“But you do realize,” she continues, “I have a lot of birthing years ahead of me, so at some point, I’ll have to take steps so we don’t end up with twenty kids.”
“Hmm. Let’s see how these two go and we’ll figure it out from there.” I have to remind myself sometimes how young she is. Barely twenty-two and now a queen to a man fifteen years her senior.
I lower my body, mindful of her belly when I press some of my weight onto her. Our noses brush and I kiss her lips. “You’re my queen. The mother to my children. The mother to all my children.” I pause, staring down into her stunning blue eyes. “The love of my life.”
I shift, my fingers grazing over the heart diamond sitting at the base of her neck as I start to remove her bikini top.
“Here?” she hisses, her head whipping around.
I grin against her lips as I move in for a kiss. “We have topless beaches in Messalina, sweetness.”
“I’m also American and we mostly do not.”
I laugh. “What does that have to do with anything? You arethe queen of this country and therefore a Messalinian. Hate to break it to you, but you are no longer an American.”
“Tell that to my accent and the press.”
My brows furrow and my hands press into the blanket on either side of her head as I peer down at her. “What on earth are you speaking of?”
She rolls her eyes as if the answer is obvious. “You read the papers. I know you do.”
“You think I care what the press has to say? They will always have an opinion, and yes, you’re American by birth, and yes, you’re younger than I am. But it’s their job to say bullshit simply to bring about drama otherwise they won’t sell papers, and no one will subscribe to their news. When we return home, unfortunately, we’ll have to start making public appearances, both with the children and without. Then, they’ll see everything I see and fall just as in love with you as I am.”
She curls into me, her body small and warm and perfect. “They don’t even know about the twins yet, but once they learn, they’ll think that’s why you married me.”
I knew this was her concern and it’s not unfounded. She was pregnant when I proposed, though neither of us knew it at the time.
“Do you trust me?” I ask instead of addressing any of that because it’s futile. They will speculate that I married my nanny because I knocked her up. Only they couldn’t be more wrong. And frankly, I’m the king. I don’t have to care.
“Yes,” she says easily, and my heart pinches in my chest. Without her trust, I have nothing. Without her trust, this doesn’t work.
“Then you trust that as your king and husband, I will protect and love you. The media will talk because it’s interesting gossip. But once they see you as the queen, all that will change.”
She’s silent, and it’s so unlike Bellamy that I drop closer andcup her jaw in my hand, tilting it up until our faces are inches apart. My stomach sinks at her despondent expression.
“Where is all this coming from?”
“I don’t know.” She puffs out a breath, forcing a tight smile. “Maybe it’s just hormones or the reality that I am now a queen when just a few months ago, I was a girl on my own living in a foreign country and barely getting by. I have my fairy tale. My happily ever after. But no one ever writes about what comes next in those. No one ever cared about what happened between Cinderella and Prince Charming after their wedding.”
I grin. “You mean Rowan?” At our wedding, Rowan had a real-life Cinderella situation. He met a woman, spent the night dancing with her, and took her to his bed. By the time he woke up in the morning, she was gone, except for an earring that must have fallen out.
That’s it. She’s gone. Vanished without a trace, and he’s desperate to find her.
“Your brother isnotwho I’m speaking of.” She sighs, her fingers grazing along my cheek and up into my hair. “Aren’t you worried about any of it? It all happened so fast for us. I wouldn’t change that. It’s just…what happens after the fairy tale is over and real life begins? Will we always be like this?”
My arms band around her back and I move us until I’m sitting and she’s straddling my thighs with her full tits and sweet baby bump pressed against me. “We did not have a fairy tale, my queen. We fought and fucked and fell in love. We were attacked by a man who wanted our blood. I’ve lived my entire life under the shadow of a curse that now feels as though it’s finally lifted. If anything, our fairy tale is about to begin.Thisis the happily ever after part.”
I pan my hands around us, toward the clear blue-green water, the sparkling-white sand and swaying palm trees before I press my hand flat on her stomach, right over our growing children.
“You’re right,” she admits, the fog clearing from her eyes just as swiftly as it came in, and I make a note to be more mindful of her mood swings with her pregnancy. “Maybe I’m just hungry?”
I laugh, kissing her lips. “Then we should feed you. And our growing children.”
My mouth slides down her neck just as my hands come up, cupping her tender, swollen breasts. I roll my thumbs over her hardening nipples through the material of her bikini, and she moans, her head falling back. Along with Bellamy’s mood swings, her body is more responsive to me than ever. Her hands grip my hair, angling her body to give my mouth better access.
She holds me there and rolls her hips against my hardening cock. Her hand goes for my swim trunks, but I stop her with my hand and a shake of my head.
“Really? Tell me you’re kidding. Two seconds ago, you were about to remove my bikini top.”
