DamonDamon chuckled. "I'm thirty-one, and I'm right where I want to be.""That so?" Charles lifted his eyebrow and leaned back in his chair. "You ever had grits with milk and butter in them?""I'm happy. I guess I could be a little more content, but happy will work for now. She's a graduate from UT herself. She's studying to be an accountant and just recently started her master’s, and yes, my mother used to make grits just the way you've described. They're shit any other way."Charles slapped the table and sat up. "Finally. I swear! All these northerners with their watery grits and scones. Why in the world would you want to mess up a perfectly good biscuit?""No clue." Damon moved back as the food was delivered."Tell me more about the girl. How long have you been together?""Three weeks, but she's the one. I have no doubt." He said a quick prayer over his food and worked to cut his eggs as the image of Bethany on her knees in the living room washed over him.So beautiful and complia
Bethany"He didn't do it on purpose." Matt wrapped an arm around Bethany's shoulders as they walked down the long terminal to the baggage claim. Somehow Matt couldn't fit everything in a carry-on, so she hadn't even tried. He was being a bit of a diva, which opened the door for her to follow suit."No? He told me to be at his house last night at ten, and I fell asleep like I have for the last few nights, sitting on my couch, completely exhausted. I didn't even mean not to go over there." She huffed and stopped beside the turnstile as bags started to drop from the large opening at the other end."It's going to be fine, Sis. Stop worrying, okay?" He pressed his shoulder to hers and moved up to get their bags when they showed up."You're right." She popped the handle on her bag and followed behind him as a feeling of trepidation tried to pull her back down. "I need a drink.""Well, let's get to the hotel and then we can unpack and grab something to drink while we wait for Damon.""Sounds
BethanyShe glanced up from reading a magazine on the bed in the room as the door opened. Damon walked in, looking like he'd been up for three days straight."Hey." He gave her a tight smile and dropped his bag just inside the door before pulling off his suit jacket."Hi, baby." She got up and moved toward him, pulling him down for a long sweet kiss. There was no fire to it, but it was almost a good thing. They were dancing around each other as if they were both waiting for the other to strike, to pull back and deny the other."Your flight go okay?" He kissed her again and ran his hands over her hips to squeeze the top curve of her ass."Yeah. It would have been better with you being with me, but I was still pretty pissy toward you, so maybe not." She smiled and pulled from him, turning and walking toward the bed. "Come lay down with me until we have to go.""Sounds like a plan to me." He pulled off his tie and undid his shirt before letting it drop to the ground behind him. "Why were
DamonSomehow the sex set him right, cleared his mind and left him feeling far more relaxed than he had when the day started. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and smiled down at her as they walked to the elevator. Matt had texted ten times to see when they were coming. The poor guy was nervous, and Damon couldn't blame him. The tension between his brother and Erica wasn't anything new but had grown significantly over the last two years since Erica came to work for the firm.Between trying to impress a high-class art dealer and Erica, Matt was going to be running circles around himself. Liquor. He needed to get a few drinks into him, and things would be fine."Like my dress?" Bethany wrapped her arm around the back of his waist as they moved into the elevator and turned to face the door."Love it. I'm a little concerned about having to beat the men off of you, but it's worth it." He smiled and licked his lips as his eyes moved over the soft swell of her breasts. She was exquisit
Damon"He's late." Matt turned toward Damon as Bethany walked through the small gallery without them."It's fine. He'll be here shortly. He set this thing up with you and was impressed by your talent. Stop worrying so much." Damon reached out and pulled at the large portfolio pad that rested under his brother's arm. "Let me see this.""Yeah, sure." Matt handed it to him and moved to a large glass table in the middle of the room. "Bring it over here, and you can look through each one, just be careful. Some of the textured ones will chip off if you mess with them too much."Damon nodded and laid the portfolio pad down before moving slowly through the various scenery paintings, each done with incredible precision. His brother was talented, no doubt."You sure you want what this guy is offering?" Damon glanced over his shoulder as Matt began to pace the floor. He looked so much like their mother it was painful. Blond hair and blue eyes, a California tan and a great smile. No one would eve
Bethany"Well, that went well." Matt glanced up as Bethany downed her second glass of wine. They had wrapped things up with Jonathan an hour later and headed out to dinner, just the four of them. Bethany was almost glad that the eclectic art dealer had turned them down for the meal. Spending time with Damon, Matt and Erica sounded relaxing, or it might have been if Matt wasn’t sitting on pins and needles around the blond bombshell that Bethany wanted to get closer to.It would be nice to have a friend, and since there weren't many girls her age to choose from and Krista was facing murder charges, Erica would have to do."It did. I think Jonathan really liked your work." Erica smiled seductively and pressed her elbows to the table as her wine glass dangled from her fingers. "It was a great portfolio. I'm glad you decided to show him the full breadth of your talent and not just have the scenery pieces in there.""Were you thinking about leaving out the paintings of people?" Bethany pick
Bethany"I have some work I need to do tonight," Damon barked as he glanced over his shoulder.Bethany shrugged and kept her thoughts to herself. Dinner had been fun in momentary spurts when Matt wasn't giving Erica stiff responses, and Damon wasn't mumbling half-ass responses. She should have just gone to dinner with Matt by herself.Damon walked into the room and pulled off his jacket, tossing it on the bed and working on his tie. She wanted to move around him and help undress him sensually, but he wasn't in the mood to be bothered with anything, least of all her."Have you met everyone from this Zarpeth team?" She tried to start a casual conversation as she opened her suitcase and pulled out some comfortable clothes.He glanced up from the desk he hovered over and smirked. "I'm the CFO of the company. I put the team together.""Okay, Mr. Sensitive. Shit. I was just wondering who all was on the team. It was an ice breaker of sorts.""We can talk about it at breakfast tomorrow. I hav
Damon"Now that you got your sex? What the fuck does that mean? She didn't want to fuck?" he growled as he took the stairs all the way to the bottom floor of the hotel. She was being so incredibly sensitive, and it was getting old.It was because she was young, that and the fact that their relationship was so new. Why the hell did he propose? It only seemed to add another layer of weight to their already crumbling foundation.Because I love her. Do you?"Yes," he mumbled and walked into the executive club as a pretty redhead at the hostess stand glanced up and smiled warmly."Evening, Sir. Would you like a table with a connection or no?""Damon. Over here, man." Ben's voice caught him off guard, and he moved over a little and lifted his hand to wave at his old friend.Where he needed to get a few things done, the night was young. He could have a drink or two with Ben, catch up and then try to work through some of his ever-expanding to-do list. Besides, he owed Ben a bit of an apology
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