The only thing I didn’t want to struggle with ever again was finding the love of my life. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was this woman sitting right here in front of me, and there was nothing that could change that. I wanted Sasha, and I was going to do everything in my power to prove it to her.
I walked past my mother, who was standing in the middle of the room, and put my hand on her shoulder, giving her a warm smile. I wanted her and my father to both know that I wasn’t being defiant. I wasn’t doing this to get back at them or to make them feel as though they had failed. Quite the opposite. I wanted them to bring Sasha into the family. I wanted them to take her in as one of their own. I wanted her to feel comfortable in a royal family when she didn’t have a single drop of royal blood in her veins, because I knew that she was the one for me.
When I reached her, I bent down and gave her a kiss, seeing the tears running down her cheeks. I knew that it didn’t matter what anyone else said any longer; I was going to have this girl for my own, and she was going to forever be by my side. She wrapped her arms around me, and I could feel her heart beating against mine. I pulled back and looked at my mother and father with a smile, doing what I could to get them to see how much I loved this girl.
At first, no one said anything. I felt my heart sink as I began to fear what my father was going to say. I knew that he wasn’t going to be happy about this, and I knew that he likely was going to think that I was wasting my life. He probably thought that I had gotten some random girl pregnant, and now I was just acting out because of it.
He didn’t understand what it was like to fall in love and marry someone the way that I had, because he had always had to consider the political side of things. I wanted to show him that there was a different way to love, and I wanted him to see that my happiness mattered more to me than the throne.
To my surprise, it was my mother who spoke up, not my father.
“I think that this is wonderful. What you have just said there, Antonio, is the exact passion that your father and I have been wanting to see out of you for years. We don’t want you to get married for the sake of getting married, and we don’t want you to change for the sake of changing. We want to see you happy. We want to see you living life to the fullest, and we want to see you being real with yourself, and with the world around you.” She smiled and I looked at her in surprise.
“We don’t care if you marry a rich girl or not. What we care about is that you love her and you love life. You are going to find that there is so much this world has to offer, if you are willing to reach out and take it. Now, I am satisfied with what you have just said, and if you are willing, Sasha, I will pass on the throne to you when the time is right. Don’t you agree, dear?” She looked at my father, and I could see surprise in his eyes.
There was a moment of silence, then with a sigh, he nodded. I could feel the blood rushing through my veins, and I looked down into Sasha’s eyes. I could see she was amazed by the things she had just heard, but there was one more thing I needed to say.
“Sasha Greening, will you be my queen?” I asked, and she giggled. She buried her face in my chest, and I felt my heart skip a beat.
“I will, I will!”
Chapter 24
Sasha
“I will! I will!”
As the tears began to spill from my eyes, we came together in a sweet embrace, and I held him as tightly as I could. I could scarcely believe it; everything was just perfect. My prince beside me; our baby inside me. We were going to be a family!
All the anxiety, all the worry of the past few days seemed to melt away as he held me. The King and Queen broke into decidedly unregal whoops and cheers as we continued to kiss, almost unaware that we had an audience.
Perhaps sensing that the time had come for them to make their exit, Antonio’s mother and father made their way to the door, closing it gently behind them.
Grateful for the sudden privacy, our kiss became more passionate, and I felt that familiar heat rising within me as Antonio began to move his hands over my body.
Calling on my last shred of willpower, I broke the kiss. There was one more thing I needed to ask.
“Antonio,” I said. “Do you really mean it? You’ll be there for me and the baby? You really want me to be your wife?”
The look in Antonio’s eyes was the only answer I needed, and he took a deep breath, regaining his composure before he spoke again.
“Sasha, I’ve done some pretty stupid things in my time, but letting you go was the most idiotic of all. I’m done with that now. I swear to you, and our baby, I’m never letting you go again.”
He looked ready to continue, but I’d heard enough. I pulled him to me and our mouths met again, our passion threatening to overflow.
As he took my hand and led me towards the bedroom, I reflected that, for someone who was usually so organized, I hadn't planned for any of this. I hadn’t set out to be someone’s queen.
For years, I’d been happy to stand in the background, working to make everything perfect for one New York couple after another. But what is it they say? Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.
In that moment, I realized that maybe this was for the best. Maybe now was the time to stop making plans. Everything would fall into place. Everything would be perfect on its own.
Epilogue
Sasha
Sunlight poured in through the shades, and I blinked lazily as I rolled over. I was surprised to see that I was waking up alone, though I smiled as I remembered that Antonio had spent the night in our beachside home, where I had opted for a hotel. Though we had spent many passionate nights together in the previous months, Antonio was fiercely traditional in some ways, and had insisted on spending the night before our wedding apart.
Of course, I tried to tell him that it was all meaningless superstition, but he wouldn’t hear any of it. He had been raised to believe such things were bad luck, and he wasn’t going to risk it. After all, he’d told me that I was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him, and he didn’t want to do anything that could jinx our marriage down the road.
We’d been back in San Peluzzi for six months by the time the day of the ceremony arrived, having returned from our travels three months before our baby’s due date. Since I’d been expecting when we’d got engaged, we had decided that it would be a good idea to take a pre-wedding honeymoon and enjoy as much time as we could, just the two of us, before the baby arrived. We’d both known that once that happened, we were going to be full-time parents, though nothing could have prepared us for the rush of love and bonding that came when our daughter was born.
While we already considered ourselves a family in every way, I couldn’t deny that I was looking forward to make things official. Even though my fiancé had talked me through the basics, I had no idea what to expect as a princess—and later as a queen. I knew I was going to primarily be responsible for supporting Antonio in his royal duties, offering my own advice when and where I felt it was needed, but besides that, I didn’t know much at all about the days that were ahead of me.
Antonio assured me all those things could be worried about later, and he wanted to get to know me in every way possible before the wedding—and the baby. His parents, having decided that he was now fit to take on the throne, agreed to us leaving and spending a few months traveling around Europe, him experiencing things without having the responsibilities of the kingdom on his shoulders.
Needless to say, I was more than eager to begin the journey—and my new life with Antonio. A year before, I had quit my job back in the States with nothing more than a phone call and a few transfers of the weddings that I was supposed to be planning, then I had called my parents to let them know the news of the wedding and of my pregnancy. They had been shocked, but at the same time my mother had known that there had been something going on between me and this Italian prince, so when I had told her that I was going back to Europe on short notice, she had been less than surprised.
/>
We’d packed for the trip and left almost immediately, neither one of us feeling inclined to stick around and deal with the rumors Antonio was sure to face after his second wedding ended in scandal.
It had been the most magical time of my life, and I had enjoyed every second of it. Although Antonio had proclaimed his love for me on the couch that glorious afternoon, it wasn’t exactly the kind of proposal that was going to satisfy me, nor was it the proposal that did him justice. Antonio had been used to simply asking women if they would marry him and throwing some sort of ring on their finger, but that wasn’t the way I wanted to do things, and it certainly wasn’t the way he was going to do things with me.
He’d made his formal proposal in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, getting down on one knee in front of the crowd that had gathered to see the structure lit up at night, and though we were already planning to get married, I couldn’t help but tear up at the gesture. He simply pulled the ring out of his pocket and looked up at me, asking me to be by his side for the rest of his life.
For one of the only moments in my life, I had been rendered completely speechless. With a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, I’d nodded as I leaned forward and put my arms around his neck, a few of the nearby tourists cheering and taking photos of us.
We’d gone back to our hotel room and made passionate love to each other, and though back then my pregnancy had been starting to show by that point, I hadn’t hesitated in taking my clothes off for him. It didn’t matter how much weight I gained or was going to gain, Antonio made it clear that he had eyes only for me.
The rest of the trip had been just as romantic and mystifying, as each day I had to remind myself that I was engaged to a prince, and going to one day be a queen. It felt so surreal, like it was something out of a story book I’d read when I was a child. But, every day I rolled over first thing in the morning and saw Antonio sleeping next to me, and I reminded myself that this wasn’t at all a dream—it was my life.
Now that our wedding day had arrived, I was feeling nervous, anxious even. Our baby daughter was at her grandparents’ house—the palace, and Antonio was at our house, his once-bachelor pad. It was strange being the only one in the hotel room, and the quiet weighed down on me, though I could feel a sense of calm washing over me as I slid out of bed and walked across the room to the window. I had often dreamed of the day I was going to get married, but it hadn’t ever been anything like this.
There were butterflies in my stomach, and I couldn’t wait to get over to our place to get ready. I did find it ironic that he didn’t want to spend the night with me but would allow me to get ready for our ceremony at his house, though like many other things, I had learned not to question some of Antonio’s quirks. I pulled on my silk robe and rang for breakfast to be brought to my room, then I walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror.
Though it had only been three months since our daughter was born, the baby weight was coming off faster than I had ever thought possible, and I could already see my old curves and figure returning. Part of me was relieved that I had lost enough weight to fit into the dress I had chosen to wear, but another part of me was happy that I had reached a point in my life that I didn’t care about such frivolous things any longer. I was going to be a queen, and I could allow myself to carry a bit of extra weight from the pregnancy of the new princess of the nation.
I heard my phone chime in the other room and hurried through brushing my teeth and combing my hair. Before I even reached my phone I knew it was going to be Antonio texting me and wishing me a good morning, and in the back of my mind I was glad this was going to be the last time he’d have to text me such a thing.
There were no doubts left in my mind. I was ready for the next chapter in my life, and I was more than eager to get it started. I knew I was going to make a good wife, and Antonio was the man for me. There were little worries still circulating in my stomach about becoming queen, but at the same time, I knew as long as I had Antonio there to help me, then I was going to make it through just fine.
It didn’t matter that he was royalty and I was just some girl from New York. We had fallen in love, and I was going to do everything in my power to make him the happiest man on the planet.
No matter what.
* * *
“Hurry up, or you’re going to be late!”
“I can’t be late to my own wedding!” I rolled my eyes and grinned as I finished putting the final touches to my makeup. I slipped outside, eager to get into the limo for the short ride down to the beach. Antonio was already out in the car, and when I arrived, he gave me the most charming smile.
“You look like a queen,” he said with a wink, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
We arrived on the beach—the very same beach we had met on all those months ago—and I sighed happily as I saw that it was flooded with guests. I had done much of the planning myself, and I had been more than happy to do so. I could see that everything was as I wanted it to be.
Antonio got out of the car first and headed to the front of the gathering, waiting for me. I took a few deep breaths when I was alone, getting ready to make my own appearance. I could see all the people were waiting, and I silently prayed that I was going to make it through the ceremony without doing anything embarrassing. With a sudden surge, I pushed through the door and walked into the sunlight.
The guests all gasped as I walked up the aisle, but at that moment, the only person I could see was the love of my life. I was going to be married to this man. I was going to rule by his side, even if that meant I did only support for the decisions that he made. I was going to be there for him; I was going to rise to the occasion.
We would exchange our vows, and we would tell the world that we were now one. Nothing was going to separate us, and nothing was going to come between us. All that mattered in life now was me, Antonio, and our baby. I never thought I’d be this happy. I never thought that there might be a person out there who was meant for me.
I had to hold back tears as I spotted my daughter being held by her grandmother, the two of them surrounded by the excited faces of our friends and family. Looking ahead, everything else seemed to fade into the background as I took in the man standing at the front of the group with his eyes on me—the only queen in his world.
I reached the top of the aisle and turned to face him, thrilled that I was going to become this man’s wife. In that moment, I knew that nothing else mattered. It was going to be him and me now.
King and queen forever.
The End
Also by Layla Valentine
You Can’t Resist A Bad Boy
His Surprise Baby
SEXT ME
Dr. Ohhh
His Eternal Flame
Babies For The Billionaire
Triplets For The Billionaire
Quadruplets For The Billionaire
Baby, ASAP
Share Me
Baby Bet
Theirs to Share
Wanna Puck?
Bought By The Boss
Sold To The Hottest Bidder
V-Card For Sale
The Boss’s New Plaything
Boss Me, Bind Me
Buy Me, Bride Me
A Baby For The Bad Boy
Mountain Daddy: The Single Dad’s New Baby
Royal Baby: His Unplanned Heir
Lucky Baby
He Takes What He Wants
Take Me
Killer
Steal The CEO’s Daughter
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More Layla
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Buy Me, Bad Boy
Do Me Doctor
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Protect Me - A Steamy Bodyguard Romance (You Can't Resist a Bad Boy Book 5) Page 88
