37. Nick
NICK
“You are quite the hero around here.” I take off my cufflinks and place them on the dresser.
For the first time, after a long day of meetings and palace business, I get to come back to my bedroom with my boyfriend. Having someone to come home to makes the day worth it.
Hank lays on the bed in nothing but his boxers. All I want to do is stare at him. Knowing that he’s been wandering about in the palace, so close yet so far, has been unbelievable foreplay today.
“I wonder what else around here needs fixing.” He stretches his back, his big, broad chest taking up even more room on the bed.
“We can have you talk to maintenance. It’s an old building. I’m sure there’s lots for you to do.” I unbutton my shirt. “But Hank, you’re also welcome to relax. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want.”
“I know. But I like being busy. What do royal spouses and significant others typically do?”
“Nothing.” I roll my eyes, thinking about all the boards dilettante members of the royal family serve on. Their duties entail attending a meeting once or twice a year and throwing a big gala. I can’t imagine Hank in that world, and he doesn’t have to.
“I’m sure there are other old buildings that need fixing up. You don’t want to lose a two-hundred-year-old church to water damage.” His eyes widen and glow with possibilities. “Does Ardenia have a trade school? I can start a training program.”
He bites his lip, reeling himself back from his newfound ambition.
“I can stop,” he says. “If it’s embarrassing.”
“It’s not.” I go to the bed and seal my assurance with a kiss. “I want you to feel comfortable here. I want you to be happy.”
“I want to earn my place here.”
“You don’t need to earn anything. You’re here because I love you and want to build a life with you.” Hank’s kind spirit is a welcome shake up to how things go about here.
He may not have fancy degrees or pedigrees, but his heart is pure. He loves caring for others, and I know whatever path he decides, it’s going to be selfless and truly make an impact.
“How’s Brody?” I ask.
“Having a blast at Des and Tanner’s. They’ve had pizza two nights in a row. I think he likes the chaos of the house. Four kids there.” Hank shrugs. “He never got to experience siblings.”
Something unspoken stirs in my chest, a thought that’s been percolating ever since Hank touched down in Ardenia.
“What is it?” he asks, sensing my strain.
I sit on the bed and take off my shoes. “Nothing. Just thinking about my father.”
“He’s a great guy. He loved my hockey stories.”
Shockingly, Hank and the king got along well at dinner.
Seeing how happy Hank makes me has made the king warm up to us being together.
We talked through press strategies for introducing Hank to the public and discussed how certain royal functions would unfold with a man at my side.
It’ll be a bumpy, awkward transition, but we’ll get through it.
There are older members of parliament who aren’t supportive, though luckily they are a minority. I look at my father, who has shown tremendous growth in the month since I came out publicly, and I remain hopeful in the power of people to change.
Watching the king struggle with picking up his fork bruised my heart, giving me a glimpse at what’s to come. I’m so grateful that I have Hank by my side during this time. I’m about to enter the hardest year of my life since my mother died. Thankfully, Hank gives really good hugs.
“You’re wearing too many clothes,” he says, beckoning me to the bed.
“You stripped right down to your skivvies.”
“Because these are silk sheets. They feel so good on my skin.” Hank writhes around, letting every part of him get contact with the soft fabric.
I stand against the bed. He comes over and unbuttons my pants, pushing them to the floor.
“Uh oh.” His face contorts into a cheshire cat grin.
He pulls me onto him for a delectable kiss, his warm body soothing mine. I kiss back, but I can’t fully engage.
“Hank. I need to talk to you about something.”
“Are you breaking up with me? Is it because I didn’t know what a fascinator was?”
“I’m not.” A part of me worries he’ll be the one breaking up with me. “I want to talk about the future. I know this is fast, and discussing one’s future so early in the relationship could cause a person to run…”
He tips my chin to face him. “I’m not running anywhere, Nick.”
“As a member of the royal family, there’s pressure on me to produce an heir.
Being with a man complicates this, of course, but…
” I inhale a breath of courage. “I want to be a father. Not merely out of obligation. Seeing you with Brody…I want that, too. I want to start at the beginning, not just be a stepfather.”
“You’re saying you want to have a baby with me.”
“I’d like to. I know you’re a bit older, and you’ve already raised a boy to adulthood. If this is an issue, we should deal with it now. Unfortunately, because of the scrutiny that comes with being a public figure, we don’t have the luxury to wait-and-see.”
I really know how to kill the mood, don’t I? As a future king, duty will always call, and never at the appropriate time.
“I probably should’ve had this conversation before we were in our underwear.”
“It’s really fun watching you spiral.” Hank kisses along my neck. “I want to have a baby with you.”
“You do?” Hope fills my chest. Instantly, I picture Hank holding a baby and singing to it and a little boy wearing a little toolbelt.
“Yeah. With Brody going off to college next year, it’s made me realize how fast it all goes. I miss having a little baby around the house, and I’d get to experience all those milestones with you.” He presses our hands together, fingers interlocking.
“Hank…”
“I guess I gotta get back in shape to chase a baby around.”
“Don’t change a thing.”
“Because you’re a royal…are we able to get help with those three a.m. feedings?”
“Oh absolutely!” Our mouths meet for another kiss, this one infused with pure love for each other. “Three months ago, we didn’t know each other existed, and now we’re talking about starting a family.”
“Yeah, we haven’t been together for that long, but at forty-three, I know myself well, and I know that we’re going to be in each other’s lives for a long time.” Hank yanks me down to the bed, flips me around so I’m on my back, staring up at his rugged face.
“The best part of having a baby?” His hand travels down my chest, under the waistband of my underwear, and taps my hole, which aches for him.
“You do know how babies are made, right?” I quirk an eyebrow.
“Nothing says we can’t keep trying.” He circles my hole, playing with the sensitive skin as our mouths find each other in a hungry kiss.
I claw at his back, wanting him close, on top of me. I breathe in his musky, salty scent, tinged with lead. Can’t fathom how I went a month without seeing him.
He yanks off my boxers. My hard cock thwacks against my stomach. I instinctively lift my legs to give him better access, because I desperately want him inside me.
I stroke a hand through his chest hair, grazing over the lumps of his torso. My big, strong teddy bear is back. Our tongues tangle together; my mouth fills with heat.
Hank licks his fingers, then slides them into my hole, up to the second knuckle.
“You like that? You like my fingers stretching you open?”
“I fucking love it.”
The squelching sound of his slick fingers fucking me fills the room, as do the moans spilling out of my mouth. His eyes darken, slashing over my body with lust.
His hot breath dances on my lips through ravenous kisses. He runs a hand through my beard; I tangle my fingers in his hair, wanting this moment to stretch on forever.
Hank kisses across my chest, takes a nipple between his teeth, and lightly pulls. My hand flails out searching for his cock. He juts his hips up to make contact.
“God yes,” I moan. I jerk his thick rod, loving its heaviness.
His fingers go harder and faster. My cock leaks like crazy, heat rising in my core as the friction is on the verge of making me explode..
“Fuck,” I gasp out. “If you keep doing that, I’m going to come.”
“I want you to come with my dick inside you.”
“Then put it in me. That’s a royal decree.”
“I love that we can make royal jokes now that I know you’re a prince.” Hank pulls his fingers out and gives me a pat on the ass. He leans down and takes my cock in his mouth. The warmth of his tongue hurtles me closer to the edge. He groans against my shaft, sending shivers through me.
And just before I completely lose control, he stops, sensing I’m reaching a point of no return.
He takes the bottle of lube from my nightstand. “I can’t believe there’s lube in a centuries-old castle.”
Hank coats his index finger with lube and presses inside my opening. I writhe from the touch of his rough, calloused hands. He turns me on my side and gets behind me. I lift my top leg to give him better access.
There’s a few seconds while Hank roots around for my opening, but once he makes contact and I feel the breach of his thick cock entering me, I see stars.
He wraps a hairy arm around me, pulling me close as his dick fills me up. The sweat and roughness of his chest scratches against the soft skin of my back like a well-worn knit blanket.
“Yes. My beautiful Nick,” he whispers in my ear. He squeezes my left nipple, making me feel electric.
His cock thrusts in me, adding more oxygen to the fire surging in my belly. My hard cock rests against the silk sheets, the friction only adding to the horniness enrapturing me.
“Fuck me, Hank.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
I didn’t think your majesty would ever be a turn-on after hearing my parents called that for decades. But the deep, raspy tone of Hank’s voice does wonders.
He licks a line of sweat off my neck as his cock goes in and out of my ass. I fist the sheets, arcing my hips toward him to get him in deeper.
“Harder,” I utter.
“So hot,” he grunts against my neck. Hank pounds into my hole, opening it wide, making every part of me melt.
Our bodies are so close, hot and sweaty, all restraint gone. I need this man in ways I didn’t know possible.
Hank full on fucks me. All deep grunts and friction and need.
“I love getting fucked by you.”
“Come for me, beautiful Nick.”
I may be the future king of Ardenia, but I will always be his Nick from Baltimore.
He wraps his fist around my engorged cock and pumps me until I explode with orgasm. He holds me close as I completely lose control and spill come across the sheets.
“You really get good distance,” he notes.
Were I not in a sex-fueled daze, I would laugh.
A few moments later, he empties himself inside me, his body clenching with release.
I turn my head. Our lips meet in a tender kiss that makes my sweat-glazed skin glow.
“I love you.” I gaze into his eyes.
“Love you right back.”
We lay there—the big, burly spoon and the little, royal spoon. An unlikely combination that makes perfect sense.