Noah #3
It was one of the most wonderful days of my life, and it was all because of the man sitting across from me.
As if he could feel my attention on him, Nicholas looked in my direction, and the way the sunlight caught on his dark hair and blue eyes made him seem otherworldly.
In his navy suit and tie, pristine white shirt, and tailored pants, he looked as out of place sitting in my parents’ small sunroom sipping tea as I did eating dinner on the balcony of his family’s summer palace.
We were from two completely different worlds and yet somehow managed to fit into both. We were able to give the other what they needed, when they needed it, and I would never forget what he’d done for my family today.
“I’m going to step outside for a little bit,” Nicholas said as he rose to his feet, his eyes still locked on mine. “Give you some time with your mother before we have to head back.”
I appreciated the moment alone with her to ask about her health and how she was coping with Father’s progressing illness, and though she admitted it was difficult at times, she was in high spirits.
That was one of the things I loved the most about my mum.
No matter what life threw at her, she always rose up and overcame it—usually with a smile on her face.
I might’ve gotten my dad’s work ethic, but I’d most certainly inherited her love for life and optimism.
She was the strongest person I knew.
“I better go and check on the king,” I said, looking out to see Nicholas standing on the cliffs, the sea breeze ruffling his hair.
“Of course,” Mum said as we got to our feet. “It was so nice of him to bring you by to see us today. Please be sure he knows how grateful we are.”
“He knows, Mum. But I’ll tell him.”
She nodded and kissed my cheek before disappearing into the kitchen with the tray in hand, and after a final look at my sleeping father, I pushed open the side door and stepped outside.
The clean scent of salt in the air was as familiar to me as the grassy hilltop I walked across to meet up with Nicholas.
I’d played for hours out here as a child, fighting imaginary dragons and looking through homemade telescopes for pirates.
It’d been a childhood full of love and happiness, despite our station.
But as I walked toward the regal man that stood there now, his shoulders rigid and his hands clasped behind his back, I’d never been more aware of the old, run-down cottage behind me.
At first I’d been worried how he’d react to such meager dwellings—but I needn’t have, because Nicholas had sat at my mother’s morning table and played games with my father, all the while sipping tea like he was back on the east terrace of Montclair.
My eyes blurred at the memory. The generosity, respect, and kindness he’d shown my parents had confirmed what I already knew—I was in love with His Majesty King Nicholas Laurent Valemont.
The sound of waves crashing on the rocks below got louder as I neared him, and had me wondering: what he was thinking as he stared out to sea?
How his ancestors had traveled to Valoria all those years ago?
Or how he wished he could jump aboard a ship and escape somewhere far away, where he wasn’t beholden to anyone’s wants but his own?
I’d just about reached him when he turned to see me. His blue eyes were troubled as he looked me over before turning back to stare out at the choppy waters before us.
“We used to come to Whitefall Cliffs every summer,” Nicholas said, his voice floating above the waves. “For one week.”
I remembered that. The village would be in a frenzy, the streets shut down, and most of the locals vanished.
Nicholas’s father had been respected, but he was also known to be cold.
He wasn’t interested in being loved; he merely did his job.
So it was easier to stay out of his way than to accidentally incur his displeasure.
“I always wanted to stay longer,” he said, then took in a deep breath. “But my father would never let me.”
His voice sounded far away as I stepped up beside him, his mind somewhere in the past.
“He used to say: The sea will steal your heart like a beautiful face if you let it.”
Nicholas turned to look at me, his eyes roving over my features as he reached for me, cradling my face.
“For the first time, I understand what he meant. I’d give up everything…for this view.” My heart skipped as he took a step closer and lowered his forehead to mine. “For you.”
“Nicholas—”
“Let me say this, Noah. Let me tell you how much I love you. I can’t bear going another second without saying the words I feel.”
I curled my fingers around his and held them as I closed my eyes, letting his words crash over me like the waves hitting the cliffside.
“Everything’s against us, I know that. Nothing about this is fair.
But no matter how many times I tell myself, no matter how many times someone else tells me this won’t end well, I can’t seem to stop my heart from coming back to you, to loving you.
” He reached for my chin, angling my face up to his.
“Yet I’m supposed to just forget you? Forget this face?
This heart of yours? How do I do that? How do I stop loving you? Can you tell me?”
I placed a hand over his heart and shook my head. “No, because I love you too. It’s foolish and pointless, but no matter how hard I try to push aside my feelings, they always come back stronger. Maybe it’s a case of better to have loved and lost than not love at all.”
“I don’t believe that,” Nicholas said, ever the stubborn king.
“In this case, I don’t believe you have a choice.”
Nicholas’s eyes swirled with frustration and love as he ran his fingers down my cheek. “I don’t care. Choice or not, I love you, Noah Bennett. Nothing can change that.”
My heart swelled at the words I’d only ever dreamed of hearing.
I hadn’t thought it would be possible to find love.
It hadn’t even been on my radar, much less with the man who ruled our country—but here he was, standing in front of me at my parents’ home, confessing that he couldn’t go another second without telling me he loved me.
It was more than I ever could’ve hoped for.
I let myself get lost in his words, in the love swirling in his eyes, and shoved down the voice that was telling me to wake up.
Nicholas cupped my cheek and leaned in, kissing me softly and sealing the words we’d spoken to each other as the wind whipped around us.
The moment was perfect. Everything. And with it grew a small spark of hope that somehow we wouldn’t have to give up what it’d taken so long for us to find.