And good gods, I wanted him too. The slickness in my panties was for him. Because of him.
I grabbed his hand, turning to walk towards the piece of furniture in question, crossing the living room floor. "Join me?" I asked, plopping down on the sofa. .
He nodded, sliding down beside me on the cushions "Yes."
Kostas' voice was nothing more than a throaty whisper. It was like he was hellbent on bringing me to my knees with the timbre alone.
"It's comfortable" I sounded breathless. I was breathless. Breathless and shaking.
He nodded, leaning closer to press his forehead against mine. My body sang for his touch as he tilted his head closer, lips brushing over mine and making my stomach clench in a most pleasant way. He made a sound in the back of his throat when I slid my hand over his abdomen. I kissed my way down his jaw, settling on his throat. I went off of instinct and nothing else. He seemed to like it when I kissed him there.
I boldly climbed into his lap, pressing him back against the back of the couch until I couldn't anymore.
I prayed I wasn't being hopelessly awkward.
I hiked my leg up over his hips and he helped me straddle him. His hands roved up and down my denim-clad thighs and I was hard-pressed to remember anything except the feel of them on me. Firm, and yet surprisingly gentle. He parted his lips over mine, his tongue sliding into my mouth again. I whimpered and his grip tightened on my thighs.
My hips rolled down against his, rocking in a way that felt familiar and new all at the same time, even though my jeans made it difficult for either of us to get anything out of it. It didn't stop us from enjoying it though. He was an excellent kisser, and his hands even roamed pleasantly beneath my top without ever wandering too far for my comfort.
I ended up leaving a few hours later, with an ache between my legs that just wouldn't go away, lips sore from his soft nibbles and kisses, and even more confused as to what kind of decision I would make regarding my suitors.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Violet
To say that I was surprised upon my reunion with Tristan would be an understatement; the entire day surprised me, from beginning to end.
I'd started out by being astounded by his looks.
He'd always been tall and gangly. It felt like the entire time I'd known him, he had legs and arms too long for his body. It wasn't something I could ever have faulted him for, but it became an easy target for internalized rationalizations of my anger when he'd been rude or mean to me as a child.
The last time I'd seen him was right before I'd gone to college. He'd remained cloistered in our library while Gideon and I had gone to play badminton with our parents. I remembered asking him if he wanted to join us. He'd laughed at me. Straight out laughed at me before turning and making for the library.
He looked totally different than the last time I'd seen him. To run the risk of sounding shallow, adult-life had been kind to him. He was even taller than I remembered, finally tall enough to merit the arms and legs. He'd even grown into his nose and jawline a little more, not that they'd been misfitting features before. Honestly? He'd become a heart-stoppingly handsome man.
He was wearing a tailored suit and had his dark hair all combed up in the front and swept back. His light green eyes bordered on gray, and the color gave him a cool gaze with which to survey his surroundings. With one hand in his pocket and the other behind his back, he looked very picturesque.
In short, he looked like he'd wandered out of a men's fashion magazine, making me sputter a little bit when I saw him.
The whole aesthetic did have a little to do with the sunbeam that was falling just behind him, I think. It was my mother's idea to meet the two Stalswift princes in the front sunroom, so when Tristan turned towards the door upon my entrance, his entire figure was silhouetted by the bright sun behind him. He looked a little bit like an angel and I was stricken, okay?
I audibly gasped and both he and Gideon chuckled.
Tristan held out his hand first, taking mine tightly and pulling it up to his lips. He pressed a soft kiss to the back of it.
"Your Highness," he murmured, smiling.
"Call me Vi," I replied, still a little starstruck as he returned my hand to my side.
I felt a little doll-like in my movements. No, mannequin-like was perhaps the more correct term. All the same, I was stiff and poseable.
Gideon extended his hand, and I took it, only to be pulled into his arms for one of his hugs. "I missed you, Vi," he said, placing me back down on the tiled floor.
"It hasn't been that long," I said, laughing.
"Long enough," he insisted. "Too long, even."
Tristan was standing back, politely giving us space as we greeted one another. Gideon reached over to pat his shoulder.
"I'm going to let you two get reacquainted, but I'll join you for lunch?" He glanced between us and nodded once. Grinning and waving, he left the room, turning to the right and then, thinking better of it, back to the left before walking down the hall.
His footsteps receded and Tristan and I looked at one another, an awkward silence filling the room now that Gideon was gone.
That resolved things, didn't it? While Tristan was gorgeous, Gideon was as well. But Gideon was a great deal more friendly than Tristan was. Therein lay my resolve.
Which dissolved almost as soon as it kicked in because, of course, Tristan chose that moment to break into what had to be the most beautifully perfect smile I'd ever seen. "It's been a long time, Vi.How are you?"
I gulped. "Fine," I replied, my voice low and raspy.
His eyebrows went up. "Just fine? I hope you're not still worried about that courier situation…"
"Oh no, not that. . It's a new and different predicament I find myself in…" I trailed off."Wait-- Gideon told you?" I asked.
He nodded knowingly. "He was worried about you and, I have to admit, I soon was as well. I don't think I would have handled the same situation with such aplomb as you managed to, so I am glad to hear it's no longer causing you strife. Also, that it's inspired you to volunteer."
I smiled. "Not so much anymore. I still go to the animal shelter once a week, but after I cut myself at the soup kitchen with a knife, I haven't been able to go back."
"Why? Is there an insurance liability or something preventing you?"
"No, nothing like that. Well, maybe it's a little like that."
Tristan looked confused, so I elaborated. "It's um… my advisor, George. He won't allow me to--"
"Won't allow you?" Tristan rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Vi, you have to stop letting that man rule your life. I have an advisor, too, and she's not even here with me when I travel. Their role is to advise, not disallow."
"Well, I'm sure that's how things are done in Etria, but here in Justana, advisors are necessary." I was parroting back what my father had said to me, having suddenly felt the need to go on the defensive. Of course, I also felt a bit embarrassed, so I walked over to the window and gazed out at the front lawn for lack of something else to do.
He followed me, his hands behind his back as he stood a respectable distance away from me. "I apologize," he said softly. "I can tend to become rather passionate sometimes."
I let out a chuckle. "You didn't say anything I haven't been telling myself."
"It's just… You've always let him dictate everything you ever did. Even this, even now. As much as I believe I will enjoy spending this time with you, I know this wasn't your first choice of ways to spend the week."
I sighed. "It's just… Tristan, we never got along when we were younger. We're too different. My discomfort has nothing to do with my being forced into anything. I just don't feel I know you. You wouldn't let me, before. And now? You're so different from how you used to be."
"You've made your choice then?" he asked. "I assumed as much. Your visit with my brother seemed to go well and let me be the first to say how happy I--"
"I've done no such thing," I insisted, the biggest truth I'd ever told. If any
thing, I was further from making a decision than I ever had been "Now come on. Let's go for a walk outside."
He had an amused expression on his face, but he nodded and followed me. He kept his hands behind his back as we walked, making our way down to the courtyard.There was a hedge maze there that was a lot of fun to walk through, but only if you were with someone who didn't know their way. I had memorized all entrances and exits, every twist and turn. But, as far as I knew, Tristan hadn't ever set foot in the maze.
As we entered, I turned towards him. "Is there a reason you have your hands behind your back? I promise, no one's going to think we're up to anything if you touch me."
"There is a reason. I am hopelessly awkward and I don't know what else to do with them," he confessed, laughing.
I extended mine, and he glanced down at it for a few seconds before unclasping his from behind his back and taking it. He kept the other folded where it was.It still looked like he was escorting me onto the dance floor or something equally formal, but it was a start.
"I'm not so different from how I used to be," he said quietly.
"Well, you're not being smug or rude to me, or making fun of my lack of intelligence, so I'd say that's a difference."
"I used to be a prick, didn't I?" he chuckled.
"So you're not anymore?" I asked.
"Oh, I am," he insisted."Just in different ways."
"Such as?" I led.
"I'm as stubborn as a mule, I'm sure Gideon could tell you. I'm also rather pushy, which you've already witnessed, I'm afraid."
"You called it passionate before."
"Yes, well. It's more romantic to be passionate than pushy, and since I'm trying to talk myself up, yes. I'm a very passionate man, Vi.My passions run deep and I will waste no time telling you about them and why you ought to have them, too."
"Fair," I conceded with a smile. "Of course, how could I know you wouldn't use your stubbornness and passion to try to sway me to your side on each and every debate?"
"You plan on debating with your future spouse?" he asked, clearly amused.
"Hmm…" I peered up at him. "Seems like you don't know me very well either, huh?"
"A problem I am currently trying to solve," he assured me. "But, to answer your question, I don't believe I'd be able to sway your opinion no matter what I did. As I remember, you are more stubborn than I am."
"Okay, maybe you know me a little bit," I conceded, laughing as we turned yet another corner into a dead end.
"Do you know which way to go?" he asked, looking around.
"Of course I do."
"But you're not telling," he concluded.
"Bingo," I said, laughing. "Lead the way, O Passionate Prince."
Lead he did, albeit around turns and into another dead end. He stopped in the middle of it, looking around even as he continued our conversation. "Why do you think we didn't get along as children?" he asked, turning us around and walking back the way we came.
"Because, as was previously stated, you were a super snooty, rude prick," I said bluntly. "And I was a stubborn mule-girl, so we were doomed from the start."
"Ouch," he hissed. "Hearing it summed up altogether like that is a bit of a shock."
"I'm sorry?" I winced. It had been kind of harsh.
"In my defense, I was scared of you," he said.
"Why would you be scared of me?" I asked.
"Well, besides the fact that you are a self-described 'stubborn mule-girl', when you were six and I was eight, you dunked me in the pool."
I scoffed. "So did Gideon!"
He laughed. "I didn't say it was a rational fear!"
"So I dunked you in the pool and that translated into you being snooty and mean for the following sixteen years?"
"For the next six. The following six after those, I blame puberty. The four after those, I was in college and was being mean and snooty to a whole new set of people."
"Ah. So you've gotten it all out of your system?"
"Not quite. I'm still a little scared of you."
"Pft. I'm like five foot nothing. I couldn't dunk you if I tried, Tristan."
"There are other things to be scared of," he countered, locking eyes with me. "Like this, right now. I'm making eye contact with you, holding your hand, we're hopelessly lost in a hedge maze…"
"And?"
"And, I can easily see myself falling for you. And there's a fifty percent chance you'll hurt me. So yes. Very scary."
"Rawr?" I said tentatively.
A soft smile formed on his face. "Super scary."
His voice was low, gravelly almost. And his hand was still in mine as we moved infinitesimally closer together, the moment stretching out longer than it had any right to, given what we were moving toward.
He licked his lips as he bent slightly, meeting me halfway and inhaling sharply upon contact.
My belly flip-flopped and I wrapped my other arm around his neck, tugging the hand I had clasped in mine around my waist as I moved closer, deepening the kiss. His other arm joined in, finally making an appearance from behind his back.
His lips were soft, but there was a power behind them that I could feel all the way down to my toes as I rose up on them, making myself taller and better able to give him as good as I got.
It felt as if time had stopped the moment our lips met, but it hadn't, and once the kiss ended, I immediately brought my hand up to cover my mouth.
Well, fuck…
Super scary indeed.
I was pretty sure I'd just added another choice to my list of potential boyfriends. And I'd thought today would confirm it was time to cross Tristan off. I swallowed thickly and tugged his hand after me as I walked further into the maze.
"Well, here's one less scary thing." I tilted my head in the direction of the next turn. "The way out is this way."
Tristan followed behind me, likely watching my face as my eyes darted this way and that, picking turns to take us towards the exit.
"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.
I shook my head. "No. I'm not."
"Was it something I-- was the kiss wrong?"
I shook my head again. Harder. "No. It's not that. The kiss was perfect. It's just…" Tears pricked at my eyes as the end of the maze loomed ahead. "There's the exit. Let's go have lunch."
Tristan peered at me the entire time it took us to walk back inside. We'd only been out for around a half an hour and it was nowhere near lunchtime.He seemed to understand that this was something I needed because he brokered no argument when we walked into the palace and onward towards the game room.
We found Gideon playing billiards. He looked really surprised to see us when we approached him.
"Tristan! Vi! It's not lunch time yet, is it?"
"No, It's not," I said, folding my arms. "But I can't choose, Gideon… Tristan…" I turned to include both of them. "I can't choose between you and I don't know what to do now."
"Violet," Gideon began.
"It's just that the three of you each have these awesome qualities. You're awesome guys and I can't choose."
"Wait…" Gideon held up his hand. "Did you say 'three' of us?"
Tristan squinted and nodded his affirmation.
Fuck. I had. I had said three.
I closed my eyes and brought my hands up to my face. "Yes, I said 'three'."
"Who's the third?" Gideon and Tristan asked in unison.
"Kostas," I replied, seeing no reason to lie.
"Kostas?" Tristan asked, wrinkling his brow in confusion. "Who's--"
"The courier," I replied, still mortified at my slip-up.
"Ahh, that makes sense," Gideon said. "You've been talking about him nonstop."
"I went…" I trailed off. "I went on a date with him. At his apartment. He cooked me dinner, we made out on his sofa…"
Gideon and Tristan both raised their eyebrows. Tristan was the one who spoke."And now you're unsure which of us you want?"
"I want you all!" I blurted.
They w
ere silent for a split second before they both let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the gods," Gideon muttered. "I was worried there for a second."
Tristan was even smiling. About what, I didn't know.
It was my turn to frown in confusion. "What?"
Tristan smiled, reaching for my hand once more. "Violet, darling. You can have us all."
I laughed. "No, I can't. I have to choose one of you. Well, I can't choose Kostas at all, because--"
Gideon nodded. "Yes, you can. You don't have to choose. If you marry Tristan or I, you'll have fulfilled the law which states you must marry someone of royal lineage. And then there will be nothing to keep you from having Kostas as well. We were in agreement, Tristan and I -- and this is the ideal." He tilted his head to the side. "You need more than one man, because you're an amazing woman. Why should you have to choose, when we don't want you to?"
"I don't… I'm not…" I sputtered. "What will George think?"
Tristan snorted derisively. "I don't care what he thinks. All that matters is what you think."
What I thought?
I hadn't thought about what anyone else would think when I agreed to a date with Kostas. I hadn't thought about what anyone would think when I allowed Gideon to kiss me that night on the docks. And I certainly wasn't thinking about much more than Tristan's beautiful eyes when he kissed me in the maze.
Considering it was my marriage, My future. My happily ever after. Why should it matter what George thought?
What anyone thought?
All that mattered was what we thought.Me, Gideon, Tristan…
And Kostas.
"I…" I muttered. "I think… I want all of you."
Gideon smiled and walked closer to me, enveloping me in a big hug. It took him a while to let me go, but once he had, Tristan slipped his arms around my waist and tugged me closer to himself
"I don't know how Kostas will handle this, though," I said suddenly. He wasn't exactly the biggest fan of royals. I wasn't sure how he would handle 'sharing' me with two of them.
"You said you went on a date with him. Does he know if--" Tristan asked.
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