The Royal Contract

"Do your men report to you everything that I do?" Alex heard her asked him.

He wondered where she was going with this question, but he was willing to oblige her by answering her truthfully. Well, he had nothing to hide anyway.

"Just only pertinent information about your safety." He told her, glancing in her direction. 

"Oh, ok." She replied back but with slight hesitation. She wanted to ask more, but she could not think of a better way to rephrase her question without sounding offensive.

"My men don't report to me what you do or where you go to if that is what you are asking." He finally looked at her directly in the eyes to prove that he was telling her the truth. "I only asked them to make sure that you are secure at all times."

His men were only there to assure him that she was always safe and not spy on her. But he could only guess that she had a bad experience with men trailing her from the way her father had over-protected her. 

He could not blame Ethan for doing so. If he would have a daughter someday, he might do the same with her. Hopefully, not worse.

"I am just wondering because I saw him calling you earlier on his phone." She pointed to the man behind the wheels. Then, she lowered her head, feeling ashamed for doubting his intentions.

"Just for the record." He extended his hand to touch her face and make her look at him. "He did not call me to report to me. I called him. I want to make sure that you are at home because I was planning to surprise you with breakfast." He told her.

"Ok. I'm sorry for questioning your intention. I understand now." She smiled at him. She wanted to tell him how much she regretted distrusting him, but no words came out of her mouth.

"That's ok. I know you never like the idea in the first place. But thanks for indulging my request." He grabbed her hand and placed a kiss on top of it.

"I am just not comfortable having strange men following me around." She told him, lowering her voice as not to offend the man in front of them.

"Don't be afraid of them. I will not have placed my men as your protector if I do not trust them with my own life." He assured her. 

"Yes, now I can breathe more comfortably even if they keep following me around." She informed him with a sigh of relief. Somehow, his assurance gave her some peace of mind. She had nothing to fear from them, and they were not there to watch her every move.

"I brought you donuts." He pulled a paper bag at the side of the car. "I thought that we could share a breakfast to make up for my absence last night."

He knew that it was the perfect bribe to win her over. She loved her sweets. He knew that he could get away with that even if he had done nothing wrong. But he was happy to see her smile.

"Oh! I love donuts in the morning." She uttered with delight but quickly winced again when she accidentally moved her foot the wrong way.

Then his eyes shifted to her injury. "Can I see?" Alex spoke up. His voice suddenly pulled their attention back to her foot which was starting to hurt a little more.

"Ok." She held her legs closer to him. Then he assisted her by pulling her legs towards his lap as he checked on her foot.

Then, she realized that her other shoe was still with Troy, seeing her bare toes. She had forgotten all about it. She decided that she could get it later, once she felt better.

After a few minutes, she had forgotten all thoughts of Troy and her shoe as she felt relief from what Alex was doing. He started massaging the sides of her feet, letting his fingers caressed the surrounding unaffected area. 

His ministrations were giving her some relief which was also affecting some other parts of her body. 

"I miss you." She whispered to him, remembering the craving she had for him these past few days, especially last night. Now, she forgot about the pain that was causing her discomfort.

"You don't know how much I miss you too." He declared, remembering waking up earlier without her by her side.

He quickly rushed to visit and surprise her, only to find out that she was jogging with Troy. Then, his concern grew when he heard that she had a sprain during her run.

"But I think we should attend on the nasty sprain before anything else." He told her as he positioned her feet again in his lap where she would be more comfortable.

"I think we have no choice." Already thinking of how inconvenient it would be to be disabled in this way. "But I doubt if we could do anything else but lay on the couch all day." She said regretfully.

She was hoping that they could go out this weekend and spent time doing some activities. But now, she would be stuck inside the house doing nothing. Maybe she could use this time to work on her pending cases.

"I'm sure we can find something interesting to do while laying on the couch the whole day and night." He teased her with his smile.

"I'm sure you will never run out of ideas in that big brain of yours." She taunted back as they started bantering inside the car until they finally reached her apartment.

"Shall I carry you to the threshold?" He once again jokingly said as he carried her to the lobby for everyone to see. Then, they were inside the confine of the elevator.

Once inside her apartment, he placed her down on the couch and knelt in front of her. "First, can I kiss my girl?" He pulled her, careful not to touch the foot with the sprain.

"Thanks for coming to my rescue." She said and finally acknowledged that she appreciated his effort to see her. 

Then, as soon as their lips touched, they were both satisfied. The longing they felt for each other for these last few days suddenly disappeared. All that mattered was to be back in each other's arms.

They planned to savor every minute they were together. It was a painful reunion, but it was all worth it.