The Royal Treatment: A Billionaire Prince Romance

by Erin Hayes

  Then I fully seat myself, and I take that moment to memorize the feel of her body, how in tune I am with her body. I hold myself still for so long, she looks up at me, curiously.

  I can’t help the smile that touches my lips. “I’m in,” I breathe, nearly in disbelief. All of my fantasies, all of my dreams—none of them have lived up to this moment.

  Rather than speak, she reaches up and kisses me. And as she does so, she starts to writhe her hips beneath me, and it feels like heaven.

  I take that as permission to thrust inside, relishing the feeling of my length sliding in and out of her. I go as slowly as I can, and there is some blood to help make it slicker as I have torn her maidenhead. She guides me, matching me thrust for thrust, pant for pant. Pain and pleasure mix on her face as she rides me. As I try so hard to hold on as long as possible.

  I wish I could go forever. After all, Lex deserves to have love made to her in the most expert, tender way possible, but I’m as much of an amateur as she is. And the friction we’re building together, I know that I’m about to lose myself far too soon.

  Then, she closes her eyes. “F—Ferdie,” she cries out, “I—I—”

  Relief floods me, because I know that she’s close. I’m so close to orgasming as well. But we’re still in her dad’s house, still within earshot of servants, if we’re too loud. To mask both of our cries, I lean forward and cover her mouth with mine as we both come at the same time. Lex’s hands grip me as if she’s holding on for dear life.

  And I know that I’m doing the same.

  After we both climax, neither of us move. How do you talk to someone after you’ve bared your soul to them?

  I’m the first to react, more out of necessity as I hold onto the condom and slide out of her. “Are you all right?” I ask.

  She gives me a serene look and a smile touches her lips. “That was...wonderful.”

  I find that I’m grinning back at her. All the tension, all the uncertainty from before is gone, because she can’t fake the ecstasy on her face right now. “Yes it was,” I agree with her, putting my forehead on hers. I kiss her, and she kisses me back, more passionate, more ardent.

  “I need to get you cleaned up,” I say, as I get to my feet, meaning to go to her adjoining bathroom to grab some towels to take care of the blood.

  “Ferdie?” she calls after me, and I look back at her. I take that moment to marvel at her naked body sprawled on the bed. She bites her lip as she blushes. “Can we do it again?”

  There is one thing that I learn in the three months following my trip to Japan: Babies grow quickly.

  True to my word, I try to be the best uncle that I can be for Elizabeth. While we've made our peace with each other and have been closer than we've been in over fifteen years, I can tell that Henry doesn't quite trust me. Hell, I don't really even trust myself. After all, I have a long list of things to make up to him. It would certainly take much longer than three months.

  But I try everything I can to do right by my niece. Which means that I'm going over to Henry's and Cat's residence at least every other day, sometimes more than once on the same day. I know that Catherine thinks of me as an oddity. Yet I'm going to prove to them that I'm sincere.

  Smiling comes easier to me as time goes on.

  And I stop blaming myself for what happened between Lex and me. Maybe I won't ever be as happy as what you get in a stereotypical happy ending.

  But I'm at peace. I can live with myself. Which is more than what some people have.

  "You seem a lot happier, Ferdie."

  Phillip's voice breaks through my thoughts and I look up from my notepad, where I've zoned out since he started speaking and I've just been writing words down from my subconscious. I've even written peace on the pages of my notepad. I shift to hide it from Phillip's keen eyes and click my pen a couple times to collect my thoughts.

  "What makes you say that?" I say, defaulting to one of the most common questions that therapists ask their patients. Except for now, it's not to pry into his mind. It's to see how I'm projecting my thoughts.

  "Well, for one," Phillip says wryly, "you aren’t clicking your pen like a maniac. Henry seems to have gotten his head screwed on straight after everything you two went through together." He cocks his head, regarding me with suspicion. "It's like you're finally taking your own advice."

  "Yeah, well, being an uncle will do that to you," I say with a shrug. "As you'll soon find out."

  Phillip groans and rakes a hand through his hair. "Eric with a baby. Can you imagine?"

  I smile. "I felt the exact same way about Henry having a baby."

  He crosses his arms across his chest. "I feel bad for Cara, actually."

  I chuckle. "Why?"

  He shrugs. "Well, she's going to be dealing with two babies, isn't she? I don't think that Eric and Henry ever really grew up."

  We both laugh at that.

  "Well," Phillip says, sitting back farther, "who would have ever thought that you and I would be the ones without kids right now?"

  My smile falters.

  "There," Phillip says, pointing my way. "What's that about?"

  "What's what?" I try to act ignorant.

  "That." He waggles his finger up and down my face. "Whenever we talk about you and kids, you get this faraway look in your eyes. It's happened a lot since Henry had his baby, but I've noticed it for a while now."

  I offer a smile, although I know it doesn't meet my eyes. I debate for a moment as to what to say or where to take this conversation. Finally, I sit back and smooth my hair back with both hands with a loud sigh. "That's a really long story."

  Phillip snickers. "We've got time."

  I glance at the clock. "Actually, we're almost up for time."

  "I'm a billionaire, Ferdinand." Phillip crosses his arms. "I'll pay you if we go over. Now, tell me. We're cousins, and we're all we've got left."

  He doesn't know the half of it. I look down at my clasped hands before eyeing him warily. "You remember Alexandra Daae?"

  Phillip snorts. "Yes. My mother wanted me to marry her before I dated Cara. And then, even after Cara and I broke up, Mother wanted me to marry her still. It's part of the reason why she disowned me."

  "Sorry about that."

  He shakes his head. "Don't be. That wasn't the only reason why Mother disowned me, and now Eric has to deal with that pressure. Trust me, I'm much happier than I was." He smirks, as if to himself. "Really, I think the big reason why Mother dug her heels in was because Jessica stood up to her like no one else has. They're more alike than I think either want to admit."

  Jessica is a pretty strong woman. I wouldn't want to face her wrath.

  "There was something going on between you and Alexandra, wasn't there?" Phillip asks me suddenly, and I whip my head up to meet his eyes. My cheeks color, but my cousin only smiles at me. "I just remember that you two were...close. That's why I told you about Mother wanting to arrange a marriage between Alexandra and me." He regards me for a long me. "In fact," he adds softly, "I think if it weren't for my mother meddling, you may have been something more."

  "We were." My admission hangs in the air as Phillip watches me keenly. "We were going to get married. But then, we lost the baby."

  My words might not have made sense if one didn't know about my past. But Phillip doesn't ask me to repeat what I said. Instead, he scoots closer to me. "Tell me what happened," he says softly.

  So I do. I tell him everything, and perhaps more than I told Henry, because Phillip and I are the same age. We know what it's like to be the eldest son. We had pressures from society and our family to do the right thing. And I think Phillip, of all people, understands that more than anyone. He asks questions as I talk, wanting to know if my particular actions in the past were because of my relationship with Lex.

  Here, it's as though our roles are reversed and Phillip is my therapist, making me understand my own feelings toward the past and present.

  At the end of my story, he sits back, the mu
scles in his jaw twitching. "I didn't know," he says. "I wish you would have told me."

  "Henry said the same thing," I muse. "I only told him three months ago. When I got back from Japan and seeing Lex there. It wasn't that I just didn't tell you. I didn't tell anyone."

  Phillip's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "That's a lot to hold in."

  "No shit," I mutter.

  "I'm so sorry."

  I close my eyes. "Don't be. I'm getting over it. I'm being a good uncle to Elizabeth. I hope. At least a better uncle than I've been a brother or a cousin."

  "You are. Being a good one, that is."

  I smile at my cousin, grateful for his words. "Pity your mother couldn't see past her pride. You would have made a fine king."

  He shrugs. "Right now, I want to be a fine husband to Jessica and, like you, a good uncle to Eric's spawn. I think Eric and I are better suited in our new roles anyway. He should have always been king. I'm happier now than I've ever been."

  "I think Eric is, too," I murmur.

  "All that's left is for you to be happy," Phillip says.

  "I'm trying," I say honestly. "I'm really, really trying."

  There is a cloud that's lifted as Phillip and I say our good-byes. We even hug, which is something that we wouldn't ever do before he was removed from the line of succession. Truly, Phillip is a new man. A lucky man.

  "I'll see you next week." He steps back, grasping my forearm. "I imagine you'll need another chat."

  I laugh. "Who is the patient and who is the doctor?"

  "Does it matter?" He opens the door to my office and leaves.

  I stare after him for a bit, glad about our chat but still feeling empty.

  Not for the first time, I replay my conversations with Lex both in Japan and when we both returned to our homes. Lex's last phone call with me put a line in the sand that I don't dare cross. I know that I'm not going to be happy without her. Not with so much distance between our hearts. Would a better man have fought harder for her? Would there have been any way in which we could have been happier? Would I be as carefree as Phillip now?

  I turn back to my desk and work through the rest of my morning. It's Friday, which means that I have fewer patients to see than any other day that I work, so I can go through my own thoughts in my downtime.

  It's nearly one in the afternoon when my phone rings.

  I pull it out and frown down at the number that's displayed. It's a long number, too long to be a number that's local to Dubreva. And it's not from any number that I recognize. Ordinarily, I would have declined the call and let it go to voicemail. Robocalls are rampant, and there's no reason why anyone should be calling me. Then I see the +81 at the beginning of the number, and a thought and memory comes barreling through my mind.

  Shit. That's the country code for Japan, isn't it?

  Perhaps it's my hotel asking for me to reconcile a bill. Or they want to do a survey, in which case, I don't want to answer.

  However, there's something that compels me to accept the call and pick up.

  "Hello?"

  "Hello." A woman's lightly accented voice fills the other end. I don't recognize her voice, but that doesn't mean that I haven't met her before. After all, it has been three months since I've been to Tokyo, and I try to place her voice with that of the receptionists at the Ritz Carlton. "Is this Ferdinand Spencer di’Vale?" she asks.

  "Yes it is."

  "Prince Ferdinand of Dubreva?"

  I frown, because she doesn't seem like she's with the hotel anymore. The attendants there knew who I was. What I was doing. And I've had enough paparazzi calling me to know when I receive a phishing call. "Who is this?" I demand.

  There's a stunned silence on the other end. Then, "I’m sorry. I'm Miyazaki Sachiko. I'm Alexandra's friend."

  It takes me a moment to place where I have seen her before and heard that voice. She's not a paparazzo. She's the woman Lex had been with at the temple that day.

  "Oh, yes, Sachiko." Shit, I’d forgotten her name. "Hi, how are you doing?"

  "I’m well," she says cheerfully. "I hope you don't mind, I got your number from your housekeeper. What is her name again?"

  I close my eyes and put a hand to my head, chuckling softly. "Mrs. Armen."

  "Yes! Armen. She gave me your phone number, because I wanted to invite you."

  "To what?"

  "To my wedding, of course. It’s next weekend."

  I'm dumbfounded enough not to fully process her request. "To your wedding?"

  "Yes."

  Why the hell would she...? "I'm so sorry, I appreciate the gesture, I—"

  "Oh, it's not for me," Sachiko says. "I have plenty of my own friends and family there. But I will have a friend there who is also your friend. And I think you should see her again."

  My heart leaps in my throat. "Who?"

  "Alexandra is coming," Sachiko says matter-of-factly. "She's coming to my wedding. She's coming to my wedding, and she is coming alone. Without her fiancé."

  Fuck.

  Now I know exactly why she's inviting me. And Mrs. Armen probably guessed—even if Sachiko hadn't told her—and gave her my phone number. They're both trying to intervene in my life. To make Lex and me find each other again.

  And I hate that there's some sort of morbid hope that springs forth in my chest.

  "She's coming?"

  "Yes."

  "You're sure?" I ask. "Does she know that you're inviting me?"

  There's a pause on the other line. Then, "No, she doesn’t." I open my mouth to protest, remembering Lex's last words to me, but Sachiko cuts me off. "Listen." It's all she says, and while her voice is soft, I can hear enough conviction in her tone where I stay silent. "You've known Alexandra since you were children. But I knew Alexandra when she was just starting out in the United Nations and saw her recovering. I know that she is prideful and hates admitting when she is wrong. But," and I can hear a smile in her voice as she says this, "I also know that she hasn't looked as happy for as long as I’ve known her. Seeing you at Zojoji was a bright moment that I never saw before with her."

  Fuck. "Really?" I whisper. I hate how I'm hopeful again.

  "Truly so," Sachiko says.

  I pinch the bridge of my nose. "The last time Lex and I spoke..."

  "From what Alexandra told me," Sachiko says, "she broke it off with you and you stayed away. Look at what happened with that. Now, this time, you should try something different. You have a second chance with her."

  "More like hundredth chance," I mutter.

  She chuckles. "Exactly. Try something different. Don't stay away. Alexandra may be wrong this time. And the only way to find out is—"

  "To see her again," I finish for her.

  "Right. So stop being an idiot and take this fucking chance," Sachiko says. "So, will you accept my invitation to my wedding?"

  I swallow back a lump in my throat. I have patients to see between now and next weekend and however long I'd spend in Tokyo. Events with Henry and Elizabeth and the rest of my family. Plans.

  But still. Perhaps I need this. Perhaps we need this.

  So then I find myself asking, "When is it?"

  24

  Alexandra

  I've never been to a Japanese wedding before, so I really don't know what to expect when I land in Tokyo to attend Sachiko's wedding. I'm glad for the three months between when I was here last and now, because I've had a chance to reconcile my own feelings with what I think should be all right.

  So I'm here now on Wednesday, giving me enough time to acclimate before her wedding on Saturday. And when my plane lands, I feel...at peace. This feels like a new beginning for me. That I'm able to go to Japan without expecting something other than having fun.

  It's freeing. And comparing now to my feelings three months ago, I feel lighter than air.

  Maybe I am finally at peace with everything. I hope so. I really do.

  It's been rough trying to get back on my feet after breaking it off with James. I'm no
t sad or broken over it, not like I was when I ended my engagement with Ferdinand, so that tells me that I am doing the right thing. But it has been hard trying to disentangle my life from James's. Finding a new place to live. Figuring out whose things were whose. I've had to re-furnish my new, tiny apartment in Arlington.

  It's a new start. A new life.

  And I'm all right with where my life is going.

  Sachiko is waiting for me at the Shangri-La when I finally arrive after a long train ride from Narita, and she rushes up to me with a big hug. "Alexandra!"

  I laugh in delight as I wrap my arms around her. "Oh my goodness!" I exclaim. I hold her out at arm's length. "You look wonderful, Sachiko!"

  And she truly does. Sachiko had always had a great sense of style, but her hair looks freshly cut, her skin is blemish-free, and she looks more relaxed than I've ever seen her.

  She grins before giving me a coy look. "It's because I’m ready for my wedding and for my pictures."

  "Well, you look great." I hoist my purse up on my shoulder. "You didn't have to meet me at the hotel."

  "You're staying at the Shangri-La," Sachiko says matter-of-factly. "Don’t you remember how much fun we had last time? Also, you came from America, so of course I'm going to welcome you."

  I chuckle. "Did I travel the farthest?"

  Sachiko considers this, her brow pinching as she frowns. "You may be. You may be tied for farthest as well."

  I raise an eyebrow. "Tied, huh?"

  She waves away my question. "I believe," she says, "we should go to the bar and celebrate."

  "But only if it's on me," I say, giving her a stern look.

  She laughs. "I accept. I may need more than one, though. Weddings are a lot of stress. Truly, this is my chance to escape my duties. So really, I need this more than you."

  I do know that weddings are a lot of stress. Granted, the two times I've been engaged, I've never really gotten far enough to actually plan anything, but I've had friends get married in the past, and I know that they nearly went insane by the end of it. But I really can't speak to Sachiko's situation, as I know that her wedding may be completely different.