by Ally Summers
“There’s no one better,” I admitted. “I’ve never wanted anyone in that position other than you. And I definitely don’t want anyone else in this position.” I grinned, eyeing her full breasts.
“I never thought this would actually happen. That it could happen. I dreamed about it, you know?” She propped herself forward and I studied the flecks of blue in her eyes. “But it was always a fantasy. There was no way for us to actually happen. First there was Sophia.” Her voice quieted. “And then there was the alcohol.”
“Both of which are in the past,” I reminded her.
“Yes.” She nodded. “But you see, I didn’t have a plan for this possibility. It was a dream. I didn’t plot out how to navigate it. I never thought about you ever looking at me the way I looked at you.”
“It shouldn’t be hard to believe. You’re beautiful. Especially out of that stuffy suit.”
“I’m serious. It was one thing to love you from a distance, this is different.”
“I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been distant. We’ve always been together. Inseparable, really.”
Her lips twisted. “Have you ever been this close?”
“I plan to always stay this close.” I cupped her ass in my hands. God, she had an incredible ass.
She sighed lightly. Her breasts rose on my chest. “I want the answer to be simple, Cor.”
“And it is.”
“How can you be so glib about it? This is a career I have created. A reputation that has been built by respect and hard work. And that’s just me. What about you? Can you imagine?”
“Imagine what?”
“What people would say about you. The optics for a prince seeing his royal manager would be irreparable. Not even I could come up with a spin for that.”
I laughed. “I think you could, if you had to.” I stopped. “I’m not worried about what people would say about me. I let public opinion ruin one relationship. You think I’d let that happen again? I’d never subject you to that.”
“There is no way out of this. You need to realize it and stop acting as if we have a chance. Last night was beautiful. I’ll never forget it. But I can’t resign.”
“Just when I think you have maxed out on principle, you surprise me by taking it up a notch.” I gripped her waist as I flipped her on her back.
She gasped.
“Listen to what I have to say.”
She nodded. Her breath was ragged.
“I want you, Elena DuBois. I want you in my bed every night. I want you in my arms every morning. We could sneak around and hide what we have from the rest of the palace. But that’s not why I spent fifty days in that damn rehab center. I’m not going to hide you like an addiction. I’m not ashamed. I want you on my arm, not as my advisor but as the woman I love. You deserve the respect of this palace and the respect of this country. I can’t give that to you if you stay my royal manager. And I don’t want you to have anything less. Do you understand?”
She looked at me. “Maybe.”
“You can’t stay under my command. We won’t work like that. The only way is to take this chance. You need to step down. And I need to step up. I won’t have anyone whispering about you, that you’re in my bed because I demanded it. That you’re paid to be here. Don’t you see that?”
“When you say it like that, I do. I actually do.”
“Good.” I kissed her throat, pressing my lips into her skin. “Then I’ll have your resignation after I’m done fucking you?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “But only if I can choose your next manager.”
“You can.” I grinned. “I told you I could convince you.”
“Just know, she’s going to be dreadfully boring and ugly. And old,” she added.
I laughed. “Fine by me.”
“Did you say you love me?” she asked.
Hadn’t I always loved her? Hadn’t I always needed her? “Yes. I did.”
“Say it again,” she whispered.
“I love you.”
“And this is real? All of it is real?”
I pushed her legs wide, gliding a hand to her pussy. I had been rough and possessive with her all night. I knew she was sore, but she was wet. I was already hard again, ready to be inside her. To love her differently. With a new purpose. A different message from my body that would end all her doubts.
“I think you’re going to need to clear my morning schedule, Miss DuBois.”
“The ambassador expects breakfast,” she explained. “I can’t.”
I separated her folds with a wide V of my fingers and she panted, bucking her hips for contact. But I wouldn’t give it to her.
I blew a long breath over her nipple. “Then he’s just going to have to wait.” I winked.
20
Elena
I was going under faster this time than I had before. He said he loved me. How had this happened? When was my wish granted? Was it the day I greeted him in the plane or was it the day I left him at the center? I couldn’t figure it out, only that he was confident he wanted us as badly as I did.
“Oh shit.” I gripped his shoulders when Cor toyed at my entrance with the wide tip of his cock. It was a beautiful pain. The rhythm he made, skimming around my clit eased the ache.
“I really need to grab a condom,” he groaned. “But you feel so fucking good, baby. I want to feel you one more time.”
I nodded. “Fuck me like this.” I panted. “Just a little,” I begged.
I didn’t know if he was worried I’d change my mind, but he thrust inside me before I had my bearings. I screamed at the intensity. He was making the most of it. I’d get my diaphragm for the next time, I promised myself.
“Oh, Cor,” I moaned as he pumped in and out with fire.
“You’re so tight. So perfect.” He palmed my breasts, pinching my nipples as my whimpers grew louder. “I love your body,” he growled.
His eyes sparkled. I couldn’t look away as he drove inside me. I knew he needed to find that condom, but we were climbing a peak, hand in hand. The friction we created was enough to set the sheets on fire.
“Princess,” he growled.
“Don’t stop,” I pleaded.
I saw the wolfish grin on his face and was instantly picked up and tossed on my stomach. I bounced, smiling and laughing at his playfulness. Cor kissed my thighs and moved along my skin, peppering my ass with long lingering kisses.
“That feels good,” I moaned.
“Does it?”
“Mmmhmm.” I lifted my hips. I didn’t know what I was doing. I let my body decide what felt good.
I tingled with excitement when his fingers rounded my ass and spread between my cheeks. I remembered what he promised last night and I was equally turned on and nervous to try something I’d never experienced. Was that where this was headed?
I felt the heat of his tongue lap at my skin and slowly make its way closer to my rosebud. I held my breath and then his tongue penetrated that tight ring of muscle. I let out a deep moan. Holy shit, it felt so good.
I stopped clenching and he was able to push his tongue deeper. I’d never felt anything like it. There was so much sensation. So much pleasure in such a small opening.
He nipped at my ass and his hands circled my waist. “That’s it, princess. Relax and it will feel good.”
“Ohh,” I whimpered, when he replaced his tongue with a finger. I wriggled and groaned. This was different. My hips bucked and he spread my ass angling deeper. He pumped in and out and I resisted, tightening around his finger.
I could barely accommodate this. How would I ever be able to handle his wide cock? Because that’s where things would lead. Maybe not today, but eventually. The idea excited me. I wanted to try something new and forbidden.
He bit at my cheek. “Relax,” he coaxed. “You’ve never had anyone here before, have you?” He curled his finger inside my rosebud.
“No,” I moaned.
Ahh, it was so surreal. Every time I gave in I was rewarded with an e
ntirely new set of sensitivity. My ass tingled with an erotic fullness. It was when I thought about it, and tensed, that I worked against the pleasure Cor was trying to give me.
“One day,” he vowed. “I’ll show you what you’ve been missing.” He kissed me again, plunging his finger deeper. “But you have no idea what it does to me, knowing you’re a virgin.”
“Shit.” My head fell backward as he pumped with a new fervor. Virgin? I guess he was right. I relished giving him this part of my body.
“Tell me to stop, baby.”
I shook my head.
His tongue circled my rosebud again, coating it so he could add another finger. I whimpered. He was spreading me to complete fullness. I didn’t know if I could handle it, but I wanted it.
“I’ll stop.”
“No,” I cried. “It feels too good. Please don’t.”
I heard the pained growl from his chest as he lowered his mouth to my ass again, licking and pumping his fingers. My hole was twitching and burning from his tongue and fingers. I needed and wanted them both.
Just when I thought I had hit the height of nirvana, his cock slipped into my pussy and I howled with pleasure. I’d never been so filled in my life. I rocked back, sinking onto his fingers and his cock at the same time. His fingers in my ass made his cock feel even bigger than before.
“Fuck. There’s nowhere to move,” he hissed. “I’m going to come again.”
“Yes,” I screamed. “Yes. Yes.”
I rocked wildly, clenching his cock harder than I ever had.
We had forgotten condoms. We had forgotten breakfast with the ambassador. The only thing that existed was the love flowing through our bodies and the most intense orgasms we’d ever experienced.
I fisted the pillows in my hand as my first wave exploded inside me. The tears spilled down my cheeks. There was nowhere else for my release to go. My muscles seized with intensity when I heard Cor grunt behind me.
“Come, love,” I coaxed.
“But…”
“Please.”
“Fuck, princess.” He unloaded everything that he had left inside me. I stilled while he pumped and vibrated.
Slowly his fingers retreated and he lowered me to the sheets, his cock still inside me. I loved the intimacy we shared. I loved the fullness of him inside me.
“I do love you, Elena DuBois.”
“And I love you. I always have,” I whispered.
“Ready to tell the world?”
I held his hand against my heart. It was still beating out of control.
“Yes. I’m ready.”
21
Corbin
If there was one person who couldn’t possibly give me shit about my relationship with Elena, it was my brother. I was on my way to his residence. Elena’s resignation letter was in my hand. In my jacket, I had the folded letter about my daughter. Elena insisted I tell him both things at once. I couldn’t keep secrets from the king. I knew she was right. She always was.
The guard nodded when I arrived.
“The king is expecting me,” I explained.
I pressed the button on the private elevator and rode to the upstairs apartments. Eden was in the study surrounded by notecards and papers. She had a cup of tea and her glasses were on her head.
“Good morning.”
“Oh, Corbin. Hi. Alaric just got out of the shower. Do you want some coffee? Tea?”
“I’ll take coffee,” I answered.
“How about some breakfast?” She smiled. “We have the best chef.”
“That’s ok. I had breakfast with Elena.” What was the point of making up stories? I was going to start the day with the truth. I wondered if Dr. Garcia would be proud of this new version of me.
“Oh?” She raised her eyebrows. She handed me a cup of coffee.
“Thank you.”
The bedroom doors closed and Alaric walked into the living room in a fitted black suit.
“Good morning, love.” He kissed Eden fully on the lips. I noticed how naturally his hand slid to her belly.
There was a sudden welling of jealousy in my chest. I never had that with my baby. I never saw Sophia’s body grow with our cub. I wasn’t there when she was born. I didn’t see her first smile, or know what her first word was. My brother and Eden had what mates were supposed to have.
I cleared my throat.
“Good morning, brother.” He slapped me on the back. “You’re up early.”
“Well, I have something important to talk to you about. It’s going to affect the palace and I needed to discuss it with you before Wallace goes on a tirade.”
Eden looked between us. “I’m going to get back to my research.” She reached on her toes to kiss Alaric’s cheek.
“Let’s go to my study.” He guided me down the hall and into his personal office.
I sat in a leather chair across from his desk.
“You look happy, so I’m confused. Whenever someone says Wallace and palace I assume it’s going to be a shitstorm.”
“It is. But one that makes me happy.” I smiled. I held up Elena’s resignation. I placed it on Alaric’s desk.
“What is this?” he asked.
“Read it.”
He skimmed it. She had been particular about every word. I knew it was meticulously written.
“What the hell? Elena is leaving the palace? And you’re happy? She’s invaluable.” I saw the anger in his eyes.
“It says she’s leaving her post as royal manager. It doesn’t say she’s leaving the palace.”
“Cor, what is this?”
I rubbed my jaw, placing the coffee cup on the desk. “I don’t know how else to say it except that I love her.”
“You what?”
“I’m in love with Elena. Probably have been a lot longer than I was ready to admit. But it was glaringly obvious when I got home. I want her to be my mate.”
“What the fuck, Cor? You’re insane. She’s a royal manager.”
I raised my eyebrows. “She was a royal manager. Now, she is mine.”
“Have you already claimed her? Does she know our family secret?”
I shook my head. “No. She doesn’t know. We haven’t had that conversation yet.”
He leaned against the chair, staring at the ceiling. “Fuck me. This is not what I was expecting this morning.”
“Before you figure that one out. I have another one.”
He groaned. “Great. What the fuck is this one about?”
“Secret love cub on the loose.”
He huffed. “Don’t joke.”
I unfolded the letter and slid it toward him. “It’s not a joke. Sophia was pregnant when we broke up. She had the baby in the U.S.”
His forehead creased. “She did what?” He read the contents of the letter.
“I’ve enlisted Johannes Montclair’s help. He has located Sophia and the baby. They are in South Carolina.”
“In Eden’s home state?”
I nodded. “It appears so. Although, just a strange coincidence.”
“Have you spoken to Sophia? What are her terms?”
I shook my head. “There are no terms. She doesn’t know I know. It was clear she never wanted me to know. If it hadn’t been for the nurse who wrote this letter, I never would have known I have a child.”
“There is a Marquis in the United States. Our shifter line is across the ocean.”
“I want to bring her home. I want to know my daughter. I need to teach her about what she is. Who she will become. What it means to be a princess and a bear shifter.”
He looked at me. “You have to. She belongs in the palace with her family. I know now more than ever what it means to have a child. She needs her family, Cor. Sophia can’t possibly handle a cub.”
“So you support it?”
“You have my full support.”
“Good. Then, I’m going to get her and bring her back, no matter what it takes.”
He pushed the lodestar out of the way. “And El
ena?” He shook his head. “I should have seen that one. She has loved you for years.”
“Wait. You knew?”
He huffed. “Everyone has known. Though I’ve never once questioned her integrity. But why else would a woman put up with your drunken debauchery? She has loved you longer than you deserved.”
I felt the guilt claw at me. He wasn’t wrong.
“Elena knows about the baby. She wanted to stay on as my manager to coordinate everything, but I couldn’t let her be subjected to that kind of judgement. We need to stand beside each other. I need her support. Not her subservience. This resignation will show the palace I see her as an equal, not as my employee.”
He clasped his hands together. “Wise move. You know, Eden once accused me of labeling her as a royal concubine.”
“Did she?” I chuckled.
“And a number of other choice words.”
“You probably earned them,” I jabbed.
“I always do.” He grinned.
“I’ll be pleased to tell Elena we have your support.”
“You do. And Eden is going to be excited. I think she was kind of expecting Juliette to be around. And you know that disaster with her roommate and Russel LeRoy. I think she’s been missing her girlfriends. And she’ll finally have someone to talk bears with. I think it will be a comfort and a relief to her. It’s a hard secret to bear for a human.”
“I can see that. The queen hasn’t had anyone. And Elena wouldn’t either if it wasn’t for their new sisterhood.” I paused. “Cosette is Eden’s manager?”
“She is.”
I shook my head. It was a tangled incestuous mess. Cosette and Elena were close friends. Things would be awkward between them with our new arrangement.
I rose from my seat. “I need to get back. We have a lot of plans to make. And even more people to tell. I wanted your blessing first, brother.”
“Well, you have it. And we’d like to have you both over. Soon.”
I nodded. “Maybe when we get back.”
“Are you going to South Carolina that soon?” he asked. He followed me through the doors and to the elevator.
“Goodbye, Your Majesty.” I waved to Eden in the dining room and turned to my brother. “We are. I’d like to leave by morning. I’ve been waiting two months for this.”
