The admission punched through me like a blade. With one hand I reached for the discarded silk tie tangled in the sheets as Theo rolled onto his back, his wrists colliding over his head before I could ask, pale veins tracing roads across his inner arms. I wrapped the silk snug above his pulse points, heat pooling in my belly as I secured the knot. His chest heaved beneath me, rising and falling as I pressed his knees toward his shoulders, spreading him wide.
Reaching blindly for the lube, I slicked myself quickly, thrusting slowly as his body yielded to mine. Theo's choked moan filled the space between our mouths, cheekbones flushed under scattered freckles. “Look at me,” I growled, catching his chin as his eyes threatened to flutter shut. “This is real. You feel that?”
He nodded, sweat-slicked hair clinging to his forehead. “Yours.” The word came out mangled, half-moan. “All yours.”
Each snap of hips built momentum, the rhythm turning desperate and sharp. My knuckles whitened on the carved bedpost as he clenched around me, every gasping breath from his lips stoking the fire in my veins. His legs locked around my waist, heels digging into the small of my back as I drove deeper, claiming, worshipping, unraveling.
My hand slid between our sweat-slicked bodies, fingers wrapping around Theo's leaking cock. He arched into my touch with broken whimpers, his hips stuttering as I stroked him in time with my thrusts. “Ricard—” His throat clicked when he swallowed, wrists straining against the silk bonds. “I can't... I'm going to—”
I watched his face fracture, eyelids fluttering, mouth slackening, entire body tensing like a drawn bowstring. Hot stripes painted my stomach as he came, his choked cry reverberating in my bones. The clench of him around my cock shattered my control. I buried myself deep, grinding out my release through the aftershocks rocking our bodies.
For a moment we stayed fused, breath ragged between us. My trembling fingers fumbled with the knotted silk at his wrists. The moment his hands came free, they framed my face, cool palms pressed to my burning cheeks.
We lay intertwined, breath mingling, and I pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. “Stay with me,” I whispered, my voice hoarse. “Always.”
“I'm here,” he murmured, pulling me closer as if I might vanish if he loosened his grip.
“No, I mean... after this. Don't leave.” I pulled back just enough to search his gaze, my heart hammering against my ribs. “I've never been in love before, but this...” My thumb traced the line of his jaw. “This is it. This is what love feels like.”
The charged admission hung in the air. Theo went still, his breath catching as tears sparkled in his eyes. With a voice barely above a whisper, he said, “Every rule I had, every boundary I tried to keep—”
“—you broke,” I finished, heart thundering. “Because you're worth more than I ever dreamed.” My lips found the frantic pulse at his throat. “That you're worth a thousand thrones.” Another kiss alonghis collarbone. “That I'd let the whole damn monarchy collapse if it meant keeping you next to me.” I cupped his face, my voice a fervent promise. “Whatever dreams you've harbored, whatever future you've imagined—I'll move heaven and earth to make them reality. For you.”
His lips trembled as he pressed closer, his hands cradling my face between them. “What if my dream is you? What if it's been you all along?”
The question struck me, raw and disarming. “Then I’m already yours.”
Theo pressed his forehead to mine, his eyes closing briefly before meeting my gaze with newfound resolve. “I'm all in, Ricard. But we need to be realistic about what we're facing.” His fingers traced the line of my jaw with tender determination. “The tabloids, your family, the scrutiny… it will be brutal. And Casey...” His voice softened at his brother's name. “I need to make sure he understands, that he knows I'm not abandoning him.”
I caught his hand and pressed a kiss to his palm. “We'll face it together. Whatever challenges come, whatever storms we weather, we do it side by side.”
“What if they make you choose?” Theo asked, the question barely above a whisper. “Between me and your title, your position, everything you've known your whole life?”
I took a deep breath, the gravity of that possibility settling between us. “My title has been both armor and prison for as long as I can remember. The thought of losing it...” I paused, searching for words that could convey the complexity of what I felt. “It terrifies me. That identity is woven through every memory, every lesson, every expectation I've ever known.”
Theo's eyes clouded with concern, but I continued before he could speak.
“But what terrifies me more is returning to that gilded cage without you, resuming a life half-lived.” My voice strengthened with certainty. “With you beside me, I'm not as afraid. For the first time, I can imagine a life defined by what I choose rather than what was chosen for me.”
“It won't be easy,” Theo said, his voice gaining strength even as vulnerability flashed in his eyes. “But nothing that matters ever is, right?” A small smile curved his lips. “And you, Ricard d’Moncloud... you matter to me more than I thought anyone ever could.”
I pulled him closer, breathing in the scent that had haunted my dreams. “Then we'll build something real together, something that withstands whatever the world throws at us. With or without titles.”
Theo's smile widened into something genuine and bright. “That sounds like the greatest adventure of my life.”
Chapter 26
Theo
“You'rewhat?” Kaiden's face morphed from sleepy confusion to utter shock, his spoonful of sugary cereal stopping midway to his mouth, milk dripping onto the table.
I stood in the doorway of our shared apartment, half-packed duffel bag in my hands and heart thundering against my ribs. The early morning light filtered through the blinds, casting stripes across the kitchen where my roommates sat nursing their coffees. I'd rehearsed what I was going to say like a million times last night while lying in Ricard's arms, but now that I was here, my brain went blank. “I'm leaving,” I repeated, my voice steadier than expected. “Today. With Ricard.”
Carter's coffee mug froze halfway to his lips. “The duke? You're leaving with aclient?” His eyebrows pulled together in that serious way of his, instantly going into protective big-brother mode. “Theo, that's literally rule number one they drill into us during orientation. No personal relationships with clients.”
The wordclientmade me flinch. It felt wrong now, like calling a hurricane a light breeze. “He's not—” I set the duffel bag down and ran a hand through my hair. “We're not like that anymore.”
“Holy shit,” Kaiden breathed, dramatically clutching his chest and slumping back in his chair. His cereal forgotten, he switched into full gossip mode. “Oh. My. God. This is like Pretty Woman, except witha duke instead of Richard Gere! You're living the dream! Wait, is he whisking you away to his castle? Does he have a castle? Tell me he has a castle.”
