picked out a damn suit. If you don't hurry up and decide soon I'll pick for you and I can guarantee that you won't like what I pick out for you, Princess."
I shuddered at the idea of what Rowan would pick out for me. It would obviously have so little fabric to it that I might as well have been naked. Taking his threat seriously I made more of an effort to find a suit. After a couple of more minutes I found a back two piece with little cherry blossom petals on it. It was a cute swim suit if only it covered a little bit more skin, but I figured this was as good as it was going to get. I grabbed the suit of the rack and walked back over to Rowan.
"Not bad, Princess," he said as he looked over my choice. "Though I would have preferred you in something more…revealing."
I blushed at his comment and he took the swim suit from me and headed up to the counter. I trailed behind him noticing the way the women in the store followed him with their gaze. I rolled my eyes at their attempts to catch his eye. If only they knew what Rowan really was I doubt that they would be so eager to jump in bed with him. The lady at the counter scanned the tag and rang up the suit. Rowan pulled a credit card out of his wallet and handed it to her. I raised my eyebrow at this. I never figured Rowan would have any human currency. I always imagined bartering the way that the fey do.
With the swim suit in a bag, Rowan grabbed my hand and led me out of the store. I could feel the envious glares of the women as we left. The sun was very hot and bright as we headed down the sidewalk to Rowan's Dodge Charger. I had to give him credit. He had decent taste in cars. Rowan unlocked the car and went around to get in the driver's seat. I slid into the leather passenger seat and waited for Rowan to start up the car and turn on the air conditioner. The one good thing about driving with Rowan in a place that was hot like this town was, was that he cranked the AC up in the car.
With the blessedly cool air flowing against my face Rowan put the car in drive and headed to his house that he had on the beach. Rowan had explained to me earlier that apparently all the royals had houses in the mortal realm. He, in fact, had several around the world. I questioned Rowan on why he took me out of the Winter court considering that I was kind of a hostage. He responded that he talked Mab into letting him take me on a little "vacation", during which he would win my trust and make me a little bit more likely to help the Winter court and to keep me out of trouble.
I frowned at this and told him that I would never help the Winter court. He just laughed at me and said that he already knew that, it was just an excuse to get me out of the Winter court for little bit. I didn't know what was worse though. Spending time in the Winter court or spending time alone with Rowan, who was known to have a reputation with not only being a player but a heartless bastard as well.
Rowan pulled up into the drive way and stepped out of the car. I hurried after him in order to get into the nice air conditioned house. As soon as we were in the house I started to walk over to the plush couch against one of the walls.
"Don't even think about it," he said when he noticed where I was going. "We're spending the rest of the day on the beach. So get into that bathing suit I just bought you, and if you're not down here ready to go in ten minutes I will be bend you over my knee and paddle your ass red."
With that said Rowan headed up the stairs to his room. I blushed crimson at the image of him bending me over his knee and spanking me. I also had no doubt that he would do it too. With a sigh I headed upstairs after him. My room was all the way at the end of the hallway, two doors down from Rowan's. I slipped inside and started shedding clothes. I pulled the black two piece out of the bag and, after removing the tags, put it on. I sighed again and turned to look in the mirror. I was surprised to see that the swimsuit looked really good on me. It hugged my curves just right and the colors looked nice against my lighter skin tone. I didn't even look like a complete skank in it. I smiled at my reflection before I reminded myself that I needed to hurry and finish getting ready otherwise I was going to have a very sore ass.
That thought, surprisingly, did not repulse me. Instead it sent a tingling wave of heat through my pussy. My face heated up with shame at my reaction to Rowan's words. I shouldn''t have these thoughts or feelings about a man like him. Pushing those disturbing thoughts to the back of my mind I applied my sunscreen and grabbed a beach bag off the floor in my closet. My closet here was even bigger than the one I had in Tir Na Nog. It could've been another bedroom. This closet though unlike the one in Tir Na Nog was empty. Rowan hadn't allowed me to bring any clothes with me, not even a spare change of underwear.
I stuffed a towel into the bag along with my bottle of sunscreen. I headed downstairs and into the kitchen to pull out several bottles of water from the fridge. As I turned around I caught sight of Rowan descending the stairs. I almost dropped the bottles of water at the sight of him. He was in nothing but his swimming trunks and a pair of shoes, a towel thrown over one shoulder. His chest was chiseled and pale; a scar could be seen every now and again. He wasn't as thin as some of the sidhe nobles. He was more muscular and his shoulders more broad.
Rowan smirked at me when he noticed me staring. I quickly looked away and became focused with one of the many paintings on the walls. Rowan strode up to me and took my bag out of my arms, stuffing his own towel into it.
"I see you heeded my warning," he said as he glanced down at me. "That's a real shame. I was looking forward to spanking you."
I coughed on the drink of water I had taken. Rowan's smirk widened at the action before he turned to head out the back door.
"Come on, I don't have all day."
I glared at his back as he slid open the sliding glass doors and headed across the deck to the staircase that went down to the beach. I hurried after him partially afraid of retribution should I defy him and partly because I was excited for a day on the beach. It had been forever since I had last been. Rowan waited for me at the bottom of the stairs and as soon as my flip flop covered feet hit the sand he grabbed my hand and dragged me down the beach. The part where we were at was deserted and I was somewhat thankful for that.
Rowan looked around before abruptly stopping. He unzipped the bag and began rummaging through as I stared at him in confusion. Finally, he found what he was looking for and a smile grew on his face.
"Ah, here they are! I was beginning to think that you didn't bring them," he said as he pulled out the beach towel I had packed in my bag. He spread it across the ground and then plopped himself down. He glanced up at me and patted the spot next to him.
"Well, are you going to sit down or not? On second thought, keep standing, but I'd like for you to stand in front of me that way I have some shade," he said as he smirked up at me. I glowered down at him and then flopped down beside him. His smile widened and he laughed.
"You think you're so funny, huh?"
"I don't think I am. I know I am. And you're too uptight. You need to relax. I'm not going to bite." With those words he gave me a wicked grin that exposed his canines. I couldn't help but giggle at his antics. And he was right. I did need to loosen up a bit. I'd show him I could have some fun. I jumped up off the towel, kicked off my flip flops, and ran to the water. I dove in and splashed around. I turned back to look at Rowan and see his reaction. He continued to sit on the towel; a surprisingly gentle smile graced his face. My heart gave a hard thump at the look and I hurriedly turned away, a blush gracing my face.
Suddenly I felt hands softly grip my hips and I could feel his cool breath on my cheek. Damn, he was fast!
"What are you doing, Rowan?"
"You looked like you were having fun and I decided to join you. Though, I know another activity that we could do back on my towel that we could do that would be even more fun," he whispered in my ear. My face burned at his words and images popped in my head that should not be there regarding the second son of Queen Mab. Images that included me spread out across a towel, him in between my legs, pounding…
I shook my head at the dirty thoughts that had flittered across my brain. Bad Meghan! Bad, bad, Meghan! I jerked out of his arms and heard his loud laughter. I turned and glared at him. His eyes were shut and his head was thrown back as he laughed hard at my expense. That bastard. An idea popped into my head and I smirked wickedly. I scooped up some water in my cupped palms and threw it into his face.
Rowan gagged and coughed on the salty water and even stumbled backward and fell into the water. I giggled uncontrollably as he floundered around. Finally, he came up and gasped on the fresh air. After he had finally gotten himself righted he gave me a hellacious glare. Suddenly, a wicked smirk of his own spread across his face and I gulped internally.
"So I see how it's going to be, Meghan," he said as he slowly made his way toward me. "I hope you know you have started a war that you cannot possibly win." With that he lunged at me. I squealed and tried to get away but he was too fast and his arms wrapped tightly around my waist. I was suddenly hoisted into the air and I screamed at the action. I looked down at Rowan and he smiled viciously up at me. The look on his face was enough to tell me that I was in some serious shit.
"Rowan, don't you dare!" I yelled but it did little good. I soon found myself flying through the air before plunging into the salty ocean water. I came up spluttering and I could hear Rowan cackling in the distance. As soon as I got oriented I turned and gave him my most vicious glare. If looks could kill Rowan would be set ablaze and ripped to pieces.
"You bastard!" I screamed at him. Rowan just cocked an eyebrow at me in amusement.
"In all fairness, you are the one who started it."
"And I'll be the one to finish it!" I lunged at him and began to throw water into his face. Surprised by my attack, it took Rowan several minutes before he could react, but when he did he gave me everything he had. A few times I even felt like there were some chunks of ice in the water but they were never big enough to actually hurt me. It was probably him just playing dirty. We splashed each other for a few more minutes before I finally relented and called a truce. I almost splashed Rowan in the face again after seeing his smug smile of victory.
We headed back to the shore where we then proceeded to build elaborate sandcastles. Or more like Rowan built elaborate sandcastles and I just made a mountain of sand. I was never very good at building sandcastles. We played in the water and on the beach until the sun began to set. We packed up all our stuff and returned to the house. I headed up the stairs to go and take a shower. To my surprise there was a pair of shorts, a pair of panties, and a tank top lying on my bed. My guess at how they got there was probably the brownies that cleaned the house.
After I had taken a nice long shower and changed into my pajamas, I headed downstairs where I could smell the scent of something delicious. My nose was correct for there were two sacks of Chinese food setting on the counter. My stomach growled at the sight. Behind Rowan laughed from the couch.
"I figured you would be hungry. I hope you like Chinese."
"Are you kidding me?! I love Chinese food! I'm just surprised that the prissy Winter prince likes Chinese food."
Rowan feigned a look of injury and hopped up off the couch.
"You wound me, Princess."
I shook my head at his antics and dove into the bag of delicious fried delicacies. I had devoured my food within minutes and then went and sat down on the couch, flicking on the TV. Rowan gave me a look at how fast I had eaten before he settled himself at the counter and dug into his own food. I flipped through the channels until I came upon the SyFy channel. They were having the infamous Sharknado marathon. I chuckled to myself at the ridiculousness of the movie franchise. The first one was ok. The second one was pushing it, but this third one was going way too far. But my curiosity was too great and so I decided to just stay on the channel and watch the cheesy CGI effects and poor acting.
Rowan joined me on the couch shortly after finishing up his meal. We sat in silence for a few minutes before he turned and looked at me.
"What the actual fuck are we watching?" he asked. I laughed at the expression on his face. It was obvious the Winter prince had never heard of Sharknado and its sequels. I explained to him the plot of the movies and afterwards he just stared at me like I was crazy.
"That has got to be the most freaking retarded thing I have ever had the misfortune of hearing. I think I lost IQ points just by having you explain these ridiculous movies to me."
"Hey, I'm not the one who makes them. But they are kinda entertaining in their own way."
He rolled his eyes at this and returned his stare to the TV. That was how we spent the rest of our evening. Watching horrible death scenes and mocking the actors of the movies. When the movies were over, Rowan turned the TV off and stretched.
"As fun as that was, I need to head to bed. I have a busy day tomorrow."
"Alright, goodnight Rowan."
He nodded at me before heading up the stairs. I waited a few minutes until I heard his bedroom door close before I myself ventured up the staircase. I quietly shut my bedroom door and went to my bed. I sank into the soft sheets and stared up at the canopy above me. Thoughts of today swarmed my head and eventually I drifted off to sleep.
This was our routine for the next month. Rowan would be gone by the time I got up in the morning and he would almost always be back home by five or six. Then it would be an evening of fun. Sometimes we would go down to the beach and sometimes he would take me out shopping. He always liked to supervise my clothing purchases. I now had a full closet of clothes, shoes, scarfs, pants, and basically any other item of clothing.
The scary thing was that the more time I spent with Rowan the more I started to like him. Rowan wasn't as bad as his reputation said. He was actually kinda nice in his own weird way. He had his moment where he was a complete and utter dick but most of the time he was pretty relaxed. Thinking about all these things I came to a horrifying conclusion about myself. One that I did not want especially after my last encounter with a Winter prince. I was beginning to fall in love with Rowan and I knew that that would only end in disaster.