It feels so good, she feels so good, and I can do nothing but drown in it. Drown in her as I let her tenderness wash away the
last of the filth inside of me.
After a few seconds, she starts to move away, but I slip a hand through her voluminous curls and cup the back of her head. I hold her in place just a little longer, pressing soft kisses to her lips until she moans into my mouth.
And still I’m not ready to let her go. Not now, when she’s so soft and warm and giving all around me. Not now, when the warmth of her is streaming through me like sunlight. Not now, when I finally have her back where she belongs.
So I don’t.
Instead, I slide my tongue along the seam of her lips. Delve inside the moment she opens to me. Stroke my tongue lazily against her own.
There’s a lot I need to do this morning, but for now I’m content to stay right here and steal these moments with Lola.
Content to swallow her cries down like rain.
Content to skim my lips over the velvet softness of her skin and drink her in.
And I’m more than content to slide my hands down to cup her ass. To lift her hips up and then lower her back down on my dick.
Lola gasps as I slide into her warm heat. Gasps again as I arch my hips to drive myself even deeper inside of her. She’s so slick, so hot, so sweet that I’d burrow deep within her if I could. Just bury myself in her until she washes away all the darkness inside of me.
But it’s not her job to heal me. She’s already filled so much of the dark, desperate void within me. I’ve got to do the rest.
And I will, after I make love to the only woman I’ve ever loved.
The heat builds between us slowly as she moves against me, her hips rising and falling of their own volition as she opens herself to me. As she softly calls my name. As she shatters around me, bathing me in the gentle warmth of her love.
And that’s when I know. When I really, really know. It doesn’t matter if I ever earn my father’s approval. And it doesn’t matter if I ever get the throne. As long as I have Lola, everything else can just work itself out.
She’s worth more than a crown, worth more than a kingdom.
I might have gone through hell to get here, but as I watch the sun rise outside our bedroom window, I know that right here, right now, I’m the luckiest man in the world.
Epilogue
Lola
“I don’t think I can do this.” My stomach churns sickly as I glance out the window at the crowds waiting below.
“You absolutely can do this,” Garrett says as he wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me against him.
“Exactly how many people are out there?”
“Would it help if you pictured them in their underwear?” Kian asks from across the room, where he’s lounging indolently on the couch. “It’s what Savvy does.”
“She’s a writer. She has a better imagination than I do.”
“It’s going to be fine,” Garrett soothes. “We’ll just step out on the balcony, I’ll say a few words, and then we’ll smile and wave as they take some pictures. What could be easier?”
“Anything.” I tug at the asymmetrical hem of my red Donna Karan suit jacket. “Anything could be easier.”
Garrett pulls back a little, then puts a finger under my chin and tilts my head up so that I can’t do anything but look into his gorgeous midnight-blue eyes. It’s been six months since that fateful evening in the George V, and we’ve been by each other’s side every single day. Garrett has come a long way since then—his eyes are clear and the nightmares, while not gone, are much less frequent.
“We don’t have to do this today,” he says. “If you need more time, I can—”
“No.” I cup his face in my hands and pull him down for a kiss. “I’m just being a wimp. You need to stop being so understanding and kick my butt out onto that balcony.”
“I’ll do it if he can’t,” Kian pipes up. “Now that Garrett is Crown Prince again, it’s been a while since I’ve had to kick anyone’s ass. It might be fun.”