Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
James
Three weeks out of hospital and I still felt like I was moving through a dream.
The doctors had warned about disorientation, about the way a brush with death could make everything seem surreal.
But this wasn't medical—this was of pure wonder at how completely my life had transformed during those weeks of recovery, with Evangeline refusing to leave my side despite palace pressure and her own royal duties.
Evangeline walked beside me through the Bellavista forest, her hand warm in mine, sunlight filtering through the canopy above us. She'd insisted on this walk despite my protests about security protocols.
She had said, "I've been cooped up in hospitals and palaces for weeks," with that stubborn tilt to her chin that I had grown to adore. "I need air. Real air."
The past three weeks had been a careful dance of healing and revelation.
While my body mended from Harrison's bullet, Evangeline had systematically dismantled every barrier the palace had tried to erect between us.
She'd sat through countless meetings with diplomats and investigators, always clarifying that any decisions about our future would include both of us.
Her mother, shaken by how close she'd come to losing us both, had gradually stopped fighting what she could no longer deny.
Now, watching her breathe deeply of the pine-scented breeze, I understood. After everything we'd been through—the shooting, the revelations, the long nights of recovery—we both needed this. Just us, away from cameras and protocols and the weight of the crown she now wore.
"How does it feel?" I asked, gesturing vaguely toward the palace visible through the trees. "Having your mother's blessing for the first time since this all began?"
She was quiet for a moment, considering. "Strange. Revolutionary. After everything that happened in London, she finally understands that love isn't a weakness to be managed—it's a strength that can save lives."
She squeezed my hand. This simple action had become a way we would have conversations in silence when our voices could not be heard.
A habit picked up from the hospital — the hospital I clawed my way back to the person who puts air in my lungs, the person who shared every beat of my heart.
The person who took all the noise and darkness away that plagued me from army years.
I clawed my way back to the person who was my sunrise and my moonlight.
"She told me yesterday that she'd been wrong to interfere, that watching you take a bullet made her realise what really mattered."
I stopped walking, turning to face her fully. Even after all this time, she took my breath away. The afternoon light caught the gold in her hair, and her eyes—those eyes that had seen me at my worst and somehow still loved me—held that familiar spark of mischief.
"What?" she asked, noting my stare.
"Just thinking about how lucky I am." I pulled her closer, my hands settling on her waist. "How close I came to losing this. Losing you."
"You didn't lose me." Her voice was soft but firm. "You'll never lose me."
The words hit me square in the chest, as they had every day since I'd woken up to find her crying over my hospital bed. This woman—this incredible, impossible woman—loved me. Had chosen me despite everything.
I backed her against the trunk of an ancient oak, my mouth finding hers in a kiss that tasted of freedom and forever. She melted against me, her hands fisting in my shirt, and I felt that familiar fire ignite between us.
"Naughty Mr. Banks, but I want you inside me," she breathed against my lips, and the way she said my name—like a prayer, like a promise—undid me completely.
My hands slipped beneath her blouse, finding warm skin. She gasped, arching into my touch. "Someone could see," she whispered, but her actions contradicted her words as she pulled me closer.
"There's no one here," I assured her, my voice low and urgent. "I made sure of it. The security perimeter is half a mile away, and I chose this spot specifically." "We're completely alone, Princess. It's just us."
"What are you doing to me?" she asked.
"I plan to worship you." My teeth grazed the side of her ear as my words came out. "This little walk has made me a little parched, and, well, I am still a patient in recuperation. I need to keep my fluids up".
I could not help but let a smirk spread across my face as I lowered myself gently to the woodland floor. My knees found themselves stable in the scattered branches and moss that acted as a cushion.
The vision of her backed against that old oak tree, her breathing becoming rapid.
I loved seeing her in this state of arousal, knowing her restraint was hanging by a thread, but not wanting to disobey me by moving.
She knew what would happen if she did that; I still had to mark her arse cheek to complement the one I left before.
I heard her breath catch as I pressed against her, my hands skimming down her sides, to the hem of her skirt.
"Is this what you want?" I asked, my voice rough with desire.
"Yes," she whispered, pressing her arse against the tree. "Please, James," she begged
I lifted her skirt, my fingers finding the edge of her knickers. The soft lace was already damp, and I groaned at the evidence of her desire. "Hold on to the tree," I commanded softly, and she obeyed, her palms flat against the bark.
I ordered her to envision what I was planning to do to her. Fuck, I was hard as a rock; my cock was leaking pre-cum.
Twisting my fingers around the saturated crotch, my fingers brushing against her already throbbing and swollen clit, I ripped her knickers off, so she was bare for me. Evangeline gasped when I tossed her torn panties on the ground.
"Was that really necessary?" she asked, her breathing shallow.
I didn't respond because I gripped her sides and sunk my tongue into her glistening pussy, an invitation I could not refuse, and one that Evangeline knew not to withhold.
Evangeline cried out as I lost myself inhaling her scent.
She was already dripping for me, her cum smeared over my face.
Her hips trembled, and I started twisting and flicking her labia.
Gently, I pulled each one into my mouth, one at a time, sucking on them, letting my teeth catch on them.
I felt Evangeline starting to buck her hips into my head. Scraping nail marks into the bark of the tree. I mean, I know we had planned to carve our names into one trunk in the wood, but okay, that works.
My cock was straining painfully against my jeans. "Fuck James… fuck."
She moaned as she held on to the tree, and I rumbled with an approving growl. She tasted fucking sweet.
"I am going to feast on your cunt until you can't take it anymore,"
I started licking her glistening cunt, watching her arousal coat every inch of her very edible inner thighs.
While my other hand was on her arse, holding her in place.
She was so wet. I continued to bury my tongue in her flesh, slowly, eagerly, until I felt her hips trembling, pressing herself into my mouth.
I wanted to hear her come for me, breaking apart with waves of pleasure.
Fuck, she had the sweetest pussy that I'd ever tasted, and she was going to be mine forever.
I ate her like a man starved until she was panting as I kept my hands on her sides, pinning her to my face.
It was a fucking unbelievable feast; my pulse was pounding in my ears.
I had lifted her leg and had her wrapped around my shoulder. In this position, her vulva was truly at my mercy. I sucked her clit between my teeth and applied pressure.
When she finally broke, crying out my name into the forest air, I caught her weight against me, holding her steady as the waves washed over her.
I knew her body like a map I'd memorised; I knew exactly how to touch her to make her come apart. Within minutes, she was trembling against me, soft moans escaping her lips as I brought her closer and closer to the edge again.
"Sei la mia medicina." (You are my medicine.) I hissed through my teeth, the cool air against her pussy making her squirm. I was going to keep pushing her beyond her limit.
I slowly slid two fingers in, then a third, into her warm, pulsing pussy. I felt her walls stretch and settle around my fingers. Evangeline was made for me. I curled my fingers, hitting the spot I knew would make her see stars.
Evangeline was screaming, bucking her hips, fucking my face. I knew she was close. I hoisted her other leg and placed it on my shoulder. I was holding her fully now; She was so vulnerable in this position, and I loved being the woodland monster that was feasting on her.
"JAMES!!! Oh my god, James I can't take much more, please god PLEASE! I need to cum; I'm losing my fucking mind."
I kept my pace, her hands now tightly holding on to my head she fucked my face harder than she ever had.
That was I slid a fourth finger fuck she was beautiful her pussy gave me everything I needed and more I rubbed my thumb against her clit, once,twice, three times…
.. That was when Evangeline went ramrod straight, frozen in mid-air as I held her in my hands.
"Are you okay, baby?" Silence met my words, then her body tightened around my hands and fingers. Evangeline let out a primal scream, and I brought my eyes back down to her beautiful pussy just as she squirted all over my face.
"Yes!" I shouted quickly. I placed my mouth directly where I could catch the remnant of her cum, fuck she tasted even more exquisite I had no words to describe what i just saw other than
"Magnificent." "Beautiful," I whispered, the words while pressing kisses all along her inner thighs. "So bloody beautiful."
I looked up at Evangeline; her eyes were dark with satisfaction and renewed desire.