Read Online THEIR_VIRGIN_PRINCESS by Shayla Black Lexi Blake - Free Book Online

inch of this place because they were always watching over
     her. They did a sweep of her room every single night before she went to bed.
     One of them was always somewhere in the shadows, waiting to defend her.
    And now it looked like she needed them more than she’d
     imagined. Some psycho had gone to a lot of trouble and expense to make her life
     hell and was probably waiting to do it again. God, that someone must truly hate
     her. The fact that it could be someone she knew boggled her mind. She tried to
     think of any obvious enemies she might have, but came up terribly blank.
    “Alea? You went pale again.” He carried her to her bed and
     settled her on top of the silky, pale-gray comforter. His hand went straight to
     her forehead. “You’re hot.”
    She wished he’d said that in a way that meant he found her
     attractive—and that she could believe. Unfortunately, Cooper Evans was an
     outrageous flirt. She couldn’t take anything he said seriously. And he’d only
     meant the words medically.
    “It was stuffy in the ballroom.”
    Cooper looked behind him. “Where the hell are they? I need
     my kit.”
    “I’m not sick,” Alea insisted. “You don’t need to examine
     me.”
    She struggled to sit up. She really did need to talk to
     those investigators since she’d only gotten a brief glimpse at the reports, and
     so much of what they’d said had been strained through the filter of her
     incredulity. Just thinking about what had happened in the past—what might
     happen again—her heart ratcheted up to a jackhammer’s pace.
    Oh, god no.
    For the last two years, she’d been plagued by panic attacks,
     though they’d begun to slow down. She’d thought she was getting better, but now
     she couldn’t breathe. Damn it, she needed to breathe.
    Alea pushed off the bed and started charging across the
     room, her blood racing through her veins, her heart roaring in her ears.
     Blackness swam at the edge of her vision.
    “Lea? Baby?”
    The “baby” nearly did her in. She needed his arms around
     her, and it wasn’t going to happen. Coop probably called every female under the
     age of eighty “baby.” Even if his voice had been so tender that she wanted to
     cry, she couldn’t take his endearment personally.
    Suddenly, Coop raced around her, gripping her shoulders,
     holding her secure. He towered over her, his golden brown hair shining under
     the soft recessed lights. His broad shoulders seemed to go on for days. He
     looked so masculine, so fiercely capable of protecting the woman he loved. Yet
     Coop regarded her with such soft concern.
    She wanted to melt against him—and if she did, she’d make a
     fool of herself. Time to put space between them. “I’m going to the bathroom.
     Just go away, Cooper. I’m fine.”
    Alea charged toward her luxurious bathroom, slamming the
     door behind her. He would leave now. And damn it, no, that wouldn’t disappoint
     her. Cooper had a job to do, so of course he would retreat outside her bedroom
     doors, leaving her utterly alone.
    Even knowing that’s what he should do, she leaned against
     the back of the door, trying to get a lungful of air, and fought tears. Why cry
     for what she couldn’t change? Angrily, she swiped at the wet paths on her
     cheeks, then wound her hands to the back of her bodice, pulling at the cinches.
     In a moment, her breasts broke free and she dragged blessed oxygen into her
     lungs.
    She pushed the whole gown off and got out of the god-awful
     spandex undies she’d forced her body into because she didn’t want anyone to
     know that she wasn’t perfect. God, if they only knew.
    Tears streaked down her face as she turned and caught sight
     of herself in the mirror. She wasn’t beautiful. She was supposed to be a
     princess, but somehow she’d ended up with small breasts and an ass that was a
     bit too wide. Her stomach wasn’t flat.
    They had beaten her for that in the brothel. She could still
     feel the switch they had