“You’re overexaggerating, my Catharine.”
“You’re under exaggerating, my Eddie.”
“Christ, stop being so cute. You know I can’t fuck you here.”
She giggled. “I’ll try to restrain myself.”
His voice was clipped. “Do that.”
“So, after the awards show?”
“Will you be finished with your wedding dress by then?”
“It has to be the absolutely, most positively perfect dress that people talk about for years to come. People will be looking to me, seeing me as a fashion icon, and I can’t be wearing a slapdash dress.”
“Baby, I don’t need the dress to end all dresses. I just need the woman inside that dress, which is you.”
She melted against him. “Eddie.”
“I understand that you need that, but we’ve been putting off this wedding for a long time now and I’m getting tired of waiting. I want you, I want my ring on your finger, and I want our baby inside you. Not necessarily in that order.”
“I think there’s enough baby news going on right now. You don’t need to add ours.”
His arm on the back of her chair rounded her shoulders and curled her body into his tight and close. “We’re not waiting on anybody else’s timetable anymore, baby. We need to start our future. Is there another reason why you keep pushing the date back? Why you keep holding off on even setting a date in the first place?”
Her eyes drifted away, then drifted back. “You know I want to marry you. Of course I do. But it just seems that there’s always somebody else taking the limelight. I mean, Marcello and Grace have been engaged for over a year and they’re just now getting to their wedding. I know Lorenzo wants to marry Lily even faster than you want to marry me, and don’t even get me started on Rio pushing Sarah to get married as quick as possible.”
“Are they engaged?”
“Not yet according to Sarah, but she said it’s probably going to be soon.”
“Baby, with your family being as big as it is, it will always be somebody else’s time. We have to make our time, just like they made theirs. Now, if you want a big wedding, we’ll have a huge wedding. Invite stars from Vollywood, invite all the foreign dignitaries you need to, do any damn thing you please. I don’t care, as long as on that day, I see you at the end of the aisle walking towards me, and at the end of that day, you’re mine.”
“We’ll pick a date,” she promised. “Let me just get through the next month and through all these movie premieres and award shows and events. Once I launch my line and finish my dress, then we’ll pick a date.”
“Sounds good.” He tucked her close and kissed her deep. “Think we can find somewhere nearby to fuck?”
“Eddie!”
* * *
Lorenzo watched his woman and his girl on the dance floor. His woman was dancing with his father, and his girl was dancing with the groom.
If someone had told him a year ago that he’d have a beautiful child and be reunited with Lily, he would have told them they were crazy. But now he had them both, and he wasn’t letting either of them go.
The song ended, and Lily walked back to him, while Rio asked Liliana to dance.
His whole family spoiled his girl. And he didn’t mind it in the least.
When Lily sat down, he tugged her close. “So, when are you finally going to marry me?”
She gave him a smile, a smile that for years he thought he’d lost. He still felt that smile like a punch to the gut. Maybe, after some more time with her, and after some more time seeing his baby girl smile, he’d get over it.
“We can’t take anybody's thunder. We need to wait until it’s our time.”
He leaned in close, and his nose brushed hers. “Our time was five years ago, almost six years ago. We already lost too much time, baby. I don’t want to lose any more with you.”
“I know. But it’s not that simple. There is Liliana’s school schedule to consider, not to mention the way your sister and Eddie are curled up with each other, they’re probably having the same conversation. We need to consult with them in case they’ve already decided on a wedding date.”
He was not liking the sound of this. “Let’s elope.”
“Considering your parents’ reaction to Nate and Charlie eloping, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“That’s the beauty of it. No one will expect another elopement in this family.”
“Two elopements don’t make a right.”
Jesus, his woman. “Lily, baby, before the end of this year, we’re going to be married.”
“Is that an order?”
“You bet your sweet ass that’s an order.”
She blushed. “Could you not say things like that out loud? We’re at a wedding.”
“It’s just the family. No one’s going to care.”
“Well, your mother is walking this way. What if she had overheard you?”
His head whipped around, and he didn’t see his mother anywhere nearby. His eyes eventually caught sight of her dancing with his father. “Why did you do that? I could have had a heart attack.”
She smiled. “I did it to put you in your place. If you imagine your mother walking towards you every time you talk dirty in public, maybe you won’t do it again.”
Maybe not, but he’d sure as hell try.
“We’ll talk about the wedding. I promise. But Liliana is just getting used to living in the castle, and she’s finally socializing with other children her age, thanks to your sister and her help. I know our girl wants us to get married, too, but it needs to be the right time.”
“There’s never a right time, baby. We just need to make time.”
“Then we’ll make it. Soon.”
“End of the year, baby. That’s all you get. Otherwise, I’ll kidnap you.”
“You’ll kidnap me to elope with me?”
He gave her his wicked grin. “I can think of some other things I’d like to do with you, too. Although those things, I’m doing more to you than with you, but you’ll be involved in the process.”
She smacked his arm. “Lorenzo!”
* * *
Alex sat with his arm around his wife. She was leaning against him as much as she could. Every once in a while, her delicate hands would close into tight fists, and he knew she was fighting the pain.
He’d told her they could leave after the ceremony, but she’d insisted. Since he’d give her any fucking thing that was in his power to give, he’d relented.
But if she did that one more fucking time, they were leaving. Period.
She murmured against him. “It seems like our wedding was so long ago, doesn’t it?”
“Hmmm.” He rubbed a hand gently down her arm. She was wearing a long bridesmaid’s dress with full sleeves. He was thankful for the full body coverage today, because in addition to the fisting, she’d been shivering, too.
“I felt so young at our wedding.”
“You still are young.”
She shook her head against his shoulder. “I’m old. I’m closer to forty than thirty-five now.”
He scoffed. “So?”
Her hand shifted over her dress to rest near her belly button. “It’s going to get harder if we try again.”
He knew exactly what she was talking about. Trying for another baby.
But if? He wasn’t going to touch that right now. They both needed some time to heal. If she wasn’t ready, he wouldn’t push. He wanted their child, but he needed her healthy—mentally and physically—more. “Darling, I love you.”
She seemed to nestle into him some more. “I love you, too.”
“Don’t worry about your age and what that means for us getting pregnant. Just focus on recovering for now. We’ll deal with the rest later.”
“Does…have you changed your mind?”
“About what?”
“You said before you wouldn’t care if I had a baby.”
His arm tightened around her. “I still don’t. If we had
a child, I’d love it, you know I would. Even needing an heir to the throne…Darling, you matter so much to me. Who cares about a future heir when your health is more important?”
“More important than the country and its future?”
“The country has a future. We technically already have an heir with Liliana. Running the country may not be what Lorenzo and Lily have in mind for their daughter, but they understand the royal life. Not to mention, she’s going to have a cousin soon. Nate and Charlie’s child will be the heir when it’s born.”
“You’d be okay if I didn’t want to try again?”
“Actually, I wouldn’t.”
She stiffened against him, then tried to pull away.
He shifted her, so her eyes met his. “I love your body, darling. I have very specific plans to enjoy it, quite a lot, for the rest of our lives. So, if you’re saying you never want to have sex again, I’m afraid I’m not comfortable with that and we should discuss it.”
“I didn’t—”
“If you mean, would I be okay if we didn’t have a child? I would, because I’d still have you. We could try adoption. I don’t think we should try surrogacy; the legal implications of that would need to be sorted first if we do.”
He leaned in, giving her a wicked grin. “But the ‘trying’ part is happening, whether or not there’s a child as the end goal. Are you okay with that?”
“Well, I can’t—”
“I don’t mean now, darling. When you’re recovered and comfortable with the idea. You know I’d never force you in this.”
She leaned up, kissed him soft and sweet, then leaned back. “I know. If I had to go through this, I’m glad it was you beside me. I couldn’t have gotten through it without you. I mean, I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it, but the last few days were easier because you made them so.”
“I’d do anything for you.”
She smiled, the first he’d seen in days. It wasn’t a huge smile, but it wasn’t the cursory smiles she’d been giving others since the miscarriage. “Think we can sneak out? I’m ready to go home.”
“Absolutely. However, I think they’ll cut the cake next, if you wanted to wait for that. Are you hungry?” She’d barely touched her dinner. He’d delay taking her back to their apartment if it meant she’d eat something.
She rested against him again. “Let’s give them a few more minutes, then we’ll take the cake to go.”
He kissed her forehead. “That’s a plan.”
Epilogue
Grace stepped out onto the wooden balcony. The waves were a clear, crisp blue with shades of green weaving through. The little house they were staying in was raised up on stilts in the water. There was even a trapdoor in the room; if she lifted it, she could jump—or use the ladder—right down into that warm water.
He’d booked an island. An entire island for their honeymoon.
For her.
There were no other little houses around, but lots of lush greenery from the island just meters away. The skeleton staff now working at the island’s resort had been personally vetted by Marcello—which meant they wouldn’t come near them unless asked, nor disclose any details of their stay without repercussions. There were also other security measures he’d employed, to ensure no one got pictures from the sky.
As Marcello wrapped his arms around her from behind, she decided she was in paradise, in more ways than one.
“Feeling good after that flight, baby?”
“Who wouldn’t feel good in this place?”
She felt his smile against her neck. “I know I fucked you on the plane, baby, but we got to break this place in.”
She slapped his hand playfully. “We made love, Marcello.”
“Some of that was making love, baby, that’s true. When I peeled that classy wedding dress off your skin then had my way with you—that was making love. Afterward, in the shower—that was fucking.”
She tried to hold back the laugh but failed. “Such a way with words, husband.”
“Are you laughing at me, wife?”
“I wouldn’t dare.”
“Should I tell you what the punishment is if you laugh at me?”
Years ago, a statement like that would have filled her with fear. Now, she shivered in anticipation. “Tell me.”
“I picked this place for a reason. See, I told you I’d have you naked our entire honeymoon. Well, get ready.”
He started to unzip her dress.
She gasped. “Here? There are still staff on the island. They could see us.”
He kept unzipping, oh-so-slowly. “No one will see us, not from the ground or the sky or even from satellites; my latest technology and the agents I brought to the island with me will see to that. No one is going to get a picture of us doing any of the dirty, filthy things I have in mind.” He pushed the dress off her shoulders.
It pooled at her feet. She was standing only in a lace bra, panties, and high heels. She felt terrified, she felt aroused, she felt need.
His hands started to roam her skin. “You’re going to be naked for the next one-hundred-sixty-eight hours, or most of it, anyway.”
“That’s…a lot of time without clothes.”
He chuckled low and deep, causing the shivers to turn into tremors. “We won’t be fucking the entire time, but I am going to want to see you—all of you—until we leave.”
Was it possible to physically combust? She thought she might find out.
“We made love in the rain, didn’t we, early on? Your body wet and gleaming against the storm and gray skies.” His hands shifted to her bra and pulled down the cups to prop up her smaller-than-average breasts.
“Marcello.”
“We like the water, don’t we? Whether we’re making love in the rain or fucking in the shower, we like it.”
“God, yes.” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but he was toying with her nipples now. The warm air was like a soft tickle against her breasts. She felt so…wanton, so naughty. So unlike the proper English high society lady she was.
Though she was also now a princess.
One of his hands cupped her breast, while the other dipped into her panties. “I’m going to fuck you out here under the sun, until my fair Grace becomes my golden Grace. Then I’m going to fuck you in the water. Later, I’ll fuck you in that gigantic bed.”
She moaned.
“I want my cock covered in you, dripping from having you, and I want to see you lick it clean.”
“God, yes.”
“I want to see you dripping with my cum under the sun, until I wash it off with my tongue or in the shower or in the clear blue water, so we can fuck again.”
“That’s…a lot…of fucking.”
“I’m also going to bring you back out here and make love to you under the stars.”
“Oh.” She wanted that. All of that.
“I’ve built in recovery time, so no need to worry about that. I’ll take of you, in every possible way.”
Oh, she really liked that.
“With your body naked all the time, I can have you any time the spirit moves me.”
“It sounds like it’s going to move you a lot.”
“In more ways than one.”
She giggled. “How can you make me laugh at a time like this?”
He leaned in close to her ear. “Just remember, baby, that I’ll be naked, too. Completely. My body and my cock at your disposal, twenty-four seven, to do with what you please.”
“Oh!”
Now he chuckled. “You like the sound of that.”
“I’ll admit, I hadn’t thought of our being naked for seven straight days from that perspective.”
He suddenly swirled her around and she gasped.
“Well, buckle in and enjoy the ride.”
* * *
THE END
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Want more royals? Stay tuned! More books in the Royals of Valleria series are on the way. In the meantime, head to the beach in the spin-off Seaside Vall
eria series, focusing on the folks at the local pub, where royals have been known to drop by a time or two (or more).
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A Note from the Author
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Permanently Princess (Royals of Valleria #10) Page 13