“Kiss me,” I whispered.
Rhys didn’t question the sudden shift in my tone. Instead, he curled his hand around the back of my neck and crushed his lips to mine. Deep, hard, and possessive, like nothing had changed between us.
He always knew what I needed without me saying it.
I drank up every drop of him I could. His taste, his touch, his scent…I wished I could bottle it all up so I had something to keep me warm in the nights and years to come.
Rhys picked me up and carried me to the couch, where he pulled my skirt up and my panties down and sank into me with exquisite, deliberate slowness. Stretching me. Filling me. Breaking me into a thousand pieces and putting me back together, over and over again.
Even if my heart ached, my body responded to him the way it always had: eager, willing, and desperate for more.
Rhys palmed my breast and swiped his thumb over my nipple, playing with the sensitized nub until a fresh wave of heat crested in my stomach. All the while he pumped into me, the slow, leisurely slides of his cock hitting a spot that made me see stars.
“Rhys, please.”
“What do you want, princess?” He pinched my nipple, the sudden roughness of the action causing my mouth to fall open with a gasp.
You. Forever.
Since I couldn’t say that, I settled for a panted, “Faster. Harder.”
He lowered his head and replaced his hand with his mouth, swirling and licking while he picked up the pace. My nails dug into his back, and just as I teetered over the precipice, he slowed down again.
I nearly screamed with frustration.
Faster. Slower. Faster. Slower.
Rhys seemed to intuit the precise second I was about to come, and he varied his speed, edging me until I was a dripping, whimpering mess. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he groaned and slammed into me, his mouth claiming mine in a bruising kiss as he fucked into me so hard the couch inched across the floor with a squeak.
Lights exploded behind my eyes. I arched up, my cry swallowed by his kiss as another orgasm tore through me and left me drained.
Rhys came right after me with a silent shudder, and we sank into each other’s arms, our heavy breaths mingling as one.
I loved sex with him, but I loved the quiet moments afterward even more.
“Again.” I wrapped my limbs around him, not ready to break free of our cocoon yet. Just a little more time.
“Insatiable,” he whispered, running the tip of his nose up my neck and along my jawline.
I smiled at the reminder of our afternoon at the hotel. Our last truly happy time together before everything went to hell.
“You love it,” I said.
“Yeah princess, I do.”
We spent the next hour like that, climbing high and crashing down together.
It was perfect, as were all our stolen moments together. We fucked hard and fast and made love sweet and slow. We pretended this was our life, not just a snapshot in time, and I pretended like my heart still beat in my chest when the pieces lay scattered at our feet.
“There’s no other way, Your Highness.” Elin’s eyes flickered with sympathy for a second before it vanished and her expression hardened again. “It has to be done.”
“No.” I shook my head, denial digging its claws deep into my skin. “It’s too soon. He’s fine. The doctors said—”
“The doctors said he’ll recover…this time. The fact is, His Majesty was hospitalized twice in one year. We can’t risk a third hospitalization.”
“We can cut back on his workload,” I said desperately. “Have his aides handle the more strenuous paperwork and meetings. He can still be king.”
Elin glanced at Markus, who stood in the corner looking grimmer than I’d ever seen him.
“We’d discussed this with His Majesty after his first hospitalization,” he said. “He expressly said that if he collapses a second time, he would step down.”
I vaguely remembered my grandfather saying something like that in the weeks after his first collapse, but I’d been so focused on Nikolai’s abdication the implications of it had gone right over my head.
“I realize this is perhaps not the best time to discuss this,” Elin said with another flicker of sympathy. “But His Majesty’s condition is stable, and we need to start preparations right away.”
“Preparations.” Something terrible took root in my stomach and spread. It seeped into my chest, my neck, my arms and my legs, numbing me from inside out.
Elin and Markus exchanged glances again.
“Yes,” Elin said. “Preparations for your coronation as queen.”
I’d thought I had more time, both with Rhys and to convince Parliament to repeal the Royal Marriages Law, but I didn’t. Time was up.
“Do you remember Costa Rica?” Rhys’s lips brushed against mine as he spoke. He lay on top of me, his powerful body swallowing me up, but he’d propped a forearm on the couch so he didn’t crush me with his weight.
“How could I forget?” It was one of the happiest memories of my life.
“You asked me if I’d ever been in love. I said no.” He pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. “Ask me again, princess.”
My lungs constricted. Breathe.