Desert Heat

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: CROWNED

Lily was beyond horrified at what her husband had said to her; for all she knew, she might have accepted being his slave for life. The smirk on her husband's face made her angrier; he was clearly getting the best of her.

"If you get any closer to me, I swear I'll scream." Lily threatened him, but her threats meant nothing to the prince, who was having fun messing with her mind. Fear gripped Lily as the smile on her husband's face disappeared. Now that she thought of it, she wondered if she had simply imagined him smiling at her.

"No need to scream your little head off; I won't be forcing myself on you, and neither do I want to sleep with you," Prince Aziz told his wife as he moved across the room to remove his jewelry and, most importantly, his expensive rings.

Lily, still covering herself with her bed sheets, stared at him. She could not understand what was wrong with her. At a moment like this, she should have been pleased that the prince did not want to sleep with her, but instead, she felt insulted, as though she was not worthy of gracing his bed.

Something about the way her husband removed his jewelry and attire had her hypnotized, and she could not help but stare at him until he turned around and caught her.

"I see. You like what you see, huh?" Prince Aziz teased her, which made Lily blush and turn away from him with the bed sheet still covering her body. The prince continued to smile as he removed his traditional attire and stripped down to only his boxers and vest.

"I think you should put on proper clothes and leave this room as well," Lily informed him, but Prince Aziz did not budge; instead, he walked over to the bed, pulled back the bed sheets, and slipped into the bed.

"My princess, as I told you, this room belongs to the both of us; therefore, I will be sleeping here with you in this room." Prince Aziz answered his wife more firmly now, and it seemed as though his mind was made up and there was no hope of changing it.

Lily hated the thought of sleeping in the same bed with her husband, but even she had to admit that looking at her husband's body turned her on more than she would have liked to admit it.

"Are you going to sleep or are you just going to stand there at stare at me the entire night?" Prince Aziz asked his wife, and this startled her because she knew that her husband's eyes were tightly shut.

"How did—"

"Did I know that you were ogling at me? It's simple; I felt your gaze on me," Prince Aziz told his wife, and he smiled at her, signaling that he had gotten another one up on her.

"You know what?"

"What, my princess?"

"You should sleep on the floor; I do not want to sleep in the same bed with you!" Lily raised her voice at him, and this changed Prince Aziz's mood.

"How about this, my princess? You sleep on the floor since you are the one finding it hard to share a bed with me, and then I will sleep on this lovely bed, undisturbed?" Prince Aziz offered, and this infuriated Lily the more; she hated his guts and his arrogance, and she would not allow him to get away with it this time.

"I cannot sleep on the floor; what happened to being a gentleman?"

"It all ended the day you women wanted equality; now get in bed or sleep on the floor," Prince Aziz told her, not a single bit of remorse or compassion in his voice, and Lily was beginning to get fed up with his behavior.

"Oh, so you want me to sleep in the same bed with you so that you can force yourself on me?" She told him, and immediately she wished she had kept it to herself. Prince Aziz jumped up from the bed and walked towards her. Even with the lights dimmed in their bedroom, she could still see anger flaring in his eyes.