Royal Rebel (Second Chance Romance) Read online

  By JJ Knight

  USA Today bestselling author of

  Single Dad on Top

  Big Pickle

  Hot Pickle

  Spicy Pickle

  Royal Pickle

  Royal Rebel

  Tasty Mango

  Second Chance Santa

  The Accidental Harem

  Uncaged Love

  Fight for Her

  Reckless Attraction

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  About Royal Rebel

  ★★★★★ The cutest laugh-out-loud rom com of the summer! ~ USA Today bestselling author Blair Babylon

  ★★★★★ Quirky and charming but enchantingly heartfelt, this regal read will be one of your very best rom-coms this year. ~ BookAddict

  ★★★★★ A fabulous royal romance read! ~ The Dragon Den

  ★★★★★ This book delivered on the humor I love and come to expect when reading a JJ Knight rom com. I gobbled this book rather quickly because it's hard to put down. ~ Nicole's Book Musings

  ★★★★★ A refreshing romantic comedy that will put you in a great mood! ~ Sunny Shelly Reads

  ★★★★★ I LOVED this story so much & have to say thatRoyal Rebel is my favorite to date! ~ The Power of Three Readers

  ★★★★★ When a mistake puts her in the crosshairs of the "playboy" guard, she has no clue that her life is about to change in ways she could never even guess! You will need to read to see how play this out, trust me it is worth it! ~GaBooksLoverX Book Blog

  Royal Rebel

  You’ve never made a mistake like mine.

  It’s bad enough being a bloomin’ princess.

  It’s not all cake and tiaras.

  There’s rules. Expectations.

  Your internet is censored. Your cell phones are tapped.

  And your father is literally king.

  Mine made a law that no man between the age of seven and thirty is allowed to work inside the palace.

  Which means I’m surrounded by kitchen staff, female guards, and a dusty old tutor named Maurice.

  Now I’m twenty-three with zero experience around men. I’ve never even texted one.

  But on the castle lawn, there are dozens of hunky new guards working out below the tower. I spy on them every day.

  I’ve chosen one.

  Kind. Beautiful. Strong.

  I sneak through the underground tunnels to surprise him in the rose garden and tell him how I feel.

  Except when I finally confess my love through the trellis, and we walk to the end of the hedge to begin our forbidden romance…

  I realize I’ve accidentally propositioned the biggest playboy the palace has ever seen.

  Royal Rebel is a standalone romantic comedy about a princess who breaks all the rules, overzealous donkeys that interrupt make-out sessions, and a hunky guard who thinks he’ll never, ever, limit himself to one woman — until he does.

  Copyright © 2022 by JJ Knight All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews, fan-made graphics, and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Edition 1.2

  Casey Shay Press

  PO Box 160116

  Austin, TX 78716

  www.jjknight.com

  Also available in paperback: ISBN 9781938150968

  Contents

  1. Octavia

  2. Finley

  3. Octavia

  4. Finley

  5. Octavia

  6. Finley

  7. Octavia

  8. Finley

  9. Octavia

  10. Finley

  11. Octavia

  12. Finley

  13. Octavia

  14. Finley

  15. Octavia

  16. Finley

  17. Octavia

  18. Finley

  19. Octavia

  20. Finley

  21. Octavia

  22. Finley

  23. Octavia

  24. Finley

  25. Octavia

  26. Finley

  27. Octavia

  28. Finley

  29. Octavia

  30. Finley

  31. Octavia

  32. Finley

  33. Octavia

  34. Finley

  35. Octavia

  36. Finley

  37. Octavia

  38. Finley

  39. Octavia

  40. Finley

  Epilogue: Octavia

  Characters You Met in This Book

  Books by JJ Knight

  About JJ Knight

  CHAPTER 1

  Octavia

  My sister Lili grabs my hand as we rush down the long stone tunnel beneath the palace.

  Two princesses on the run.

  “This is exciting,” Lili says. She’s three years younger than me, just turned twenty. We’ve only escaped our guards one other time in our lives, when we helped our older brother Leo avoid his wedding a few months ago.

  The wall sconces light up as we approach each one, reacting with motion sensors. We go so fast I almost lose a shoe. I borrowed these silver flats from Lili, and we had to stuff tissues in the toes to make them fit.

  But they looked perfect with my jeans and silver sweater. Lili and I spent hours deciding on my look for this big day.

  Now, we only have to get there.

  “What are you going to say to him?” Her voice drops to a whisper. We’re in the part of the tunnels that branch near Mother’s office. That woman can pick up the sound of her daughters through a wall of steel.

  “I don’t know! Hello? I love you?”

  She shakes her head, her long brown hair settling on her shoulders. She’s definitely the prettier princess, so I had to be the wild one, streaking my black hair with blue and pink. I’m also freakishly tall, even if my feet are smaller than hers. I tighten my toes to avoid the shoes falling off. We should have used two tissues.

  “Octavia, you barely know him. Keep it simple. Tell him you’d like to meet.”

  “But we will be meeting!”

  “You know what I mean. At night, some other moment when you can spend some time together.”

  Right. Like that will be easy. We’re risking life and limb and our father’s wrath to do this.

  Meet a man.

  A guard, in fact.

  When I was born twenty-three years ago, my father took one look at me and decided that no boys between the ages of seven and thirty would be allowed to work inside the palace walls. No man would ever compromise his daughter.

  But this year my big brother Leo defied him and hired a new set of young guards. They’ve been training for weeks on the palace grounds, and I immediately spotted the one I wanted.

  Gregor Lisbon.

  He’s 1.99 meters tall (six-foot-six to you Americans and Brits). Twenty-four years old. Played rugby in high school. Strong. Huge. The sort of man who can sweep you up and carry you away.

  And he’s single. At least according to the serving girls who know these things. So I’ve fallen madly in love.

  But here’s the thing.

  We’ve never actually spoken. He has no idea I am p
ining for him.

  I’m going to fix that today.

  “Flashlight ready?” Lili asks.

  We’re coming up on the part of the tunnels where the lights have stopped working. We can’t report it, or our guards will know we’ve been here. They think we’re taking a nap.

  It’s a tremendous risk.

  This better be worth it.

  The next lamp fails, so I click on the flashlight. The final part is tricky, because we have to exit into an old mop room, make sure no one is there to see us, and pop into the hall to dash to the gardens.

  That’s where he’ll be.

  Not waiting for me. No, he has no idea I’m coming.

  But because he always takes a walk in the gardens after lunch.

  And this time, I’ll be there to meet him.

  I ease the tunnel door open and peer out. No one uses this closet, and stacks of deteriorating mops are there solely to hide the tunnel entrance.

  “It smells so bad in here,” Lili says.

  “Shhh.”

  We leave our flashlights in a bucket inside the tunnel by the door. I’m careful as I pass through the mops to avoid making noise.

  Lili almost knocks one over, but I catch it. “Careful!” I hiss.

  I pause outside the door to listen.

  “Anyone out there?” she whispers.

  “I don’t think so.”

  We slip into the hall. It’s empty.

  “Here we go!” Lili says. We exit a side door to the herb garden.

  No one has seen us. We hustle past the raised beds, mostly barren since we’ve only just started to see signs of spring this early in March.

  Soon, we’re out the rear gate to the back side of the rose garden.

  “I’ll stay here and keep watch,” Lili says, dropping onto a bench under the cover of a trellis. “Remember the signal.”

  I hoot like an owl, which is probably ridiculous since we’ve never seen an owl in Avalonia. But it’s what we agreed to.

  “Perfect,” Lili says. She looks me over, spreading my hair on my shoulders. There’s a chill in the air, but we didn’t think about coats. It doesn’t matter. I’m practically sweating with anxiety.

  She puts her hands on my shoulders. “Go get your man.”

  I give her a squeeze and hurry through the maze of rose bushes to the front entrance of the garden. Everything will go perfectly. I’ll confess my undying love. Gregor will take me in his arms.

  And we’ll live happily ever after.

  That’s what happens to princesses, right?

  My mind tries to butt in with a list of all the princesses with divorces, scandals, and tragedies, but I shove them away. This is the Disney version of the story, and I’m the lead.

  I smile down at my silver slippers. Even the shoes are right.

  The roses are barely budding, but the high trellis arches over the spindly vines, providing protection from anyone looking down.

  I hear male voices and duck behind the evergreen hedges that line the path to the entrance. This is a great place to wait. I can stay hidden until I’m ready to make my presence known.

  Footsteps arrive. A ton of them. There are many voices, plus the occasional hollow bounce of a ball on the path. Most of the guards head to the basketball courts after lunch.

  “I’m taking you down today, Sendrick.”

  “Not a chance.”

  “You couldn’t make a basket if we lowered it to the ground!”

  There are others. It doesn’t matter. Gregor is a man of routine, and his routine is to enter the rose gardens every day.

  The crowd moves on. It’s quiet for a moment.

  A single set of footsteps gets closer, walking along the hedge.

  It’s him! It has to be! This is how it’s happened each time I’ve watched from the tower.

  He gets closer, the clop of his guard boots firm and sure. He’s on the other side of these bushes! A few more steps and I’ll see him!

  I’m supposed to wait until we get to the roses, when we’ll be face to face.

  But I panic. What was I going to say again? I can’t remember. I blurt, “I might be in love with you.”

  The footsteps stop. I should walk around the tall hedge so I can see him.

  But this is nice. The leafy wall between us makes it easier. I’m so wild with emotion that I probably look like a crazy apple, all red cheeks and shine.

  No response.

  I push on. “It’s Princess Octavia. I’m not very experienced with these things, but I’ve been watching you.” Oh, gross. I sound like a stalker. I quickly add, “You’re amazing.”

  Gregor says nothing, so I drop to my hands and knees. The base of the hedge is only a twist of branches you can see through.

  His palace-issued guard shoes are still there.

  I stand back up so my voice won’t be coming from the ground. “I understand that there’s a risk to meeting me. My dad is a little overbearing.” I let out a shaky laugh. “But I’d like to see you. There are ways.”

  More silence. Maybe he’s not interested. My heart falls.

  “If you don’t want to, I understand. Go on to the courts with your friends. But if you are, I’ll meet you under the cover of the rose arch.”

  I wait, my heart pounding. I can’t hear him moving.

  I drop to the ground again. He’s tapping his foot.

  Then a step! Toward the entrance of the gardens!

  Oh, God. He’s coming.

  I crawl along the ground, watching his feet.

  Another step. Another.

  I stand back up.

  Here it is.

  The beginning of Octavia and Gregor.

  We first met in the rose gardens. It’s what we’ll tell our children.

  We walk side-by-side, separated by the hedge. Only a few steps until it ends, and we will see each other beneath the arch.

  Will he take my hands? Will we kiss?

  My heart hammers. This is happening!

  Three more steps.

  Two.

  One.

  I turn to face my great love.

  And gasp.

  It’s not Gregor at all!

  I’ve confessed to another guard!

  And this one is the worst! I’ve seen him flirting with the girls on staff, stealing away with them for trysts. Rumor has it he was caught with his face between someone’s legs on the back stairs!

  He’s the biggest manwhore of the guards!

  I suck in a breath, sure I’m going to pass out from fright.

  He shifts his mirrored sunglasses to the top of his thick, dark hair and gives me a slow grin. “Hello, Princess. Thrilled to do anything you like.” His eyes drink me in. “To the bench, then?” He peers up at the trellis that hides us. “Looks private.”

  What have I done?

  CHAPTER 2

  Finley

  This is certainly a surprise.

  Octavia, Her Royal Highness, Princess of Avalonia, crushing on me.

  She’s adorable. Her black hair is sleek and striped with pink and blue. Her silver sweater glints in the afternoon sun.

  She looks shocked, her eyes wide. I’m sure she’s terrified of being caught. I had no idea she was into me. I’m sailing with the thrill of it. I can already feel her in my arms.

  This is going to be an afternoon she will never forget.

  I reach for her and pull her close. “I didn’t think you remembered me.” I’m about to lower my face to hers when she wrestles away and steps back.

  “Wait. I know you?”

  Huh. She’s forgotten. No matter. “Everyone calls me Finley now. Nobody says Dory like you used to. Finlandorio was a mouthful.” I grin at her. “Although I like mouthfuls.” I lean in again.

  She takes another step back. “Dory?” Her jaw drops, and I see a glimpse of the small girl I once knew before I was ousted from the palace for getting too old. We played together most every day.

  I might have had a young boy’s crush on her, but it was har
d not to. She was a princess, and I was the son of a laundry worker. No longer getting to see her every day was the worst birthday present of my life when I aged out of her company. It took years to recover.

  I filled those years with every willing woman on the palace grounds.

  Except her.

  And here she is.

  But as her shock continues, I realize something’s wrong.

  She starts to pace, her fist in her mouth.

  That’s not how a woman looks when she’s into you.

  Understanding dawns. “That speech wasn’t for me, was it?”

  She opens her mouth to say something, then closes it again.

  I get it. I shake off the disappointment. The Princess was always a pipe dream, anyway. “So, who were you planning to meet?” I take a step forward, but she takes yet another back.

  “Don’t come any closer!” she says. “I know about you! You — you seduce women! You — you’re crazy!”

  So my reputation has preceded me. But she didn’t know who I was when she heard those stories.

  “Hey. It’s me. Dory. Fuzzball and Blockhead forever?” These were the names of our Webkinz.

  “Oh!” She presses her hand to her chest. “I forgot about Fuzzball and Blockhead.”

  “They got deleted in 2019.”

  Now her brow lifts. “You were still playing Webkinz in 2019?”

  “No. Naw. Okay, so I get nostalgic.”

  She taps her foot, and I swear parts of her haven’t aged a day.