28. “Adore You” - Harry Styles
“Adore You” - Harry Styles
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and when we finish up at the children’s farm, I find I’m actually disappointed. Axel is completely wiped out, his little head bobbing on Henry’s shoulder as he carries him to the car.
The day was even more magical than I hoped. I never thought I’d find myself falling for someone who still wears training pants to bed and doesn’t stand taller than my waist, but here we are.
When we drop Axel off at Elizabeth’s house, I try not to count the minutes Henry is inside with the door shut. Not after the way he responded to me.
When he finally returns to the car, my heart unravels from the tight ball it has knotted itself into.
His eyes meet mine in the dim light, and I recognize the hunger in them.
He settles beside me in the back seat, his thigh brushing against mine and causing a thrill to race up my leg, directly to the space between my thighs.
The silence ticks by, heightening the tension between us. I’m still trying to think of a way to break the awkwardness when he says, “You were amazing today.”
I glance at him in surprise. “Was it the way I fed my jacket to the goats? Or became a human target for that chimp throwing apples?”
He drapes his arm behind me on the seat, his thumb brushing against my bare shoulder. “Actually, I was referring to the way you nearly jumped out of your skin when that donkey bumped your ass.”
“I thought something was coming after the rest of my clothes.” I jab him in the ribs, then move my finger up to what I know is a ticklish spot for him.
Henry jerks away from me and grabs my hand before I can torture him further, twisting it so that I’m nearly in his lap. Then with his other hand, he tickles my own exposed side. I bury my face in his chest and squirm to get away. When he finally relents, I’m breathless and still laughing.
As our laughter fades, we both become aware of what just happened. We haven’t done something like this in a year or more. I’m still trapped against him by an arm that feels more like a cable. I relish the moment and inhale his scent deeply.
“Stop sniffing my stomach,” he says. “Weirdo.”
I give his abs another exaggerated sniff, wiggling my face back and forth.
I want to bite him. He inhales sharply and tugs me until I’m upright again, but he doesn’t let go.
Instead, he slides his hand up my neck and into my hair, then pulls me toward him.
The hunger in his eyes has intensified, and my mouth goes dry.
He kisses me slowly and tentatively at first, as if he’s unsure he’s ready to commit. But when I swipe my tongue across his bottom lip, he groans and welds his mouth to mine.
I reach hungry fists to his chest and bunch up handfuls of his shirt. His hand slides over my hip and yanks me harder toward him. I hover on the verge of climbing into his lap. He tilts my head back and peppers my throat with kisses.
When he reaches the space between my clavicles, I teeter on the brink of combustion.
“I wanted to fuck you so hard when you made him smile,” he says against my skin.
I jerk my head back in surprise. “Wha—”
Henry cuts me off with his mouth, chasing every thought from my mind with his tongue. It’s a decadent feeling, and I’m drowning. He tightens his fingers at the back of my head so I can’t move.
“Axel,” he says, as breathless as I am. “Watching you with him.” His mouth sinks to mine again, as though he can’t go more than a few seconds without another dose. When he comes up for air, he says, “I wanted to take you against that wall.”
Sweet adrenaline shoots through my veins like I’ve just had a hit of cocaine. “Move back in with me,” I say against his lips.
He leans back, too far to retain contact. “C . . .” His eyes are sad, pulling down at the corners.
My heart drops to the floor. “Why not? You just said—”
“I said I wanted to fuck you, yes.”
The rest of his sentence hangs between us, unspoken but not unheard.
But that doesn’t mean I want to be with you.
“So that’s it, then?” I untangle myself from him and shift back in my seat. “We’re going to have this magical day, and you’re just going to leave again at the end of it?”
His eyes flutter shut. “Is that why you invited us? As some kind of power play to get me to move back into the palace?”
“No.” I shake my head. “Of course not. I miss you. Maybe that’s hard for you to comprehend, but my body and heart are still very much under the impression that they belong to you.” My voice breaks at the end.
“They do belong to me,” he growls, hauling me against himself. His mouth finds mine like a greedy zombie looking for its next victim. Gone is the delicacy from earlier. In its place is a fierce hunger that threatens to consume every part of me. I welcome it with open arms.
His hand slides up my shirt and cups my breast. I cry out when he rubs his thumb over my nipple, but he swallows the sound. He pulls my bra down just enough to release my breast, then rolls the nipple between his finger and thumb. I exclaim again and feel him smile against my mouth.
A new kind of desperation overtakes him, and he pushes my top up. Breaking off the kiss, he turns his attention to the peaks of my eager chest. I moan as he takes one into his mouth, sucking and pulling and licking and tasting me into oblivion.
“Henry!” I gasp after one particularly hard nip.
He chuckles and offers an apology by way of gentle kisses.
“What are we doing?” I say dreamily. I would sell my soul for this to never end, but it doesn’t stop me from feeling confused.
He lifts his head and meets my gaze. “I miss you.”
“Then come home.”
He flicks his thumb back over my nipple a few more times, then readjusts my bra and top. A deep sigh passes his lips. “It’s not that easy.”
“What isn’t easy about it? You live there. We’re married. You certainly don’t act like someone who doesn’t want to share my bed.”
“Just because I can’t keep my hands off you doesn’t mean—” He leans forward and rests his head in his hands. “You lied to me, C. I can’t just pretend that never happened.”
It feels like a lit torch is stuck in my lungs. “You lied too.”
For a minute he doesn’t say anything or move. Then he looks back at me over his shoulder. “You’re right. I did.”
I rest a tentative palm on his back. “Can’t we work through this together?”
He moves a hand to my knee, rubbing his thumb back and forth. “I’m still upset.”
“Fine. Be upset,” I say. “But do it at home so we can at least have hot makeup sex.” I slide my other hand up his thigh and toward his crotch.
He hisses through his teeth when I reach his impressive erection, snatching up my wrist. “God, Celia. That’s not fighting fair.”
I giggle and press a kiss to his cheek. “You liked it. Admit it.”
“Define like,” he says, sitting up and pulling me across his lap in one motion. “If you mean that I want to take you in the back of this limo, then yes. I liked it.”
I don’t even have time to catch my breath before his mouth is on mine again, taking everything I’ll give him. When he reaches for the zipper on my pants, I push his hand away and come up for air.
“We’re almost home. Say you’ll stay, and we can do this for the rest of the night.”
His eyes move between mine. “No more secrets.”
I nod. “No more secrets.”
It’s a miracle I can walk today after the night I had.
You would think after a few years of marriage, a person’s husband would stop surprising them, but that is not the case, at least not for yours truly.
Not that I’m complaining, although Maisie did give me a weird look when I hobbled over to the window to let in a breeze after Henry texted me.
Henry: How do you feel about office sex? I’ve just had my desk polished.
The image of dragging him down on top of me with the tie he was wearing when he left this morning is enough to make me pant.
A knock on the door startles me, and I can only hope my face isn’t as red as it feels. Preston steps inside and approaches my desk. “We need to talk. Do you have a minute?”
“Sure.” I remain seated. If he’s hoping for a continuation of what happened the last time he was in here, he’s about to be sorely disappointed.
“You asked me to tie up any loose ends at the hospital.”
I nod as my stomach churns. I miss the days of no one knowing my name or caring what I did yesterday. “Did everyone sign the NDA?”
He sets a file on my desk, presumably full of the medical staff’s nondisclosure contracts. “Everyone signed.”
“I sense a but coming.”
He sighs and pushes his hair from his forehead. “These things have a way of leaking to the press anyway. The hospital’s a big place, and with the Princess Royal being taken by ambulance . . . I just think it’s best if we prepare for a media circus.”
Preston’s job is to maintain our reputation. There will be no way of “maintaining” anything once Bea’s miscarriage becomes public knowledge. That will be a lit match to the royal family’s image.
“What are you suggesting?” I ask, folding my hands in front of me.
“We need to prepare a statement to address the issue once it arises.”
“I’d rather we not let it arise.” Bea is in too fragile a state to let the entire country feast on her pain like jackals on a carcass.
Preston shakes his head. “I don’t see a way to avoid it.”
I slap my palm onto the stack of NDAs. “You just had everyone sign this.”
“Celia, we’re talking about more than thirty people.” He braces his arms on the desk. “And that’s if we can trust the staff to keep their mouths shut.”
“There has to be a way.”
“I have yet to find one.”
I stand up, and even though Preston towers over me, he shifts his weight backward. “You are paid to take care of things like this. Think of something!”
He runs his tongue over his bottom lip. “My father might know some people who could—”
“Please do not finish that sentence. No one is setting fire to the news stations.” I’ve had enough of Preston’s shady acquaintances. I stare down at my desk like the answers might be waiting there. Then I remember something Maisie said weeks ago. “What about a distraction?”
“I’m sorry?” He raises his brows in confusion.
“A distraction. Something to keep them busy until they forget. We can slip in the news that Beatrice was in the hospital for a gallbladder attack while we provide them with a juicier story.”
“Go on.” He narrows his eyes.
“We’ve got the perfect scandal to draw them in already.” I’m warming to this idea every second. “I’ll make a press statement about how amazing it is to have this new ‘family.’”
“And this new family consists of . . . ?”
“Me, Henry, and Axel.”
Preston nods, the cogs in that brilliant head of his already turning, forming ideas and plans. “Okay. That could work. How soon can you give the statement?”
I issue a press statement the next day. Just as we hoped, the media is thoroughly distracted by my open-armed embrace of Axel into our family. If I had known how well they would react to this kind of response from me, I might have done it sooner.
It’s not fake, either. Henry and I take Axel on a nonpublicized outing to a local ice cream shop.
Of course, you can’t be the queen of Wesbourne and not have people capture you on camera, but we didn’t do it for publicity.
We did it because, despite the odds, this is starting to feel a little like a family.