LukeRegrettably, I couldn’t join Sophia for lunch again on Wednesday. After being away from the office so much recently, things had been piling up that needed my attention. And since I was going back to the palace at the end of the week, I wanted to square everything away for Maddox so he wouldn’t get overwhelmed. I had full confidence in him, but I also wasn’t going to leave him with work that I could do myself.Apologizing to Sophia over text, she said it was no problem. She wanted to go sightseeing today, and I informed her of my stash of cash in my home office. She refused to take it without repaying me, and I agreed, not wanting to get into that unnecessary argument. She could think she was going to repay me, but I would make it known that her presence was payment enough.While it didn’t please me to have her traipsing around the city by herself, I felt better that she had enough money for cabs or anything else she might need. She refused to allow me to call the car service, but
LukeArriving at my flat, I saw that the lights were on inside. A small thrill moved through me at the prospect of seeing Sophia again. I hoped she enjoyed the food from one of my favorite takeout places. I wanted to relax with her tonight, and I couldn’t think of a more relaxing stay-at-home date than takeout and a movie.When was the last time I saw a movie? Probably not for years. I hoped Sophia liked movies. I was up for watching anything as long as she was sitting right next to me.Once I got inside, I didn’t see or hear Sophia anywhere.I wanted to call out to her, but I also wanted to surprise her.Walking down the short hallway toward the middle of my home, I was about to say something when I saw movement from the kitchen.Sophia wore a pair of tight jeans and one of the cashmere sweaters I’d bought her. She held a bottle of wine in one hand and two glasses in the other. I wasn’t opposed to drinking at home, but I didn’t recall the last time I bought alcohol for myself outside
SophiaMy lips were swollen and hot from Luke kissing me. I wanted him to bring me over to the couch to make love to me, but with his mother’s phone call, I knew those plans were gone for good.My chest tightened as Luke picked up the phone and put his mother on speaker. That little gesture meant a lot to me. He trusted me with personal family business, and I could have kissed him for it if it were an appropriate time.“Hello, Mother?” Luke said into the phone.There was a long pause, and then a sharp inhale mixed with what sounded like a sob.My hand clamped over my mouth and tears welled in my eyes. Luke’s eyes didn’t move from the phone as his mother spoke.“Luke,” she said. “Your father passed away a few minutes ago.”Luke’s chest heaved with the effort of breathing. It was a good thing that my legs were still around him. If he passed out or something, then I could at least try to prevent him from smacking his head on the marble tile.“What happened?” he asked.“It was peaceful,”
SophiaWe sat there for some time in silence. Luke’s head appeared to get heavier in my lap, and I thought he had fallen asleep. When I leaned over to check on him, he spoke.“He was a good man,” Luke said.“He was,” I said.A smile touched his lips as his eyes fluttered open. “When I first moved to the palace, I was so scared. At the orphanage, we were crammed into small rooms. All of us were on top of each other all the time. Father gave me a room big enough to fit more than half of the orphanage building inside. It was too much for me, so Father would allow me to sleep in his room.”“That’s nice.”He chuckled. “Mother didn’t appreciate it because, apparently, I was quite the restless sleeper. But sleeping in their room helped. Eventually, I felt bad for taking up their days and nights and made my way back to my room. But Father always gave me the time and space that I needed, even when I didn’t know I needed it.”“Sounds like he cared for you a great deal,” I said.“He did,” Luke s
LukeWith each trip back home, a myriad of emotions tended to flow through me. When I traveled back the first time with Sophia, I was anxious to introduce her to my family and get my mother off my back about hooking me up with whatever woman she had chosen. On the previous trip back, I felt dread for Father’s illness.As I held Sophia’s hand during takeoff for another trip to Qatar, I wasn’t sure what to feel. I had unloaded all my feelings for Father after hearing the news from Mother. They had been locked away for years in the back of my mind, especially when Father started pushing me to replace him as king. In my annoyance, I’d forgotten everything that Father had done for me over the years.Under his rough exterior, he’d always been the one that I could count on during my many tough transitions in life.Remembering our last conversation, I wished I could have said more. His words held much more weight to them than I had initially thought. Did he know he wouldn’t make it past the w
LukeMother sighed heavily and leaned against her pillows. She stared at the ceiling.The conversation between Father and me reminded me of the next conversation I had with Mother. If she had been the one who died, I would have felt terrible about the things I’d said to her. Watching Father pass so quickly, I realized how short life was.“I’m sorry for what I said to you the last time I was here,” I said.She waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t want to talk about her.”I gritted my teeth. Even in the face of losing her husband, she still held onto her hatred for Sophia. Or maybe she had given up. Either way, this was no time to argue. We had work to do, and neither Mother nor Abir seemed to be willing to put in that work.“I know you’re in mourning,” I said. The customs of our country gave widows much time to mourn the loss of their husbands. But Mother was also a queen and not one to sit down and let life take over when there was work to be done. “We have much to do to prepare for the
SophiaThe next morning, there was more movement in the palace than I’d ever seen before. Servants rushed around, completing their tasks, while I was utterly lost and I had no idea what to do with my hands, never mind my body.Luke explained that everything was taken care of, but I still felt as if I should be doing something.Early that morning, two servants came into the room carrying several different options for the funeral. They all looked the same to me as they were black and heavy on the fabric. I chose the lightest one that covered every inch of me, other than my hands and the neck up. It came with an accompanying headscarf. I didn’t try that on, not wanting to embarrass myself if I arranged it incorrectly. Luke would help me later on if necessary.Luke kept me at his side the entire day, enough that I felt like an accessory more than his girlfriend. I wondered if he was protecting me from his Mother or if I was his main support system. Either way, I didn’t mind.Guests arrive
SophiaWhile they didn’t get the answer they were looking for, everyone who approached us was friendly toward me. They acknowledged my presence, much to Gia’s disappointment. I felt her heated stare from across the room more times than I could count. While I appreciated the kindness toward me, I wondered if it was just them being polite or if they thought I would be their future queen.I had to immediately shake away that thought. I didn’t want to be with Luke just to become his queen. I wasn’t sure if I wanted the position at all. Erol’s funeral was not the time to consider it. Luke wanted his space when it came to the throne, and I would comply, if not for my own selfish reasons as well. When it came to any future between Luke and me, I knew it involved a crown on one or both of our heads.When there was a little break in the crowd coming to speak with us, Luke pulled me aside. We stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side of the room, opposite from Gia and Abir. I wasn
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