Emerald's Pride

CHAPTER 12

Emerald St. Clair's POV

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty."

I stirred from my dreamless sleep. When I opened my heavy eyes, my heart skipped a beat when I saw the familiar cobalt eyes smiling down at me. My face was only inches away from his!

I suddenly moved my head away from his shoulder. How did I fall asleep in such a position? I swear the last thing I remember was him comfortably sleeping in my lap...

"In case you were wondering, habibti..." he said, breaking the silence as if reading my thoughts. I could hear rich laughter in his voice. "...how you ended up sleeping on my shoulder? Simple. You also fell asleep during our flight."

"Why didn't you wake me up then?" I asked, slightly conscious that he saw me sleeping. How long since I fall asleep without realizing it?

"I didn't bother to wake you up because you were soundly asleep," he replied, his eyes twinkling with delight. "You didn't spill drool on my shoulder if that's what's bothering you."

Now that he mentioned it, I became more conscious of my appearance. I purposefully wiped the side of my mouth just to be sure.

He grinned at me breezily. "Don't worry, you're still beautiful in my eyes even if you drool in your sleep."

I could feel my cheeks heated at his teasing words. I was about to hit him with my fist when he jumped lightning-fast away from the couch.

He chuckled at my glowering face. "I told you. You will not catch me off guard again, my love. I learned my lesson from the last time you kicked my shins." He stretched his limbs with smiling at me. "I woke you up to tell you we finally arrived in New York. Welcome home, darling."

My eyes widened at his announcement. I stood from my seat and stared outside the plane window. I noticed that the plane was already standstill on the tarmac and there were two black SUVs waiting nearby.

"Do you want to freshen up before we go out?" Al-Farsi inquired lightly.

I touched my hair gently to make sure that my ponytail was still in place. It's been a long fourteen-hour flight, after all. But I was assured that it's still perfectly in place. I shook my head in his direction. "No need. Let's go."

"Excited to see your grandfather, are you?"

I threw an acid glare in his direction. "Shut up, Al-Farsi." I moved away from the plane window and started walking at the exit when I let out a cry as I was abruptly swept off my feet. The damned bastard was carrying me bridal style again. He was getting used to carrying me like this. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He smiled down at me. "Making sure that you will not fall from the iron steps of this plane because of your ridiculous shoes."

"Oh, for God's sake!" I glared at him darkly while struggling to be free from his hold. "I can slay a runway show right now wearing such heels with my injury."

"Not in my care."

"The fuck?!"

He looked down at me, the corner of his mouth twitching with a smile while descending from the aircraft. "I noticed that you keep on throwing that curse word at me." Amusement entered his eyes. "Why, my love? Do you want to fuck?"

I didn't care that he was a king or that there were other people on the tarmac patiently waiting for us when I hit his chest with my fist.

I thought I gave him a solid blow, but I guess it wasn't hard enough because he just laughed at me. "Did I hit a nerve, baby?"