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Raven stretched before responding. “I know. I have some required duties to handle today myself.”
“What time will you be done? I want to have lunch with you. My calls should be completed no later than twelve noon.” Dexter stood from the bed, not bothering to slide on any clothing since they were about to climb in the shower “Come on. Let’s get cleaned up.”
“Okay,” she smiled at him. “Are you going to wash my back?” She threw the sheet covering her body to the side and lifted one leg, placing one foot flat on the bed.
Dexter walked to the end of the mattress and placed his hands on his hips. “Are you going to get out of bed, or do I need to make you?” The little minx winked at him before she placed her forefinger and thumb on one of her nipples. She squeezed the flesh and released a deep moan. “I think you should make me.”
A wicked grin came over his face. Oh, damn, this is what he liked. “Game on, Princess.”
Two hours later, Dexter was settled in one of the many offices in the palace. He placed a few calls to the states and waited for some things to begin moving. His longtime acquaintance, Maxwell Bishop, had been first on his call list. Although he and Max grew up in very different places, they had more in common than people expected. Even the two of them.
Max recently married the love of his life, a woman named Kiana Moore. If anyone understood the urgency of the situation, it would be his friend with the questionable ties to the dark underworld. As long as Max didn’t allow his closest friend and business partner, Nicholas Mitchell, to have free rein, they’d leave Shularia standing when they were finished. Nico was a goddamn psychopath, yet Dexter smiled at the thought. He was just glad the mobster and the assassin were on his side. Dexter glanced down at his watch and noticed the time. Since he was waiting on a call back from Max, he decided now was a good time to speak to his parents. Dialing their number in Jackson, Tennessee, the phone rang a couple times before his mother picked up.
“Hello? Dexter?”
“Hey, Mom.”
“Oh, Dexter! Where have you been? Your father and I have been trying to reach you for days. Horatio,” she yelled, “get in here. Your son is on the phone.”
Of course, Dexter was always his father’s son when he did something to annoy his mother. After a few moments of waiting, his dad joined the line.
“Son, where are you? Your mother’s been worried sick.”
Translation, his father was actually the one losing his mind. “Well, that’s the thing, Dad. I’m on a little trip overseas.” Dexter knew the next words out of his mouth would send his parents into the stratosphere. For one, they never expected him to settle down. Two. Although they knew Raven was very wealthy and protected, his parents didn’t follow modern social media. They had no idea Raven was royalty.
His father was the first one to speak. “Boy, are you over there in England looking at that new Princess they got?”
Dexter’s mother began to mumble under her breath. “I don’t know what the big deal is about her. Americans don’t have no royalty. A mixed gal in the royal family, and a redhead. I bet their babies are gonna be funny looking.” Her words were harsh, highlighting her true feelings about mixed-race marriages.
“Wilhelmina!” His father yelled out his mother’s name, which didn’t happen often. “You stop all that nonsense talk. Did you forget that gal our own Dexter brought home? She’s mixed with something too. Although every time I asked her or that guard about it, they ignored me.”
And with that statement, Dexter had heard enough. “I need the two of you to stop talking.”
Dexter’s mother gasped. “Horatio? Did your son just tell us to hush?” By the time she was finished speaking, his mother was yelling into the phone. She was no shrinking violet but occasionally liked to play the role if she thought it would get her what she wanted. Guess she was done trying to play the good mother role.
This is one of the reasons he’d left home in the first place. His parents, mainly his mother, were so stuck in their ways, they couldn’t see past their little corner of the world. That wasn’t the life for him. Never would be. They’d either get on board or not. Either way, he didn’t really give a fuck.
“Mom. Dad. I need you to listen to me. There’s something I need to tell you about Raven.” Dexter knew his parents were going to flip. It was one thing to believe Raven is just some rich girl from another country. It was something else altogether to find out she was wealthier than the entire state of Tennessee, and a few other US locations. That she was a Royal Princess, and heir to her father’s throne, would add even more insult to injury.
“I knew that girl was trouble,” his mom muttered.
Then it was his father’s turn again. “Son, there’s other fish in the sea. She’s not the only girl out there. Just keep on looking, and I know you’ll find the right one.”
Dexter dropped his head back against the chair. His fingers pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel the headache coming, and it hadn’t even been five minutes. This must be a new record.
“As soon as those fancy bouncers came to our house, traipsing all over my living room and kitchen with their highfalutin’ shoes, I knew that girl was no good.” Wilhelmina Sorenson wasn’t going to let this go.
Dexter almost wanted to laugh. His parents’ old ways of thinking, combined with their need to support him, had them both going off on a tangent, making up responses to statements he hadn’t even made. If he were in Raven’s shoes, he would have run to another country just to get away from these two. “If the two of you would listen to me, I can tell you exactly what’s going on. I asked Raven to marry me,” he finally stated into their silence.
“You did what?” His parents yelled in unison.
“There’s more. That overseas trip I’m on? I’m in Raven’s home country of Abingdon. I’ve met her parents, and they’re good people. I know the two of you don’t understand, and I can’t make you. Hell, I’m not even going to try.” Dexter sighed, but knew this had to be done. “I love Raven. She loves me in return. I know the two of you grew up in a different time and place and I’ll never understand how you can still think the way you do after all these years. Bottom line, if you can’t accept her, or my decision to make her my wife, then that’ll be your loss.”
His mother spoke, her voice almost a whisper. “It’s not that we don’t accept her, it’s just—”
He knew what she was going to say and didn’t want to hear it. Her words were just excuses at this point. Dexter interrupted her awkward explanation. “There’s something else you both need to know. Raven’s official name is Her Royal Highness, Princess Raven of Abingdon, Duchess of Laskovia.”
“Son?” His father rasped out. His voice was raw with emotion.
