speaks, she slurs her words. "There he is now. He’s my date. If you will excuse me?"
I grab her arm before she can walk away. "You think that I'm going to just let you drunkenly wander around here? You may be a princess, but I am your minder. And if you think that I am going to just let you embarrass the royal family by appearing on television right now in your current state, you’ve got another thing coming."
Gritting my teeth, I start to pull her back toward the limousine that she just left. The chauffeured car has long since pulled away from the curb, but I can still make it out, stuck in traffic.
Nika pulls herself from my grip once again, this time hissing at me. "What are you doing? Let me go!"
I don't even look at her. I just use my overwhelming size to push her through the crowd, trying to ignore that people are definitely turning their heads to see what the fuss is about. Honestly, it wouldn't even be that big of a deal, except that Nika is so well known.
I’m man handling the country’s princess, after all.
So, while I'm doing my best to shield her from prying eyes, everyone is probably whispering about the fact that the Princess is being forcefully removed from this event. That isn't what I want per se. But if it comes down to deciding between making Annika angrier with me or protecting the royal family from embarrassment, I know what I will choose.
I make it down to the street, all but carrying Nika. She doesn't even try to resist, really. She just looks mad and flushed as she glares up at me. Her mouth is screwed up like she's just bitten down on a lemon.
A hand lands on my shoulder, pulling at me. I glower, turning my head to see that Nika’s dark-haired date has followed me. He is looking between me and Annika, a little bewildered.
This close, I realize that he’s actually taller than me. I raise a brow.
“Could you fuck off?” I bite off.
He flushes, looking at Nika beseechingly.
"Princess Annika. Do you need help?" he asks, his voice unusually high and grating for someone so big.
I shrug out of his grip and step backward, pulling Nika into my body protectively. The last thing I want is to cause a scene here where everybody can see us. But I don't have time or the inclination to explain myself to this random dark-haired stranger.
Annika looks at me, arching a brow. "I don't know. Do I need assistance, Erik? Or do you want to just let me go right now? Because I will cause a scene. That much I assure you of."
A man wearing a tuxedo, a headset, and a clipboard cuts into our argument. "Excuse me, Princess Annika? We need you to walk the red carpet now so that we can prevent the back up of celebrities as we begin our event. We want to go ahead and get you seated in the front of the room, at the table of honor."
Annika looks at me with a little smirk and wrests her elbow from my grasp. Then she straightens her dress and looks at the dark-haired man she's chosen as her date. She holds her arm out and smiles, showing off her teeth. "But of course. Let's go, David."
Her date takes her arm, leaning close to whisper in her ear. "It's Ben."
She pats his arm and starts walking back towards the red carpet, climbing the stairs once more. She doesn't spare a second look for me. I am left to follow in her wake, having the depressing realization that this is what babysitting royalty is all about.
If it weren't for Annika being so interested in flirting with me, this is exactly what it would have been like the entire time that I had been tasked with this duty.
I suck in a breath and hold it as I trail after Annika and Ben down the red carpet. No one is interested in me, which is not surprising at all. Everyone is interested in Annika, taking their microphones out for a comment and peppering her with questions. She smiles in a way that does not seem genuine and somehow manages to walk down the red carpet, despite the fact that she is drunk and those gold heels that she is wearing look like torture devices.
Sexy, yes. But they definitely look like she could die at any moment.
She pauses on the carpet, posing