SophiaComing back up to the hotel room, I was surprised to find the bed empty and Luke nowhere to be found.“Luke?” I called, balancing the two coffees and bags of breakfast. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, so I grabbed a few things, more than enough for two people. I figured it was easier to bring food onto a private jet than a commercial airplane.“In here!” Luke called from the bathroom. He came out wearing only a towel with a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. “Oh great, you brought food. I’m famished.”Steam rolled out of the bathroom behind him, outlining his handsome figure.“You didn’t wonder where I was?” I asked.He cocked his head to the side. “Should I have?”“No,” I said, not wanting to make him uncomfortable to know that a strange man hit on me. “I didn’t want you to worry.”“If you didn’t return by the time I changed, I would have come looking for you. Be sure to take your cell next time.”My phone sat on the side table next to the bed, still connected to the charger.
LukeSophia’s admission was more than enough for me to prepare myself for the decision I had to make when we got back to the palace. Even though I knew the council would force my hand, having a plan in mind gave me somewhat of an advantage. Little did they know that I had to get Mother on board before anyone else. She had no say in any of the council business, but she was a force to be reckoned with. If Mother gave her approval of Sophia and me, then the council may have to concede, even just a little bit. And then, I would have the ability to change their minds.I bet Jaabir hoped that Mother would give a good fight, knowing her values. But what he underestimated was my negotiation abilities, along with the nautral love between a mother and son.I wasn’t blood-related to her, and I never would be, but she chose to bring me into her life, and she wanted to keep me there. Throughout all of this, she never threatened me with questions of our bond, only the bond between Sophia and me. If
Luke“Of course I do. Which means I don’t want to see you suffer, either. These American women, they have grand dreams of being wealthy and living the good life.”“Don’t generalize,” I said. “You haven’t bothered to get to know her at all, so making assumptions won’t work on me. You and Father raised me right, and I found a woman that understands me and still wants to be with me.”“For now,” Mother said. “Until things get difficult. There is more to being a queen than both of you realize.”“You can show her, teach her. She wants to get to know you.”Mother scoffed. “She cares nothing of this place. This isn’t her home country. It’s ours. She needs to have the passion of someone who’s lived here and wants to continue to see our country thrive.”“So, if I went out there and plucked a commoner from the streets, you would give me your blessing?”“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “The match needs to be beneficial.”“There it is,” I said.“There what is?”“You want to pick out the woman. Jus
SophiaUnpacking our suitcases took all of ten minutes. The trip to England had been a short one, and we hadn’t taken much along with us.After staring at the bed for too long, I was anxious to do something while waiting for Luke. I knew he wanted me to remain nearby for when he was finished speaking with Gia, but without doing anything, my stomach was a bundle of nerves while my mind whirred with endless possibilities of how the conversation would end.I kept imagining that Gia would come into the room and demand I leave the palace and her son alone. Needing to distract myself, I went off to explore the palace for a little while. Besides, if Gia was going to try and find me, keeping myself moving would delay that confrontation.There was a flurry of activity in the main ballroom. I wasn’t aware of any event happening at the palace, so curiosity got the best of me.Wandering into the room, the servants huddled around a table. The clinking of silverware filled my ears as I got closer.
Sophia“Don’t think about it then. There’s no use worrying over nothing. As long as you treat her well, the both of you will end up quite happy. I’m sure of it.”“I appreciate that, coming from you,” he said. “If only everyone would make it easier on you and Luke.”“That would be nice.” I wondered if he could hint that to his mother, but asking for that would be putting Abir in the middle of our issues. I wasn’t going to drag anyone else into that mess. It was already crowded with too many people.“Here it is,” Abir said, holding out his hand in front of him.The new fountain was massive, reaching up at least ten feet in the air, and the pool width was at least three times the size of me. We were far enough away from it, but still, the water spray peppered me in the face as the water crashed down over the oblong-shaped pool. The stone was black and slick with water. It was a really beautiful fountain and only enhanced the look of the garden as a whole.“It’s breathtaking,” I said.“Fa
LukeThe sense of calm that I’d felt in Father’s office stayed with me as I walked the halls of the palace, back to my chambers. When I arrived, Sophia was nowhere to be found. Checking my watch, I realized I’d spent more time away from her than I’d originally intended.Before going out to search for her, I wanted to change into something more comfortable.By the time I finished, the door had swung open, and Sophia stood in the doorway.“Hi,” I said. “Where did you go?”“Just took a little walk around the palace. Apparently, the servants had a lot of questions for me.”“What did they say?” I asked. The servants normally kept to themselves, but I imagined having an American woman in the palace was a novelty for them.She shrugged and sat down on the edge of the bed. “They asked about my life back in Dallas. They were much more excited about it than I was about living it.”“Most of them were born into this position. The palace is all they know.” I crossed the room and planted a kiss on
LukeI wasn’t sure what to expect when we arrived at dinner. The four of us hadn’t sat down together in quite a while. The last time we did, Mother forced Sophia to flee from the room after showing her true colors. I hoped that the conversation we’d had earlier in the day held some weight.Taking Sophia’s hand in mine, we entered the dining room as one unshakable force. Nothing was going to come between us, and I wanted to show Mother that. The sooner she realized it, the sooner we would be able to move on.Mother sat next to Abir, to the right of the head chair that I was supposed to occupy. Finding that spot empty was strange. We hadn’t had a proper meal in that room since Father died, and after the conversation about Sophia, the weight of the moment crashed over me.Sophia’s hand in mine gave me the strength to hold in the myriad of emotions swirling through me.I pushed her chair in as she sat. Then I took my place at the table.Mother still held her chin high, but her eyes were g
SophiaLuke’s distraction techniques totally worked for me. After a tension-filled evening with his mother, the night ended up better than I expected. I wanted to talk more about why he thought we were leaving, especially after his mother started being less mean to me, but the way he made my body feel took up even more of my headspace.My head fell back against the bedpost as Luke’s mouth and hands roamed my body. It was amazing to me how quickly he could turn me on. Only in a matter of seconds, it seemed. I pushed my fingers through his hair and held the back of his head as I drew his lips closer to mine. I hesitated for a moment, our lips brushing together, a tingling sensation fizzling just inches from his mouth. A searing hot heat flickered throughout my body, and I could barely take a full breath.Luke’s fingers pulled down the collar of my shirt, exposing my breasts. He kissed the top of them before his other hand popped open the clasp. My breasts were free, and he didn’t waste
LukeWhen a knock sounded on my door a little while later, I glanced at the clock, and my jaw dropped. An hour had already flown by, and I’d checked off several items from my list.“Come in!” I called. Everyone knew that when the door to the study was closed, they were to knock and wait for my approval before entering. It was my sacred space in the palace, and it wasn’t a hard rule to follow. Though, I imagined bending the rules for our child—whenever we got around to having one—since Father had always done so for me.Sophia stood in the doorway for a moment before entering the room.“Hi,” I said to her. “What’s up?”“Do you have a minute?” she asked. Her hands clasped in front of her, as Mother’s normally were. The both of them were turning into clones of each other. I wondered if I should limit their time together or not. The thought made me smile. Neither of them would agree to that. They were two peas in a pod now.“For you? Always.” I stood up and stretched. For the last hour, I
LukeAs I perused the newspaper in front of me, Sophia and Mother discussed some upcoming banquet. Glancing over the top of the paper, I watched my wife of six months calmly eating her breakfast. Tilting my head to the side, I noticed something different about her. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it. I wasn’t sure if it was her outfit; today she wore one of the more traditional outfits of our country. Over the last months, Mother had been an excellent tutor to Sophia, teaching her about our customs, traditions, and the language.Even though Sophia hated when we went full immersion with the language, she loved it at the same time. It worked her brain like her reporting career did. I still felt a little twinge of guilt now and then for taking her away from her passion, but she had a full schedule since we had returned from our honeymoon. We both liked to keep busy, and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.It didn’t take long for Mother to get on board with the new way of life around the
SophiaHe drove a finger inside of me, and I bucked my hips up to meet him. Falling back against the fluffy pillows, we moved as one, intensifying the pleasure within me. Adding more fingers and that circling thumb, my eyes fluttered closed and moans escaped my lips. If this was what it was going to be like for the rest of my life, I looked forward to every moment spent in this bed with Luke.After the drama that we had to deal with in such a short amount of time, I never felt so relaxed in my life. That part of our struggle was over, and even though there would inevitably be issues with the kingdom and Luke’s reign, there would never be a problem that we couldn’t overcome, especially if we came together like this as much as possible.The idea that I might have missed out on this life with him made me hold him close to me. I sat up, deepening his reach inside of me, and I grabbed his hardness again, thrusting all of my love and appreciation into the movements.His chin lifted, and his
SophiaEvery single point where our bodies touched lit me up inside until searing heat scorched every fiber of my being. Touching Luke’s face, feeling the stubble of his chin under my fingertips, added licks of heat to burn through me. I fell into the pools of his eyes, my love for him wanting to burst out of me. My panties were soaked through as his hand moved up the side of my body. His fingers brushed over the side of my breast. After getting out of my dress last night, I changed into a ratty old T-shirt. The fabric was thin and worn, which didn’t offer any protection from his touches. Not that I wanted any.His fingers lightly touched my neck. He put some pressure on my jaw, and I moved my head to the side. I loved when Luke kissed the sensitive part of my neck. It was one of his favorite moves. At least, from what I could tell.His soft lips touched my skin. With each movement of my body, he left a wake of warm invisible kisses along the way. He trapped my earlobe between his lip
LukeJoining her, the two of us brushed our teeth together. It was nice to get the stale taste of food and champagne out of my mouth. I watched Sophia through the mirror as she watched me. Energy crackled between us, and I could have dragged her into the shower to expend that energy. Knowing we were to be joined by several servants as they brought breakfast in the room for us made me kill the urge. For now.Even though it was the simplest of acts, the idea that I would brush my teeth at least once a day with this woman filled me with the most joy I’d ever felt. I wondered if only the birth of our children would rival that feeling.I finished before her and held her against me while she finished. With a shimmy of her ass against my crotch, I glanced at her. She leaned back against me, lifting her perky breasts higher. Slowly guiding my hand along her middle, I caressed the outside of her breasts.That was when I heard the door open from the other room. My hand froze before I removed it
LukeI never wanted my wedding day to end. Even though it was an intimate affair with under a hundred guests, the party went much longer than most banquets that I’d attended. Sophia and I stumbled into my bedroom in the wee hours of the morning.Even though I celebrated, neither of us drank heavily. I supposed we were almost drunk from the music and dancing, so when we arrived in a quiet and sacred space, the both of us passed out from exhaustion.The one thing I remembered as my eyes closed was the way she looked slipping out of her wedding dress. God, I was a lucky-ass man.***When my eyes finally peeled open, Sophia was already up and facing me. She had a big smile on her face, and her left hand propped on the pillow between us. The sparkling engagement ring glittered in the morning light that streamed through the windows. The night before, I’d barely gotten out of my clothes, so there was no chance I had been able to reach the blackout curtains before falling onto the bed.“Good
SophiaGia smiled and reached up to grab my veil. She pulled it down over my face, and the world turned a hazy shade of white. All but two of the servants dispersed, and Gia walked into the room, closing the door behind her.“You ready to get married?” Matt asked me.“Yes,” I said, lifting my chin. For a moment, I felt like Gia. Since I was to take her place as queen one day, it seemed fitting.A swell of music filtered out from under the doorway and the doors opened. It was a good thing the veil covered the surprised expression on my face. We’d planned for the wedding to be small and intimate, but I didn’t know that there would be more than immediate family at the event. Gia had mentioned some close family and friends that she’d wanted there, and I brushed it off, thinking there would be one or two extra people.All in all, there were only about fifty people, but when their gazes turned toward me, there might as well have been two hundred people there.Matt gripped my hand harder. “J
SophiaSince Gia put together the wedding in such a short amount of time, there was nothing Luke or I could say when it came to the night before the wedding. She’d let go of most of her traditional views but chose to hold on to the one that didn’t allow us to sleep together that night.While I wanted to show Luke how appreciative I was about what he’d done for me, we respected her wishes.After a wonderful rehearsal dinner with the people we loved, I took Matt around the palace while Luke and Maddox went off together. Maddox had mentioned something about the bachelor party, and Gia’s face had paled to the color of the tablecloth. I knew Luke didn’t plan on going out to a strip club—I didn’t think they had those here—but he went off with Maddox anyway, probably to defeat his best friend’s urge to flirt.Matt eventually dropped me off in the same bedroom that I’d slept in when I first came to the palace. We said goodnight, and I thought I saw excitement flash in his eyes when he asked w
LukeThe council members shifted in their seats. I couldn’t be prouder of my mother for standing up for me. It was something I always wanted but never knew that I needed. I didn’t care that she commanded the meeting space where I was supposed to reign. We were a family, and treating the kingdom like that would be my legacy.“When Erol and I chose to adopt a son, it was not something we took lightly. We knew we would change a child’s life and possibly be able to choose the successor to the throne.” She looked over at me and smiled, the way she used to when I was a child. When things seemed much simpler. When had I lost touch with that?“We picked a boy that we felt, in our hearts, needed us as much as we needed him. You all worked with my husband and the previous king. You saw how big of a heart he had for this country. You trusted his choices. Why are you turning your backs on him now? He wanted Luke to become king in his stead. What would you say to him right now, face to face, if yo