CHAPTER 26 #2
I slid down his body, kissing a trail from his chest to his stomach to the V of his hips. He was fully hard again by the time I reached him, and I wrapped my hand around his length, stroking slowly.
"Is this okay?"
"More than okay." His voice was strained. "You don't have to—"
I licked a stripe up his shaft, and the words died in his throat.
I took my time, learning what he liked. Swirling my tongue around the head. Sucking gently, then harder when his hips bucked. Taking him deeper, my hand working what my mouth couldn't reach. The sounds he made were intoxicating, gasps and groans and my name repeated like a prayer.
"Betty, stop. I'm going to—"
I pulled back, crawling up his body to straddle him again. He was panting, his eyes glazed with need, and I felt powerful in a way I'd never experienced before.
"Not yet," I said. "I want you inside me when you come."
I positioned him at my entrance and sank down slowly, taking him in inch by inch. The angle was deeper this time, different sensations lighting up my nerve endings as I seated myself fully.
"You feel so good," I breathed.
"So do you. God, Betty, you're going to kill me."
I started to move, finding a rhythm that worked for both of us. His hands gripped my hips, helping me rise and fall, but he let me control the pace. I leaned back, bracing myself on his thighs, changing the angle until I found the spot that made me see stars.
"Right there," I gasped. "Don't move."
I rode him faster, chasing my pleasure, watching his face contort with the effort of holding back. His thumb found my clit, rubbing in tight circles, and the added sensation sent me spiraling.
"Come for me," he said, echoing my earlier words. "Let me watch you."
I did, my orgasm crashing through me with a cry that I was too far gone to muffle. He thrust up hard, once, twice, three times, and then he was coming too, my name torn from his throat as his hips jerked beneath me.
I collapsed onto his chest, both of us breathing hard. His arms wrapped around me, holding me close, our hearts pounding in synchrony.
"We should go back," I said eventually.
"Probably."
"People will notice we're gone."
"They already noticed. We weren't subtle."
I laughed and kissed his chest. "Worth it?"
"Always." He tightened his arms around me. "I love you, Betty Montclair. Princess of Solmarina. Maker of incredible coffee. Woman who somehow chose me even after I really bungled things."
"I love you too." I propped myself up on one elbow. "And about that. The choosing you part."
"Yes?"
"There's something I should tell you." I traced patterns on his chest, suddenly nervous. "The annulment papers. I tore them up in Valdoria, way before Viktor showed up and declared the marriage invalid."
He went still beneath me. "What?"
"I'd already decided to stay. Already made my choice.
Viktor's announcement didn't change anything because I'd already destroyed the only escape route I had.
" I met his eyes. "I chose you, Archie. Not because I was freed from a permanent marriage or because Viktor gave me an out.
I chose you while I still thought I was trapped forever.
Because being trapped with you seemed better than being free without you. "
He stared at me for a long moment. Then he pulled me down and kissed me so thoroughly I forgot my own name.
"You chose me," he said when we finally broke apart. "Before you had any reason to. Before the pressure was off."
"I chose you."
"Betty." His voice cracked slightly. "Do you have any idea what that means to me?"
"I have some idea." I kissed him again. "That's why I wanted to tell you. Not because of dramatic reveals or timing. Because you deserved to know that my choice was never about the circumstances. It was always about you."
He held me so tightly I could barely breathe, and something wet landed on my shoulder. Tears. Prince Archibald of Solmarina, crying because I'd chosen him.
"I'm going to spend the rest of my life earning this," he said.
"You don't have to earn it. That's not how love works."
"Then I'll spend the rest of my life being grateful for it." He pulled back to look at me. "And trying to be the man you chose. The one you deserve."
"You already are." I smiled. "Mostly. You still have control issues."
"I'm working on it."
"And you sometimes forget that I'm capable of making my own decisions."
"Also working on that."
"And you get jealous about things that happened before we met, which is deeply irrational."
"That one might take longer."
"I can be patient." I kissed his nose. "We have time. Our whole lives, since I tore up the only document that could have gotten me out of this."
"Do you regret it?"
"Not for a second."
We stayed in bed longer than we should have, talking and touching and dozing in each other's arms. When we finally made it back to the reception, we'd been gone almost two hours and everyone was pretending not to know why.
"Nice of you to join us," Petra said dryly.
"We had important wedding business to attend to."
"I'm sure you did." But she was smiling. "Your grandmother wants to say goodbye. The medical team is worried about her traveling at night."
I found the Grand Duchess in her wheelchair near the window, looking out at the Oregon skyline. The old woman looked exhausted but content, a cup of my mocha still clutched in her hands.
"You're leaving?"
"I must." The Grand Duchess turned to face me. "But I'm glad I came. Glad I got to see this. To see you happy."
"Thank you for being here." I knelt beside the wheelchair. "I know the travel was hard on you."
"Some things are worth the difficulty." She reached out and touched my face. "You look like your mother when you smile like that. She would have been so proud of you."
"I wish I'd known her."
"I wish you had too. But you'll know your children. And they'll know her through you, through the stories we'll tell them about the princess who loved horses and made everyone laugh and would have adored their grandmother."
My throat tightened. "I'll come visit you. In Valdoria. As often as I can."
"I'd like that." The Grand Duchess smiled. "And perhaps bring that husband of yours. I need to make sure he's treating you properly."
"He is. I'll make sure of it."
"I know you will." She squeezed my hand. "You're a Montclair. We're not easy women to manage, but we're worth the effort."
After the Grand Duchess left, I stood at the window and watched the taillights disappear into the night. Archie appeared beside me, slipping his hand into mine.
"You okay?"
"Yeah." I leaned against his shoulder. "Just thinking about how weird my life has become. Six months ago I was a barista with student loan debt and a terrible boss. Now I'm a princess with a newfound grandmother, a husband, and a coffee shop I own but will probably never work in again."
"You could work in it if you wanted."
"I know. That's the thing. I could do whatever I want now. No more Derek, no more worrying about rent, no more feeling trapped by circumstances I couldn't control." I looked up at him. "It's strange, having choices. Real choices."
"You've always had choices. You just didn't always see them."
"Maybe." I turned back to the window. "Did they find any connection to the Russians or Viktor to my kidnapping?”
"The investigation is still on going, but it doesn't look like it.
The timeline doesn't match. Whoever took you from that garden twenty years ago, they covered their tracks too well.
The trail went cold long before Viktor ever set foot in Valdoria.
" He pulled me closer. "Does that bother you? Not knowing?"
"Sometimes. But I've decided it matters less than I thought it would. Knowing who took me won't give me back those twenty years. It won't change who raised me or who I became. Some mysteries stay mysteries. I can live with that."
This was my life now. Coffee shops and palaces, Oregon rain and Mediterranean sun, the barista I'd been and the princess I was becoming.
Both versions of myself, finally at peace.
"Ready to go home?" Archie asked.
"Home to Solmarina?"
"Home to wherever you want." He kissed my forehead. "That's the nice thing about having two countries. Twice as many options."
I thought about the stables waiting for me in Solmarina, Azzurra's twins learning to walk, the riding lessons I still hadn't finished.
About my grandmother's fragile health and the time we had left together.
About Petra and Captain Steiner and Chef Marcello and all the people who had become my family.
But I also thought about my parents, about Mrs. Lawrence still coming in for her medium dark roast, about the smell of coffee and the sound of the espresso machine and the life I'd built before I knew I was supposed to be royal.
"Both," I said finally. "I want to go home to both."
"Then that's what we'll do." Archie wrapped his arm around my waist. "Coffee shop princess by day, actual princess by night."
"That's the worst superhero origin story I've ever heard."
"I'm a prince, not a writer."
"Clearly." But I was smiling. "Come on. Let's say goodbye to my parents and go scandalize your security team by making out in the back of the car."
"Roberto would be scandalized. Steiner would just take notes for her incident reports."
"She takes notes on everything."
"It's a gift."
We walked back into the reception together, hands intertwined, ready to face whatever came next. The alliance was secure, Viktor was in custody, and I had finally stopped running from the impossible life I'd stumbled into.
I was a princess now. For real, by choice, forever.
And somehow, against all odds, that was exactly where I wanted to be.