by Imani King
“Understandable. I mean, if she was to marry you, she’s not just marrying you. She’s marrying the monarchy, she’s marrying your parents, she’s marrying the whole damn country for Christ’s sake. You can hardly blame her for being hesitant on that front. It’s a lot to ask of anyone.”
I sighed and looked down the heavy signet ring on my finger. It had belonged to a long line of Ilves kings before me, and I felt every ounce of its weight. “I know it is. But if she’s open-minded about it, and she says she is, then I just have to show her that it’s not as bad as she might think. I have to convince her that she is going to fit in, given some time. My parents will come around if they know that this is my decision.”
“I’ve known your parents for a long time,” Ryland said. “How very optimistic of you.”
He wasn’t wrong. My mother wasn’t one for trying new things, but if Eva were willing to give me a shot, then I would make it my mission to convince both of them. We talked a little longer, and then it was time for Rylan to go. He gave me a firm squeeze as he got into the taxi. “Follow your heart, man; I’m not kidding. I can’t wait to see what happens next.” As I shut the door behind him and took a step back onto the curb, I realize that he wasn’t the only one who was waiting to see what happened next.
I went back upstairs and found the flat was quiet. I went into our room and saw that Eva was asleep on the bed. But it looked like she had been up and got dressed. I hoped that she was feeling better. I sat on the edge of the bed and gently pushed a piece of hair out of her face. She awoke softly and opened her eyes. When she saw me, she smiled, and it sent my heart into a rapid beat.
“I was having a beautiful dream about a handsome prince,” she whispered.
“If it was Prince Harry, I’m going to track him down and punch his lights out,” I said with a chuckle.
She laughed.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Better. A lot better than this morning. I was just still a little tired.”
I lay down on the bed facing her as I pulled her into me. She came willingly, and I placed a kiss on her temple. “If you’re feeling better, perhaps you might be interested in something a little more intimate? Maybe we can work up an appetite for you.”
Eva didn’t answer me. Then she moved up and pulled my lips to hers. That was all I had been waiting for. I pushed her onto her back and began to kiss her passionately. She seemed as hungry as I was for this contact. There was something amazing about this experience now. This was the first time we were going to be together since we had admitted our feelings for each other. I wanted it to be something special.
As we began to shed our clothes, I had a sense that Eva felt the same way. This was a grand experience. I would do anything to be with her. These were the things I murmured in low tones to her as I continued to kiss her face and then her neck and then her collarbone. She arched her back offering her breasts to me, and I took full advantage of the fact. Her hands, in the meantime, found their way into my hair, and then she pulled my mouth closer up to hers even as her hips encouraged a different kind of connection. As if I needed any further invitation.
She surprised me when she rolled me over onto my back. She knew that I generally liked to be the dominant one in the relationship and the bedroom, but this seemed important tonight. She had told me that if I wanted to be with her, it was going to be on her terms, and this appeared to be the ultimate expression of that. I smiled up at her as I put my hands behind my head. “Whatever you want, baby. Take it all.”
She threw her head back even as she slithered down and down my body in a kind of slow torture. Her hands caressed each of my toned abs. She seemed to marvel in my body which turned me on even more.
Eva straddled me, and as she settled herself down on my hard cock, I felt as if I had finally come home. Home was wherever Eva was, and I would do everything in my power to make sure that it was always going to be that way. She began to shimmy her hips forward and backward and clenched me hard inside her velvet folds. It caused a wild sensation to vibrate through my body. I grabbed her hips and thrust her down hard on my cock. It was as if she understood. There was something primal about this connection now, and I wanted to ride it as far as it would go.
She began to buck her hips against me, and I knew that she was close. As she started to cry my name, my mouth found my way to her lips as I sat up. Her legs and arms wrapped around my torso, and I pulled her close even as I felt myself empty inside of her.
“I love you, Eva,” I whispered. The words were heartfelt. Every word was true, and I hoped that she could sense the sincerity in them so that she would never doubt them.
She stopped her lips just a hairbreadth away from mine. “I love you too,” she said.
I rolled her over so that she was underneath me, but I never left inside of her. “We will find a way to make this work,” I whispered. “I am never going to let you go.”
I saw her expression darken. I wondered what I said, but then she covered it by starting to kiss me again. Immediately, my body responded, and I felt my cock begin to grow hard again. There was one thing the woman definitely knew how to do, and that was distract me.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It was our third day in Paris, and I still felt miserable. I wasn’t sure if it was emotional or psychological, but both sides of it were starting to take a toll on me. I felt like Aidan and I had been covering the same ground over and over again. It was exhausting. I couldn’t think straight when I was around him. I was starting to think that I needed some space away from him to be able to think about everything that had happened.
We were having lunch at the same café that I had found up the block earlier that week. The conversation had been quiet and benign so far, and for the first time, Aidan seemed to be respecting the fact that I needed some quiet time for me. It was the first time in our relationship that I could recall things feeling tense and awkward.
Of course, that was to be expected considering we were sitting on opposite sides of the fence. Aidan was insistent on telling his parents about me and trying to change the Sorenian law around betrothal. Considering he had spent his entire life thinking that such a law was a good and acceptable idea, I knew that this had the potential to be one big trainwreck.
“I need to talk to you about something,” I whispered.
Aidan’s ears perked up. Probably because we hadn’t been talking a lot over the last couple of hours; mostly it had been arguing. The day had dawned gloomy and rainy, and it fit my mood exactly.
“Of course. What is it?” Aidan asked.
I took a deep breath. This was going to be yet another difficult conversation, but one that I felt was necessary. “At the end of our time here in Paris, I want to fly back to Scotland instead of going back to Sorenia.” I closed my mouth and waited for the inevitable negative reaction.
Aidan frowned as he put down his silverware. It was a bad sign. He was settling into his negotiate and persuade stance, which I had become more than familiar with over the last couple of days. “I understand your reluctance to go back to Sorenia based on what has been happening, but I would like you to reconsider that decision. I’m not going to stop you if that is what you want to do, but we’re stronger together as a unit.”
“Stronger together? You are the one who is pushing to change a law that has been in existence since the founding of your country,” I argued. I crossed my arms over my chest. “You act as if joining a monarchy is what I want to do. I’ve told you already that my life is simple. It doesn’t involve being in the public eye and having to be responsible for a bunch of silly activities that only serve to give the illusion of a perfect life and as if everything in the world is right as rain. I don’t want to be part of a royal family.”
I could tell that Aidan was offended by my words, but I was getting to the point where I was desperate. I wasn’t sure if all of my sentiments were exactly true, but it felt real enough every time I went over it in my mind. The idea of bei
ng followed around by cameras and having my every move reported in the newspaper and across the Internet made my skin crawl. I was a private person, and I could just imagine what skeletons would be found once the media decided to go to start digging around in my past. Oh, the headlines I was sure they could come up with.
“I think your idea of what it looks like to be part of the monarchy is based on some stereotypical reality TV shows and what you read in the tabloid press,” Aidan said. “You can make this life anything that you want to, and it can be very rewarding. You can make a huge difference in people’s lives, whether you believe that or not. The best part is that you and I can be together in the way that we want to be together, which I’m not pushing on you either. We’ll take it slow, if that’s what want.”
“What I don’t understand is if that is what you wanted, to have freedom of choice, why you haven’t done it before now?” I said.
Aidan threw his hands up in frustration. “I didn’t have a reason to do it before. I had no idea that a woman who would take my breath away and steal my heart was going to randomly sidle up next to me at a bar in Gibraltar. Forgive me if I wasn’t going to change my life when there was no need to do so before now. But isn’t the important thing that I am willing to do it now? For you? For us? So we can be together.”
I realized we had drifted far afield of my original request. We had jumped on the hamster wheel of the argument that we had been going around and around on for the last three days. I didn’t feel enough energy in my bones to continue it. I needed to bring the conversation back to the sharp pointed focus of what I wanted. “I’m telling you I don’t want to go through with anything like that. I don’t want to be the center of a public spectacle or scandal. Maybe if things had been different, if you and I had come from more similar backgrounds or met in another lifetime, it could work. But I just don’t see that happening, Aidan. I’m sorry.”
He looked away from me, but not before I missed the pain in his eyes. I hated that I was the one who had caused it. I just wasn’t sure how to reconcile what I felt for him with the reality of our situation. His parents had been trying to reach him every day, multiple times a day since we had arrived. He had been avoiding their phone calls. Even though he had said that he would tell them about me and about us, I’d asked him wait a few more days. He was half-cocked, ready to go off and throw away his future. I just couldn’t let him do that. I couldn’t risk that years from now, if we allowed the situation to continue, that he wouldn’t regret his hasty decision to throw his entire future into an uproar.
“You know what? I think that it might be best if I went back to Scotland as soon as possible,” I said. “I know that this was meant to be a romantic escape from reality, but I think we both have to face the fact that it doesn’t matter how far we go. This will always be your reality, and I don’t think I can deal with it. Not right now. Maybe, not ever. I told you, love might not be able to conquer all.”
Aidan reached across the table and took my hand. “I would like you to reconsider. I know that Imogen is coming to meet me at the end of the month. I want you there with me. It’s important that we show my parents what we have. That this isn’t a fly by the night kind of thing that can be dismissed. If you leave me now, it will only serve to make them think that this isn’t something I should bother fighting for, and they won’t listen. They win. They will have driven a wedge in between us. We need to stay together.”
I felt the earnestness of what he was saying, and I felt my walls start to crumble yet again. “I’m willing to keep an open mind about the fact that we could be together in some way. But I’m not ready to get married and throw in my whole lot with becoming a royal. I just can’t do that.”
Aidan’s hand tightened over mine. “Okay. Let’s start there. I don’t want you to leave me. I think going back to Sorenia is best, and then we will figure out where things go from there.”
“I’ll think about it,” I murmured. I saw him smile at me. My walls crumbled even further. He was so attentive. These were the things that I was forced to confront even as I was trying to get away from him.
Although I hadn’t felt well since I had arrived in Paris, Aidan had been there to cater to my every need. He’d gotten me soup and crackers and made sure that I was comfortable in bed and ordered every movie that I could think of for me to watch. He had only complained once that we hadn’t been out since we’d arrived, and so this was our first excursion outside of the flat. He was so thoughtful, and I felt the magnitude of his feelings for me. I just couldn’t bring myself to trust all of it yet. I felt as if the other shoe was going to drop any minute.
I wasn’t one to suffer from homesickness, but I was starting to feel out of sorts even more than before. At least in my own flat, in my clothes, in my world, I felt like I could deal with things that were thrown my way. Being in Sorenia and around Aidan consistently had thrown me off my game. I didn’t feel like myself, and it was starting to bother me more than I cared to admit. But, at the same time, I couldn’t imagine my life going forward without him. As long as he was willing to consider finding a way for us to be together that didn’t involve a scandal or coming into direct conflict with his parents, I was ready to give him the opportunity to make that happen.
“You should finish your meal. You are looking better, but we have to keep your strength up,” Aidan said. “Perhaps before we leave, we can go see the Eiffel Tower. I’d hate for us to leave without having at least one wonderful memory of our time together here. I promise not to bother you with any more talk about what happens in the future until we get back to Sorenia. For now, we can focus on just being us. That’s why we came here after all, wasn’t it?”
I nodded and felt a small bit of relief. But the pit of dread in my stomach wasn’t going away. For everything that Aidan said, I knew that this was nothing more than the calm before the storm. Things were going to get a whole lot messier before they got any better.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I kept my promise to Eva. As hard as it was, I focused on spending time together and maintaining a laser focus on the here and now. We went back to Rylan’s flat that evening and stayed tucked in bed watching more movies. The next morning, she seemed to feel better. I wasn’t sure if it was some stomach virus that she had picked up or what, but I was concerned about the dark circles underneath her eyes that told me that she still wasn’t sleeping well. I knew that I was a big part of that, and I was determined to bring us back to a happier place before we went back to Sorenia.
As promised, I took her to the Eiffel Tower. Although she had visited Paris briefly during her tenure living in Scotland, she told me she hadn’t ventured to the tower itself. It had been several years since my last visit as well and seeing the City of Lights from the viewing deck was downright breathtaking. I was starting to see more of Eva’s typical temperament come through despite her illness and the visible strain of what was going on between us. She seemed more like her old self, and I wanted to hold onto that.
We had lunch at a small café just beside the tower before talking about heading back to Rylan’s flat. I had purchased train tickets for us for that evening to head back to Sorenia. I was reluctant to do so just because I knew what was waiting for us on the other end. Despite my confident attitude with Eva that I would be able to talk my parents into understanding and agreeing to what I wanted, I knew it wasn’t going to come without a fight. My father was one thing, but my mother was a force in and of herself, and no matter what my father said and, despite the fact that he was king, he frequently fell in line with whatever his wife wanted. So the one that I needed to persuade wasn’t my father; it was my mother.
We arrived back at the flat and started to pack our things. For our stay, I’d had some clothes sent up from several of the famous designer houses for her, but I noticed that Eva was uncomfortable with the gesture. She didn’t seem like the type of woman who lived in designer frocks like my mother did, and I knew it would make her feel better to be back in her
clothes. I would make sure that there was a bath drawn and ready for her when we got back to my villa.
No matter what, I planned on taking care of her and trying to shield her as much as possible from what we were about to step into, but I had no intention of backing down on this. I was my mother’s son after all, and if she wanted to be stubborn, she was going to find that in this instance, I was going to dig my heels in as well. I knew what I wanted, and I wanted Eva.
Just as we finished packing, I saw a text come through from my mother.
We know where you are. We are sending someone to escort you home. Today.
I knew that this moment had been inevitable if we stayed in Paris. I was surprised that it took my mother this long to find out where we had gone. It wasn’t as if I had been super secretive about the whole thing. I had just wanted a few days alone with Eva, after all.
It was time for me to do what I had been reluctantly avoiding since the day that we arrived. I motioned to Eva that I was going to make a phone call. She nodded and had a look of hesitation on her face. She had probably correctly surmised that it had to do with something at home. It was time to come clean and rip the Band-Aid off. I didn’t want to trouble her until after I knew the score. She had enough on her mind without me continuing to add to it.
I made my way out into the central area of the flat and to Rylan’s office which overlooked a park below. The scenery should have had a calming effect, but my dread over the call I needed to make negated any of those types of feelings.
I dialed my mother’s number and waited for her to answer. I didn’t have to wait long. “It’s about time that you used that hunk of plastic to communicate with me,” she said without any further preamble.
